NORMAN — Stuffed animals and crosses are placed near fenced property in rural McClain County where a young mother once lived with her two children in a trailer house.
Only two people really know what happened late one Thursday night in July, and one of them is dead. The other is facing triple homicide and arson charges.
Plenty of questions remain as to how Katrina Griffin, 24, and her young son and daughter spent their final hours before investigators made a grisly discovery July 23 inside the home.
A gag order filed in the case restricts investigators from sharing details about the investigation. The only information available comes from criminal charges and a four-page court affidavit filed in McClain County District Court at the start of the investigation and released by the county clerk’s office.
Homicide and fire
A little before 9 a.m., Dibble and Washington fire departments were summoned to a house fire at 15734 212th St. The trailer was situated just off Oklahoma 39 about 10 miles west of Purcell.
The temperatures reached the 90s in the afternoon; triple-digit heat was still a few weeks away. As crews battled the fire, they searched the trailer for anyone who might be inside.
That’s when firefighters found the bodies of Griffin, along with her children, Christian Griffin, 8, and Chasity Hammer, 6.
Investigators from several agencies soon converged at the scene.
Officials said all three victims were found in a back bedroom. Katrina Griffin and Christian Griffin had been stabbed. The youngest victim, Chasity, suffered severe burns.
Although the court has interrupted the flow of current information, a sense of events can be drawn from early reports recorded by the court clerk.
An affidavit filed with the court on Aug. 6 reveals that Griffin and her children were alive the evening of July 22. A McClain County deputy responded to a call at Griffin’s home.
Also at the trailer with Griffin was Shaun Michael Bosse, 27, the affidavit shows. Investigators can’t reveal the nature of the call that brought the deputy to Griffin’s home that night, but at 11:40 p.m. the mother and children were alive.
Manhunt begins
Upon discovering the bodies, McClain County deputies began looking for Bosse. According to the affidavit, deputies found his phone number and called him.
Bosse told Deputy Dan Huff that he was at Oklahoma City Community College. He agreed to visit the McClain County Sheriff’s Office and speak with Huff, the affidavit read.
Bosse told Huff that he had dated Griffin for about two weeks, according to the affidavit. Bosse said he spent the evening of July 22 with her. He told investigators he left Griffin’s home between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. July 23.
“When asked if he was the last one to see Katrina Renae Griffin, Christian Joe Griffin and Chasity Renea Hammer alive, he nodded in the affirmative and failed to give a verbal yes or no answer,” the affidavit stated.
During the conversation, Huff saw a 6- to 7-inch scratch on the inside of Bosse’s right arm, “this wound was consistent with a defensive wound that would have been received in an altercation,” the affidavit read.
Bosse’s knuckles caught Huff’s attention.
They “were red, slightly swollen and showed signs of trauma,” the affidavit stated. “These injuries were consistent with injuries that would have been sustained if Shaun Michael Bosse had hit something, which is consistent with damage, a hole caused by a possible punch, that was documented on the bedroom door of Katrina Renae Griffin.”
According to the fire marshal, scorching patterns around the hole indicate it had been made in the bedroom door before the fire, the affidavit stated.
The affidavit doesn’t say if Bosse attempted to explain any of his injuries.
Deputies continued their conversation with Bosse.
According to the affidavit, Deputy David Tompkins saw an “Acer laptop, video games and DVDs” in Bosse’s pickup. Bosse gave Tompkins permission to take photos of the items inside the pickup from the outside.
Deputies showed Griffin’s sister, Ginger Griffin, the photos, according to the affidavit. She identified the items as belonging to her sister.
“Tompkins noticed Bosse’s shoes had red spots consistent with blood stains, which were consistent with blood evidence,” the affidavit stated.
Bosse refused consent to a search of his pickup, according to the affidavit.
He was released and returned to Oklahoma City.
OSBI joins case
Agents with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation joined the investigation July 23.
According to the affidavit, OSBI agents went to Oklahoma City to search Bosse’s pickup for the laptop. Bosse consented for agents to search his pickup.
The affidavit read that Griffin’s father, Johnny Griffin, had reported a 32-inch flat screen television, 19-inch television and laptop missing.
