Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 'Psychopath' Florida Teen Murdered His Mom a Year After Killing Dad: Sheriff

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. A cold-blooded murder of a 39-year-old mother by her 17-year-old son. And if that wasn't shocking enough, a teenager accused of murdering his mom, the sheriff says he also killed his father. When you look at this, you see a kid. When I look at him, I see a psychopath. I have the chilling details from the murder of Kathy Griffith and the arrest of her son, Colin Griffith, for the crime. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

Starting point is 00:00:42 Just when you think you've heard it all, a case like Colin Griffith's comes up and it literally, it's had my jaw on the floor for hours now. I've been going through the case and it's absolutely unbelievable. Colin is a 17-year-old who was starting college early. His mom, Kathy Griffith, had posted photos on Instagram just last month bragging about that major accomplishment. She said Colin had already earned 18 college credits. That's no small feat. Colin and his mom, they look really happy in the photos. She even bought him a new car for graduation. Kathy Griffith was very proud of her son. She bragged about him on Instagram all of the time. Just last month, she posted a photo

Starting point is 00:01:21 of him and talked about how he was going to college. That was on August 20th. Then Sunday night in Polk County, Florida, which is in between Tampa and Orlando, the sheriff says they got a 911 call from Colin. Here's Sheriff Grady Judd. It all started on September the 8th, which was this last Sunday, when we got a 911 call from Colin Griffith, who's 17 years of age. And here's what he said. He said he and his mother had a very long fight and she fell on a knife and killed herself. And she's bleeding from the neck. He didn't say she killed herself, She said he's bleeding from the neck. The death of Kathy Griffith is an absolute tragedy,

Starting point is 00:02:07 but I'm able to tell you about it here on Crime Fix because of sponsors like Morgan & Morgan. Morgan & Morgan is a law firm that can help you if you are ever hurt in an accident. The firm has more than 1,000 lawyers working, and they're ready to fight for you and to stick up for your rights. Starting a claim is easy, and it can be done in eight clicks or less, all just using your cell phone. And you only pay Morgan & Morgan if you win. You can't beat that. So give it a try.

Starting point is 00:02:32 Log on to ForThePeople.com slash LC Crime Fix to start your claim in eight clicks or less. The sheriff says the 911 call takers tried to help Colin. Of course they did. Telling him what to do to try to help save his mom's life. Then deputies arrived. 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. That is a huge, huge knife. Of course, the medical examiner performed an autopsy on Kathy Griffith. This is what the sheriff said the ME found. she died the way that he said she did. Just didn't happen.

Starting point is 00:03:45 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. Can you imagine? Neighbors told deputies they saw Colin dragging his mom into the house by her hair. That's terrifying. And the sheriff said that Colin told the 911 call takers that they had had a long fight. Sheriff Judd said that Colin Griffith had moved to Florida with his mom in March of last year. This was a month after Colin had been charged with murdering his father, Charles, in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Colin said that his dad pulled a knife on him, and he shot and killed his dad. That's right. His father was named Charles. He shot him once in the chest and once in the head and he claimed self-defense. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations

Starting point is 00:04:53 charged Colin with murder in the first degree. They dropped the charges less than a month later. They said they could not disprove Colin's assertion of self-defense. So he was released. So the charges were dropped against Colin in Oklahoma, and he moves to Florida to live with his mom in Charlotte County in March of last year. Charlotte County is about two hours south of Colin's grandma's house in Polk County. You would think things would be better. He would be really, really lucky that, hey, this was a self-defense and I'm here with mom.

Starting point is 00:05:47 But six months later, six months later, guess what happened? He's Baker Acted, so it's September, and 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 Act seemed the same exact day. They keep him three more days. The Baker Act allows a person to be held for 72 hours for a mental health evaluation. Now fast forward to November of 2023. 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

Starting point is 00:06:47 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. 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. Judd emptied the garbage, washed the dishes, whatever they gave him to do. He claimed self-defense when he stomped his mama, but he went to jail anyway. So this is November of 2023, and Sheriff Judd says Colin went to jail for what he did to his mom then. Then in February of this year, Sheriff Judd said his office got a call about Colin Griffith. He has an argument with his mother and he runs away from Charlotte

Starting point is 00:07:48 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 he's reunited with his mother

Starting point is 00:08:34 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 2024, they reunite Colin with his mother again. Everybody's calmed down.

