Stone Mountain Man Convicted in Murder of Local Pastor

DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced the conviction of Christopher Devonta Griggs, 29, for the murder of Marita Harrell, a 56-year-old pastor, in May 2022. Griggs was found guilty on September 13, 2024, 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.

Harrell, who worked as a pastor counseling incarcerated and recently released individuals, met Griggs through an inmate at Fulton County Jail. Griggs frequently contacted Harrell for counseling and financial support after his release from jail in the spring of 2022. On May 18, 2022, Harrell met with Griggs at his home on Panola Road.

Before the meeting, Harrell texted a friend, “I’ll explain later, but if I should disappear today check out Chris’s [sic] Griggs,” providing Griggs’ address. When Harrell did not return home for dinner, her family tracked her phone to a wooded area off Coffee Road in Lithonia, where they discovered her body inside her partially burned van.

Investigators found Harrell’s body wrapped in bedding from Griggs’ home, with Cash App records showing several large transfers from Harrell’s account to Griggs’ shortly before her death. Griggs had hired a cleaning company to remove oil-stained carpet from his home, which crime scene investigators later found contained blood stains.

Griggs was arrested on May 19, 2022, at a nearby motel after sending a video to his roommate taking full responsibility for the crime.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson sentenced Griggs to Life Without the Possibility of Parole, plus 21 years. The case was prosecuted by Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Yolanda Lippert, with assistance from Director Drew Healy, Det. Hoyt of the DeKalb County Police Department, and others.