Malaika Tamu Griffin (born May 11, 1971) is an American woman serving a life sentence at the DWCF in Denver, Colorado for shooting her neighbor Jason Patrick Horsley to death in May 1999. After the shooting, Griffin became a fugitive from justice for six years, but after she was profiled on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

's ''

America's Most Wanted ''America's Most Wanted'' (often abbreviated as ''AMW'') is an American television program whose first run was produced by 20th Television, and second run is under the Fox Alternative Entertainment division of Fox Corporation. At the time of i ...

'', Griffin was captured in El Cajon, California, a suburb of San Diego, in June 2005.

Background

Malaika Tamu Griffin was born in Mississippi on May 11, 1971. In 1999, she moved to Denver, Colorado, where she was working in a pharmacy and was renting a room in a house next door to a white couple: Jason Patrick Horsley and his girlfriend Deborah Loiselle. Horsley was a carpenter, and Griffin became angry when he laid his tools on the sidewalk in front of her house after work. A bitter argument ensued on May 18, 1999.

Crime

After this argument, Griffin returned to her apartment and came out with a 9mm

handgun A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ...

with a laser sight and shot Horsley point blank in the back, killing him instantly. Immediately after the incident, she fled to the nearby home of an acquaintance, Monique Thomas. Griffin stole Thomas' car at gunpoint and then drove away. The car was later found abandoned in Iowa City, Iowa. Inside Griffin's apartment, police found a 9 mm carbine,

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

s and several how-to books on terrorism and bombmaking, including '' The Anarchist Cookbook'' and ''

The Poor Man's James Bond Kurt Saxon (born Donald Eugene Sisco; March 6, 1932 – August 16, 2021) was an American writer, radio host, survivalist and the author of ''The Poor Man's James Bond'', a series of books on improvised weapons and munitions. History During th ...

''. This last was written by survivalist and former American Nazi Party member

Kurt Saxon Kurt Saxon (born Donald Eugene Sisco; March 6, 1932 – August 16, 2021) was an American writer, radio host, survivalist and the author of ''The Poor Man's James Bond'', a series of books on Improvised firearm, improvised weapons and munitions. ...

. In addition, Griffin's diary was also discovered, in which she expressed her deep hatred of white people.

Fugitive years and capture

Griffin was last seen boarding a bus to Chicago, Illinois. After that, there were no sightings of her for years. Griffin was profiled on the

television program ''

'' eight times between February 5, 2000 and June 4, 2005. After the latest broadcast, authorities received a tip from Griffin's co-workers. Griffin had also previously been profiled in an August 2001 episode of Unsolved Mysteries. The FBI and the

El Cajon Police Department The El Cajon Police Department (ECPD) is the municipal police agency responsible for enforcing laws, maintaining social order, and ensuring public safety within the city of El Cajon, California. The current police chief is Mike Moulton who to ...

contacted the suspect, who had been going by the name "Leak Griffin." After the FBI confronted her, Griffin admitted her identity. She had been working at a biotech firm as a lab assistant, at a fast-food restaurant and thrift store. Griffin was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...

, and aggravated

motor vehicle theft Motor vehicle theft (also known as a car theft and, in the United States, grand theft auto) is the criminal act of stealing or attempting to steal a motor vehicle. Nationwide in the United States in 2020, there were 810,400 vehicles reporte ...

. She waived her extradition and was returned to Colorado to stand trial.

Trial

Griffin's trial began on February 27, 2006. During the trial, the jury read excerpts from her diary which describe her bigotry. One of her entries reads: "I am so sick of looking at white people!! I am so goddamn tired of them!! I wish I could kill those no good faggot, pedophilic, rapists, thieves & make it painful, (very)."

Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

s also entered into evidence the weapons found in Griffin's apartment after she fled. Griffin decided to testify in her own defense at the trial. She claimed to be innocent of the offenses, and said her diary was about a play that she was writing. After a one-week-long trial and seven hours of jury deliberations, Griffin was convicted on all counts. Under Colorado law, a first-degree murder conviction results in an automatic sentence of

life in prison without parole Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes fo ...

Aftermath

Griffin's case was profiled on the Oxygen Network program '' Snapped'' on February 3, 2008 and it was also profiled on Investigation Discovery's '' Deadly Women'' on October 12, 2012. On September 8, 2019, the case was also featured on HLN's ''Vengeance: Killer Neighbors.'' Griffin filed an appeal to the Colorado Court of Appeals in April 2009. She argued that her convictions should be overturned because her trial

attorney Attorney may refer to: * Lawyer ** Attorney at law, in some jurisdictions * Attorney, one who has power of attorney * ''The Attorney'', a 2013 South Korean film See also * Attorney general, the principal legal officer of (or advisor to) a gove ...

was not licensed to practice law in Colorado, her notebook entries, self-defense instructions, and prosecutorial misconduct. All of her claims were denied, and her convictions were all affirmed on April 16, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Malaika 1971 births 1999 murders in the United States 2005 in California 20th-century African-American women 20th-century American criminals American female murderers American people convicted of murder American people convicted of robbery American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Criminals from Colorado Criminals from Mississippi Jackson State University alumni Living people Murder in Colorado People convicted of murder by Colorado Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Colorado Racially motivated violence against white Americans