PORTLAND, OR (TCD) — A 56-year-old man who pleaded guilty this year to murdering a man in 1999 will spend the rest of his life in prison in connection with the death of another man whose dismembered body was found in a warehouse.
On Monday, April 29, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office announced that a judge sentenced Christopher Lo'Brien to life in prison after serving 26 years for the 2020 murder of Kenneth Griffin. A jury found Robien guilty on April 15 of one count of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree abuse of a corpse.
Last January, Robien pleaded guilty to the 1999 murder of Mark Dribin and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for first-degree murder. Lovrian's sentences will be served consecutively and he will not be eligible for parole until he has served 46 years, according to the district attorney's office.
Dribin was last seen on July 1, 1999, and was reported missing a few days later. Prosecutors said police found his vehicle on July 18, 1999. Investigators reportedly found DNA from an unidentified suspect in Dribin's home and car. The Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office issued a presumptive death certificate for Dribin and the case was closed in August 2000.
The Portland Police Bureau reopened the case in March 2019 and submitted the unknown suspect's DNA for further forensic genealogy analysis. Authorities identified Lovrian as a potential suspect in September 2019, according to the district attorney's office.
The second victim, Griffin, was last seen on February 1, 2020, and was reported missing the next day. Around the same time, a grand jury indicted Robien on charges of Dribin's murder, and he was arrested on May 4, 2020.
According to the Oregonian/Oregon Live, there were no witnesses to Dribin's death and his body has never been found. Lovrian reportedly said that when he met Dribin at the adult bookstore at the time, he was dealing methamphetamine. Dribin worked as an overnight cargo handler for United Airlines and reportedly invited Lovrien to his home on July 4, 1999. Lovrien said he fell asleep in Dribin's bed and woke up when he heard Dribin approaching him.
According to the Oregonian/Oregon Live, after killing the victim, Robien took Dribin's vehicle and parked it in a parking lot near his home. Robien reportedly told prosecutors that he buried Dribin in Larch Mountain, but did not reveal the exact location.
A few days after Lovrian's arrest, he reportedly spoke to his brother on the phone and told him not to look inside the warehouse. “There is more to this than is revealed and it is bad,” Lovrian reportedly told his brother. “There is Satan inside me.”
Prosecutors said that during a search of Lovrian's warehouse, they found Griffin's mutilated remains inside. His death was ruled a homicide. Police also recovered six firearms from Lovrian's home.
In March 2021, Robien was charged with murder and abuse of a corpse in connection with Griffin's death.
Robien allegedly told jurors that he and Griffin had been drinking when Robien forced him to leave after attempting to steal his credit cards. According to the Oregonian/Oregon Live, Griffin returned home and Lovrien said he shot Griffin once in the chest and another shot in the head with a crossbow. Robien then reportedly used an ax to chop off Griffin's head, then placed the victim's body parts in three plastic bins and hid them in a storage unit.
According to the District Attorney's Office, investigators believe the murder was “stranger-involved” because “there is no known connection between Lovrien, Dribin and Griffin.”
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