Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 5 Shocking Details of 'Psychopath' Florida Teen Charged with Killing Mom

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. The Polk County grand jury indicted Colin Griffith on the charge of first-degree murder for the killing of his mother. Colin Griffith, the 17-year-old accused of murdering his mother a year after killing his father will be tried as an adult. It's just one of five new details, including Kathy Griffith's final text messages about her troubled son. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Colin Griffith is just 17, and he's accused of murdering his mom, Kathy Griffith, in Polk County, Florida, earlier this month. This case is absolutely stunning for a few reasons. First, Colin Griffith is just 17

Starting point is 00:00:46 and had started taking some college classes early. If you were to scroll through his mom's Instagram page, you would think he and his mom had a great life and a great relationship. And second, the other reason that this case just has my jaw on the floor when I read about it and think about it, Colin Griffith shot and killed his father on Valentine's Day in 2023. He was charged with murder, claimed self-defense, and the charges were later dropped. I'll have more details on that in a bit, but back to Colin's relationship with his mom and how it wasn't as happy as Instagram would lead you to believe. There was a lot going on behind the scenes in those photos. Sheriff Grady Judd said that Colin Griffith told deputies that he and his mother had had an argument.

Starting point is 00:01:29 He met the deputies outside and he was calm, cool, collected, not upset, and he had blood on him. What we found inside was this knife. This knife is 12 inches long, and of the 12 inches, eight inches of that is the blade. So he's saying that his mother fell on this knife. An eight-inch blade? That's a huge knife. The sheriff said an autopsy revealed that Collins' claim about his mom falling on the knife didn't hold water. The next morning at the medical examiner's office and the autopsy, the medical examiner said it is not reasonable or plausible that she died the way that he said she did. Just didn't happen. There were witnesses outside the mobile home that actually saw Colin drag his mother into the house by the hair on her head. Colin is about six foot and 160 pounds. I mentioned that Colin and his mom seemed

Starting point is 00:02:47 very happy on social media. They spent the 4th of July in Washington, D.C., and they went to the White House. And Kathy had even bought her son a new car when he graduated early from high school. But this case goes to show you that Instagram doesn't always show you everything. Sheriff Judd said there was a lot happening that wasn't posted on social media starting in September of last year, six months after Kathy had brought Colin to Florida to live with her after the charges were dropped against him for killing his father. You would think things would be better.

Starting point is 00:03:19 He would be really, really lucky that, hey, this was a self-defense and I'm here with mom. But six months later, six months later, guess what happened? He's Baker Acted. So it's September and he's, as he's getting out of the original Baker Act, he makes a statement that, well, I'll kill myself or I'll kill my mother by shooting or stabbing her. Charlotte County re-Baker Acts him the same exact day. They keep him three more days. The Baker Act allows someone to be held involuntarily, meaning without their consent, for up to 72 hours. It's a psychiatric hold. In November of 2023,

Starting point is 00:04:12 there was another incident with Colin and Kathy. Colin then is arrested for domestic violence on his mother. And the reason he battered his mother is because she was disciplining him and took his video game privileges away, so he beat up his mother. He pushed her to the ground, and he stomped on her. The grandmother was there and witnessed this. Colin said, it was self-defense. She made me do it. The grandmother said, no, no, no.

Starting point is 00:04:54 Your mother did not provoke this at all. You simply were being disciplined and made to give up your game because of failure to carry out what you should, empty the garbage, wash the dishes, whatever they gave him to do. He claimed self-defense when he stomped his mama, but he went to jail anyway. There are a lot of cases that go to show you that you might need a really good lawyer. This is one of them. Paul Berggren was the lawyer who could get you out of any sticky situation. Caught selling pirated videos like Queen Latifah? Caught stabbing your spouse nine times with a steak knife? Better call Paul. We see lawyers like this in The Sopranos or Breaking Bad,

Starting point is 00:05:40 but what happens when those fictional lawyers exist in the real world? Paul Bergeron was a master lawyer who knew the system inside and out. But when an FBI agent finds traces of Bergeron's involvement in a massive drug ring, questions start to arise about how Paul achieved his dominance. In Wondery's true crime podcast, Criminal Attorney, host Jinx Jenkins will tell you the true story of how Paul Bergeron went from representing others in court to representing himself. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can listen to Criminal Attorney early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Sheriff Judd said there was also an incident this past February.

