State of Ohio v. Andrew Isaac Griffin

Andrew Isaac Griffin was tried 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. 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. On November 4, 2026, the jury found him guilty of the aggravated murders of Tom and Angela and of aggravated arson. He is held without bond until sentencing on December 1, and he keeps every right to appeal.

Prosecutors allege the motive was money: Griffin put about $106,000 into a Salsa Joe's partnership with Tom, offered to buy Tom out and was refused, and was taken off the business account four weeks before the killings. No confession is in evidence and no eyewitness has been named. The State's case is 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.

On the first morning of trial, before any witness, the State dismissed the death penalty specifications and nine duplicate counts, aggravated burglary among them, with the defense's agreement. The jury now decides five counts: two of aggravated murder for Tom, two for Angela, and aggravated arson. There will be no penalty phase; if the jury convicts of aggravated murder, the judge sets the sentence. Testimony began Monday, October 26, and the State is still in its case after five court days. 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.