Houston County jury decides fate of man accused in knife-attack deaths of mom, stepdad
A Houston County jury on Thursday deliberated for about 10 minutes before convicting Anthony Douglas Shoffner Jr., 27, of murdering his mother and stepfather in a knife attack two years ago at the apartment where they all lived.
The victims, Rebecca Lynn Griffin, 46, who was Shoffner’s mother, and Kenneth Griffin, 42, his stepfather, were believed to have been slain the night of March 10, 2020.
Their bodies were discovered the next day in the living room of their home at Houston Lake Apartments on the east side of Perry.
The case went to court last week but the judge declared a mistrial on the third day of testimony after prosecutors inadvertently showed jurors video-recorded footage of a police interrogation of Shoffner that included mention of his past criminal conviction in a matter unrelated to the murders.
He was expected to be sentenced Thursday afternoon.
Shoffner, a former correctional officer at a Georgia prison, had previously been implicated in a federally prosecuted methamphetamine ring involving inmates. He pleaded guilty about half a decade ago to a conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 28 months in federal prison.
At some point after his release in early 2019, he moved in with the Griffins — his mom and stepdad.
A possible motive for the murders remained unclear, but in Shoffner’s statement to Perry police detectives at the time of his arrest he told of feeling “ridiculed” by his stepfather for staying in his room for hours on end.
During the recorded police interrogation, Shoffner described his mother as “a sweetheart,” whom he said he “loved dearly.” He also spoke of respect for his stepfather.
When the police found the Griffins’ bodies, Kenneth Griffin was covered with a blanket or bedspread. Placed atop his back were a Darth Vader figurine and a Darth Vader coffee mug perched beside a lone cowboy boot. According to his obituary, Kenneth Griffin had been an avid “Star Wars” fan.
Prosecutors suggested that the odd display on his body had been some kind of “totem” that Shoffner had arranged on the body, which was possibly some form of a shrine to his stepfather.
Although Shoffner said he did not recall what had happened in the house or how the Griffins were killed, prosecutors said he did tell detectives where to find the slain couple’s cellphones. The phones were hidden in the water tank of a toilet in the Griffins’ apartment.
Shoffner was jailed the day after the killings after he sold some of Kenneth Griffin’s video game systems at a GameStop store and allegedly attacked someone with a baseball bat at another Perry apartment complex.
Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 11:13 AM.