An October trial date is tentatively set for a former Athens man accused in a double murder in Nashville.

Court records show Brandon Griswold, 21, is scheduled to stand trial Oct. 10 in Davidson County, Tennessee, though the trial date could change, said Mike Roland, the Nashville detective who investigated the case.

Griswold and his girlfriend, 23-year-old Whitney Gray, formerly of Oklahoma, are accused in the Sept. 21, 2015, murders of 24-year-old Preston Claybrooks and his longtime girlfriend 23-year-old Alexandra Grubbs, with whom Gray and Griswold lived at Howe Garden Apartments on Nashville’s east side.

Roland testified in 2015 that he believed Gray and Griswold killed the couple to avoid repaying a $650 heroin debt.

Gray’s trial date is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 25, though it also could be changed.

“Those things are never solid because there is always the chance of plea bargaining or postponement of a trial,” Roland said.

Both Gray and Griswold are formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of felony murder, two counts of abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and theft over $500.

The state, as represented by the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office, is seeking life without possibility of parole, court records show.

Roland said seeking the death penalty requires a lot more preparation.

The case

According to a story in The Tennessean newspaper, Roland testified Gray used a hammer and Griswold a microphone stand to beat their roommates as they slept the morning of Sept. 21. The victims also had their throats cut, he said. Gray and Griswold then wrapped their bodies like mummies with sheets and blankets and put them in a utility closet.

Claybrooks’ mother went to the apartment Sept. 26, after reporting her son missing two days earlier, and noticed a smell and called police.

Roland testified investigators found a knife wrapped with Grubbs’ body, a hammer in a trash bag in the apartment, and a microphone stand in the trunk of Gray’s car.

Both Gray and Griswold confessed to the crimes, saying they struck their victim 15 to 20 times, Roland testified. However, he said each blamed the other for cutting the victims’ throats.

Gray and Griswold have remained jailed since their initial arrests shortly after the bodies were discovered.

Two young children of Claybrooks and Grubbs are living with relatives, Roland said.