In connection with the stabbing death of his mother in Florida, an adolescent who killed his father in Oklahoma but escaped punishment by claiming self-defence is now charged with first-degree murder.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd stated that Collin Griffith, 17, is currently incarcerated in the county after he is suspected of killing his mother Catherine Griffith, 39, on Sunday. The Hamptons, a 55+ community in Auburndale, some 50 miles east of Tampa, is where Griffith’s grandmother lives. This is where the killing occurred.
Judd revealed that Griffith made a 911 call on Sunday claiming that he and his mother “had a very long fight and she fell on a knife.” Judd recalls Griffith telling him that she was bleeding from the neck out.
Judd stated that upon the arrival of deputies, Griffith was seen to be “calm, cool, collected— and he had blood on him.”
The facts, according to investigators, were completely inconsistent with Griffith’s account.
“The medical examiner said it’s just not reasonable or plausible that she died the way that he said she did,” the sheriff said. “It just didn’t happen.”
Despite Griffith’s allegations of a lengthy argument between him and his mother, Judd added, the house was “neat and clean, [with] no evidence of any kind of a long fight, as he said.”
Judd added that Griffith had “zero remorse” and little urgency about his mother’s serious injuries when deputies arrived.
“He looked the deputy in the eye and said: ‘I know my rights,” Judd recalled Griffith saying. “‘I want an attorney.’”
According to the sheriff, there was a lot more to the story than simply the Florida killing, as his inquiry showed.
“As we start to peel back the layer of this onion, we find out that this is not just a singular event with Collin stabbing his mother in the neck and ultimately killing her,” Judd said. He then described the Valentine’s Day death of Griffith’s father — also allegedly at Griffith’s own hand.
“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 said. “He shot him once in the chest and once in the head, and he claimed self-defence.”
Less than a month later, according to Judd, Oklahoma authorities dropped the charges against Collin, claiming they “could not disprove Collin’s assertion of self-defence.” The 15-year-old subsequently moved home with his mother in Charlotte County, Florida.
Griffin was involuntarily confined for mental health issues within months. He allegedly threatened to “kill myself, or I’ll kill my mother by shooting or stabbing her” at this time.
After his mother withdrew his video game rights, two months later, in November 2023, Griffith was arrested for domestic abuse. According to the allegations, he “pushed her to the ground and he stomped on her.” Griffith was jailed after his plea that he was acting in self-defence was rejected.
Judd pointed out that Griffith’s grandma supposedly saw his mother being abused.
Griffith ran to his grandmother’s home in Auburndale in February 2024 following yet another fight with his mother. She didn’t feel secure around the teenager, even though she wasn’t at home when she and Griffith’s mother contacted Judd’s office about it. After being given over to family services, Griffith was meant to be reunited with his mother two days later, which coincided with the anniversary of Griffith’s murder of his father, according to Judd.
Judd added that Griffith, however, expressed his desire for it not to occur and made a second threat to murder his mother.
Even so, Griffith was reunited with his mother approximately two weeks later in March 2024.
According to Judd, things were reasonably quiet for a few months. But then things really started to go south.
Judd claimed, “After an argument about household chores, Colin runs away from his mother’s house once more and heads up to his grandmother’s house.” Once more, his grandma is absent, and Catherine Griffith informs her son that he must return home. He refuses.
Catherine Griffith drove to Auburndale the next day, arriving at about four o’clock.
“At 4:30, neighbours see Collin and his mom arguing outside,” Judd said. “Collin grabs his mother by the hair and drags her into the house.”
Catherine Griffith had died a few hours later.
“When you look at this, you see a kid,” Judd said. “When I look at him I see a psychopath. I see totally erratic behaviour 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.”
Judd stated that their office has requested that the state’s attorney’s office prosecute Griffith as an adult. Griffith is accused of first-degree murder.
The sheriff added that he has told Oklahoman prosecutors that he will provide any material that comes to light during his investigation that would implicate Griffith in the Oklahoma case.
Judd declared that he was positive that Griffith would inflict more severe harm if he were not detained.
“Now he’s killed two people and 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.”
According to Judd, Catherine’s attempt to care for her kid came at the highest cost.
“If Oklahoma had been able to act, Catherine would be alive and well today,” he said. “But because she took him in and tried to do like a mother should do and took care of him, she’s now dead.”
“Everybody that should be special to him in his life is dead when they cross him,” he added.
