1998 Fla. Homicide Victim Is Missing Marion Man

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1998 Fla. Homicide Victim Is Missing Marion Man

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 11:25 AM
Updated: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 6:45 PM
WBNS-10TV

MARION, Ohio — A body found in Tampa, Fla. in 1998 has been identified as a missing Marion County man.

Marion police announced on Tuesday that the body of Chad E. Griffith was identified positively identified after being labeled a John Doe by Florida authorities for more than 12 years.

Griffith, 20, was slain in November 1998, police said.

Tampa police said the homicide case had been solved but until this month they were unable to identify Griffith, 10TV's Glenn McEntyre reported.

Griffith's mother reported him missing in November 2006, but she told Marion detectives that no one had seen or heard from him since before the year 2000, McEntyre reported.

Police said they had little information on Griffith's whereabouts, other than he had lived in Springfield and Marion, Ohio, as well as the state of Florida.

Griffith's information was entered into the National Missing Persons Database but detectives had no leads until this month, when Matt Cole, a Marion police dispatcher, searched a Web site for identifying John Does.

After searching the site, Cole thought he found a John Doe that matched the description of Griffith.

Copies of Griffith's fingerprints were sent to authorities in Florida, who positively identified him.

Cole said he loves the variety of his job as a dispatcher for the city of Marion.

"When I come in it's never the same day," Cole said. "It's always something different."

He has dreams of someday taking the oath to serve and protect.

"Eventually I would like to go on the street and be a regular patrolman," Cole said. "As of right now I'm just staying here and learning."

Though it is not one of his job duties, Cole has used his downtime to peruse the department's missing person files.

He said Griffith's case stood out.

"It's been sitting in our file for about four years now," Cole said. "So every day I come in during my briefing we have to pull up the missing persons file. That one has already been there."

Griffith's mother said she had not heard from her son in years and held off on reporting his disappearance out of fear for what she would learn.

Detective Ben Graff said the case was an uphill climb from the start.

"You don't have much to go on," Graff said. "And if there is anything, it's all cold."

Griffith's mother, who now lives in Winterhaven, Fla., was contacted by detectives and is making burial arrangements, police said.

Finally Mr. Griffith's can RIP.

Yes finally he can rest in peace. It bothers me it took so long to identify him. Why? It sounds like it was easily solved on downtime.

Chad E. Griffith

Griffith was shot in the head Nov. 9, 1998, on North 13th Street.

Samuel Hewitt, who was 14 when the shooting occurred, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1999, records show.

After the shooting, detectives said the victim might have worked for a carnival that visited the nearby Most Holy Redeemer Church. They said the victim had picked up a prostitute and was robbed trying to buy drugs. He then apparently tried to take some crack cocaine from Hewitt without paying.

No Mention Of The Conviction times.

In 1998, Samuel Hewitt was charged in the killing of Chad E. Griffith and later convicted at age 14. Robert Hewitt, then 16, was convicted of tampering with evidence, police said.