1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,839
Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is

2
00:00:03,919 --> 00:00:05,679
not intended for all audiences.

3
00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:08,519
Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advised.

4
00:00:12,279 --> 00:00:14,160
Speaker 3: I said, you're not going to be successful to kill

5
00:00:14,199 --> 00:00:16,600
them all. Take you out, and then I'm going to

6
00:00:16,679 --> 00:00:20,120
have to explain to people that I'd rather be tried

7
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,839
by twelve than carried by six.

8
00:00:30,399 --> 00:00:33,039
Speaker 1: If you follow true crime and have for a while,

9
00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,159
then there's a place in Florida you might be familiar with.

10
00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:40,719
It's right in the heart of Florida, and it's far

11
00:00:40,759 --> 00:00:44,280
from the beaches and tourist traps. It's a little place

12
00:00:44,439 --> 00:00:50,920
called Polk County. It's mostly farmland, chain restaurants and retirement

13
00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,399
communities like the rest of Florida, but you may be

14
00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:58,640
familiar with the tough on crime press conferences that the

15
00:00:59,439 --> 00:01:03,759
share to hold, many of which have gone viral over

16
00:01:03,759 --> 00:01:07,040
the last couple of years. In Bulk County is the

17
00:01:07,519 --> 00:01:13,200
small city of Auburndale, nestled between Lakeland and winter Haven

18
00:01:13,719 --> 00:01:18,159
to shitholes by the way. It takes pride in being quiet, friendly,

19
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,519
and the kind of place where neighbors recognize each other.

20
00:01:22,439 --> 00:01:26,599
Inside the gates of the Hamptons, a fifty five plus

21
00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:31,560
country club style retirement community are golf carts, manicured lawns,

22
00:01:31,599 --> 00:01:36,599
and rows of tiny, pre manufactured homes. At sunset, neighbors

23
00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:39,680
wave from their front porches as golf carts hum down

24
00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:45,159
the street. It's quiet, safe, or well it should be.

25
00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,079
But on September eighth, twenty twenty four, just after six

26
00:01:49,159 --> 00:01:54,560
in the evening, that calm was shattered behind the white

27
00:01:54,599 --> 00:01:59,200
siding of seventy seven Hewlett Drive. A boy's frantic voice

28
00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:01,000
reached another one one operator.

29
00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,400
Speaker 4: My mom now bleeding out.

30
00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,120
Speaker 5: He helped your mom enjoy what my mom's bleeding out?

31
00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:09,800
Speaker 6: He's bleeding out?

32
00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:11,000
Speaker 7: Okay.

33
00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:15,719
Speaker 1: On the call was seventeen year old Colin Griffith. He

34
00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:19,479
told the dispatcher that his mother needed EMS because she

35
00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,800
was now bleeding out.

36
00:02:23,479 --> 00:02:24,280
Speaker 4: How do I with someone?

37
00:02:24,759 --> 00:02:26,520
Speaker 5: I didn't get into the hospital with someone?

38
00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:27,439
Speaker 4: Okay?

39
00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:31,439
Speaker 7: He called number one, So we're going to be an angelus.

40
00:02:32,199 --> 00:02:35,199
Speaker 4: He doesn't have time. He's leaking at she chee's fucking nails.

41
00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:35,879
Speaker 6: Here's that time.

42
00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:40,680
Speaker 1: So now the ambulance couldn't get there fast enough. Colin's

43
00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:43,120
panic was obvious as he pleaded for them to help

44
00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:45,479
his mother. She didn't have a lot of time.

45
00:02:46,199 --> 00:02:47,080
Speaker 7: He's bleeding out.

46
00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:54,360
Speaker 1: She's bleeding from my mother, Colin's thirty nine year old mother,

47
00:02:54,479 --> 00:02:59,560
Kathy was bleeding from the neck and fading fast.

48
00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:05,599
Speaker 4: No peak, unconscious, breathing, No, no.

49
00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:12,080
Speaker 1: If you's not, I don't think why you said she

50
00:03:12,199 --> 00:03:15,479
was non responsive and not breathing before he said I

51
00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,360
don't think she's alive. Colin's voice trailed off as he

52
00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:24,360
realized his mother might already be dead. The dispatcher guided

53
00:03:24,439 --> 00:03:28,400
him through performing CPR. Colin got his mother flat on

54
00:03:28,439 --> 00:03:33,199
her back, positioned his hands over her heart, and started pumping.

55
00:03:34,159 --> 00:03:36,639
The dispatcher counted him down.

56
00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:43,639
Speaker 4: Wine true screen or wine true straight horror wine too

57
00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:44,599
fore moment.

58
00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:50,439
Speaker 1: As the dispatcher relayed information to first responders, Colin continued

59
00:03:50,439 --> 00:04:07,280
to pump his mother's chest.

60
00:04:07,439 --> 00:04:08,560
Speaker 8: The knife to go on it.

61
00:04:09,599 --> 00:04:13,159
Speaker 1: I know it's difficult to understand, but Colin said, we

62
00:04:13,199 --> 00:04:16,639
got into a fight. She lunged at me with a knife,

63
00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:20,000
and she fell on it. He explained it was a

64
00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,199
long and drawn out argument that ended with his mother

65
00:04:23,319 --> 00:04:27,000
trying to attack him with a knife, but instead she

66
00:04:27,199 --> 00:04:30,800
tripped and fell on it. She now had a gaping

67
00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:36,639
wound that was spilling blood until there wasn't any left.

68
00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:41,399
Speaker 2: There's no more blood coming out of the moon set off.

69
00:04:42,079 --> 00:04:45,079
Speaker 1: The wound was so large that the only thing CPR

70
00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,360
had done was helped pump the rest of her blood

71
00:04:47,399 --> 00:04:51,319
out onto the kitchen floor. Only then did the dispatcher

72
00:04:51,319 --> 00:04:54,800
instruct him on how to stop the bleeding, get a clean,

73
00:04:54,959 --> 00:04:58,399
dry towel, and apply pressure to the wound. The only

74
00:04:58,439 --> 00:05:01,560
thing was she had no blo blood left. It was

75
00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:02,480
already too late.

76
00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:05,800
Speaker 9: It felt like he fells.

77
00:05:05,959 --> 00:05:08,480
Speaker 1: Even though he himself thought it was already too late.

78
00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:13,279
Callin followed the dispatcher's instructions until first responders arrived and

79
00:05:13,519 --> 00:05:17,399
flooded the quiet retirement community with flashing lights and sirens.

80
00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,439
Speaker 7: As I walked into the house, I immediately began to

81
00:05:21,519 --> 00:05:24,920
clear the house as my partner walked up to Colin Griffith.

82
00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:27,240
And then after clearing the house, is when I walked

83
00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:29,720
back into the living room area made it known that

84
00:05:29,759 --> 00:05:32,000
it was clear, and that is when my partner advised

85
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,839
me to take Colin Griffith outside.

86
00:05:33,959 --> 00:05:36,480
Speaker 8: And while walking into the kitchen, I saw a knife,

87
00:05:36,959 --> 00:05:40,240
a blood covered knife over in front of the washer

88
00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:44,959
and dryer. To my left saw the subject in the kitchen.

89
00:05:45,519 --> 00:05:49,240
In the kitchen, I saw a large pool of blood

90
00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:54,040
around the subjects head. In that area was spatter going

91
00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:55,079
up the side of the cabinet.

92
00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,720
Speaker 1: Deputies cleared the house so fire and rescue could enter.

93
00:05:59,759 --> 00:06:04,240
Say they made contact with Colin and immediately noticed something odd.

94
00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:09,639
Speaker 8: For doing normal CPR and everything everybody, assuming everybody's been

95
00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:13,800
taught and seeing videos on doing CPR from beside, the

96
00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:18,240
person never overtopped their head, blocking air, possibly blocking airways.

97
00:06:18,519 --> 00:06:22,800
Speaker 1: The home was narrow, no larger than a single wide trailer.

98
00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:25,720
There wasn't enough room for Colin to kneel next to

99
00:06:25,759 --> 00:06:29,040
his mother, so he knelt over her head, but from

100
00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:31,480
the looks of her wound, it didn't matter if he

101
00:06:31,519 --> 00:06:32,439
was doing it the right way.

102
00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,519
Speaker 10: The stabloon itself did not seem to be very wide.

103
00:06:36,879 --> 00:06:42,759
It was kind of narrow in size. Upon for inspection

104
00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,399
after starting the CPR, it was obvious that every time

105
00:06:45,439 --> 00:06:48,120
I did a compression there was air that's coming through

106
00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:54,079
the wound itself, so it was obviously pretty deep. It

107
00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,160
looked like a lot of the vastulature and the stuff

108
00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,600
inside of the wound itself was very obvious and could

109
00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:02,600
be seen, and that they had cut major areas such as.

110
00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,839
Speaker 1: Ars amts rushed inside and surrounded her body, but there

111
00:07:06,879 --> 00:07:10,560
was nothing they could do. Only thirteen minutes after the

112
00:07:10,639 --> 00:07:14,720
nine to one one call started, Kathy was pronounced deceased,

113
00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:20,519
but her cause of death was questionable. The EMTs didn't

114
00:07:20,519 --> 00:07:22,560
have all the information from the nine to one one call.