Starting point is 00:06:22 He has an argument with his mother, and he runs away from Charlotte County and comes back to Auburndale to his grandmother's house. Now his grandmother's not there and we got involved in this on the 12th of February and the mother said and the grandmother said hey we don't feel safe with him around so our deputies who found him up here as a missing persons reported in Charlotte County turned him over to DCF two days later on the 14th of February the anniversary of him killing his dad a year ago

Starting point is 00:07:12 he's reunited with his mother by DCF Colin made the statement that I don't want to go home I'll use any force necessary to avoid it, to include killing my mother. So that's the second time he threatened to kill his mother. Two weeks later, so they didn't make him go home on the 14th, but about two weeks later in March of 2024,

Starting point is 00:07:43 they reunite Colin with his mother again. Everybody's calmed down. Kathy Griffith died on September 8th. It was a Sunday night. She had gone to Polk County from Charlotte County to try to get Colin to come home. One of her neighbors actually shared text messages that she had exchanged with Kathy with Fox 4 News. The text from Kathy says, Please do not let Colin or police into my home. I'm not opening my door. And according to my

Starting point is 00:08:09 attorney, they have no authority to make me speak with them or to come into my house. Please don't come down and try to come in because they will try to follow you in if you unlock my door. I'm fine and safe. Colin just hates me and I'm tired of this crap. The neighbor responded, where are you and how am I going to stop him? Kathy responded, don't give them the keys. I'm home in my room. Another text shows Kathy saying she placed a bookshelf on a wall and cleared out Colin's room and that she was exhausted reading a book and sleeping. Then there was another text from the morning that Kathy died. It reads, if Colin texts you again, please tell him he needs to come home. He's violating his probation,

Starting point is 00:08:51 which he was supposed to be off of on October 6, 2024, but now he will never be because I'm meeting his probation officer Monday morning if he doesn't come home today by 10 a.m. He knows the time deadline and he's choosing to skip it and hide at my mom's house in Polk County, which is also a violation. Kathy then texted that she was going to drive to get him and if Colin didn't get in the car, then Polk County could deal with him. Well, now Polk County is dealing with him. Later that day, Sheriff Judd said Colin Griffith murdered his mom. Mom drives up here to Auburndale from Charlotte County. She arrives at 4 o'clock. At about 4.30, witnesses and neighbors see Colin and mom arguing outside,

Starting point is 00:09:40 and Colin grabs his mother by the hair and drags her into the house. Just about two hours later, that's when we receive a 911 call where Colin said, I've had a very, very long fight with mom and she fell on a knife and she's bleeding from the neck. When you look at this, you see a kid. When I look at him, you see a kid. When I look at him, I see a psychopath. The state attorney has announced that Colin will be tried as an adult. I made the decision to charge this 17-year-old as an adult based upon the egregious facts and circumstances of this case. Charging a minor as an adult is not a decision that I take lightly, but as state attorney, it is my responsibility to do so when warranted. Charging a minor as an adult is not a decision that I take lightly,

Starting point is 00:10:25 but as state attorney it is my responsibility to do so when warranted. There have been many questions regarding an incident from Oklahoma last year where Colin Griffith killed his father. While I have been informed that charges were not brought in that case, Polk County law enforcement continues to work with the authorities in Oklahoma to be sure they are provided all relevant information Polk County law enforcement continues to work with the authorities in Oklahoma to

