Man Tries to Murder Photographer, Destroys Her Home and Gear
Jess Hess of Wurmwood Photography in Dayton, Ohio experienced a photographer’s worst nightmare: someone broke into her studio (and home) — dubbed Castle Morningstar — and destroyed everything she owned, including her photography equipment. Scarier still, the culprit initially showed up at Hess’ home/studio in the early morning hours of February 29 in the hopes of killing her.
Update 3/6: Hess reached out to PetaPixel overnight with the following message: “I think you might be interested to know that someone broke in again last night. They broke even more and stole so much stuff. We’ve been awake all night trying to clean and gather items.”
A Beautiful Renovated Church was Home and Studio for Photographer Jess Hess
“Myself, my roommate Brandon [Meadows], and my son Jaden all lived in the building,” Hess tells PetaPixel. “Brandon lives in the downstairs area and my son and I live in the upstairs portion with our three cats and dog. My studio and the chapel is also upstairs,” Hess explains.
The building is an old church Hess found for sale on Craigslist five years ago. She purchased it from the previous owner, a woman who had also lived there.
“It needed so much work, but it was such a beautiful property with a lot of charm, and had plenty of space for us to live and for me to set up a proper studio.”
In recent weeks, Jess, Jaden, and Brandon had been staying elsewhere and going back and forth to the building due to issues with heating. Some pipes had burst due to the cold weather, so they were chipping away at these repairs.
“My son and I were supposed to be there that night,” Hess says of the night of the destruction. “But I ended up being much too sleepy to drive, so we didn’t go… I’m very thankful for that!”
The Destruction Was the Culmination of Months of Odd Behavior, Terror, and Stalking
Based on surveillance videos, which PetaPixel has seen but will not share at Hess’ request, the assailant, Kurt Griggs, 44, first appeared on the property at around 3:30 AM. Hess woke around 7:30 that morning and saw the man live on her Ring app, so she knew that he had been actively destroying the property for about four hours.
Griggs allegedly admitted to police that he arrived at Hess’ property intending to kill her, her son, and Brandon. When he realized nobody was home, he settled for unbridled destruction instead.
Last September, Hess had reported Griggs to the police after he was caught on the church grounds trying to dig up his deceased grandmother. According to local court records in Ohio, Griggs had been charged with desecration of a grave.
His sentence was suspended on the condition that Griggs stay away from the cemetery, complete outpatient treatment, and commit no further crimes.
However, after the incident, Griggs began stalking Hess and her family for weeks, “perhaps even months.” Going through old Ring recordings, Hess has seen the man on her porch on multiple nights, spanning weeks. Groundskeeper statements and security evidence show that the person had been lurking for months. He also recently harassed and upset Hess’ son at a local park.
Unsurprisingly, Griggs is reportedly suffering from numerous issues with addiction and psychosis. PetaPixel has confirmed the man’s identity, lengthy criminal history, and problems with drug addiction.
PetaPixel has decided to include his name in this article because Griggs is accused of an exceptionally violent crime and is being held with bail, meaning he could be released back into the community before trial.
“His mother was married in this church and it seems like he has strong emotional ties to the property, so it had nothing to do with us specifically, just that we happened to be the ones here. I’m not entirely sure what was going through his mind or why he was watching us or what he was blaming us for, and I may never know. I just know that I’m happy we weren’t here,” Hess wrote on Facebook.
Jess and Brandon will be in court this week as Griggs faces a grand trial for burglary with intent to commit murder. A felony conviction for this offense carries a prison sentence of up to 11 years. However, aggravating factors — like Griggs’ lengthy criminal history dating back over a decade — can extend the punishment.
Without Insurance, the Future of Castle Morningstar is in Question
Unfortunately, the owners did not have insurance, as they could not find a company to insure the building before it was brought up to code, which Hess says they had been working on for years.
“Since owning it we’ve cleaned and repaired a whole lot. A new roof, built entire rooms, fixed plumbing and set up propane heat to the occupied parts of the building,” Hess explains.
Hess Lost So Much of Her Photography Equipment
As for her photography equipment, she has insurance through the Professional Photographers of America (PPA), but she is working on determining what that will ultimately cover.
“When it first happened, I was certain I’d lost everything, as the destruction was pretty insane,” the photographer tells PetaPixel. As she’s worked through cleaning up, she’s found that some gear is “at least repairable,” although most everything is “completely broken.”
“By some form of miracle, my camera and lenses were the least damaged of anything else,” Hess says, noting that she’s missing her batteries and chargers, lots of “random gear,” all her backdrop stands, backdrops, and wardrobe. She’s sure that more has been broken, but being at the crime scene is overwhelming, so the cataloging process is going bit by bit.
Griggs also destroyed dozens of prints, including large-framed photographs and her hard drives. While Hess had been traveling back and forth with working drives of her most recent images, the hard drives at her home included her entire library of work.
“I have a lot of original artwork and oddities decorating my home, and most of it is completely destroyed beyond repair. He stabbed the fridge, ripped the microwave to a billion pieces and filled it with silverware, pulled all my drawers out, and destroyed clothes, years of memories, gifts I’ve received, record collection, vintage camera collection, all in piles,” Hess says.
“He was using a ladder to get up high and pull things down. TVs, glassware, 125 year old stained glass windows… you name it. It was like a tornado had gone through.”
The offender went so far as to rip out entire window frames and destroy the church pulpit, which was an original artifact and more than a century old. He smashed 125-year-old stained-glass windows and decimated all eight of the original hanging stained-glass light fixtures in the chapel.
For Photographer Jess Hess, the Healing Will Take Time, but Many Are Already Trying to Help
Hess’ mother, Lori, has set up a GoFundMe for Jess, hoping to help her, Jaden, and Brandon begin the recovery process. As of writing, the campaign has just eclipsed the halfway point of its $20,000 goal.
While shocked and struggling to pick up the pieces of her life and work, Jess says many people have rushed to help her.
“I have never in my life been more devastated than I am now, and I have also never felt so loved and supported. I have genuinely teared up reading the beautiful words that you all have written. I didn’t know so many people would care this much. Yesterday I felt all alone, but that is not something I feel today,” Hess wrote on Facebook.
Image credits: All photos courtesy of Jess Hess (Wurmwood Photography)
