Melissa Griggs

Known to her loved ones as "Missy," Melissa Griggs was a woman whose life took her across the country, from a middle-class Midwestern upbringing to the streets of Salt Lake City. Born in Ohio, her childhood was marked by difficulty. Her mother suffered from multiple sclerosis and eventually had to be moved to a nursing home, while her father left and remarried. At just 14, Melissa became pregnant and was sent to Chicago to give the baby up for adoption. This series of traumatic events sent the teenager down a difficult path involving drugs and prostitution. Over the years, she was married and had a son, but the marriage ended and she became estranged from her child. Melissa moved between Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington before arriving in Utah. Despite her struggles, which included arrests for drugs and shoplifting, her family said that in the mid-1990s, she seemed to be turning her life around, telling them she was sober and planning to get married.

In November 1995, the 33-year-old female was staying with an acquaintance in West Valley City who was known for taking in people who were transient. In the early hours of Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1995, Melissa told the man she needed to borrow his car. Around 1:30 a.m., she left the residence, explaining that she was going to meet someone who owed her money. Her family, who didn't even know she was in Utah, had recently spoken with her. She had asked them for money so she and her boyfriend could buy a Thanksgiving turkey. They would never hear from her again.

Just an hour after she left, at 2:30 a.m., a resident near the intersection of 700 West and 200 North in Salt Lake City was awakened by his barking dogs. He looked outside and saw a car idling on the street but thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. When he woke up again at 6:45 a.m., he saw the car was still there. He went outside to investigate and made a gruesome discovery. Inside the small hatchback, he found the body of a woman and immediately called 911. Police arrived to a bloody and violent scene.

The victim was identified as Melissa Griggs. She was found lying facedown across the front seats of the vehicle, partially nude, wearing only a pink sweatshirt. An autopsy would later determine she had been severely beaten and manually strangled to death. The scene suggested a violent struggle had taken place; blood was splattered throughout the car's interior, and the rearview mirror had been broken off. Investigators noted several items inside the car: a used condom on the floorboard, a condom wrapper on the dashboard, a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, a pair of blue rubber gloves, and a large, undisturbed jar of change. The keys to the car were missing, but cash and other personal items had not been taken.

The Salt Lake City Police Department opened a homicide investigation into Melissa's death. Her case was briefly looked at for potential connections to the murder of another woman, Krystal Beslanowitch, who was killed just weeks later and also worked as a prostitute in the same area. However, detectives quickly determined the methods of murder were not similar and did not believe the cases were related. While the investigation into Beslanowitch's death would eventually lead to an arrest years later using advanced DNA technology, Melissa's case grew cold.

Decades after her aunt's murder, Melissa's niece, Jennifer Ross, began her own investigation, fighting to bring attention back to the case and seeking access to police reports. She has worked to ensure her aunt is not forgotten and that the search for her killer continues. For years, Melissa's family was left with few answers, her death becoming one of a record 28 homicides in Salt Lake City in 1995.

The murder of Melissa Griggs remains an open, unsolved cold case with the Salt Lake City Police Department. As of August 2021, no suspects have been publicly identified, and no arrests have been made. Investigators continue to ask for the public’s help and hope that someone will come forward with the information needed to finally bring justice to Melissa and her family.