OSBI agents searched the pickup for the “Acer laptop, televisions, video games and DVDs,” and found them to be missing, the affidavit stated. When asked about the missing items, Bosse told agents he returned the laptop to a man he had known for about three weeks. He didn’t know how to find him.
Agents questioned Bosse about his activities earlier that day.
Bosse said he had gone “to check on work at a temporary work center, went to Oklahoma City Community College, then to Wal-Mart SuperCenter on I-240 and Santa Fe to get a phone and haircut and finally back to OCCC,” the affidavit stated.
Bosse then went to the McClain County Sheriff’s Office, according to the affidavit. He didn’t indicate he had traveled north of Interstate 240 during any time.
Agents found a receipt from a Dollar General on NW 50th Street in Oklahoma City dated 10:53 a.m. July 23. Bosse said he had forgotten about the trip to Dollar General, the affidavit stated.
Investigators noted inconsistencies during Bosse’s interview, according to the affidavit.
OSBI officials said agents arrested Bosse that night at his Oklahoma City apartment. He was booked into the McClain County Jail on three complaints of first-degree murder.
Following the pawn tickets
According to the affidavit, when agents searched Bosse’s pickup, they found his wallet and searched it.
An agent found a pawn ticket from 39th Street Pawn Shop, 5700 NW 39th Expressway, in Oklahoma City where Bosse had pawned a 32-inch Sanyo LCD television for $75 at 10:37 a.m. July 23, the affidavit showed.
According to the affidavit, agents found a second pawn ticket from Extra Cash Pawn, 2204 W. Hefner in The Village where Bosse had pawned a 19-inch Phillips and Magnavox DVD/VHS combo for $70 at 11:37 a.m. July 23. The televisions were consistent with property missing from Griffin’s home.
On July 24, investigators initiated an ongoing search of pawn brokers in the Oklahoma City area.
“During this search two televisions, one of which including a DVD/VCR combination recorder was identified as having the latent finger prints of Katrina Renae Griffin.”
Agents also recovered a Nintendo Wii at Fast Pawn, 129 SE 44th in Oklahoma City. During a print analysis of the game system, another latent print belonging to Griffin was found, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit showed at Adrian’s Pawn, 2129 SW 44th St., Oklahoma City, agents recovered 32 DVD movies. The initials KRG were on 31 of the DVDs. Griffin’s family identified the initials as hers and said it was the way she marked her DVDs.
According to the affidavit, during the investigation, agents found Bosse had visited seven different pawn shops on July 23 either selling or pawning items consistent with what had been reported missing from Griffin’s home.
More pieces to the puzzle
OSBI agents, with the help of other law enforcement agencies, continued to gather evidence.
On July 29, OSBI crime scene agents and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms examined the crime scene, the affidavit stated. OSBI agents found a “foot print made by blood transfer under a pile of burn debris” in front of Griffin’s bedroom door.
“Agents of the ATF concluded this was a single point of origin fire that was intentionally set to destroy the residence,” the affidavit stated. “The origination of the fire was a couch that was situated on the west wall of the living room adjacent to the kitchen area.”
A little more than a week later, investigators received more evidence.
The OSBI Forensic Laboratory, Forensic Latent Finger Print Unit released to investigators on Aug. 6, that Griffin’s fingerprints were identified on items pawned or sold at six of the seven pawn brokers from the Oklahoma City area, according to the affidavit.
That same day, prosecutors charged Bosse with three counts of first-degree murder and a single count of first-degree arson.
Prosecutors allege in the charges that Bosse took a knife and stabbed to death Griffin and her son, Christian Griffin. Chasity Hammer died from injuries when Bosse allegedly set the trailer house on fire, according to the charges.
What’s next?
The Oklahoma Indigent Defense System has been appointed to represent Bosse. District Attorney Greg Mashburn and Assistant District Attorney Susan Caswell are prosecuting Bosse.
Bosse made an initial court appearance Aug. 11. According to court records, he pleaded not guilty.
A McClain County judge has denied Bosse bail.
Bosse’s next court date is scheduled for Oct. 26. He will appear for a preliminary hearing conference.
Meghan McCormick 366-3539 mmccormick@normantranscript.com