115
00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,680
They didn't know about the long fight. All they knew

116
00:07:26,839 --> 00:07:29,800
was what they saw, and it seemed improbable that Kathy

117
00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,759
tripped and stabbed herself directly in the jugular. The knife

118
00:07:33,879 --> 00:07:36,759
entered the front part of her neck and exited the

119
00:07:36,839 --> 00:07:43,759
back left. The entire prospect was too cartoonish. Stranger still

120
00:07:43,959 --> 00:07:47,519
was Colin's behavior in the moments after her first responders arrived.

121
00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,000
Speaker 7: When I first walked him outside, he was a little

122
00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,920
bit frantic, seemed like something was definitely going on. And

123
00:07:53,959 --> 00:07:57,079
then as he began to explain what happened is when

124
00:07:57,439 --> 00:07:58,759
he became very calm.

125
00:07:58,879 --> 00:08:02,079
Speaker 10: His demeanor completely changed from my personal experience. It was

126
00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,879
a little odd in nature. He didn't seem very distraught

127
00:08:05,959 --> 00:08:09,959
or upset. He seemed kind of calm upon my entering

128
00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,439
the residence, and then upon exiting the residence he seemed

129
00:08:13,439 --> 00:08:16,800
to almost have a not a full argument, but somewhat

130
00:08:16,879 --> 00:08:19,439
argumentative with the deputies that were trying to assist him

131
00:08:19,439 --> 00:08:20,480
out of the residence.

132
00:08:21,279 --> 00:08:25,199
Speaker 1: He was calm, too calm. He had just witnessed his

133
00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:30,480
mother die, but he wasn't distraught, He wasn't even panicked

134
00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:33,559
like in the nine to one one call. Before deputies

135
00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,480
could ask him any questions, he exclaimed, I know my rights.

136
00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,200
I want an attorney. On the nine to one one call,

137
00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,039
he claimed her death was accidental after he and his

138
00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,600
mom got into an argument that got out of hand.

139
00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:50,000
Then he asked for a lawyer before any questions could

140
00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:54,399
be asked. But later he would offer up another explanation.

141
00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,000
He said he was on the floor and his mother

142
00:08:58,159 --> 00:09:00,799
was on top of him with a knife. She was

143
00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:04,480
bearing down, ready to stab him, when at the last second,

144
00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,559
he turned the blade towards her and she fell on it,

145
00:09:09,399 --> 00:09:13,480
just like in the movies. You know, Colin was placed

146
00:09:13,519 --> 00:09:16,399
in the back of a patrol car as the nervous

147
00:09:16,399 --> 00:09:20,919
neighbors looked on. Every law enforcement officer who witnessed the

148
00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:25,159
scene knew Kathy didn't fall on that knife, but the

149
00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:29,159
only person who could tell them what happened that just

150
00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:34,159
lawyered up was Kathy, a deranged mother in a homicidal rage.

151
00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:39,960
Was she mommy dearest? Or was Colin a cold and

152
00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:46,320
calculated killer. Only a thorough investigation would provide that answer.

153
00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,679
Inside the Hampton's, a quiet retirement community in Auburndale, Florida,

154
00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:11,960
seventeen year old Colin Griffith called nine to one one.

155
00:10:12,799 --> 00:10:16,399
A teenager in panic, He begged the dispatcher to save

156
00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,759
his mother as she bled from a wound to the neck,

157
00:10:20,639 --> 00:10:24,320
But when deputies arrived minutes later, they found it different. Colin,

158
00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,720
his mother, Kathy, lay in the kitchen. It was too

159
00:10:28,759 --> 00:10:31,600
late to help her, and the boy who sounded so

160
00:10:31,799 --> 00:10:37,919
desperate on the phone was now composed cold. Even what

161
00:10:38,039 --> 00:10:41,879
started as a call for help had become a homicide investigation.

162
00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,039
The scene inside the house was grim, but outside, others

163
00:10:46,159 --> 00:10:49,279
had seen and heard things that would soon cast Colin's

164
00:10:49,279 --> 00:10:54,279
story in more doubt. Neighbors along Hewlett Drive told investigators

165
00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:55,840
what they witnessed that evening.

166
00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,080
Speaker 11: Let me start from the very starre Yeah, I got

167
00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:02,039
a phone call yes yesterday from the lady that owns

168
00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,000
the property, Because I do.

169
00:11:04,039 --> 00:11:06,080
Speaker 10: When you see the property, what property are you referring to?

170
00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:07,360
Speaker 4: The white house?

171
00:11:07,519 --> 00:11:09,879
Speaker 12: Okay, the one that's directly across where the dead bees

172
00:11:09,919 --> 00:11:10,200
are at.

173
00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:12,919
Speaker 4: Yeah, what is the name of the lady you spoke with, Susan?

174
00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:17,399
Susan Durkham. I don't know how she's got a weird

175
00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:18,000
last name.

176
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,159
Speaker 1: The owner of the home was Colin's grandmother, Susan Debtman.

177
00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,399
She called her neighbor the day before to let her

178
00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,320
know Colin would be arriving and not to worry.

179
00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,799
Speaker 11: My grandson is going to be coming to stay at

180
00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:34,000
my house. I just want to let you know if

181
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,399
you see a black car in the driveway, it's my grandson.

182
00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:40,759
And I said, oh, okay, yeah, I know Colin. Yeah,

183
00:11:40,799 --> 00:11:43,600
no problem. That was the end of the conversation.

184
00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,120
Speaker 1: Like any good neighbor, the residents of the Hamptons looked

185
00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,679
out for each other. I mean, they have a lot

186
00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,360
of free time on their hands. It is, after all,

187
00:11:52,399 --> 00:11:53,840
a retirement community.

188
00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:56,919
Speaker 4: Now, that white car didn't show up till today.

189
00:11:58,440 --> 00:11:59,840
Speaker 12: Do you know whose white car that is?

190
00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:02,320
Speaker 4: As a young lady with dark hair.

191
00:12:02,679 --> 00:12:03,720
Speaker 12: Have you ever seen her before?

192
00:12:03,799 --> 00:12:05,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've sent her over there before.

193
00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:06,919
Speaker 10: And you don't know who she is.

194
00:12:07,519 --> 00:12:08,879
Speaker 4: Susan said, it's her daughter.

195
00:12:09,759 --> 00:12:13,960
Speaker 1: Almost immediately after Colin's mother arrived, they started arguing.

196
00:12:14,399 --> 00:12:17,480
Speaker 11: This car shows up today and she pulls in the driveway,

197
00:12:17,639 --> 00:12:21,080
and the kid comes out, and she backs out of

198
00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,200
the driveway and she pulls it right there, and she

199
00:12:23,279 --> 00:12:28,960
gets out with her purse and walks up there, and

200
00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:33,639
him and her started arguing and then start throwing stuff

201
00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:34,399
in the black guar.

202
00:12:34,519 --> 00:12:36,960
Speaker 4: I don't know what it was. Looked like clothes and stuff.

203
00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:39,240
Speaker 11: And next thing I know, he pulled her by the

204
00:12:39,279 --> 00:12:41,600
hair of the head and pulled her back into the house.

205
00:12:42,279 --> 00:12:45,200
Speaker 1: This neighbor could hear the argument, but not what they

206
00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,240
were saying. Another neighbor heard a little more.

207
00:12:48,759 --> 00:12:51,759
Speaker 4: Then I heard her say, let me go, let me go,

208
00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:54,080
and you got my head. You're hurting me. You're hurting me,

209
00:12:54,519 --> 00:12:55,840
and he drug her in the fills.

210
00:12:56,879 --> 00:13:00,320
Speaker 1: Two neighbors witnessed the start of the argument. As soon

211
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,080
as Kathy got out of her car, she started talking

212
00:13:03,639 --> 00:13:06,960
with Colin. The neighbors couldn't hear what they were saying,

213
00:13:07,039 --> 00:13:11,600
but their body language screamed argument. Then Colin grabbed a

214
00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,159
fistful of his mother's hair and pulled her inside as

215
00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:16,720
she yelled, let me go, you're hurting me.

216
00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,840
Speaker 4: You know, I knew some problems as she had rid

217
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:20,519
of runs.

218
00:13:20,279 --> 00:13:23,240
Speaker 12: In before and those huh, what are those problems?

219
00:13:23,639 --> 00:13:27,960
Speaker 11: Well, she said that the mother and the grandson were

220
00:13:28,039 --> 00:13:31,559
at each other last winter, and the grandson come and

221
00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:34,679
stayed here. I guess there was some problems here because

222
00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,159
the cops were out here two or three times last winter.

223
00:13:38,039 --> 00:13:40,519
Speaker 1: Apparently this wasn't the first time Colin had fought with

224
00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:44,639
his mother. The previous year, Colin stayed with his grandmother

225
00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:47,159
to let things cool off between him and his mom,

226
00:13:47,879 --> 00:13:50,960
but the tension between them never left a simmering point.

227
00:13:51,559 --> 00:13:54,759
Speaker 11: I called Susan. Sue's all this happened? I called Susan,

228
00:13:54,799 --> 00:13:56,960
I said, Susan's uth going on over to your house?

