Stone Mountain man gets life sentence for 2022 murder of local pastor, Marita Harrell

DEKALB COUNTY, GA— Christopher Devonta Griggs, 29, of Stone Mountain, has been sentenced to life in prison for the death of 56-year-old Marita Harrell, a local pastor who was trying to counsel Griggs.

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced a conviction by jury trial in the case against Griggs, who attempted to cover up the crime by setting her van on fire and partially burning her body.

Jurors found Griggs guilty on Friday, Sept. 13, 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 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 of 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 to ask for 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 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 the presence of 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 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 the van off for someone.  The woman explained that she did not know anyone was inside the van.  She followed Griggs to Coffee Road and then gave him a ride back to their house.

Harrell’s body was found partially burned, wrapped in bedding from Griggs’ bed and 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 Griggs’ house.

Griggs was arrested at a nearby motel on May 19, 2022.  Shortly before his arrest, Griggs sent a video to the woman he lived with claiming full responsibility for everything that happened, according to the investigation.

Immediately following the guilty verdicts, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson, who presided over the trial, sentenced Griggs to Life Without the Possibility of Parole, plus 21 years.

The case, assigned to the Homicide and Gangs Unit, was prosecuted by Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Yolanda Lippert with assistance from Director Drew Healy, District Attorney Supervising Investigator Jacques Spencer and Supervising Victim Advocate Ikwo Nyong.  DeKalb County Police Department Det. Hoyt led the initial investigation.

Photo via DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office.