DRUG SUSPECT DUMPED BODY, POLICE SAY

Police suspect a prostitute found dead in a garage in February was killed
by a crack dealer and her body dumped by his drug-dealing partner,
according to a documents filed in Circuit Court.

The men, who are being held in the County Jail on drug charges, were the
subjects of search warrants issued earlier this week for the investigation
into the death of Maryetta Griffin.

The suspect in the killing, William D. Avery, told police he remembers
"grabbing" Griffin after discovering her going through his pants after he
got drunk and fell asleep early Feb. 17, according to an affidavit filed in
Circuit Court. At the time, the affidavit says, he and Griffin were in a
drug house operated by Avery and his partner, and frequented by dope-dating
prostitutes.

The affidavit was used as a basis for a search warrant authorizing police
to obtain blood and hair samples and fingernail clippings from Avery,
according to a Police Department property inventory filed with the
affidavit.

The man accused of being Avery's drug-dealing partner, Lorenzo Ronnie
Frost, is suspected of hauling Griffin's body out of the drug house,
carting it off in his sport-utility vehicle and dumping it, according to a
second search warrant, affidavit and inventory.

The second affidavit was used as a basis to search Frost's sport-utility
vehicle, which was seized by police when he was arrested March 19, the
records show.

During the search of the vehicle, police seized carpet samples, an ashtray
and a pair of earmuffs, according to the second inventory. They also
"vacuumed dust particles," it says.

The body of Griffin, 39, was found Feb. 17 in a garage in the 3000 block of
N. 7th St. She had been beaten and strangled. Her body was found in the
same general area as the bodies of 11 women -- all with similar backgrounds
- -- killed since 1986.

Frost, 37, of the 4200 block of N. 91st St., and Avery, 26, of the 3600
block of N. 13th St., were charged last week with keeping a drug house and
conspiracy to deliver cocaine. They were charged in a criminal complaint
that says they operated a drug house in the 2400 block of N. Palmer St.

The documents relating to the search warrants say a friend of Griffin's
told police that he dropped her off at the Palmer St. drug house the night
before her partially clothed body was found. The affidavits indicate that
she was strangled and sustained a broken neck.

When he was questioned by police about Griffin, Avery acknowledged being
with her early Feb. 17, and "grabbing" her, the affidavits say. He
contended, however, that he forgot everything else about his encounter with
Griffin, according to the affidavits.

Avery did add, however, that "Frost should not have moved the body," before
again claiming "he doesn't remember anything else," the affidavits say.