atlanta living tagged interest

DeKalb County, GA — A Stone Mountain man has been convicted after being accused of killing a local United Methodist pastor and attempting to cover up the crime by setting the pastor’s van on fire, DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston announced on Sept. 13.

The Rev. Marita Harrell was the pastor of Connections at Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Atlanta. She was fatally stabbed on May 18, 2022. According to United Methodist News, she was reportedly counseling the suspect at his DeKalb County home.

“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,” the press release from the District Attorney’s office says.

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.

DeKalb County officers responded on May 18, 2022, to a report of a body found inside a parked van in a wooded area off of Coffee Road in Lithonia. Harrell’s family tracked her phone to the location when she did not come home for dinner and found her dead in the vehicle, according to the investigation.

Officers learned that Harrell was a pastor and worked with people who were incarcerated or recently released from jail. She had met Griggs in 2021 through another inmate at the Fulton County Jail.

“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,” the press release says. “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.”

That information was given to the police. On May 19, a SWAT team went to Griggs’ house, and at the same time, a cleaning company that Griggs hired arrived to clean the carpet inside the home.

“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,” the press release says. “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 the woman woke up, Harrell’s van was in the driveway. Griggs asked her to follow him in her car so he could drop the van off for someone. The woman said she did not know anyone was inside the van. She followed Griggs to Coffee Road and 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,” the press release states. “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 on May 19. According to the press release, Griggs sent a video to the women he lived with claiming responsibility shortly before his arrest.

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