229
00:13:57,759 --> 00:14:00,200
I said, his cops everywhere. I said, you're great, and

230
00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:03,399
sons outside, it looks like he's crying. She said, where's

231
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:03,879
my daughter?

232
00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,240
Speaker 1: I said, I don't know that tension must have built

233
00:14:07,399 --> 00:14:09,960
and built, has it erupted in a fight in the

234
00:14:10,039 --> 00:14:13,480
driveway ending with Kathy being stabbed in the neck.

235
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:16,679
Speaker 11: And then while you guys are out there doing that,

236
00:14:16,879 --> 00:14:18,519
guess get what phone call?

237
00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:18,919
Speaker 7: I get?

238
00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:22,480
Speaker 4: His probation officer calls, who's that?

239
00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:24,799
Speaker 12: Collins called you?

240
00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:26,600
Speaker 4: Uh?

241
00:14:25,399 --> 00:14:25,519
Speaker 13: Uh?

242
00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:30,240
Speaker 4: If I heard the phone call in there It's from

243
00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,320
a nine four six number. And she says, is this

244
00:14:34,759 --> 00:14:36,080
kay Jones? I said yes.

245
00:14:36,279 --> 00:14:42,399
Speaker 11: She said, well, I am calling so and so's probation officer.

246
00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:48,399
I'm a juvenile detention officer is calling okay? And I said, yeah,

247
00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,320
cop sitting out there talking to him. But I don't

248
00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,120
know anything else. And she said, did you hear any

249
00:14:54,159 --> 00:14:55,399
gunshots or anything?

250
00:14:55,519 --> 00:14:59,519
Speaker 4: I said no. I said, what's going on? She said,

251
00:14:59,639 --> 00:15:00,720
is oh okay?

252
00:15:00,759 --> 00:15:03,320
Speaker 11: And I said yeah.

253
00:15:03,399 --> 00:15:06,240
Speaker 1: The neighbors at the Hamptons didn't know Colin's background, but

254
00:15:06,919 --> 00:15:09,799
a call from his juvenile probation officer hinted at him

255
00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:13,679
being a troubled teen. When his grandmother finally arrived home,

256
00:15:13,759 --> 00:15:18,480
she found her normally quiet street in chaos. Immediately she

257
00:15:18,559 --> 00:15:22,320
knew her daughter was dead, and she also knew who

258
00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:22,879
had done it.

259
00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:25,080
Speaker 12: How was the relationship at the beginning.

260
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,159
Speaker 14: In the beginning, it was fine, okay, and then there

261
00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:30,840
started to be problems.

262
00:15:31,039 --> 00:15:33,039
Speaker 12: Okay? Can you describe the problems?

263
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,840
Speaker 14: He didn't want to do what Kathy told him to do.

264
00:15:37,679 --> 00:15:43,080
Kathy would basically, you know, harp on him.

265
00:15:43,639 --> 00:15:46,720
Speaker 1: When Colin attacked his mother and stomped on her hand.

266
00:15:47,279 --> 00:15:49,960
She was only trying to discipline her seventeen year old son.

267
00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,159
He hadn't done the chores she assigned him. She threatened

268
00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,240
to take away his xbox and cell phone. That's when

269
00:15:57,320 --> 00:15:58,360
Colin flipped out.

270
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:03,519
Speaker 14: So anyway, so I was there and he pushed her

271
00:16:04,279 --> 00:16:05,480
and stomped on her hand.

272
00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,360
Speaker 1: Colin stood up, looked at his mother in the eye

273
00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,480
and said, let's go, before pushing her to the ground

274
00:16:12,639 --> 00:16:16,159
with a single move and stomping on her hand. Needless

275
00:16:16,159 --> 00:16:17,799
to say, the police were called.

276
00:16:18,399 --> 00:16:21,080
Speaker 12: I'm in a constant state of thought.

277
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,759
Speaker 15: It by it, and I don't know if I think

278
00:16:23,799 --> 00:16:26,039
she's going to do something. Even if she's not, I

279
00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:30,039
might act. I'm not going to go crazy or anything,

280
00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:32,759
but I'm I'm not sure, honest.

281
00:16:33,519 --> 00:16:37,080
Speaker 14: Yes, So then he was in the police squad. Cathy

282
00:16:37,159 --> 00:16:41,279
refused to go to the hospital for her hand mm hmmm.

283
00:16:41,559 --> 00:16:44,840
And he called me over to the police squad and said, Mama,

284
00:16:45,039 --> 00:16:48,279
you know she pushed me first. And I said, Colin,

285
00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,200
I was there, that's not what happened.

286
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:51,159
Speaker 4: I said, I.

287
00:16:51,159 --> 00:16:54,279
Speaker 14: Agree that she was very aggressive to you. I said,

288
00:16:54,279 --> 00:16:56,799
but you pushed her and we talked about this, and

289
00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:58,320
then you stomped on her hand.

290
00:16:58,679 --> 00:17:02,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, tried to say she attacked him first, but his

291
00:17:02,159 --> 00:17:05,839
grandmother witnessed the whole thing. He was arrested and charged

292
00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,559
as a juvenile for domestic violence.

293
00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:10,640
Speaker 14: So he was put on probation.

294
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,680
Speaker 12: Okay for that incident. Yes, was he charged with domestic violence?

295
00:17:14,759 --> 00:17:15,839
Speaker 16: Yep, he was.

296
00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:19,400
Speaker 14: He was. He was put on probation. He was supposed

297
00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:23,720
to be getting off of probation this month.

298
00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:30,400
Speaker 1: Colin was processed, charged and sentenced to probation. The court

299
00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:33,799
recommended he remained separate from his mother for some time

300
00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,680
before going home, so he lived with his grandmother for

301
00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:41,160
a couple of weeks. As if that's a solution. Am

302
00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:44,279
I the only one noticing a lack of male paternal

303
00:17:44,319 --> 00:17:46,279
figures in Colin's life.

304
00:17:46,799 --> 00:17:49,039
Speaker 14: When she came to pick him up, he ran away.

305
00:17:49,759 --> 00:17:53,799
So then he was gone for two days. We couldn't

306
00:17:53,839 --> 00:17:58,279
find him because she came and he looked at me

307
00:17:58,319 --> 00:18:01,519
and he said, you are fucking crazy. If you think

308
00:18:01,599 --> 00:18:03,960
that I'm getting in the car with my mom, you

309
00:18:04,039 --> 00:18:07,240
have gone completely nuts. And I went Colin, we talked

310
00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:09,559
about all this. He said, I'm not going back, and

311
00:18:09,599 --> 00:18:13,519
he took off. It was pouring down rain, So finally

312
00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:19,440
you all picked him up and took him to DHS

313
00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:22,880
or whatever it's called in this state, you know, the yes.

314
00:18:23,599 --> 00:18:27,880
So he ran away from df DSF dyslexic much he

315
00:18:28,039 --> 00:18:31,640
was out again. So finally he was picked up and

316
00:18:32,240 --> 00:18:35,279
law enforcement brought him home. And that's when they said,

317
00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:40,079
we're going to have lease coming, you know every so often,

318
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,279
like every day, it's anywhere from I think seven in

319
00:18:43,319 --> 00:18:45,839
the morning to midnight, to check and make sure you

320
00:18:45,839 --> 00:18:46,680
guys are okay.

321
00:18:47,319 --> 00:18:50,880
Speaker 1: After a couple of weeks, said his grandmother's, Colin refused

322
00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,079
to return to his mother's house. He ran off into

323
00:18:54,079 --> 00:18:57,400
the rain and was gone for two days. When the

324
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,359
police finally found him, they took him into the Crisis

325
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:05,640
Stabilization Unit CSU is a short term, specialized facility that

326
00:19:05,759 --> 00:19:09,720
provides immediate, round the clock psychiatric care and support for

327
00:19:09,759 --> 00:19:15,079
individuals experiencing a severe mental health crisis, such as suicidal thoughts,

328
00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:21,400
severe agitation, or psychosis. There, Colin was evaluated, deemed not

329
00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:25,559
a threat to himself for others, and released. They love

330
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:28,880
their catch and release at these places because they just

331
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,359
don't have the money, the funding, the beds to keep people.

332
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,400
Why is that when we spend so much money in

333
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,799
this country, so much more than we even make really

334
00:19:39,839 --> 00:19:44,160
in taxes every year. We can't even provide basic services.

335
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,279
I wonder who's sneaking into the cookie jar when we're

336
00:19:48,279 --> 00:19:52,480
not looking. Anyway, the front doors opened wide for Colin

337
00:19:52,559 --> 00:19:57,480
and he walked straight out of that facility, cured supposedly.

338
00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,599
Speaker 10: And when the doors opened, young man came straight up

339
00:20:02,279 --> 00:20:04,920
to me and approached me and said, I needed to

340
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,720
be baker acting. Were you surprised to hear that?

341
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:08,319
Speaker 14: Oh?

342
00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:10,839
Speaker 10: Yeah, busically people want to leave.

343
00:20:11,480 --> 00:20:14,480
Speaker 17: Did you ask him why he said that, Yes.