Starting point is 00:09:07 So that's March of this year. And in May, Colin graduated from high school. His mom was really proud of him, as most moms would be. She was posting photos on Instagram of him in his cap and gown. And as I mentioned earlier, she actually bought him a car as a gift. Colin even received letters from members of Congress congratulating him about graduating from high school. And photos on that Instagram showed that they spent the Fourth of July holiday weekend in Washington, D.C., and even went on a tour of the

Starting point is 00:09:36 White House. Then on September 6th, Sheriff Judd said Kathy Griffith and Colin had an argument, and he took off for his grandma's house in Polk County. He flees from his mother's house again and comes up to his grandmother's house. Grandmother's not there. She's in the Keys. So then mom lets the event calm down and she tells her son, hey, you need to come home. And she asks him to come home and faces responsibility. Colin says, I'm not coming back home. That was September the 7th.

Starting point is 00:10:17 So now we're to the fateful day on September 8th. Mom drives up here to Auburndale fromlotte county she arrives at four o'clock at about 4 30 witnesses and neighbors see colin and mom arguing outside 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. The sheriff says witnesses heard Kathy Griffith telling her son, let me go. Colin Griffith is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and violation of a no-contact order. Sheriff Judd talked about what Colin Griffith said

Starting point is 00:11:12 when deputies arrived at his grandmother's house following his 911 call. Had he gone to live with his grandmother at the end of this and she crossed him, would be next he's violent he's dangerous he showed zero remorse zero remorse when he was being interviewed in fact when we attempted the interview. He met the original deputy in the front yard. And he didn't say, Mom's in here. Mom's bleeding to death. Mom needs help. He looked the deputy in the eye and says, I know my rights. I want an attorney.

Starting point is 00:11:58 Zero emotion about hurry up, help mom. She's bleeding. She's got a problem. He is a dangerous human being. Sadly, a day before Kathy Griffith died, she posted on Instagram, that old familiar body ache, the snaps from the same little breaks in your soul. You know when it's time to go. Sometimes giving up is the strong thing. Now, of course, we don't know if that post had anything to do with her son, and we may never know. But this wasn't like her other posts, which were incredibly upbeat.

Starting point is 00:12:30 Sheriff Judd summed up his thoughts on the case this way. When you look at this, you see a kid. When I look at him, I see a psychopath. I see totally erratic behavior to the point that he's already at 17 years of age shot and killed his father and got away with it and stabbed his mother in the neck so hard that the knife went all the way through and was to the back of her neck. And she died there. He's being charged with first-degree murder, obviously, and we're asking the state attorney's office, it's their decision, but our state attorney's office is the greatest to prosecute him as an adult.

Starting point is 00:13:22 And Sheriff Judd said he's actually been in touch with the sheriff's office in Oklahoma, telling them they may want to take a second look at the death of Colin's father. Dr. Daniel Bober is a forensic psychiatrist, and he really specializes in issues with kids. I am confounded by this case, Dr. Bober. Yes, it's really disturbing. And when you consider the fact that he had a similar event with his father just on bail, GPS bracelet, the whole nine yards. They determine out there that they can't prove that he didn't act in self-defense and killing his father. She takes him in. And then somewhere along the way, he is put into the hospital under the Baker Act. So mom obviously knew her son was having some issues. We don't really have any insight into what those issues are at this point. But we do know that he was accused of some

Starting point is 00:14:33 acts of violence against her, had been seen, you know, grabbing her, pulling her hair, things of that nature. This is really terrifying stuff. You know, it's something I see all the time. I see parents. Really? I do. I see parents all the time with kids who are very aggressive and violent towards them. But, you know, maternal instincts are very strong and they want to believe in them. And they would literally lay down their life to protect their child.

Starting point is 00:15:01 And that even means to their own detriment. So this is not so hard to believe for me. But if you look at this young man and you look at his history of violence, I mean, the greatest risk factor is his prior history of violence. But we don't know more than that. We don't know if he was diagnosed with any number of mental disorders, if he was using substances, if he had a history of trauma. The sheriff referred to him as a psychopath, but I think it's more complicated. It's more nuanced than that. You know, psychopaths are people who are cold.

Starting point is 00:15:33 They lack empathy. They manipulate people. It's not a formal diagnosis in what we call the DSM-5. Someone who is 17 years old might have a diagnosis of what we call conduct disorder, where they violate societal norms. And then when they turn 18, it becomes antisocial personality disorder. But I think there's still a lot of very significant unanswered questions here. A lot of questions.