Starting point is 00:10:45 be sure they are provided all relevant information and evidence that will allow them to continue to evaluate their case as they deem necessary. The Polk County Florida murder charge will now move on to an arraignment. My prosecutors and the deputies from the Polk County Sheriff's Office will continue to work together to pursue justice in this case. Now remember, this isn't Colin Griffith's first rodeo. He was charged with murdering his father on Valentine's Day in Oklahoma when he was 15. The affidavit said Colin called 911 at 1 p.m.,

Starting point is 00:11:17 reporting that he had shot his father, Charles Robert Griffith. The defendant stated there had been an argument and Charles had pulled a knife on him and chased him through the house. The defendant stated he had been cornered in the bedroom by his father, where he picked up a gun and shot Charles twice. The part about the argument is similar to what happened with Kathy Griffith. This affidavit from Oklahoma continues. While investigating the crime scene, there were inconsistencies with the evidence on the scene and the story initially given to dispatch by the defendant. Your affiant went to the sheriff's department to interview the defendant on the discrepancies at the scene. At that time,

Starting point is 00:11:54 the defendant invoked his Fifth Amendment right to counsel. The affidavit says Charles was shot once in the head and once in the chest. The prosecutor dropped the murder charge against Colin when it was decided they couldn't disprove his claim of self-defense. Kathy Griffith then took Colin to live with her in Florida after posting his bail. The Daily Mail obtained court documents that showed a custody dispute between Kathy and Charles, with each claiming the other was mentally unstable and shouldn't be around Colin. The dispute dated back to 2020. The Griffiths were divorcing at the time. Charles claimed Colin didn't want to see his mother because she was mentally unstable and abused drugs and had texted him a handwritten suicide note. The website also

Starting point is 00:12:36 reported that Catherine claimed Charles was emotionally abusive. The custody case ended, of course, after Charles was killed in February of 2023. With me is Josh Ritter. He's a former prosecutor, a defense attorney, and the host of Courtroom Confidential on YouTube. Josh, your thoughts on Colin Griffith being charged as an adult? I don't have a problem with it whatsoever because we now have a person who's demonstrated how violent that they are and that they really are not amenable to any kind of help. I mean, when you've got one dead body in your past as a juvenile, and it looks like that was more of an idea of prosecutors didn't quite know if they had enough to charge him given his claims of self-defense. But now he takes the life of his mother. The prosecutors and investigators in this case talked about how they felt like if he was not stopped now,

Starting point is 00:13:34 he might hurt somebody else again. And I tend to agree with that. I think it's always wise for prosecutors to use a lot of discretion when you are dealing with somebody who's a minor, under the age of 18. But I think they've absolutely applied the law correctly here in trying him as an adult. To me, when I first heard about this case, and still, you know, my jaw just kind of drops because you have somebody, a 17-year-old kid, and, you know, I interviewed a forensic psychiatrist who called this the Facebook fallacy. He and his mom look great on Facebook. Everything looked happy on her Instagram page.

Starting point is 00:14:10 But there was a lot of really bad stuff going on behind the scenes. And this is a mom who seemed to be trying to do everything right and to help her son and to support him. And then we have the sheriff saying neighbors, which is another confounding fact to me, witness him dragging her into the house by her hair. They hear her screaming. Why nobody called for help, I will never understand. But there is a lot of really dark stuff going on with this case. It sounds like an absolute nightmare. This woman was living in fear for her life. I mean,

Starting point is 00:14:45 remember, too, he had threatened to kill her at two previous occasions that we know of, not to mention, like you said, the violence that neighbors had witnessed. So here's this woman who her own son, by the way, trying to do the right thing, realizing that if anyone is able to help him and give him care, it's her. But she's the one who's probably in most fear of him, and rightfully so, now that we have the results. It makes you wonder what is a person expected to do in this position when authorities, if she came forward with these threats and her fear, they would likely say, well, the only appropriate place for him is in the home because he hasn't really committed a crime that they are able to prosecute.

