7 days ago
Cold case: Daughter remembers mom, found murdered and dumped almost 23 years ago
The video above is from the archives: A report on Oct. 7, 2002, on Annie Griffin's murder.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — To Annitra Griffin, her late mother's presence is so strong that she still speaks of her in the present tense.
Her mother, Annie Griffin, she said, 'IS' full of energy, and 'IS' funny.
Annie and Annitra had their issues, especially when Annitra moved to Columbus in the late 90s to escape the violence that was gripping Youngstown, but mother and daughter had been on the path toward healing for at least a year and a half before Annie went missing in September 2002.
Annie's body was found Oct. 4, 2002, in several garbage bags at a site often used for dumping at Carson Street and Cantwell Avenue on the Sharon Line part of the East Side, a place where several bodies had been dumped during the 90s and the early part of the 2000s.
Annie, who was 48 when she died, battled mental health and addiction issues stemming from toxic relationships.
Still living in Columbus today, Annitra, 48, said their relationship was on the verge of being revived when Annie was killed.
'I was loving my mom again and she was loving who I was,' said Annitra, who still lives in Columbus and has five children of her own.
Annie had four children, but Annitra was her only girl. She was a graduate of South High School, and Annie's mother, Willie Mae McGilvary, owned the former Willie Mae's Soul Kitchen at 1184 Hillman St., which has since been torn down.
The restaurant had its own share of violence. According to Youngstown Vindicator files, Annitra's grandmother in 1990 shot a customer who stabbed an employee. The employee died of their wounds. And in 1990, a man was shot and killed there.
According to The Vindicator, McGilvary had a son who was murdered in a shootout in 1973.
Annie was a native South Sider, and her kids lived there also; Annitra graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School before she moved to Columbus. She said her brothers were getting in trouble, and the city, which saw an average of almost 50 homicides a year in the 1990s, was not safe, so when she got pregnant, she decided the right thing to do for her and her child was to move.
'I just didn't want my son in Youngstown,' she said.
Annie was not pleased that her daughter was moving, and that set in motion a rift that was just beginning to be repaired when she was killed.
Annie was last seen Sept. 17, 2002, by her boyfriend at the time. Annitra reported her missing. Her remains were found Oct. 4, 2002, but she was not identified until several days later. Dental records needed to be used because of the condition of her body.
It was Annitra whom the police asked for permission to get her mother's dental records. She said even before she spoke on the phone, once she got the call, she knew the news would be bad.
'I already knew what it was,' she said.
Annie's car was found the day after she was last seen on West Delason Avenue, a short distance from her home on East Philadelphia Avenue.
As she went missing, family members took to the media, including WKBN, to plead for any more information as to where she might be.
Police got a tip from city litter control workers about the strange bags dumped on the Sharon Line a few days after the family went on television, which is when Annie's remains were found. Coroner's investigators could never determine the cause of death because of the condition of her body.
Annitra said the way her mother was dismembered was a slap in the face to her and her family.
'How can they disrespect her remains like that?' she asked. 'It's ridiculous. It's terrible.'
Former Chief of Detectives Capt. Robert Kane told The Vindicator Annie's death was a first for him in his then 32 years on the job because of how her body was disposed of.
'It takes a very sick mind to desecrate a body,' Kane told the newspaper then.
The case was so shocking that a year after her remains were found, police went to the media to ask the public for information. They never received enough to reopen the case.
Annitra said she reached out to a reporter about the case now because the memories of her mother are still powerful, and she wants whoever took part in her murder to be prosecuted.
'I just feel like everyone forgot who she is or was,' Annitra said.
Anyone with information on the 2002 murder of Annie Griffin can call the Youngstown Police Detective Bureau at 330-742-8911 or CrimeStoppers Youngstown at 330-746-CLUE.
This story is part of a series of cold cases that WKBN is examining.
Do you have a cold case that you'd like us to look into further?
Annitra also spoke with WKBN in 2002 about the case. You can see that video from our archives below:
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