State of Ohio v. Andrew Isaac Griffin

Andrew Isaac Griffin is on trial in the Belmont County Court of Common Pleas in St. Clairsville, Ohio, charged with aggravated murder in the deaths of Thomas and Angela Strussion, along with aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and firearm specifications. Tom, 51, owned Salsa Joe's restaurants in the Ohio Valley. Angela was 49. On the morning of September 21, 2021, firefighters found them inside their burning home on Trails End Drive near Belmont; investigators say both had been shot before the fire was set, and their dogs died in it. Griffin had invested in a Salsa Joe's with Tom and had moved back to Oklahoma weeks before. He was arrested in Hawaii in February 2025. He has pleaded not guilty, he is presumed innocent, and the State alone carries the burden of proving each charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

Prosecutors have not said why. No motive has been announced, no confession reported and no eyewitness named. What the State has signaled is a case about distance: phone records and the cell towers that handled them, a trip from Oklahoma to Ohio and back, a motorcycle, items recovered in Texas, and people from his life out west, one of whom has already been convicted of lying to detectives about this case. Every one of those pieces has to hold up on cross-examination, and together they have to prove each count, not just raise suspicion.

This is a capital case. If the jury convicts on aggravated murder with a death specification, the same twelve people could be asked whether he lives or dies. The jury was seated on October 21, 2026, and opening statements are Monday, October 26, with a jury visit to the house expected right after. We will be there every court day, asking whether the State's proof reaches each charge and whether the process is fair to Tom and Angela's family and to the man accused. Start with the background report below, then follow the trial with us.