International Courant
A Florida mom who police say was fatally stabbed by her 17-year-old son on Sunday posted lyrics on-line taken from Taylor Swift’s music “It’s Time to Go” in a haunting ultimate message simply hours earlier than she was killed.
Catherine Griffith, 39, uploaded a picture of a distant footbridge main right into a forest captioned with the lyrics to the music the day earlier than she was killed within the vicious knife assault in Auburndale.
Witnesses say she and her son, who reportedly has a historical past of psychological well being points, had gotten into an argument outdoors his grandmother’s house. He then dragged her by the hair into the residence, and he or she might be heard pleading along with her son to “let me go,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Workplace stated.
MOTHER OF PARKLAND SCHOOL SHOOTING VICTIM PUSHES FOR BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION AFTER GEORGIA MASS SHOOTING
Catherine Griffith pictured along with her son. (Instagram @cathygriffith1985)
That’s when Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd stated at a Wednesday press convention that the 17-year-old “stabbed his mom within the neck so onerous that the knife went throughout.” Judd went on to label the teenager as a “psychopath.” The teenager advised police that he and his mom had gotten right into a bodily combat and that she fell on the knife.
The teenager has been charged with first-degree homicide, kidnapping and violation of a no-contact order. Judd is pushing for him to be tried as an grownup, however the native lawyer normal’s workplace tells Fox Information Digital that it can’t touch upon the matter till subsequent week.
The lethal incident got here 19 months after the teenager was charged with capturing his father in Oklahoma, though these fees had been later dropped.
Griffith’s publish might have prompt that she was not in place within the lead as much as her demise.
“That previous acquainted physique ache, the snaps from the identical little breaks in your soul,” the posted Taylor Swift lyrics learn. “You already know when it’s time to go … Generally, givin’ up is the sturdy factor.”
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is pushing for Griffith to be tried as an grownup, he stated at a Wednesday press convention. (Polk County Sheriff )
Griffith’s Instagram web page is crammed with photos of happier instances along with her son, together with the 2 of them on a cruise, in entrance of the U.S. Capitol on July 4 and an image of them collectively along with her son wearing educational regalia for his commencement.
One other picture exhibits him sitting on the entrance of a 2024 Volkswagen Jetta, which Griffith writes was an early commencement current for her son.
However the relationship between the pair was apparently not all the time easy crusing.
The teenager’s grandmother, who was not current in the course of the altercation, advised WFLA that the teenager had been verbally and bodily confrontational along with his mom on a number of events.
GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING SUSPECT’S MOM DEFENDS HER SON IN MESSAGE TO VICTIM’S FAMILIES
Judd stated that as investigators began “to peel again the layer of this onion,” they “[found] out that this isn’t only a singular occasion.” Final yr, the teenager’s father additionally died by his hand.
“On Feb. 14, 2023, Valentine’s Day, in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, [he] stated his dad pulled a knife on him, and he shot and killed his dad,” Judd stated. “He shot him as soon as within the chest and as soon as within the head, and he claimed self-defense.”
Oklahoma authorities dropped fees in opposition to the teenager lower than a month after the capturing as a result of they may not disprove his “assertion of self-defense,” Judd stated.
The teenager’s mom paid $50,000 to bail him out of jail, the New York Submit reported. Then he moved into her Charlotte County, Florida, house and was involuntarily dedicated to a hospital for psychological well being causes inside a month.
Round this time, Judd stated, he made a threatening assertion: “I am going to kill myself, or I am going to kill my mom by capturing or stabbing her.”
In November 2023, the teenager “pushed [his mother] to the bottom and … stomped on her” after she took away his online game privileges, Judd stated. He was arrested and claimed self-defense once more, however the argument failed that point, and he frolicked behind bars, the sheriff stated.
Catherine Griffith pictured along with her son who’s accused of stabbing her to demise. (Instagram @cathygriffith1985)
After one other argument along with his mom in February of this yr, the teenager fled to his grandmother’s home in Auburndale. The teenager’s mom and grandmother each contacted the sheriff’s workplace round that point and stated they felt unsafe round him, Judd stated, and at that time, the teenager was turned over to household companies.
However regardless of making extra threats to kill his mom, the teenager was in the end reunited along with his household regardless of making threats to kill his mom once more simply two weeks later, Judd stated.
In keeping with the sheriff, the teenager bought into “an argument about house chores” that led him to “flee from his mom’s home and [go to] his grandmother’s home” on Sept. 6. The suspect’s mom drove to the grandmother’s home the following day, which is when she and {the teenager} bought into the altercation that price her life.
The teenager initially advised 911 dispatchers that his mom “fell right into a knife” after a “very lengthy combat” on Sunday, Judd stated.
Deputies who arrived at The Hamptons – a 55-and-older neighborhood in Auburndale about 50 miles east of Tampa, the place the teenager’s grandmother is a resident – discovered him “calm, cool, collected – and he had blood on him,” Judd stated.
The homicide weapon. (Polk County Sheriff’s Workplace)
The 17-year-old reportedly turned “uncooperative,” confirmed “zero regret” and had no sense of urgency about his gravely wounded mother.
“He appeared the deputy within the eye and stated, ‘I do know my rights, I need an lawyer,'” Judd stated.
Regardless of the teenager’s claims of a protracted combat along with his mom earlier than her demise, the house was “neat and clear [with] no proof of any type of lengthy combat,” Judd stated.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“While you have a look at this, you see a child,” Judd stated. “After I have a look at him, I see a psychopath. I see completely erratic habits to the purpose that he’s already, at 17 years of age, shot and killed his father and bought away with it and stabbed his mom within the neck so onerous that the knife went throughout.”
“Now he’s killed two individuals and killed his mom and father, and I can guarantee you – past and to the exclusion of each affordable doubt – based mostly upon his conduct, had he gone to dwell along with his grandmother on the finish of this, and he or she crossed him, she could be subsequent,” Judd added.
Judd stated he’ll share any data uncovered in his division’s investigation that would incriminate the teenager in his father’s demise with authorities in Oklahoma.
Michael Dorgan is a author for Fox Information Digital and Fox Enterprise.
You’ll be able to ship tricks to michael.dorgan@fox.com and comply with him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
Slain Florida mother posts haunting Taylor Swift lyrics hours earlier than lethal knife assault involving son
World Information,Subsequent Massive Factor in Public Knowledg