344
00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:15,880
Speaker 2: I did. It's unusual.

345
00:20:16,079 --> 00:20:18,599
Speaker 10: He said, I need to be baker acted because I'm

346
00:20:18,599 --> 00:20:21,960
either going to go kill myself or and he said

347
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:22,400
his mother.

348
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,200
Speaker 1: Colin didn't want to go back home with his mom.

349
00:20:26,079 --> 00:20:28,480
He went further, saying he would throw them out of

350
00:20:28,519 --> 00:20:32,039
the car, shoot them, or stab them. He also mentioned

351
00:20:32,039 --> 00:20:34,720
that his grandmother wasn't safe if he went home with

352
00:20:34,799 --> 00:20:38,519
her either. Maybe sometimes we should listen to these people

353
00:20:38,559 --> 00:20:43,319
when they're telling us exactly what they're going to do. No, okay,

354
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:48,039
suit yourself. Colin was placed on a psychiatric hold for

355
00:20:48,079 --> 00:20:50,880
three more days. Eventually he had to go back home

356
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:54,559
with his mom. Though anyway, for a while, everything was okay,

357
00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,319
A couple of officers were signed to him, and they

358
00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,000
would check in at random times every day to ensure

359
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,640
he and his mom were okay. He even started to

360
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,400
go to church with one of the officers. He graduated

361
00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,000
from high school a year early, got a job, and

362
00:21:10,839 --> 00:21:14,319
enrolled in college. Then the tension between him and his

363
00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:18,680
mom arose again. By September seventh, twenty twenty four, the

364
00:21:18,759 --> 00:21:23,039
day before Kathy's death, they were doing nothing but arguing.

365
00:21:23,799 --> 00:21:27,680
Speaker 14: So Colin called me at one and said, my mom

366
00:21:27,759 --> 00:21:30,039
kicked me out. What am I supposed to do? I said,

367
00:21:30,039 --> 00:21:32,960
you need to go back home? He said, no, no,

368
00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:35,000
I don't feel comfortable.

369
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:38,599
Speaker 1: Kathy had kicked him out of the house, so Colin

370
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,480
loaded up his car and went to Grandma Susan's. Susan

371
00:21:42,599 --> 00:21:45,480
was once again inserted into the middle of the argument.

372
00:21:46,279 --> 00:21:48,799
She spoke with Kathy and even though she kicked him out,

373
00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:51,799
she now demanded that he come home the next morning.

374
00:21:52,559 --> 00:21:55,079
Speaker 14: She wanted Colin to be at home at ten o'clock.

375
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:57,359
Speaker 12: In the morning. In the morning, yes, okay, she said.

376
00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,680
Speaker 14: If not, she was calling the police. She was training

377
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:02,920
him in as a runaway. I said, he can't be

378
00:22:02,960 --> 00:22:05,240
turned in in a runaway. He's at my house. And

379
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:08,799
Detective Lacey even said that's fine, and she said, well,

380
00:22:08,839 --> 00:22:11,680
he didn't tell his probation officer. I said, yes, he did.

381
00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,279
He left a message that he was going to his

382
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,279
grandmother's house. Yes, she said, I'm going to come and

383
00:22:17,319 --> 00:22:23,039
get him. He's going to follow me with with his car.

384
00:22:23,519 --> 00:22:27,559
He didn't have gas. She had blocked his checking account,

385
00:22:27,599 --> 00:22:30,359
his check card, so he didn't have access to that.

386
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:35,240
I told Colin, I said, your mom's going to be there.

387
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:36,759
Speaker 4: I said, don't touch her.

388
00:22:37,319 --> 00:22:38,839
Speaker 17: Be nice.

389
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:43,000
Speaker 1: Sadly, Colin didn't take that advice. Kathy lay lifeless on

390
00:22:43,039 --> 00:22:46,920
her mother's kitchen floor in a pool of blood. Colin

391
00:22:47,079 --> 00:22:49,240
sat in the back of a patrol car, waiting to

392
00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:53,519
be taken to the station and charged with murder. In

393
00:22:53,559 --> 00:22:56,079
the days that followed, detectives spoke with the rest of

394
00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:59,880
Colin's family, trying to understand exactly what had happened between

395
00:23:00,039 --> 00:23:04,680
him and his mother. His grandfather wasn't surprised at all.

396
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:09,799
Speaker 2: He and his mom were having difficulties and when she'd

397
00:23:09,839 --> 00:23:13,920
set down limits on behavior, he would not just rebel,

398
00:23:14,079 --> 00:23:18,240
he would become violent. And they had asked me because

399
00:23:18,519 --> 00:23:21,640
Susan said, hey, can't. I can't deal with this and

400
00:23:21,759 --> 00:23:24,119
he can't be with Kathy because he's threaten to kill her.

401
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,720
And I said, he's starting to kill you too, right, Susan?

402
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:29,759
She said, well, yes, of course he has. I said, okay,

403
00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,759
And I told her multiple times I don't care what

404
00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:34,920
you have to do get rid of the boy. Well

405
00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:35,720
will you take him?

406
00:23:35,759 --> 00:23:38,519
Speaker 4: I said, hell no, I just know, but hell no.

407
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:43,559
Speaker 2: Yeah, that boy is thrashed in the head. He is weaponized.

408
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,720
He is going to kill you, your mother me.

409
00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:52,359
Speaker 1: Colin's grandfather painted a frightening picture of Colin and Kathy's relationship.

410
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:57,240
He was a violent teenager who didn't like authority or responsibility.

411
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:02,279
I mean, who does really. Both Grandma Susan and Kathy

412
00:24:02,559 --> 00:24:05,799
were afraid of him. But what do you do where

413
00:24:05,839 --> 00:24:11,559
a seventeen year old You can't control ladies any ideas? Man,

414
00:24:11,799 --> 00:24:13,799
This society is cooked, isn't it.

415
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,880
Speaker 2: He also told me in detail four months ago, how

416
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,799
he wanted to murder his mother and he really wanted

417
00:24:22,839 --> 00:24:25,119
to literally see the blood squirt out of her neck.

418
00:24:25,799 --> 00:24:26,720
That's what he wanted.

419
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:28,640
Speaker 12: He told you this four months ago.

420
00:24:29,319 --> 00:24:31,920
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, weren't anything else he wanted that I mean,

421
00:24:32,279 --> 00:24:37,079
he talked about strangling earth, and he said, but I

422
00:24:37,079 --> 00:24:39,160
could do that, But really, what I want to do

423
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,000
is I want to watch the blood squirt out of

424
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,599
her and watch the life squirt out of her. I said,

425
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:46,240
that's not really good. He goes, yeah, but it's what

426
00:24:46,279 --> 00:24:48,319
I want to do. And so I just let the

427
00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,119
kid go and be like, well, tell me more, tell

428
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:54,720
me more. This sounds interesting. Yeah, Oh, I want to

429
00:24:54,759 --> 00:24:57,559
see the gore. I want to watch it pump out

430
00:24:57,599 --> 00:24:57,920
of her.

431
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 12: Wow, if you are the.

432
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 2: Puppy, he goes, yeah, it did, well, that'd be a

433
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,200
lot of power. He goes yeah.

434
00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:09,200
Speaker 1: Detectives were building a case. The story of the fight

435
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:12,400
and falling on a knife was way too far fetched.

436
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:17,319
Colin seemed to be troubled, and there were records of

437
00:25:17,319 --> 00:25:20,400
this with every interaction he had with law enforcement and

438
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:24,400
the Department of Children and Families. Even his own grandfather

439
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,759
saw him as a danger to those around him, and

440
00:25:27,799 --> 00:25:31,319
there was a big reason for this, As if the

441
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:34,599
murder of a woman by her teenage son wasn't horrific enough.

442
00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:39,160
The Polk County Sheriff held yet another press conference to

443
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:41,720
inform the public of the rest of the story.

444
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:46,640
Speaker 16: A cold blooded murder of a thirty nine year old

445
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:51,559
mother by her seventeen year old son. It all started

446
00:25:51,599 --> 00:25:54,319
on September the eighth, which was this last Sunday, when

447
00:25:54,319 --> 00:25:56,720
we got a nine to one to one call from

448
00:25:56,839 --> 00:26:01,880
Colin Griffith, who's seventeen years of age. Here's what he said.

449
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,359
He said he and his mother had a very long

450
00:26:04,559 --> 00:26:10,279
fight and she fell on a knife and killed herself

451
00:26:10,759 --> 00:26:16,559
when the deputies arrived. He met the deputies outside and

452
00:26:16,599 --> 00:26:22,359
he was calm, cool, collected, not upset, and he had

453
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:28,599
blood on him. What we found inside was this knife.

454
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,880
This knife is twelve inches long, and of the twelve inches,

455
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,720
eight inches of that it is the blade. So he

456
00:26:37,839 --> 00:26:41,559
said that his mother fell on this knife. The medical

457
00:26:41,599 --> 00:26:48,079
examiner said it is not reasonable or plausible that she

458
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:52,559
died the way that he said she did.

459
00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:53,960
Speaker 4: Just didn't happen.

