Christopher Lovrien: Defendant in 1999 Oregon murder case pleads guilty and expresses frustration with legal process

MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OREGON: Christopher Lovrien, the accused in the 1999 death of an Oregon man, entered a guilty plea for the killing.

While he apologized during the court proceedings, he reportedly claimed that he would have won his manslaughter case if he could afford a private lawyer.

“As far as the court is concerned I’m 100% in protest of this entire situation,” Christopher Lovrien, 56, said on Friday, January 12, in a Multnomah County courtroom. “The court can go to hell.”

When did the crime take place?

Lovrien, who is also the suspected killer in an ongoing recent murder case, will spend two decades in prison with time served for manslaughter.

According to prosecutors, Christopher Lovrien is accused of killing Mark Dribin in 1999, last seen alive on July 1 of that year.

Lovrien allegedly claimed that, as a meth dealer, he encountered Dribin at an adult bookstore in the early morning of July 4, 1999.

What did the investigators find?

Dribin invited him home but started to come onto him in his sleep, he said.

Despite the discovery of a large kitchen knife and evidence of cleaned-up blood, the investigation into the case remained unsolved for approximately two decades.

Notably, Mark Dribin's Ford Explorer was found abandoned in a rehab clinic parking lot adjacent to Christopher Lovrien's residence at that time.

How did the investigators solve the case?

Investigators said they solved the case in recent years after performing genetic genealogy to link DNA evidence to the defendant’s family.

They spoke to Lovrien at a pub, where he denied knowing Dribin, but they got his DNA from a glass and confirmed the match.

The defendant allegedly stated that he buried the body at Larch Mountain, near Portland, but did not provide an exact location.

Authorities have not yet located Dribin's body, leaving Lovrien to confront an unrelated homicide case.. 

On November 18, 2019, he met with Portland detectives to discuss the Dribin case. Several months later, on February 2, 2020, another individual, Kenneth Griffin, 53, was reported missing.

Allegations about Lovrien's involvement in Griffin's disappearance emerged while he was already in jail for Dribin's death, as stated in a prosecutors' memo.

The defendant instructed his brother not to look in the shed. “There’s more to this than has been revealed and it’s bad,” he allegedly said according to The Oregonian. “I’ve got Satan in me.”

Why did Lovrien kill Griffin?

Subsequently, his defense lawyer reportedly allowed law enforcement to enter the shed, warning them to bring hazmat gear. Upon entry, they discovered Griffin's body dismembered and stored in three plastic bins.

According to reports, Lovrien informed a grand jury that he killed Griffin in self-defense at his home, claiming that Griffin had attempted to steal his credit cards.

He stated that he shot Griffin in the chest with a crossbow and, after reloading, again in the head with another arrow, as per reports.

Lovrien, who dismissed his attorney, is scheduled to face a murder trial set to commence in April, as reported by the Oregonian.