Florida police are shocked when a 17-year-old son kills his mother a year after murdering his father and escaping charges.
“Psychopath” teenage son kills mother
Collin Griffith was taken into police custody after reportedly murdering his 39-year-old mother, Catherine Griffith, on Sunday.
On Wednesday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced that the elder Griffin had been killed at a retirement community in Auburndale, where the boy’s grandmother lives.
Judd said Collin was the one who called 911 to report that he and his mother had a drawn out argument and she accidentally “fell on a knife,” which caused her to bleed from the neck.
Judd noted that Collin was covered in blood, but “calm, cool,” and “collected,” when officers responded to the call and found his mother dead.
The teenager displayed “zero remorse” for his mother’s injuries and told the deputy “I know my rights. I want an attorney.”
They were quickly able to determine that Collin’s account of how his mother was stabbed wasn’t truthful.
“The medical examiner confirmed it’s not feasible that she died in the manner he described,” Judd explained. “It didn’t happen that way.”
Despite his assertion that there had been a lengthy fight between the pair, the residence remained “neat and clean,” without any indication of a struggle.
Son kills mother and father
When investigator’s dug into Collin’s past, they discovered that not only had he allegedly stabbed his mother to death, he had also killed his father last year.
“On Feb. 14, 2023, Valentine’s Day, in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, Collin said his dad pulled a knife on him and he shot and killed his dad,” Judd told reporters during a press conference.
“He shot him once in the chest and once in the head, and he claimed self-defense.”
While he was initially charged for the murder, Oklahoma law enforcement was forced to drop the charges because they could not prove that Collin was lying about his self-defense claim.
Afterwards, Collin moved in with his mother in Florida, but was involuntarily committed for psychiatric treatment months later, after threatening to kill himself or his mother by “shooting or stabbing her.”
He was eventually set free, but attacked his mother by shoving her to the ground and stomping on her, after she revoked his video game privileges in November.
Collin once again claimed that he was acting in self-defense, but police didn’t believe him, and he was arrested.
In February 2024, Collin got into another altercation with his mother and ran away to his grandmother’s house in Auburndale.
After both she and his mother told the Sheriff’s department that they were afraid of the teen, he was taken into family services temporary custody.
Two days later, he was supposed to be released to his mother, but threatened to kill her because he didn’t want to go back to her home.
By March 2024, Collin was back home, and for several months the pair were able to live together without any issues.
That changed on Sept. 7, when Collin fought with his mother about chores and once again ran away to his grandmother’s house, who was not home at the time.
He refused to come back to his mother’s house, and the next day she drove to go get him at the retirement community.
Judd said that Catherine arrived at around 4:00 p.m., but 30 minutes later, neighbors witnessed the pair arguing outside. Shortly after, Collin grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the house. That was the last time anyone saw her alive.
Collin was charged with first-degree murder, and the Sheriff’s office has requested that he be tried as an adult.
Sheriff believes teenager is a “psychopath”
Judd noted that while Collin appears to look just like a kid, he sees “a psychopath.”
“I see totally erratic behavior to the point that he’s already, at 17 years of age, shot and killed his father and got away with it, and stabbed his mother in the neck so hard that the knife went all the way through,” he remarked.
He’s also positive that if Collin is allowed to go free, he will be a danger to anyone he comes in contact with.
“[He] killed his mother and father, and I can assure you — beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt — based upon his conduct, had he gone to live with his grandmother at the end of this, and she crossed him, she would be next.”
“Everybody that should be special to him in his life is dead when they cross him,” he noted.
Judd plans to share any relevant information with Oklahoma prosecutors to help them build a case against him for his father’s death.
“We will hold him accountable in Polk County — we will do everything we can to keep him separated from civil society,” he added.
