Malaika Tamu Griffin was born on May 11, 1971, in Mississippi. Little is publicly documented about her childhood or early upbringing. By the late 1990s, she had moved to Denver, Colorado, where she worked in a pharmacy and rented a room in a house. She was 28 years old in 1999.

At that time, Griffin was known to be intelligent and articulate but also privately harbored extremist views. Her diaries later revealed a deep hatred of white people, though acquaintances described her as quiet and reserved. She had no prior record of serious criminal violence, but she had accumulated a collection of weapons and survivalist literature, including The Anarchist Cookbook and The Poor Man’s James Bond, which outlined methods for creating bombs and carrying out violent attacks.

Despite working regular jobs, Griffin often expressed feelings of alienation. She had a reputation for being combative with neighbors, which would escalate into deadly violence in the spring of 1999.

On May 18, 1999, Malaika Griffin engaged in a heated argument with her neighbor, Jason Patrick Horsley, a 34-year-old carpenter. The confrontation began after Horsley placed his work tools on the sidewalk in front of Griffin’s residence. Witnesses later described Griffin as becoming enraged over what seemed to others like a minor dispute.

Shortly after the argument, Griffin returned to her apartment, retrieved a 9mm handgun equipped with a laser sight, and walked back outside. As Horsley stood near his truck, Griffin shot him point blank in the back. The bullet fatally struck Horsley, who collapsed onto the ground and died almost instantly. Griffin then ran to the home of an acquaintance, Monique Thomas, and stole Thomas’s car at gunpoint to facilitate her escape.

The car was later discovered abandoned in Iowa City, Iowa, but Griffin herself vanished. When police searched her Denver apartment, they found an alarming cache of weapons, including a 9mm carbine rifle, grenades, and a stockpile of ammunition. Also seized were her personal diaries, filled with writings expressing her hatred of white people and violent fantasies.

For six years, Griffin remained a fugitive. She was profiled repeatedly on America’s Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries, but no credible sightings were reported for years. Finally, in June 2005, after Griffin was featured again on America’s Most Wanted, authorities received a tip from co-workers at a biotech firm in El Cajon, California. Griffin had been living under the alias “Leak Griffin” and was working as a lab assistant, along with shifts at fast food restaurants and a thrift store. When confronted by the FBI, she admitted her identity without resistance.

Griffin waived extradition and was returned to Colorado to face trial. Her trial began on February 27, 2006. Prosecutors introduced evidence of premeditation, including her diary and the arsenal in her apartment. Griffin testified in her own defense, claiming she had acted out of perceived self-defense, alleging Horsley had threatened her and reached for a weapon in his truck. The jury rejected her explanation.

After seven hours of deliberation, she was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, and aggravated motor vehicle theft on March 6, 2006. Under Colorado law, the murder conviction carried a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

Griffin appealed her convictions, arguing that her trial counsel had been unlicensed in Colorado and that her diary should not have been admitted. However, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the verdict in 2009, concluding her trial had been fair and the evidence against her overwhelming.

Today, Malaika Griffin is incarcerated at the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility, serving a life sentence. Her case has been profiled on numerous true crime programs, including Snapped, Deadly Women, and Vengeance: Killer Neighbors.