In many ways, he’s no different than the other 100-plus inmates currently incarcerated inside the Belmont County Jail, but in many ways, Andrew Griffin is an extraordinarily odd prisoner because he’s charged with double murder AND because he always wore a big-ole cowboy hat and a broad-pretty smile.
The 32-year-old Oklahoma native is accused of killing Thomas and Angela Strussion in their Belmont, Ohio, home nearly four years ago. The couple was discovered deceased in their home on Trails End Road by firefighters who responded to a 911 call about smoke wafting from a second-story window.
The Belmont County Sheriff’s Office immediately launched a double homicide investigation but would not divulge a single detail about the case. In fact, it wasn’t until Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan released the long list of indictments against Griffin that the public first learned officially that authorities believe the defendant possessed some kind of firearm while committing the murders.
The 33-year-old has been incarcerated inside the Belmont County Jail since his extradition from Hilo, Hawaii was completed by Sheriff James Zusack on March 14, and the Oklahoma native has been charged with two counts of aggravated murder, as well as aggravated burglary, and aggravated arson with a firearm specification.
If found guilty of the two murders, Griffin could face Ohio’s death penalty.
Belmont County Common Pleas Court Judge Chris Berhalter scheduled the trial to begin on March 2, 2026, and until then, he’ll remain among the 100-plus incarcerated individuals in the county jail.
“He’s not causing any issues in the jail because he just stays to himself pretty much,” Zusack explained. “I haven’t had much interaction with him besides the initial walk-in in March and seeing him while he’s been in the court hearings. He’s not tried to speak with me, but that’s not a big deal to me. I haven’t initiated any conversation with him either.
“We’re just taking care of him so he can get to trial. That’s our job, and we’re doing our job.”
A Day in a Life
There is an 80-20 split when it comes to the male-to-female population inside the county jail, a facility located only a couple of miles from the Belmont Correctional Institution (BeCI), a state prison for convicted men operated by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Most of the jail’s residents have been charged with crimes like domestic violence, drug trafficking, OVI, robbery, assault, rape, theft, and child abuse, but Jail Administrator Chief Chris Baker hasn’t seen a lot of alleged murderers since he took over for Stan Galownia in late 2022.
“I know that this jail has had people charged with murder before, but I have not during my tenure here,” said Baker, who was one of three deputies who traveled to Hawaii for Griffin’s return trip to Belmont County. “I used to work on ‘Death Row’ when I was with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections in Mansfield, Ohio, so I know the type of security, elements, and concerns that you have for your staff and other inmates in this types of situations.
“It’s understandable why there’s interest in (Griffin) and in the case, and that’s because cases like his don’t come up too often, thankfully,” he said. “Our job here is to take care of the inmates and to maintain the jail, and that’s what we do every day.”
The inmates are up early each morning, they receive mail and visitors, they can purchase extras from the jail commissary, and can go outside, they eat three meals each day, and security levels for each inmate depend on an individual’s alleged crimes.
“He’s a general population, but just away from everyone for right now because of his crime categories,” Baker explained. “But they get time out of their cells, they have access to help with their medical needs, use the telephone and have visitors. (Griffin) has not filed any complaints because he’s getting everything everyone else gets.
“He’s not asked for anything extra either, and I know he’s talked with people on the telephone system we have in here,” he said. “I know his attorneys have visited him, he goes to court when he needs to go to court, and he gets on the phone from time to time to talk to family.”
Rules Are Rules
According to Ohio Revised Code Section 341, a County Sheriff in the Buckeye State is empowered as the “keeper of the County Jail,” and that’s why the 144-bed Belmont County Jail has its own section on the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office website.
It includes a link for the Jail Roster, and a plethora of information involving inmate email, USPS mailing options and what is considered unacceptable mail, inmate visits and visitation times, jail commissary accounts, bonding someone out of the jail, and how an inmate can make phone calls.
The jail staff, according to the website, consists of one jail lieutenant, four jail shift sergeants, four jail shift corporals, and 24 full-time jail shift corrections officers. The website also states there’s also staff one jail transport sergeant, four jail transport deputies who facilitate the various daily transport needs and requirements in servicing the courts and inmate needs, and two jail inmate support officers.
Security specifications, Baker explained, determine the areas of the jail where inmates are incarcerated.
“There’s a TV there. There’s a kiosk machine up there. There’s a phone up there. There’s a shower up there,” the jail administrator reported. “He is in the area he’s in because of the charges that have been filed against him. That’s standard procedure in any jail.
“The inmates interact with each other and with the staff every single day, and I make sure I ask as many as possible how they are during each day,” Baker said. “That’s a part of my job because just because someone is in a jail doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check on their well-being. My conversations are pretty straightforward with them because I want to know if they’ve got any gripes, complaints, or whatever they may need, they’ll let me know.”
