Teen charged with stabbing mom will be tried as adult
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A seventeen-year-old boy charged with stabbing his mother to death in Polk County is now being tried as an adult. More than a year earlier, he was also accused of killing his father in Oklahoma. Collin Griffith made his first court appearance Friday afternoon on charges of first degree murder and kidnapping. Eric Reyes says he became Catherine Griffith's attorney in November of last year when her son, Collin, was charged with domestic battery against her. The incident happened in their Port Charlotte home.
"Catherine did everything for him," said Reyes. "She helped him with school. Tutored him. He had a high school degree, a car, and a job. He had a life.
Her love is undying and unfortunately in this case, it caused her death. " A Polk County Grand Jury indicted the teenager on a charge of first degree murder after deputies say he killed Catherine in his grandmother's home in Auburndale last week. Investigators say Collin called 911 for help around 6 PM after saying he and his mother had gotten into a fight. He claimed his mother lunged at him with a knife and then fell on it which caused a deep stab wound to her neck. However, Sheriff Grady Judd said that couldn't have happened.