A teenage American shot his father last year and got away with it. Now he is accused of stabbing his mother

Seventeen-year-old Collin Griffith repeatedly threatened to kill his mother, 39-year-old Catherine Griffith, and witnesses also saw him attack her before she was later found dead, according to investigators. Detectives called it a “cold-blooded murder.” “Witnesses saw Collin grab his mother by the hair and drag her inside,” local Sheriff Grady Judd told ABC. The couple had an argument on Sunday in the city of Auburndale.

Griffith then called 911 to say that his mother had “fallen on a knife” and was bleeding from the neck. When the police arrived, the young man was said to be completely calm. “I know my rights, I want a lawyer,” he said, according to investigators.

Inside the trailer, detectives found a bloody knife with a roughly twenty-centimeter blade. After Monday’s autopsy, the pathologist concluded that the deep wound in the woman’s neck could not have been caused by an accidental fall, as her son claimed. Collin Griffith was charged with first degree murder and is now in custody awaiting trial. The police have already demanded that the teenager be tried as an adult. “When you look at him, you see a boy. I see a psychopath,” Judd declared.

Griffith threatened his mother repeatedly and last November he was even arrested for domestic violence when he assaulted her. “As part of her upbringing, she forbade him to play video games, so he beat his mother. He pulled her to the ground and stomped on her,” Judd said.

A few days before the fatal stabbing, the young man had another argument with his mother over housework – that’s when the teenager went to live in a trailer with his grandmother. It was there that his mother later came to pick him up, and that’s also where the fatal argument took place.

From the posts on social networks, it might seem that Catherine Griffithová has a very good relationship with her son. Just a few days before her death, she published a joint photo in which they are both smiling, the British newspaper Daily Mail wrote. “As a 30-something, I’ve learned some of life’s hardest lessons, but I swear my 39th year will be the year I live life to the fullest,” she wrote in one of her latest posts. According to the letter, these contributions revealed, among other things, that the mother had bought her teenage son a Volkswagen Jetta as a gift.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Collin Griffith was arrested last January when he shot his father Charles Griffith in their then home in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Even then, the young man called the emergency line and claimed that he shot his father twice with a rifle in self-defense, when his parent was chasing him with a knife in his hand. His mother allegedly paid the bail for him at the time.

“At the beginning of the interview, he asked for a lawyer and the interview was terminated, so the only version of events we could get was what Collin said when he called 911, which was consistent with the evidence we found at the scene,” said the source. prosecutor Adam Panter to the ABC station.

“Ultimately, after evaluating all the evidence and possible theories, it was decided that we could not rule out self-defense, and as a result, we declined to file any formal charges,” he added, adding that if new facts now come to light, detectives could reopen this case as well. .

After his father was shot in Oklahoma, Griffith went to live with his mother in Florida. According to the investigators, the young man in the new home was under regular supervision of the police department that works with youth. After his current accusation, several state authorities in Florida and Oklahoma are dealing with the case. “My question is, could we have done more,” said Sheriff Judd.