Starting point is 00:15:56 I mean, we don't know if he was receiving medication. I mean, we do know, though, that he was placed in the hospital under the Baker Act. So mom knew obviously something was going in the hospital under the Baker Act. So mom knew, obviously, something was going on. And I'm a mom. I mean, you want to do everything you can to help your kids. And I don't think that we are naturally equipped to deal with mental health issues. And whatever was going on with him, we really don't know what was going on in his mind. But I went on mom's social media, Kathy Griffith's social media. And it's just amazing to me. We have the mugshot and the picture of this knife that he claims his mother fell on. And then we have all of these photos

Starting point is 00:16:41 that I found on social media. They spent the July 4th weekend in Washington, D.C. They went to a tour of the White House. He graduated early and was headed to college early. He went into college with 18 credits already under his belt. So he's a smart kid. He has to have some level of intelligence. She even bought him a brand new car for graduating early. So mom is trying to, I mean, everything looks happy on social media. This is like the

Starting point is 00:17:12 danger of social media too. Everything looks good on social media. Things were not good. The Facebook fallacy. People always portray their best life on Facebook, but so many people we know are suffering. And that's just not the reality. This is someone who obviously has trouble regulating themselves, managing their emotions, and can act out aggressively. It seems like in both these situations, it probably wasn't something that he planned out, although we don't know that for sure. But it seems like he is someone that goes from zero to 100 in just a second and just boils over. So I would be curious to know what his mental health history is. The sheriff said that, you know, he had become angry. And I guess every parent can relate to this. Mom took away his video games at one point. I mean, they argued about chores. These are things

Starting point is 00:18:05 that are pretty common that parents and kids argue about. So you talk about the boiling over. I mean, these are normal everyday things that parents squabble with their kids about and tell them, get off the video games. I mean, it's unbelievable to me. And then the stuff with dad out in another state killing dad and being told, oh, well, we don't have the evidence to prove that it wasn't self-defense. Do you think they go back and look at that case again? I mean, if they didn't have the evidence to say it wasn't self-defense, then could they get any evidence now that it that it wasn't self-defense then, could they get any evidence now that it wasn't? It's unbelievable to me. You know, it's very difficult. I mean, they might have to take a second look at that first case. But, you know, I admitted a kid in the emergency room yesterday who, again, had a history of bipolar disorder, was 17 years old, destroyed the house, trashed the house. Mom brought him in because she was afraid of him. And he is now hospitalized under the Baker Act. So I get this. I see this all the time. But for some kids, there just isn't that ceiling. They will attack their parents. They will kill their parents will take them back because those instincts to protect the child are very strong,

Starting point is 00:19:26 even if you have to put yourself in harm's way. And it's very frustrating as a mental health professional to see parents who do that, who are literally willing to put their life at risk. But it's something I see all the time. A lot of people might not be familiar with the Baker Act, but it allows for like a temporary hospitalization of somebody with mental health issues. So how long can somebody be held under the Baker Act? And do the hospital officials then just determine, OK, we've been able to stabilize this person in this way. So they're going to be released now. How does that work? So the Baker Act is an involuntary 72-hour hold. If at the time of the expiration of the Baker Act, we as mental health professionals determine that the patient is not stable, we can then petition the court by getting the opinion of a second psychiatrist for more time. And very often that is the case. And a case like this is probably one that where that would occur. Wow. So he's 72 hours involuntary hold, then he's back out, presumably going to school. I mean, how does a kid who apparently has been

Starting point is 00:20:34 hospitalized under the Baker Act, then go and he's apparently graduating early from high school with 18 credits under his belt? It's confounding to me because obviously he's got some level of intelligence. Yes, he does. But, you know, emotional regulation and intelligence aren't necessarily correlated. I meet very, very intelligent kids who have multiple hospitalizations. You know, they've trashed the house. They beat up their parents. They've attacked other kids at school.

Starting point is 00:21:03 But they have very high IQs. So one doesn't necessarily correlate with the other. How common is it for kids to be beating up their parents or becoming violent with their parents? Because this is a kid who was charged with this last year. So this is somebody who has a history, according to law enforcement, of being violent with his mom. Again, I think we have to look at what were the precipitating factors, what were the triggers. We see violence in kids for any number of reasons. It could be because maybe they smoked cannabis. It could be because they have a history of bipolar disorder. They could be antisocial. There's any number of reasons that could contribute to violence,

Starting point is 00:21:43 but we know that the best predictor of violence is a past history of violence. Well, the police say there's a past history of violence here, and it came in the form of killing dad in 2023 on Valentine's Day. So this is amazing to me. It still leaves me shaking my head because you kill dad, according to law enforcement, in one year, and then 18 months later, you're accused of killing your mom. It's unbelievable to me. Have you ever seen anything like that, Dr. Bober? I have not. And you would think that after the first crime, which I guess the charges were dismissed, so he wasn't convicted of that crime after the first event, I should he wasn't convicted of that crime after the first event, I should say, you would think that there would have been better safeguards in place

Starting point is 00:22:29 to prevent this from happening again. And it's really just a tragedy. It is a tragedy. Well, and it's unbelievable. Dr. Bober, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it. My pleasure. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ian Jeanette 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 - 'Psychopath' Florida Teen Murdered His Mom a Year After Killing Dad: Sheriff

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 'Psychopath' Florida Teen Murdered His Mom a Year After Killing Dad: Sheriff

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