460
00:26:54,599 --> 00:26:59,440
Speaker 16: There were witnesses outside the mobile home that actually saw

461
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:04,720
Colin dragged his mother into the house by the hair

462
00:27:05,039 --> 00:27:08,720
on her head. Colin is about six foot and one

463
00:27:08,799 --> 00:27:10,400
hundred and sixty pounds.

464
00:27:11,039 --> 00:27:14,240
Speaker 1: That wasn't even the most damning evidence that Colin had

465
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:15,920
purposefully killed his mother.

466
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:20,880
Speaker 16: But let me go through some details because as we

467
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:25,240
start to peel back the layer of this onion. We

468
00:27:25,319 --> 00:27:28,759
find out that this is not just a singular event,

469
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:33,599
with Colin stabbing his mother in the neck and ultimately

470
00:27:33,799 --> 00:27:38,119
killing her. Here's what we found, and follow me as

471
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:44,640
I read a timeline to you. February fourteenth, twenty twenty three,

472
00:27:44,839 --> 00:27:50,319
on Valentine's Day, Lincoln County, Oklahoma, Colin said that his

473
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,400
dad pulled a knife on him and he shot and

474
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:58,000
killed his dad. That's right. His father was named Charles.

475
00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,720
He shot him once in the chest and once in

476
00:28:01,759 --> 00:28:03,960
the head, and he claimed self defense.

477
00:28:04,799 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 1: That's right. Colin had killed his father just nineteen months

478
00:28:09,519 --> 00:28:14,759
earlier in Oklahoma. But the pieces starting to fit together yet.

479
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:20,400
Speaker 13: Dispatch got a call of a shooting. We responded, had

480
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,119
a fifteen year old male caller on the phone said

481
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,960
that his dad had a knife and had him cornered

482
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,599
and he had to shoot him. Dad has a girlfriend

483
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,440
at fiance that was at the grocery store, and so

484
00:28:33,599 --> 00:28:38,519
she's returned since then and we've talked to her, so

485
00:28:38,559 --> 00:28:42,279
she's been notified as well. There are several firearms in there,

486
00:28:42,359 --> 00:28:44,240
so I don't know. We haven't done any kind of

487
00:28:44,279 --> 00:28:47,079
trace or anything on that yet. There is lots of

488
00:28:47,119 --> 00:28:48,000
guns in the house.

489
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:53,559
Speaker 16: The Lincoln County Sheriff's office and the Oklahoma stbuta of

490
00:28:53,640 --> 00:29:00,680
investigations charged Colin with murder in the first degree. They

491
00:29:00,759 --> 00:29:03,359
dropped the charges less than a month later. They said

492
00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:12,000
they could not disprove Collins's assertion of self defense, so

493
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:13,160
he was released.

494
00:29:14,039 --> 00:29:17,960
Speaker 1: He claimed self defense, and a month later all charges

495
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,160
were dropped. He just spent a couple of weeks in

496
00:29:21,279 --> 00:29:25,839
jail and that was it. Shortly after, Oklahoma sent him

497
00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,200
to his mother in Florida. There he was arrested for

498
00:29:29,279 --> 00:29:32,400
beating up his mom, ran away, and was put on

499
00:29:32,519 --> 00:29:37,680
psychiatric hold twice. If only humans were good at seeing patterns,

500
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:38,160
you know.

501
00:29:39,039 --> 00:29:41,519
Speaker 16: So now we're to the faithful day on September eighth.

502
00:29:42,079 --> 00:29:47,920
Our investigation clearly and unequivocally shows that that circumstance did

503
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:53,720
not occur like that. In fact, he used similar language

504
00:29:53,759 --> 00:29:55,559
to when he made the nine to one to one

505
00:29:55,599 --> 00:29:59,240
call what eighteen or twenty months earlier, when he shot

506
00:29:59,279 --> 00:29:59,960
and killed his father.

507
00:30:00,039 --> 00:30:04,480
Speaker 1: The authorities did notice a pattern. Well, it was possible

508
00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:07,519
that Colin acted in self defense against one parent. It's

509
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,039
highly improbable that he would have done so again with

510
00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:14,160
a different one for me once, shame on you for

511
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,519
me twice, and we won't be fooled again, or some

512
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:18,480
shit I don't remember.

513
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:23,839
Speaker 16: It's important to understand. When you look at this, you

514
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,880
see a kid. When I look at him, I see

515
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:33,119
a psychopath. I see totally erratic behavior, to the point

516
00:30:33,119 --> 00:30:37,240
that he's all ready, at seventeen years of age, shot

517
00:30:37,279 --> 00:30:41,640
and killed his father and got away with it, and

518
00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,519
stabbed his mother in the neck so hard that the

519
00:30:45,599 --> 00:30:49,839
knife went all the way through and was to the

520
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:54,200
back of her neck and she died there. He's being

521
00:30:54,279 --> 00:30:59,240
charged with first degree murder, obviously, and we're asking the

522
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:02,519
State Attorneys office. It's their decision, but our State Attorney's

523
00:31:02,519 --> 00:31:07,119
office is the greatest to prosecute him as an adult.

524
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:11,880
Now he's killed two people and killed his mother and father,

525
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,720
and I can assure you beyond into the exclusion of

526
00:31:14,759 --> 00:31:20,000
every reasonable doubt based upon his conduct, had he gone

527
00:31:20,039 --> 00:31:22,039
to live with his grandmother at the end of this

528
00:31:22,279 --> 00:31:27,720
and she crossed him, she would be next. He's violent,

529
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:37,279
he's dangerous. He showed zero remorse, zero remorse. He is

530
00:31:37,319 --> 00:31:42,920
a dangerous human being. Nothing gives you the right to

531
00:31:43,079 --> 00:31:45,680
unilatterly stab your mother and kill her.

532
00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:47,440
Speaker 12: And I'm not.

533
00:31:47,559 --> 00:31:51,920
Speaker 16: Convinced based upon what I know now. Now Oklahoma didn't

534
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:56,359
know this then, there were no witnesses to him shooting

535
00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:01,319
his dad. I'm not sure now that he didn't set

536
00:32:01,359 --> 00:32:03,880
his dad up to murder him.

537
00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,480
Speaker 1: It turns out that Colin's story was much more complicated

538
00:32:07,519 --> 00:32:11,319
than anyone realized. It started long before he was even born.

539
00:32:12,279 --> 00:32:16,359
Colin's aunt, Christine says it all started back when Kathy

540
00:32:16,559 --> 00:32:17,519
was only thirteen.

541
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:22,079
Speaker 18: Her ex husband actually had to crush on me and

542
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,200
was pursuing me. And when I was like, I am

543
00:32:25,359 --> 00:32:26,359
not interested.

544
00:32:27,119 --> 00:32:31,319
Speaker 1: Aunt Christine is talking about Charles Griffith, Colin's father and

545
00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,480
Kathy's ex husband, who everyone called Chuck.

546
00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:38,480
Speaker 18: But when I finally like, was like, you got to stop,

547
00:32:38,759 --> 00:32:41,440
he well, actually he didn't stop. He kept calling my

548
00:32:41,519 --> 00:32:45,039
house and then he would start talking to my sister.

549
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:47,319
He just latched onto her.

550
00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:51,720
Speaker 1: Chuck pursued Christine and called her house all the time.

551
00:32:52,519 --> 00:32:55,200
But when she told Chuck she wasn't interested, he went

552
00:32:55,279 --> 00:32:59,480
for the next best thing, her younger sister. They became

553
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,640
inseparable in a bad way.

554
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,880
Speaker 18: We found out that she was pregnant shortly after one

555
00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:09,880
of her mini runaway incidentss and I begged her to

556
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:11,720
give the baby up for adoption because I knew that

557
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:15,759
if she hadn't, that her life with Chuck was never

558
00:33:15,839 --> 00:33:20,960
going to be good. So anyway, obviously she didn't. Christopher

559
00:33:21,039 --> 00:33:21,559
is here.

560
00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:24,519
Speaker 19: Well, so they end up getting married, and she's married

561
00:33:24,519 --> 00:33:27,359
at a really young age fourteen. He's what now, seventeen

562
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:28,839
eighteen at that point.

563
00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:35,480
Speaker 18: No, no, no, okay, she was nineteen when he got

564
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:37,039
her pregnant at thirteen.

565
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,720
Speaker 1: When Kathy got pregnant at thirteen, her mother gave her

566
00:33:41,759 --> 00:33:46,039
a choice, put up the baby for adoption or mary Chuck.

567
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:52,160
She chose poorly. She chose to marry Chuck.

568
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,519
Speaker 18: So at fourteen, she got her ged and she started

569
00:33:55,519 --> 00:33:58,039
taking college classes. Because Chuck never had a job, never

570
00:33:58,079 --> 00:34:01,359
had a job, but he always girls.

571
00:34:01,839 --> 00:34:03,799
Speaker 12: He never was a teacher or anything like that.

572
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,400
Speaker 18: Oh no, no, he was a teacher. That's how he

573
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,039
found the little girls. But Kathy got his degree for

574
00:34:09,159 --> 00:34:09,840
him online.

575
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:14,559
Speaker 1: Oh wow, okay, yeah, of course he liked little girls.

