Doujon Griffiths

Introduction

Doujon Duwayne Griffiths is a 26-year-old Florida man on trial in Orange County for the September 2021 killings of 20-year-old Massania Malcolm and her 1-year-old daughter, Jordania Reid, and for the attempted murder of Malcolm’s boyfriend, Jordane Reid. Prosecutors say Griffiths — the couple’s housemate and Reid’s childhood friend — shot the couple as they drove him to a bus stop after they told him to move out, then drove off in the car with Malcolm and her baby still inside, leaving the toddler to die in the heat. The bodies were not found for two days. After more than two years on the run, Griffiths was arrested during a traffic stop in New Jersey in March 2024, and his trial began in Orlando in late September 2026.

Background Information

Griffiths, then 21, had been crashing at the Orlando apartment of Malcolm and Jordane Reid for about a month before the killings, staying as a guest of the young couple who had known Reid since childhood; prosecutors and investigators say the arrangement grew tense because Griffiths was not contributing to household expenses, and on the morning of September 7, 2021, the couple told him he had to leave. They were driving him to a bus stop in a friend’s Volkswagen when, per investigators, he opened fire in the apartment-complex parking lot on Lake Heritage Circle. Griffiths was 23 when Linden, New Jersey, police found an outstanding Orange County first-degree murder warrant during a traffic stop in March 2024; he was extradited to Florida, denied bond, found competent to stand trial, and indicted by an Orange County grand jury.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations at trial. Griffiths is charged with two counts of murder — reported by WESH as premeditated first-degree murder and first-degree murder with a firearm — plus attempted first-degree murder. The account below is drawn from prosecutors’ filings, warrants, and trial testimony, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty; no public defense statement appears in the available reporting. The trial is ongoing before Judge Vincent Chiu.

According to warrants and testimony described in the reporting, Griffiths fired at Jordane Reid in the parking lot, wounding him several times; Reid testified he wrestled at the gun and fled as Griffiths shot at him before getting into the car where Malcolm and the baby sat, driving away with both still inside. Griffiths allegedly executed Malcolm, and left her in the car with her 1-year-old daughter; the two were not found for two days, when the abandoned car turned up in a parking lot on Lake Ellenor Drive. Family members told the New York Post the toddler had crawled to her mother and was found on top of her body, having died of the heat. Reid, barely able to speak behind a bush where a neighbor found him, underwent surgery and, intubated two days later, wrote Malcolm’s name on paper, leading police to search the apartment and trace the car by its GPS. Reid survived his wounds and testified against Griffiths at trial: “I was in panic. I was getting shot at the same time. I was just trying to escape, that’s it,” he told the court, describing how Griffiths pressed the gun against him and squeezed the trigger.

Jurors were shown photographs of the victims’ bodies; the trial drew local coverage for its disturbing evidence, including a dispute over displaying a photo of Jordania, which Judge Chiu allowed in limited form — a single identification photo showing the child’s face and shoulder. Prosecutors allege the murders followed the couple’s decision to end Griffiths’s stay at their apartment; the defense’s theory, per the available reporting, has not been detailed. Griffiths faces life in prison if convicted.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew sustained local coverage in Orlando across WESH, WFTV and FOX 35 from the 2021 discovery through the 2024 New Jersey arrest, and the trial drew national attention when the New York Post’s October 1, 2026 account of Reid’s testimony described the toddler left “to roast to death inside” the car. The victims’ families waited more than two years for an arrest; Jordania’s grandmother, Latoya Reid, described the wait for justice at the 2024 bond hearing, per FOX 35’s coverage of the family’s response. The trial has continued through the week, with jurors hearing emotional testimony from the surviving victim.

Current Status

As of October 1, 2026, Griffiths’s trial is ongoing in Orange County before Judge Vincent Chiu; he has not been convicted, and all charges — premeditated first-degree murder, first-degree murder with a firearm, and attempted first-degree murder, per WESH’s count of the charges — are unadjudicated. Reid, the key prosecution witness, has testified; the case went to a 12-person jury, with jury selection beginning in late September 2026 and the trial expected to last all week. A verdict had not been reported at the time of writing.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Aged 21 at the time of the killings, Griffiths spent the next two-plus years as a fugitive before his March 2024 arrest in Linden, New Jersey, and has been in custody in Florida since, denied bond at his first appearance and later found competent to stand trial. At 26, he now faces the possibility of life in prison on the murder counts. Malcolm, 20, and her daughter are buried; Jordane Reid survived his wounds and faced his alleged assailant from the witness stand.

Sources

• New York Post, “Florida thug killed young mom, stole her car and left her baby to roast to death inside, jury hears,” October 1, 2026 — source
• WESH 2, “Man accused of killing young mother, leaving her child in hot car in 2021 goes on trial in Orlando” — source
• Hoodline, “Orlando Man, 26, on Trial in 2021 Deaths of Mother and Baby Left in Hot Car,” September 29, 2026 — source