DA: Murder suspect charged in second case; investigators believe there may be more victims

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — A Portland man who was arrested for a 1999 cold case last year has now been charged with a second murder, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.

The district attorney’s office announced Wednesday that Christopher Charles Lovrien, 53, was indicted by a grand jury for the murders of Mark Dribin and Kenneth Griffin.

Dribin disappeared in July 1999. Investigators found evidence at his home leading them to believe he’d been killed, but they didn’t find his body and they weren’t able to identify DNA samples recovered from his home and vehicle.

For two decades the case went unsolved.

Then in 2019, Portland police reopened the case and submitted the DNA evidence for analysis. Based on the forensic genealogy investigation, Lovrien was identified as a potential suspect.

Lovrien was interviewed by detectives in Nov. 2019.

The district attorney’s office said Griffin was last seen and reported missing in Feb. 2020.

Kenneth Griffin (Family photo provided by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office)

A sample of Lovrien’s DNA was received through a court-authorized search warrant in April 2020. On May 4, 2020, US Marshals arrested Lovrien for Dribin’s murder.

After his arrest, detectives searched Lovrien’s home in southeast Portland and found Griffin’s dismembered remains inside a shed on May 19, 2020, according to the district attorney’s office.

Griffin’s death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner.

During the search of Lovrien’s home, the district attorney’s office said detectives also found six firearms – two .9mm caliber pistols, a .40 caliber pistol, a .357 caliber revolver and two .223 caliber rifles.

Lovrien was re-indicted on Wednesday for the murder of Griffin. He now faces two counts of second-degree murder, first-degree abuse of a corpse, and six counts of felon in possession of a firearm.

Lovrien appeared in court Thursday morning and entered a not guilty plea for the charges.

Detectives believe both killings to be stranger-related as there is no known connection between Lovrien and the victims, the district attorney’s office said.

Investigators have reason to believe there may be additional murder victims based on evidence found at Lovrien’s home.

Based on the investigation, the district attorney’s office said the Portland Police Bureau’s Cold Case Homicide Detail would like to speak with anyone with information about missing persons who may have been living under the Interstate 205 bridge in southeast Portland between summer 2019 and May 2020 and had contact with Lovrien or anyone with any additional information about the charged offenses.

Anyone with information should contact Detective Brendan McGuire at (503) 823-0869 or Brendan.McGuire@portlandoregon.gov, or Detective Scott Broughton at (503) 823-3774 or Scott.Broughton@portlandoregon.gov.

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