Stunned friends and colleagues of Daniel Finney milled about outside a Grants Pass courtroom after the man accused of stabbing him to death was arraigned on a murder charge Monday.

They described 34-year-old Daniel Finney as a positive, peaceful person, while some said the man accused of killing him had a reputation amongst residents of Placer Road in the Sunny Valley area where both of them lived for being hostile and prone to making threats.

Finney, who worked as a server and a supervisor at the local Taprock Grill, “was awesome. He was fun,” said Sage Taylor, assistant manager of the popular restaurant in Grants Pass. “Always had a smile on his face. Just a cool cat.”

“Very gentle soul,” said Walter Berten, who was in a men’s group with Finney at True Juice in Grants Pass.

“You met him, you’d never forget him,” said Bryan Brown, who described Finney as his best friend and like a brother to him.

Taylor, Brown and others spoke moments after the suspect in Finney’s slaying, Keandre Demetrius Blanding, was denied bail Monday following an impassioned plea to the court by the victim’s brother.

“The pain and anguish this man has caused our entire family, it’s just an atrocious crime. It’s unfathomable,” Russell Finney, a resident of Galveston, Texas, told Josephine County Circuit Court Judge Robert S. Bain.

“Please, under no circumstances let this man out,” Finney added.

For complete details, see Tuesday's Daily Courier.