Man Missing Since March Found in Shallow Grave. Ex-Girlfriend Arrested.
A South Carolina man who was reported missing a little more than a month ago has been found dead. Devantae Griffin was reported missing by his mother and was last seen shortly after midnight on March 29 leaving Winsmith Avenue with Jessica Strachan, Devantae Griffin's on-and-off-again girlfriend.
Spartanburg county police launched a massive manhunt for Griffin only to find him dead. Lt. Kevin Bobo, with the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, said Devantae Griffin’s body was found in the woods behind the Evans Acres neighborhood.
“We have a murder," Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said. "This is not just a missing person anymore.”
Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said in a release the body of Devantae Alzondrae Griffin, 28, has been identified after his remains were found Tuesday.
Clevenger said his office was called to an area off of Evans Drive, in Roebuck, after deputies and crews with Foothills Search and Rescue found the body.
"A clandestine dig was conducted and a human decedent was recovered from a shallow grave," Clevenger said.
“He didn’t deserve this," Devantae Griffin's mother Felicia Griffin said. "He would not hurt anybody. He would give you the shirt off his back. He would give you the shirt off his back. He would not hurt anybody, and for somebody to do this to him, it just makes me angry.”
Lt. Bobo said Tarus Dorail Crook, 33, of Spartanburg, has been identified as a person of interest in Devantae Griffin's death but, Griffin's family doesn't know Crook or how he would have known Griffin.
Strachan was charged with obstruction of justice and appeared in a Spartanburg court on April 14, where a judge assigned a $5,000 bond and ordered her to be under house arrest with an ankle monitor. She was released on bond the next day, deputies said.
This case is still in the early stages of the investigation but, the authorities are asking the public for help. Anyone with information about Crook or his involvement in the crime is asked to call investigator Megan Bennett at 864-503-4608 or mbennett@spartanburgcounty.org
