OKLAHOMA CITY — Two years after the bodies of two children and their mother were discovered in the family’s burned-out mobile home, a man charged with their deaths is set to go on trial Monday on three counts of first-degree murder.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in McClain County District Court for Shaun Michael Bosse of Blanchard, who is charged in the July 23, 2010, deaths of Katrina Griffin, 25, and her two children, 8-year-old Christian Griffin and 6-year-old Chasity Hammer.
In addition to the murder charges, Bosse, 29, is charged with first-degree arson in the case. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, leaving Bosse with possible penalties of death or life in prison with or without parole if he is convicted on the murder counts.
He has pleaded not guilty.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Katrina Griffin died from multiple sharp force trauma, while Christian died from multiple stab wounds. The report says Chastity died from smoke inhalation and burns after the family’s mobile home in Dibble was set on fire.
Authorities say Chastity had been thrown into a closet and a chair was used to block the door. Evidence inside the home linked Bosse to the deaths, according to authorities.
An affidavit filed in the case alleged that Bosse, Katrina Griffin’s boyfriend, was at her home the evening before the victims were killed. Bosse told investigators he had been dating Griffin for about two weeks but had left the home hours before the victims’ bodies were found.
The affidavit says Griffin called a McClain County deputy shortly before midnight. It says Bosse was there at the time but it does not say what the call was about.
Bosse was interviewed on July 23 and investigators noticed scratches on his arm and swollen knuckles on his hands, the affidavit says. A search warrant was executed at Bosse’s apartment where investigators with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation found a pair of jeans and a towel that tested positive for blood, according to the affidavit. The shoes Bosse wore when he was arrested also had blood on them.
Investigators say pawn tickets found in Bosse’s wallet indicated he had pawned televisions and other entertainment items belonging to Griffin at several Oklahoma City-area pawnshops.
Bosse, who is being held without bond, escaped from the McClain County Jail before being recaptured by U.S. marshals following a daylong manhunt. Bosse was found hiding in a field near his grandmother’s house in Blanchard after he allegedly overpowered two guards and fled in one of their vehicles.
Bosse’s attorney, Gary Henry of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, declined comment on the case.
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