576
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,679
He impregnated a thirteen year old after he was already

577
00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:23,000
a legal adult. Kathy and Chuck got married and moved

578
00:34:23,039 --> 00:34:27,719
into their own house to playhouse. Kathy gave birth to

579
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:31,960
their first son, Christopher, and then attended school online. She

580
00:34:32,039 --> 00:34:35,599
got teaching degrees for herself and for Chuck, but Chuck

581
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,679
used that degree not to teach, but to get close

582
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:44,320
to underage girls. That is, until he would get caught

583
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:50,320
and he would get fired. Chuck was unemployed a lot.

584
00:34:50,599 --> 00:34:53,840
The family moved often, presumably for work and to escape

585
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:58,559
whatever stigma Chuck stirred up being the pedo that he was.

586
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,840
Fast forward to twenty nineteen and the family was in Florida.

587
00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 18: But I guess Kathy had a student that she was

588
00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,199
kind of kind of adopted for lack of better words.

589
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:10,159
Speaker 4: Her name was Gabby.

590
00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,280
Speaker 18: Gabby like you move in with them, I mean Kathy.

591
00:35:13,639 --> 00:35:17,039
Kathy called Gabby her daughter, and then it turns out

592
00:35:17,079 --> 00:35:21,360
that Chuck and her were in a relationship, and Chuck

593
00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:23,039
left Kathy for Gabby.

594
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,639
Speaker 1: Kathy had taken a sixteen year old student named Gabby

595
00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:30,639
under her wing and into her home. It was an

596
00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:35,079
act of compassion for a young girl with few options. Chuck,

597
00:35:35,159 --> 00:35:37,920
on the other hand, suddenly had a young girl living

598
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:42,360
in his house. Oh boy. When Kathy discovered the affair,

599
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,440
it was the final straw she had put up with

600
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:50,599
his infidelity long enough, the divorce was nasty. Colin's older brother,

601
00:35:50,679 --> 00:35:53,920
Christopher was already out of high school, so Kathy and

602
00:35:54,039 --> 00:35:58,920
Charles fought over twelve year old Colin. Eventually, Charles, Colin,

603
00:35:59,039 --> 00:36:03,840
and Gabby moved to Oklahoma. Colin became separated from his

604
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:05,760
mother and the rest of the family.

605
00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,519
Speaker 4: Why was dad so bad to Colin?

606
00:36:08,599 --> 00:36:12,559
Speaker 14: What did he do well? He isolated him. He wouldn't

607
00:36:12,599 --> 00:36:16,679
allow him to leave the farm, he wouldn't let him

608
00:36:16,679 --> 00:36:19,719
go to school. He refused to have him in Scouts,

609
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:22,679
and he kept saying, I can't put him in school

610
00:36:22,679 --> 00:36:25,599
because I'm afraid Kathy will come to the school and

611
00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,840
bring DHS in and then they'll get involved, which DHS

612
00:36:31,039 --> 00:36:34,320
in Oklahoma did get involved, but all they said was

613
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,880
they need family counseling, and they left it at that.

614
00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,039
Colin did have family counseling, it was court ordered and

615
00:36:43,199 --> 00:36:45,559
his father refused to take and he took him once

616
00:36:45,599 --> 00:36:47,519
and then he said, no, I'm not taking him back.

617
00:36:48,199 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 19: So did they have any type of communication while he

618
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:52,559
was in oklahom No.

619
00:36:53,599 --> 00:36:55,800
Speaker 18: She would not let Colin talk.

620
00:36:55,599 --> 00:36:58,599
Speaker 19: To Kathy at all, Like they never spoke or did

621
00:36:58,639 --> 00:37:01,039
she every once in a while, like Chris miss or birthdays,

622
00:37:01,119 --> 00:37:03,079
like how did she talk to him?

623
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:08,599
Speaker 18: Well, usually Chuck wanted extra money and then he would

624
00:37:08,679 --> 00:37:11,639
let her talk to him, but only on speaker phone

625
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,480
in front of him. There was one time where he

626
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:18,880
got a phone and called Taffy and then when Chuck

627
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,760
found out about it, he really really beat him.

628
00:37:23,119 --> 00:37:26,639
Speaker 1: For three years, Colin only had his father and the

629
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:31,360
barely older Gabby to interact with. Things were bad and

630
00:37:31,519 --> 00:37:32,320
only got worse.

631
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:34,280
Speaker 12: Go back three years.

632
00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:36,280
Speaker 9: I let him to fourteen years old, Like he's still

633
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:38,360
wearing the same clothes as an eleven year old was

634
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:41,159
wearing as a fourteen year old. Was is to the

635
00:37:41,199 --> 00:37:46,199
point that one of my siblings are on My mother said, like, hey,

636
00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:48,559
the shoes that he had weren't fitting him there this

637
00:37:48,679 --> 00:37:50,039
is the point that his toes.

638
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,280
Speaker 12: Were like crunched up and punched up.

639
00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:55,360
Speaker 9: And everything like the shirts and pants and everything that

640
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:57,960
he was wearing like barely fit him where they were

641
00:37:57,960 --> 00:37:58,440
too tight.

642
00:37:58,639 --> 00:37:59,639
Speaker 12: He was malnourished.

643
00:38:00,159 --> 00:38:03,239
Speaker 9: Him just going to like a Walmart with my sister

644
00:38:03,519 --> 00:38:07,559
was causing them to have social anxiety and stuff like that,

645
00:38:07,599 --> 00:38:09,119
which he said.

646
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,320
Speaker 6: His main food so a week was like a gallon

647
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:16,280
of milk steak and potatoes. I had to teach him

648
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:19,280
how to like use a towel after a show because

649
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:23,039
when he first originally got here, he would just come

650
00:38:23,039 --> 00:38:25,679
out of a show and put his clothes on it

651
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:29,519
drip rod. In my head, that's triggering, you know, some

652
00:38:29,559 --> 00:38:32,719
type of abuse, because when you're that age, tell do

653
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:33,880
you not know how to use a shadow?

654
00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:41,800
Speaker 14: He was on a futon mattress in the laundry room.

655
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:46,239
Speaker 1: As Colin got older and entered puberty, he discovered his sexuality,

656
00:38:47,079 --> 00:38:49,039
another thing Chuck had a problem with.

657
00:38:49,639 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 14: Colin said that his dad would have sex sat right

658
00:38:53,039 --> 00:38:55,400
in the next bedroom with him so that he could

659
00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,960
hear everything that was going on, because Colin felt that

660
00:38:59,079 --> 00:39:02,480
he was gay, and so the dad was trying to

661
00:39:02,599 --> 00:39:04,599
change him out of being gay.

662
00:39:05,199 --> 00:39:06,519
Speaker 12: Colin felt that he was gay.

663
00:39:06,639 --> 00:39:12,760
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, yeah, you realize how mentally perverted Barrels was.

664
00:39:13,079 --> 00:39:16,079
He'd beat Kathy, he'd beat the kids. I mean, this

665
00:39:16,159 --> 00:39:21,000
guy was. This guy was a major psychological manipulator and

666
00:39:21,079 --> 00:39:27,400
abuser physically mentally. But this guy was a complete psychopath.

667
00:39:28,119 --> 00:39:32,000
Speaker 1: Finally, on Valentine's Day twenty twenty three, while Gabby was

668
00:39:32,039 --> 00:39:35,440
out of the house, Colin shot and killed his father.

669
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:40,360
Speaker 14: The dad refused to let Colin have anything to do

670
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:44,719
with his mom, but Colin wanted to leave. He wanted

671
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:48,440
to live with his mom, but the dad cornered him

672
00:39:49,119 --> 00:39:52,400
or either cornered or the wall and had a knife

673
00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:55,840
and said, you're going to stay into this tape recording

674
00:39:56,199 --> 00:39:58,480
that you want to live with me, and that's all

675
00:39:58,519 --> 00:40:00,559
there is to it. I'm not going to to court

676
00:40:00,639 --> 00:40:03,719
and be embarrassed by you saying you want to live

677
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:06,599
with your mom. And so, as I said, he had

678
00:40:06,599 --> 00:40:10,119
twenty three guns loaded in the house. And so when

679
00:40:10,159 --> 00:40:13,480
he went back, one of the pistols was right there,

680
00:40:13,599 --> 00:40:14,920
and he pulled in and shot him.

681
00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:17,920
Speaker 12: Was his dad like backing him into a corner?

682
00:40:18,039 --> 00:40:18,800
Speaker 4: Yeah.

683
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:21,199
Speaker 1: Colin called nine one one and explained that his father

684
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:24,119
had attacked him with a knife and he shot him

685
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:28,079
in self defense. The police arrested him and pressed charges,

686
00:40:28,119 --> 00:40:31,519
only to drop them a month later. They couldn't prove

687
00:40:31,639 --> 00:40:33,840
it was or wasn't self defense.

688
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:39,079
Speaker 2: Good mother and his grandmother, Susan, knew that he had

689
00:40:39,159 --> 00:40:42,280
murdered his father because he admitted it to both of them.

690
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:46,719
Speaker 19: Did he admit to killing him and self defense or

691
00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:48,320
did he admit just to killing him.

692
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 2: He admitted to setting the whole thing.

