DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced a conviction by jury trial in the case against a Stone Mountain man accused of killing a local pastor who was trying to counsel him and then attempting to cover up the crime by setting her van on fire.
On Friday, September 13, jurors found Christopher Devonta Griggs, 29, guilty on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Knife During the Commission of a Felony, Concealing the Death of Another, Tampering with Evidence, and Theft by Taking in connection with the murder of Marita Harrell, 56, on May 18, 2022.
According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded at around 10:30 p.m. to a 911 call reporting a body found inside a van parked in a wooded area off Coffee Road in Lithonia. Harrell’s family members had tracked her phone to that location and discovered her dead when she did not come home for dinner that night.
Investigators learned Harrell was a pastor with a local church. She worked with people who were incarcerated or recently released from jail. Harrell had met Defendant Griggs through another inmate at the Fulton County Jail in the fall of 2021. Defendant Griggs would often call Harrell for counseling and financial support. He was released from jail in the spring of 2022 and suggested they meet in person.
On May 18 shortly before meeting with Defendant Griggs at his home on Panola Road, Harrell sent a text message to a friend reading, “I'll explain later, but if I should disappear today check out Chris's [sic] Griggs.” The text included Griggs’ address.
Family and friends immediately provided that information to police. A SWAT team went to Defendant Griggs’ home the next day. At the same time, a cleaning company arrived that Griggs had hired to clean the carpet inside. The carpet in Griggs’ bedroom and down the main hallway of the home was covered in black oil stains. When crime scene investigators processed the scene, they detected blood near the oil stains.
Griggs was not home but police spoke to the woman who rented Griggs a room at the house. She told investigators that she works nights and was sleeping during the previous afternoon. When she woke up, Harrell’s minivan was in the driveway and Griggs had asked her to follow him in her car so that he could drop off the van for someone. The woman explained that she did not know anyone was inside the van. She followed Defendant Griggs to Coffee Road and then gave him a ride back to their house.
Harrell’s body was found partially burned and wrapped in bedding from Griggs’ bed; when investigators searched the house they found his mattress pad freshly washed in the dryer.
Cash App records revealed five large transfers from Harrell’s account to Defendant Griggs’ account shortly after she arrived at his house.
Defendant Griggs was arrested at a nearby motel on May 19, 2022. Shortly before his arrest, Defendant Griggs sent a video to his roommate claiming full responsibility for everything that happened.
Immediately following guilty verdicts on all counts DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L Johnson sentenced Defendant Griggs Life Without Parole plus an additional term of twenty-one years
The case assigned Homicide Gangs Unit prosecuted Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Yolanda Lippert assistance Director Drew Healy District Attorney Supervising Investigator Jacques Spencer Supervising Victim Advocate Ikwo Nyong DeKalb County Police Department Det Hoyt led initial investigation
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