Collin Griffith is a teen killer from Florida who is charged with the murder of his mother who bailed him out of jail after he allegedly murdered his father
According to police reports Collin Griffith was arrested and charged with the murder of his father a year ago after his father was fatally shot. Collin mother would bail him out of jail and later the charges would be dropped as Collin claimed it was self defense
However on Sunday Collin Griffith would call police and tell them that his mother, Catherine, had fallen on a knife. When EMS arrived at the scene they would find the woman dead with two stab wounds including one to her neck. When police began investigating neighbors would tell them that two hours prior Collin had dragged his mother out of the house by her hair
Collin Griffith has now been charged with the murder of his mother and authorities are going to revisit the death of his father.
Update – Colin Griffith was found not guilty of the murder of his mother
Collin Griffith News
Polk County deputies in Florida arrested a 17-year-old Sunday for allegedly murdering his mother.
Police said the Collin Griffith killed 39-year-old Catherine Griffith, of Port Charlotte, on Sunday evening, at a home in Auburndale.
The teen called 911 and when investigators arrived, he said that during an argument with his mother, she lunged at him with a knife and fell on it, causing a deep stab wound to her neck.
The sheriff’s office stated that when deputies questioned Collin Griffith at the scene, he then became uncooperative and requested a lawyer. Police later noted inconsistencies between his 911 call and the evidence at the scene.
Witnesses said they saw him arguing with his mother outside the home and dragging her inside by her hair, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Witnesses also reported hearing Catherine Griffith repeatedly plead with her son to “let me go.”
The sheriff’s office stated that Collin Griffith’s grandmother was not present during the stabbing, but told police about previous instances where her grandson had been physically and verbally confrontational with his mother.
Sheriff Grady Judd with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office called the defendant a “psychopath” during a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
A 2023 affidavit from by Lincoln County News in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, indicated that Collin Griffin, 15 at the time, shot and killed his father, Charles Robert Griffith, during a Valentine’s Day altercation.
Collin reported that an argument occurred between him and Charles, during which Charles allegedly pulled a knife and chased him through the house. Collin claimed that Charles trapped him in the bedroom, leading him to grab a gun and shoot Charles twice—once in the head and once in the chest.
The affidavit highlighted discrepancies between the scene’s evidence and Collin’s initial statement to dispatch. Although he was initially charged with murder, the charges in the 2023 case were dropped less than a month later, according to Judd.
Following his father’s death, the defendant moved in with his mother in Florida.
Collin Griffith remains behind bars without bail on murder charges.
Colin Griffith Found Not Guilty
A Florida teenager accused of murdering his mother was found not guilty on all charges.
Collin Griffith previously killed his father in self-defense.
In September, Catherine Griffith died from a stab wound, and her son called 911 saying she had fell on a knife.
“He has painted a picture that his mom lunged at him with a knife, tripped, and somehow fell on the knife. That’s preposterous,” the state prosecutor said.
Prior to moving in with his mother, Griffith had also killed his father in Oklahoma, which was ruled as self-defense.
Collin’s grandfather also spoke about a concerning conversation he had with Collin just months before Catherine’s death.
“He said ‘my mom, I keep thinking over and over I want to slit her throat, I want her to bleed out, I want to smell the blood’,” Catherine’s father Robert Walantas testified.
The teen’s defense team told the jury he acted in self-defense the day his mother died, and told the jury that Catherine committed “suicide by son”.
The teen’s grandmother confirmed that Catherine had numerous suicidal attempts.
Ring camera video played during the court hearing revealed that Catherine drove from Port Charlotte to Auberndale to get her son the day she died, because she was afraid of him violating his ongoing court orders.
The defense argued that Collin made it known multiple times that he will defend himself if his mother attacks him.
“He’s telling people ‘I don’t feel safe, I don’t want to go back with my mom’ and they kept making him do that,” Defense Attorney Amy Porinchak Thornhill said.
After less than 12 hours of deliberation Collin Griffith was found not guilty by the jury, on both the murder and kidnapping charges.
Friends of the family said they are unsure of where he will live once he is released.