693
00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:52,679
Speaker 12: Up, to setting the whole thing up.

694
00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:57,159
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I told Colin, I said, Colin, I don't

695
00:40:57,159 --> 00:41:00,119
agree with what you did, but you know what, I

696
00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:00,679
thought you of.

697
00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:02,320
Speaker 10: Beer and give you a fucking award.

698
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:04,960
Speaker 2: You took the trash out. Thank you.

699
00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:08,360
Speaker 1: Let's face it, Chuck was a real piece of shit.

700
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:12,840
Perhaps the police in Oklahoma looked at this meek little

701
00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:17,039
kid and felt pity. Why charge Colin with murder if

702
00:41:17,039 --> 00:41:20,159
no one was going to miss Chuck after all? But

703
00:41:21,079 --> 00:41:25,840
now with his mother's death, it changed the way everyone

704
00:41:26,639 --> 00:41:49,119
saw his self defense claim. Paul County deputies found Colin

705
00:41:49,199 --> 00:41:53,039
Griffith calm after the death of his mother, her lifeless

706
00:41:53,039 --> 00:41:56,800
body just a few feet away. He claimed it was

707
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,360
self defense. She attacked him and stabbed herself in the

708
00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:03,960
neck somehow, but neighbors saw him drag her into the

709
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:08,079
house by her hair. His grandmother described arguments, fights, and

710
00:42:08,159 --> 00:42:12,599
threats of violence, even murder. After his arrest, the sheriff

711
00:42:12,719 --> 00:42:17,280
revealed this wasn't his first murder. Eighteen months earlier, he

712
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:20,960
shot and killed his father, one to the chest and

713
00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:25,519
one to the head. Family members described a life of

714
00:42:25,599 --> 00:42:29,719
isolation neglect and abuse at the hands of a pedophile father.

715
00:42:30,639 --> 00:42:34,480
They thought he did it on purpose, but they couldn't

716
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:39,079
blame him. After charges in Oklahoma were dropped, Colin moved

717
00:42:39,119 --> 00:42:42,119
back in with his mother, Kathy. On the surface, it

718
00:42:42,159 --> 00:42:45,920
looked like stability. She took him on trips bottom clothes,

719
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:48,239
got him back in school, and tried to give him

720
00:42:48,280 --> 00:42:51,159
the kind of normal teenage life he'd never had.

721
00:42:51,519 --> 00:42:57,840
Speaker 3: She was trying to help call and reorient to a

722
00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:01,079
life where he wasn't just stuck out in the middle

723
00:43:01,079 --> 00:43:05,000
of nowhere. So they did things like they went to Washington,

724
00:43:05,079 --> 00:43:08,880
d C. They went to White House, they went all

725
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:12,119
over DC, saw everything in orders to see there. She

726
00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:19,639
took him on trips to Central America to Caribbean. She

727
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:24,639
was trying to get him back into as close as

728
00:43:24,639 --> 00:43:28,679
she could in normal life and create opportunities that the

729
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:32,199
two of them missed for so many years.

730
00:43:33,159 --> 00:43:37,039
Speaker 1: But Colin was basically an only child for three years.

731
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:40,920
He wasn't required to do much. I mean, he didn't

732
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,679
even have to go to school. Besides, he had the

733
00:43:44,119 --> 00:43:47,719
barely older soon to be stepmom, Gabby to pick up

734
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:53,239
after him. So when Kathy started requiring chores, Colin would rebel,

735
00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,079
and Kathy would push even harder.

736
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:57,440
Speaker 12: I feel like.

737
00:43:57,639 --> 00:44:01,840
Speaker 18: She wanted to get back an eight year old little boy,

738
00:44:02,719 --> 00:44:03,679
but that is not what.

739
00:44:03,639 --> 00:44:04,320
Speaker 1: She got back.

740
00:44:04,519 --> 00:44:07,360
Speaker 18: Yeah, I know she wanted the best for him, but

741
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,199
she just pushed so much on him.

742
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:10,840
Speaker 4: He's got to take these college classes.

743
00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:13,559
Speaker 18: He's got to do this for bright future scholarship. He's

744
00:44:13,559 --> 00:44:15,800
gotta you know, he's got to help the chores, and

745
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:19,920
just so much, so fast. And I was like, Kathy,

746
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:23,599
just let him take normal classes. Don't don't make him

747
00:44:23,639 --> 00:44:24,880
take a college class.

748
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:27,159
Speaker 12: And I said that to my mom, and she was like,

749
00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:29,519
but it was the same credit. And I was like,

750
00:44:29,599 --> 00:44:30,920
you're missing the point.

751
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:32,199
Speaker 4: I don't care if it's.

752
00:44:32,039 --> 00:44:34,719
Speaker 18: The same credit or not if a kid who has

753
00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:35,480
not been in.

754
00:44:35,559 --> 00:44:37,760
Speaker 5: School in three years.

755
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:41,559
Speaker 18: But she just pushed him so hard.

756
00:44:42,639 --> 00:44:46,239
Speaker 1: It didn't take long for Colin's teenage stubbornness to outlast

757
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:50,559
Kathy's willpower. Pushing him harder didn't seem to work.

758
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:53,719
Speaker 14: Because she said that he wasn't following the rules, he

759
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:57,800
wasn't doing the chores that she wouldn't. He wouldn't help

760
00:44:57,840 --> 00:44:59,880
her put a bookshelf up on the wall. It was

761
00:45:00,199 --> 00:45:03,559
last bookshelf to put on and she just has had

762
00:45:03,599 --> 00:45:05,519
it with him. She said, you know, he has food

763
00:45:05,559 --> 00:45:08,239
all over his room. He's not supposed to. We have ants.

764
00:45:08,280 --> 00:45:11,360
Speaker 1: Now, when all of her efforts to teach her son

765
00:45:11,519 --> 00:45:17,239
responsibility failed, she decided to teach him some accountability. She

766
00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:19,039
turned to punishment.

767
00:45:19,559 --> 00:45:21,800
Speaker 18: Here's something about Kathy that I think is really important

768
00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:22,039
to know.

769
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:23,599
Speaker 12: When Kathy gets hurt.

770
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:26,199
Speaker 18: She doesn't get sad, like when her feelings are hurt.

771
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:27,320
Speaker 4: She doesn't get sad.

772
00:45:27,599 --> 00:45:32,000
Speaker 18: She just gets mad, but like rage mad.

773
00:45:32,679 --> 00:45:36,119
Speaker 1: When Kathy punished Colin, she didn't just stop with taking

774
00:45:36,159 --> 00:45:37,119
away his phone.

775
00:45:37,679 --> 00:45:42,960
Speaker 14: I'm selling his car to CarMax. I'm just enrolling him

776
00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:48,039
from school. I'm taking away his computer, and I'm cutting

777
00:45:48,039 --> 00:45:48,840
off his phone.

778
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:51,239
Speaker 1: She wouldn't just take away one thing. She would take

779
00:45:51,239 --> 00:45:54,760
away everything in the world that he loved. She would

780
00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:58,800
even shut off his debit card. But when that didn't work, you.

781
00:45:58,719 --> 00:46:01,760
Speaker 14: Know, she made him bend over. She hit him with

782
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:06,039
a belt. Then after that she grabbed a big ten

783
00:46:06,159 --> 00:46:08,320
pound or twenty pound weight.

784
00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:12,400
Speaker 1: She would make Colin hold this twenty pound weight over

785
00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:16,280
his head for extended periods of time as punishment, and

786
00:46:16,360 --> 00:46:20,079
the belt, well, it didn't hurt as much as it humiliated.

787
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:24,039
So life went on for eighteen months. It was a

788
00:46:24,079 --> 00:46:30,400
cycle of failed responsibilities and humiliating punishments. Then Kathy started

789
00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:30,920
to crack.

790
00:46:31,519 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 14: So for a while everything seemed to be fine, and

791
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:38,719
then Kathy started having her problems with I want to

792
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:39,679
kill myself.

793
00:46:39,800 --> 00:46:40,599
Speaker 4: I hate life.

794
00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 14: She kept saying that her life just wasn't the way

795
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,400
it was supposed to be, that Colin wasn't the way

796
00:46:46,599 --> 00:46:49,639
he was supposed to be, that he was too much

797
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:50,599
like his dad.

798
00:46:51,639 --> 00:46:54,519
Speaker 1: Kathy had battled with suicidal thoughts in the past, but

799
00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:58,519
now they were back, and it was bad. She even

800
00:46:58,800 --> 00:46:59,840
made an attempt.

801
00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:04,239
Speaker 14: She said, I'm taking all the metaprobrile, all her heart medicine,

802
00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,639
and Colin took her. I told Colin take her to

803
00:47:07,679 --> 00:47:08,159
the er.

804
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:12,760
Speaker 18: But it got to the point where it was almost

805
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:17,199
like psychologically abusive, you know, just the constant I off

806
00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:18,079
is so terrible.

807
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:20,119
Speaker 12: Nothing's supposed to be this way.

808
00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:24,480
Speaker 18: I can't do this anymore. She was drinking, she was drugging,

809
00:47:24,599 --> 00:47:26,519
she was yelling at him, she was being mean to

810
00:47:26,599 --> 00:47:29,599
him physically, mentally, all the things.

