A man was sentenced to prison Friday in the 2022 DeKalb County fatal stabbing of an Atlanta pastor who was counseling him, officials said.
Christopher Devonta Griggs, 29, was found guilty of 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. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 21 years, in the death of Marita Harrell, the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office said.
Rev. Harrell was a senior pastor at Connections at Metropolitan United Methodist Church. The 57-year-old wife and mother of two worked with people who were incarcerated or recently released from jail, DA spokeswoman Claire Chaffins confirmed.
She had met Griggs through another inmate at the Fulton County Jail in the fall of 2021. After Griggs was released from jail in the spring of 2022, Chaffins said he suggested they meet in person.
“Defendant Griggs would often call Harrell for counseling and to ask for financial support,” officials said.
On May 18, 2022, Harrell’s partially burned body was discovered along a secluded road near an industrial area outside Lithonia, DeKalb police previously said. She was inside a burned-out vehicle wrapped in bedding from Griggs’ bed, about five miles from his house, authorities added.
Her family had tracked her phone to the location and found her around 10:30 p.m. after Harrell did not come home for dinner, officials said.
Shortly before meeting Griggs that day at his house on Panola Road, Harrell texted a friend, “I’ll explain later, but if I should disappear today check out Chris’s [sic] Griggs.” Chaffins said the text included Griggs’ address.
And soon after their meeting, Chaffins said online records revealed five “large” transfers of money from Harrell’s account to Griggs’.
SWAT members went to Griggs’ home the day after the fatal stabbing. When officials arrived, a cleaning company was also arriving.
Chaffins said the company had been hired to clean the carpet in Griggs’ bedroom and hallway because certain areas were covered in “black oil stains.” She confirmed that investigators detected “the presence of blood near the oil stains.”
Griggs was not home at the time, but officials were able to speak to a woman who rented a room in the house to Griggs, Chaffins said.
She allegedly told investigators that Harrell’s minivan was in the driveway and that Griggs asked her to follow him so he could drop the van off for someone. She agreed and then gave him a ride back to their house. She told police she did not know anyone was inside the van, Chaffins said.
Rev. Dr. Michael McQueen, UMC’s district superintendent over its Fulton and Clayton County churches, said after the incident that Harrell was simply trying to help Griggs when her life was taken.
“She was passionate about what she did, which was helping those who are lost and left out,” McQueen said. “She was doing what she loved to do. That’s what makes this so tragic.”
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