Catherine Griffith, 39, was discovered by police stabbed all the way through the back of her neck in Florida after her son called 911.
The 17-year-old said they had a fight, and his mother accidentally “fell on a knife” and died. Before too long, deputies learned this was not his first victim. Less than two years before, he fatally shot his father in Oklahoma — once in the head and once in the neck — and walked away scot-free from murder charges, claiming self-defense.
This time, he’s in custody at Polk County Jail, being held on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and violation of a no-contact order. Brian Haas, State Attorney for the Tenth Judicial Court of Florida, is now considering prosecuting him as an adult.
“It’s important to understand, when you look at this, you see a kid,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd during a recent press conference , holding up a photo of the bespectacled teen. “When I look at him, I see a psychopath.”
The 911 call came on Sept. 8 from the suspect’s grandmother’s house in The Hamptons Golf & Country Club, a 55-and-over mobile home community an hour away from Orlando. The teen said his mother fell on a knife after they had a long fight and was bleeding from her neck.