The Polk County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday that a teenager has been charged in the murder of his mother.
Collin Griffith, 17, was charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and violation of a no-contact order.
Griffith called 911 on Sunday and claimed that during an argument, his mother had lunged at him with a knife and fell on the knife.
When first responders arrived at the scene, his mother, 39-year-old Catherine Griffith, was discovered and pronounced dead.
According to witnesses, there was a verbal altercation between Collin and his mother outside of a home. They witnessed Collin grab his mother by the hair and drag her inside the home. According to the witnesses, Catherine pleaded with Collin to “let me go.”
A medical examination determined that the deep stab wound was inconsistent with an accidental injury.
This is not Collin’s first time being accused of committing a crime.
Collin’s grandmother revealed that Collin had been arrested in the shooting death of his father in Oklahoma in Feb. 2023.
Collin was charged with the incident with his father, but the charges were dropped. In Nov. 2023, Collin was charged in Charlotte County with domestic violence battery against his mother.