BOULDER - Seventeen- year-old Bryan Grove told police he choked and fatally stabbed his girlfriend's mother in early February, then recruited a friend to help him stuff the body in the back of a Subaru at the dead woman's Lafayette home.

Another teen told police that a few hours before the stabbing, Grove and his girlfriend, Tess Damm, talked in an International House of Pancakes about how to "take care of" the problem of a raging alcoholic mother and Tess, her troubled 15-year-old.

These details and others were made public Wednesday in documents released after three of the four suspects in Linda Damm's death appeared in court.

Grove was charged as an adult with first-degree murder, and his girlfriend, Tess Damm, was charged as an adult with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Damm, who faces additional charges of being an accessory to a crime and tampering with physical evidence, told police she just said, "OK, whatever," when they talked about what to do about her mother.

According to Damm's arrest report, she told police she didn't think Grove would actually kill her mom when the teens talked on the morning of Feb. 3 at the IHOP.

Body found in Subaru

Lafayette police discovered Linda Damm's body Feb. 28 in the trunk of a Subaru in the garage of her house at 705 W. Brome Place in the Beacon Hill subdivision.

Tess Damm and Grove allegedly lived in the house for the three weeks after Linda Damm's death.

Grove, who was born in India and adopted by a U.S. family at a young age, faces additional charges of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence. He was transferred Wednesday to the Boulder County Jail from the Boulder County Juvenile Detention Facility.

He appeared in court Wednesday morning in a green jumpsuit; a chain around his waist was connected to handcuffs binding his wrists. He told police that one day in early February, Tess Damm and a mutual friend, Jared Smith, drove around while he stayed home with Linda Damm.

Grove told police he and Linda Damm started arguing. Damm claimed he was the problem between mother and daughter, and he countered that her alcoholism was the source of the trouble.

The dispute then escalated, and Grove told police he grabbed Damm's throat and restrained her against the wall of her bedroom.

Damm hit him once in the head, then he forced her to the bed face down. He used a chokehold with his arm around her neck and she eventually went unconscious, the arrest report says. She was still breathing, so he picked up a small knife and stabbed her. He then got a larger kitchen knife and stabbed her several more times, the report said.

Grove then called Jared Smith, his friend, to help move the body out of the house, according to the arrest report. Grove and Jared Guy, another friend, later returned the body to the house after a failed attempt to bury it at a cemetery.

Teen on suicide watch

Tess Damm appeared in court Wednesday morning wearing street clothes - blue jeans, a blue sweater and a wide belt. Her attorney, Elizabeth Kelly, told Judge Lael Montgomery at one point that her client "is overwhelmed by these proceedings and wants me to make these decisions."

Damm is being held at the Boulder County Juvenile Detention Facility but may be transferred to the Platte Valley Juvenile Facility in Greeley, according to Boulder District Attorney spokeswoman Carolyn French.

Guy, the 18-year- old who allegedly helped Grove bury and then dig up the body, was charged Wednesday with accessory to a crime and tampering with evidence. He'll be held in the Boulder County Jail at least until Tuesday, when he appears for a bond hearing.

Smith didn't appear in court Wednesday. He'll be advised of the charges against him on March 16.

Judge Montgomery ordered the preliminary hearings for Damm and Grove for the week of May 21. Grove will be on suicide watch at the jail because he's exhibited suicidal tendencies at the juvenile facility.

Teens arrested in the case

Bryan Kavin Grove

• Age: 17

• School: Centaurus High School, Lafayette

• Connection: Boyfriend of Linda Damm's daughter, Tess.

• Charges: Murder in the first degree; conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, and tampering with physical evidence

• Lawyers: Kristi Sanders and Seth Temin, public defenders

• Allegation: He choked and stabbed Linda Damm then recruited friends to hide her body.

Tess Damm

• Age: 15

• School: Arapahoe Ridge High School, Boulder

• Connection: Daughter of Linda Damm; girlfriend of Bryan Grove

• Charges: Conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, accessory to crime, tampering with physical evidence

• Lawyer: Elizabeth Kelly

• Allegation: She was at a pancake house when her boyfriend talked about knowing a way to deal with the problem of the mother; she said, "OK, whatever." She was not in the house when Damm was killed.

Jared Guy

• Age: 18

• School: New Vista High School, Boulder

• Connection: Best friend of Bryan Grove - both of them were born in India, spent time in the same orphanage, were adopted by American families

• Charges: Accessory to crime and tampering with physical evidence

• Lawyer: Keith Pope

• Allegation: He helped Grove dig a grave for Damm's body then dug it back up when they realized the grave was too shallow.

Jared Russell Cole Smith

• Age: 16

• School: Centaurus High School

• Connection: Friend of Grove and Tess Damm.

• Charges: Smith won't be charged until March 16.

• Lawyer: Lance Goff

• Allegation: He helped Grove move Damm's body out of the house and into the garage.

scanlon@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-442-8729

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