Starting point is 00:15:28 It's really a nightmare. The prosecutors in Oklahoma at this point say they don't have enough to basically look back at the other case involving Charles Griffith, Colin's dad, who he admits to shooting and killing but says it was in self-defense in February of 2023 on Valentine's Day, for goodness sakes. What is it going to take? Because to me, Colin Griffith is innocent until proven guilty, as any defendant is. But does lightning really strike twice, Josh? I mean, come on. This sounds crazy to me that we have somebody who was probably

Starting point is 00:16:08 15 at the time accused of killing his father in Oklahoma. The cops say they can't and the prosecutor says they can't disprove his claims of self-defense. And now a year and a half later, he's accused of killing mom. No, you're absolutely right. I hope there is a prosecutor who takes another hard look at that case because you're right. What are the chances that a young man like this would have two incredible acts of violence, which by the way, he's claiming self-defense in this case as well. So he's learned that that worked for him prior with his father. And now he's trying to use that same defense here. And you would hope that the prosecutors would take another hard look at it to see if there's any way that they might be able to resurrect those charges. And even if they don't,

Starting point is 00:16:55 you would hope that they would use it as evidence in this case of prior bad acts to further corroborate that this was an intentional homicide. I now want you to put your defense attorney hat on. How do you defend Colin Griffith? It sounds like he probably was diagnosed with a personality disorder based on some of the reporting in this case in the past. But just because you have a personality disorder doesn't mean you get a free pass for killing your mom. No, you're absolutely right. It's going to be a very difficult case, but I think you've identified what the defense is probably going to try to focus on most. And that is to lean into this mental health defense and say, listen, this is a troubled young man. He didn't know quite, you know, he didn't have the tools to quite deal with the stresses

Starting point is 00:17:42 and difficulties he had in life. You cannot blame his undeveloped brain. You can see how these arguments would go on and on. Again, I'm being pressed because you're making me wear my defense attorney hat. I don't know how many of these will carry the day, but I think that that's probably the best chance that they have. One thing that strikes me about this is the fact that Colin Griffith, in both instances, as is his right, asked for counsel right away. He lawyered up right away. 15-year-old kid in Oklahoma accused of killing his dad asks for counsel after calling 911. He does the same thing after calling 911 and reporting that mom fell on the knife. That was his claim in the 911 call. Wow. I mean, a 15-year-old kid knows to ask for a lawyer. And then obviously,

Starting point is 00:18:33 again, at 17, knows to ask for a lawyer. What does that say to you? And the way that they describe it too is just chilling about how calm and collected he was. He wasn't bothered by the fact that his mother's now dead at his feet, at his own hands. Instead, he looks the responding officer square in the eye and says, I want my lawyer. That to me says that as much as the defense may try to say that this was a young man suffering from some sort of mental breakdown, it doesn't demonstrate to me a person who does not understand the ramifications of their actions and how to protect themselves. So he knew at that time what he had done was wrong. And that is really playing into our definition of what is legal insanity is

Starting point is 00:19:18 somebody who can't appreciate the consequences of their actions. This is someone who obviously has demonstrated that they understand exactly how to protect themselves. Well, it is a stunning case and it's going to work its way through the courts down there in Polk County, Florida. We are certainly going to keep an eye on it because I think there's still a lot more to come out. We've already learned a great deal about the dynamic and what was going on between he and his mother in the months leading up to her death. But I think we'll learn a lot more. What do you say about that? I think so, too.

Starting point is 00:19:52 There's got to be more to this. You know, the grandmother, I think, was also a person that he had very involved in his life. I think we're going to hear a lot more about this because it's just, like I said, a nightmarish case. Definitely. Josh Ritter, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 5 Shocking Details of 'Psychopath' Florida Teen Charged with Killing Mom

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 5 Shocking Details of 'Psychopath' Florida Teen Charged with Killing Mom

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