Investigators say cellphone records, surveillance footage and recorded calls connected the pair to Robert Grove’s death and an alleged cover-up.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A missing-person investigation that began when 33-year-old Robert Grove failed to return home has led to the arrest of a 17-year-old boy on murder and robbery charges and accusations that the teenager’s mother helped destroy evidence after the killing, according to Memphis police and court records described by local news organizations.

Bridgit A. Riley, 47, was arrested July 6 and charged with tampering with evidence and being an accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. Her son, whose name has not been publicly released because he is a juvenile, was arrested the same day on charges of first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery. The charges are allegations, and neither defendant has been convicted. Authorities have not publicly explained the alleged motive or released a complete account of what they believe happened before Grove was shot.

The case began Oct. 27, 2025, when Grove’s mother reported him missing to the Memphis Police Department. His relatives said he had left home in his Chevrolet Avalanche at about 11:30 the previous night. Family members became alarmed when he did not return to take his mother to work and attend to responsibilities involving his 1-year-old child. Their search soon produced the first major evidence in a case that would remain unresolved for more than eight months. Relatives located Grove’s Avalanche in the parking lot of the Surrey Apartments in Memphis. When they opened the vehicle, they saw what investigators later described in an arrest affidavit as a large amount of apparent blood on the driver’s-side floorboard. They also found two phone cases that belonged to Grove lying nearby, but the phones themselves were gone. The condition of the truck changed the nature of the search, raising concern that Grove had been seriously harmed rather than simply being out of contact.

Surveillance video from the apartment complex gave detectives a partial timeline. The footage reportedly showed the Avalanche entering the parking lot at about 12:25 a.m. Oct. 27 and leaving roughly four minutes later. The truck returned to the space where Grove’s relatives found it at about 1:09 a.m. The cameras did not show Grove getting out. Instead, investigators said a thin male who did not share Grove’s physical characteristics left the truck and walked away.

The video did not answer the most urgent question: where Grove had gone. Investigators continued searching as his relatives tried to trace his movements. Police focused on the Egypt Central Road area after learning that it was the last known location associated with Grove’s iPhone. On Nov. 2, officers searching there found his body in a detached garage in the 3300 block of Egypt Central Road in Memphis’ Raleigh area. Investigators said he appeared to have suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Spent cartridge casings were found near him.

The discovery confirmed that the missing-person case was a homicide investigation, but an arrest did not follow immediately. Detectives sought search warrants for cellphone information that could show which devices had been present near the apartment complex and the garage during relevant periods. That type of location evidence generally does not prove by itself who carried a device or what a person did, but investigators said it helped them identify a phone whose movement appeared to mirror the path of Grove’s truck and the location where his body was recovered.

On Feb. 16, according to the arrest affidavit, police received a match involving a number connected to a 17-year-old boy. Investigators alleged that activity from the phone was consistent with travel involving Grove’s vehicle and the garage. The boy was a student at Raleigh-Egypt High School, according to reports based on the court documents. The publicly available accounts do not say whether police had identified him as someone who knew Grove before the killing or how the two allegedly came into contact. School security officers detained the teenager April 29 and brought him to investigators for an interview. He declined to speak with them, the affidavit said. A person accused of a crime has a right to remain silent, and a decision not to answer police questions is not proof of guilt. Investigators continued examining electronic records, recorded communications and other evidence rather than announcing an arrest at that time.

The inquiry eventually expanded to Riley, the teenager’s mother. Investigators obtained recordings of jail calls between Riley and another person, according to the affidavit. In those conversations, Riley allegedly discussed photographs on her son’s device that showed him in Grove’s vehicle. Authorities have not publicly released the images, identified when they were taken or explained whether the photographs themselves showed any criminal act.

The calls also allegedly included discussion of destroying the teenager’s phone and possibly leaving the country. Investigators said that after a new device was activated with the same phone number, someone stated that a new Apple ID had been created for the boy. The original phone was described as gone, and a participant in the conversation allegedly suggested that it had been smashed and thrown into the Mississippi River. Police have not said publicly whether the device was recovered.

Those allegations form the basis of the charges against Riley. Prosecutors are not accusing her in the available records of carrying out the shooting. Instead, the accessory and evidence-tampering counts concern what she allegedly did after Grove was killed. To obtain a conviction, the state would have to prove the required elements of each offense beyond a reasonable doubt. The affidavit presents investigators’ account at the charging stage and has not yet been tested through a trial.

Police arrested Riley and her son July 6. Riley was initially reported to be held in the Shelby County Jail on a $10,000 bond. Reports published soon after the arrests said no trial date had been set. It also was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would seek to have her son handled as an adult. Tennessee law provides procedures through which some serious cases involving older juveniles may be transferred, but authorities had not publicly confirmed such a decision in this case.

The teenager faces first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery charges, indicating investigators allege Grove was killed in connection with an intentional homicide and a serious robbery offense. The available police and court accounts do not identify what property was allegedly taken, whether a weapon was recovered or who owned the detached garage. They also do not explain whether detectives believe Grove was shot there or taken there after he died.

Grove’s family has said the months since his disappearance have been difficult and that they want everyone responsible for his death held accountable through the court system. Their involvement was important from the first hours of the investigation: relatives found his bloodstained truck and continued seeking answers before his body was recovered. Nine months after he disappeared, family members told local reporters that they were still following the case and waiting for a full resolution.

Several central questions remain unanswered in the public record, including how Grove met the teenager, what led him to the locations identified by investigators and what evidence police believe supports the robbery charge. Authorities also have not released a detailed account of the shooting or identified any additional suspects. The case remains pending, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proved guilty in court.

Author note: Last updated Aug. 3, 2026.