Suspect Arrested Again In 1997 Beating Death

Thu., Sept. 2, 1999

From Staff Reports

A Spokane man suspected of killing a homeless person two years ago was arrested in Kennewick on Tuesday, police said.

Acting on a tip to the Secret Witness program, Kennewick authorities arrested Loren David Griffith on a Spokane County warrant charging him with second-degree murder.

Griffith, 33, was at the home of his mother and stepfather, Spokane police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

His stepfather, whose name wasn’t released, denied Griffith was at the house and struggled with officers as they moved to arrest his stepson, Cottam said.

The older man was arrested for attempting to conceal a wanted felon.

Griffith is suspected of murdering Mark E. Pierce in June 1997.

Police searching for a suspect in a domestic violence case instead found Pierce’s body in a vacant lot on the lower South Hill. An autopsy found he had been beaten to death with a large rock.

Griffith later bragged to friends and relatives that he had killed Pierce, 41, according to court records.

He was arrested earlier this year but released when prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to try him for the crime.

Police detectives recently developed more clues in the case and requested an arrest warrant, but Griffith fled the area.

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