Full Notification

After almost eleven months, a suspect has been arrested for the brutal murders of Brock Husted, Davina Husted, and their six-month-old unborn son, Grant. Sheriff’s Department investigators arrested Joshua Graham Packer (20 years of age from Ventura, CA) Sunday evening at a residence in the 1800 Block of Ocean Avenue in the city of Ventura.

The case was solved primarily through a match in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). A sample of Packer’s DNA was taken after he was arrested for an unrelated robbery in Santa Barbara in January of this year. That sample matched suspect DNA evidence from the Faria Beach homicide scene. Confirmation of this DNA match occurred within the last two weeks.

Recently, Ventura County reached 238 “CODIS hits” aiding investigation in 48 sexual assaults, 21 homicides, 9 attempted homicides, 87 burglaries, 35 robberies, and 8 other crimes.

Joshua Packer remains in custody at the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility and is being held without bail. He faces numerous charges including 3 counts of murder, two counts of robbery, and one count of burglary. There are also several special circumstance allegations associated with the underlying crimes.

Although the case has proceeded to the court phase, it is still under investigation by the Sheriff’s Department and is highly sensitive in nature. To date, 75 investigators and other Sheriff’s personnel have worked on the case. Hundreds of pieces of evidence have been collected and analyzed. Anyone with information about this crime is still encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau at (805) 477-7000.