811
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:32,440
Speaker 19: I mean, it sounds like he's going He went through

812
00:47:33,519 --> 00:47:37,679
the same thing on both sides separate times.

813
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:41,880
Speaker 1: Colin's older brother, Chris, witnessed this behavior as well.

814
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:44,000
Speaker 9: She would kick me out of the house, she would

815
00:47:44,039 --> 00:47:48,039
get drunk, she would abuse her pills and she.

816
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,360
Speaker 17: Which is toxic, and no other way.

817
00:47:52,239 --> 00:47:52,639
Speaker 2: To put it.

818
00:47:53,199 --> 00:47:57,280
Speaker 1: Unsurprisingly, after his arrest, the state attorney made the announcement

819
00:47:57,519 --> 00:47:58,639
everyone was waiting for.

820
00:47:59,119 --> 00:48:02,079
Speaker 20: I'm Brian Hawes, State Attorney for the ten Judicial Circuit

821
00:48:02,119 --> 00:48:05,440
of Florida. The Polk County Grand Jury indicted Colin Griffith

822
00:48:05,679 --> 00:48:08,079
on the charge of first degree murder for the killing

823
00:48:08,079 --> 00:48:10,960
of his mother in Olmerdale last week. I made the

824
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:13,920
decision to charge this seventeen year old as an adult

825
00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:17,679
based upon the egregious facts and circumstances of this case.

826
00:48:18,039 --> 00:48:21,400
Polk County Law Enforcement continues to work with the authorities

827
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:24,880
in Oklahoma to be sure they are provided all relevant

828
00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:28,599
information and evidence that will allow them to continue to

829
00:48:28,639 --> 00:48:33,000
evaluate their case as they deem necessary. My prosecutors and

830
00:48:33,039 --> 00:48:36,079
the deputies from the Polk County Sheriff's Office will continue

831
00:48:36,079 --> 00:48:38,960
to work together to pursue justice in this case and

832
00:48:39,039 --> 00:48:41,360
hold Colin Griffith accountable for his murder.

833
00:48:41,800 --> 00:48:44,760
Speaker 1: Colin pleaded not guilty to one count of kidnapping, for

834
00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,960
dragging his mother inside by her hair, and one count

835
00:48:49,000 --> 00:48:54,079
of premeditated murder. His eventual trial would last five days.

836
00:48:55,119 --> 00:48:58,639
The prosecution portrayed him as a cold and calculated killer.

837
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:06,480
Speaker 17: This bloodlust, the defendant sits there a guilty person who

838
00:49:06,760 --> 00:49:11,760
stabbed his own mother in the neck and then watched

839
00:49:12,039 --> 00:49:14,480
her bleed out in front of him. That death was

840
00:49:14,519 --> 00:49:19,119
not instantaneous. She bled internally, she bled externally. She was

841
00:49:19,159 --> 00:49:22,559
fighting to get up. She's got a gaping open wound

842
00:49:22,679 --> 00:49:26,079
in her neck. Compliments of her song, Thanks Colin Griffith,

843
00:49:26,679 --> 00:49:32,000
appreciate that the lady that brought him into this world

844
00:49:32,119 --> 00:49:35,840
here on earth, he took out of this world and

845
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:41,360
this earth. The reality of what that person did to

846
00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:44,679
his mom is a second by second nightmare for her.

847
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:48,360
She left this world knowing that the person that took

848
00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:50,440
her out was the sun that she gave everything to.

849
00:49:51,480 --> 00:49:54,880
But the reality of it for what the defenders accomplished,

850
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:59,719
which is exactly exactly what he wanted to do. For

851
00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:03,960
so the writing was on the wall, ladies and gentlemen,

852
00:50:04,039 --> 00:50:07,960
The writing was on the wall. The defendant knew what

853
00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:10,559
he wanted to do, and it was just a matter

854
00:50:10,599 --> 00:50:13,599
of time. If nothing else. He's a man of his word.

855
00:50:14,039 --> 00:50:16,639
He said he would kill his mom, and he took

856
00:50:16,639 --> 00:50:20,000
her out. But you know what, now he's in a

857
00:50:20,039 --> 00:50:23,039
court of law. Now he has to suffer whatever comes

858
00:50:23,079 --> 00:50:26,559
his way in the form of a verdict, and that

859
00:50:26,679 --> 00:50:27,920
verdict is guilty.

860
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:32,199
Speaker 1: The defense portrayed him as a kid unable to escape

861
00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:33,280
a toxic mother.

862
00:50:33,760 --> 00:50:37,000
Speaker 5: I think about this all the times that you've heard

863
00:50:37,039 --> 00:50:40,519
about Colin saying I don't feel safe. If my mom

864
00:50:40,559 --> 00:50:44,360
attacks me, I'll defend myself. If she comes at me,

865
00:50:44,519 --> 00:50:46,360
if she pulls a gun on me, if she punches me,

866
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:51,519
I'll defend myself. Remember, Colin told people that he would

867
00:50:51,599 --> 00:50:55,480
rather be in the Baker Rack facility. He would rather

868
00:50:55,519 --> 00:50:58,760
be in jail, He would rather be in foster care

869
00:50:59,039 --> 00:51:01,840
than at home with his mond. And the state wants

870
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:03,639
you to believe that Colin is just a brat who

871
00:51:03,679 --> 00:51:07,159
didn't like the discipline he gut, so he murdered his mom.

872
00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:12,199
That's also absurd because, as the state has pointed out

873
00:51:12,239 --> 00:51:15,639
many times, Colin had what they think is a great

874
00:51:15,679 --> 00:51:19,039
life with mom. Right, so he gets to go on trips,

875
00:51:19,159 --> 00:51:21,360
absolutely got to go on trips. He lives in a clean,

876
00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:25,400
nice organized home with plenty of food. Yes, he has

877
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:28,119
a phone, he has an Xbox, he has a computer.

878
00:51:28,280 --> 00:51:32,760
He gets to go to college. Don't you think Colin,

879
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:35,760
as smart as he was to be able to graduate early,

880
00:51:36,280 --> 00:51:41,199
would know that if he actually were to be placed

881
00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:44,920
in the baker Ac facility, or remain in jail, or

882
00:51:45,280 --> 00:51:48,440
went into foster care instead of going home with his mom,

883
00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:51,239
with whom he didn't feel safe, he would get none

884
00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:55,760
of those wonderful things, none of them. He would not

885
00:51:55,880 --> 00:51:57,880
have a phone, he would not have an Xbox, he

886
00:51:57,920 --> 00:51:59,800
would not go on trips all over the country or

887
00:51:59,800 --> 00:52:05,880
the world. And yet he still said, please rebakeer act me.

888
00:52:06,360 --> 00:52:10,119
Please don't send me home from jail with my mom. Please,

889
00:52:10,199 --> 00:52:11,639
I'd rather go to foster care.

890
00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:15,719
Speaker 1: They blamed the I mean they brought up Kathy's mental

891
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:19,559
health struggles, is what I meant to say as proof

892
00:52:19,599 --> 00:52:24,199
of her toxicity, while also providing another what if scenario.

893
00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:30,199
Speaker 5: Isn't it also reasonable that Kathy knew what the outcome

894
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:34,480
was going to be. She picked up a knife and

895
00:52:34,519 --> 00:52:38,480
threatened calling with it. You've heard of suicide by cop.

896
00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:44,920
Isn't it reasonable to think that Kathy committed suicide by son?

897
00:52:46,199 --> 00:52:51,199
She had never been able to successfully commit suicide before,

898
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:53,679
despite her many attempts.

899
00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:56,639
Speaker 1: They also tried to say that if Colin were a

900
00:52:56,760 --> 00:53:00,239
rage filled monster, wouldn't he have killed her? I don't

901
00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:01,599
know harder.

902
00:53:02,239 --> 00:53:05,039
Speaker 5: They tried to get you to believe that Colin was

903
00:53:06,280 --> 00:53:11,679
rage filled and hate filled, and all of these malicious

904
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:16,360
thoughts were geared towards his mom. If you believe that,

905
00:53:16,519 --> 00:53:19,719
beyond a reasonable doubt, don't you think there'd be more

906
00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:24,400
than just one wound on Kathy? Don't you expect that

907
00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:30,840
there would be five, ten, twenty stab wounds. That's something

908
00:53:30,840 --> 00:53:32,199
you can consider too.

909
00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:36,280
Speaker 1: After the closing arguments, twelve of Colin's peers retired to

910
00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:40,360
the jury room. They would deliberate for eleven hours, pushing

911
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:44,960
proceedings into the following day before returning a verdict. When

912
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:48,679
Colin entered the courtroom, he smiled at his grandma Susan

913
00:53:48,719 --> 00:53:52,719
in the gallery before sitting between his defense attorneys. Then

914
00:53:52,760 --> 00:53:55,519
the jury entered the room.

915
00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:59,320
Speaker 21: State of Florida Versus Colin Griffin, with the jury fin

916
00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:02,280
as follow as to the defendant in this case, the

917
00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:07,440
defendant as to come one, The defendant is not guilty

918
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:13,079
as to come two. The defendant is not guilty, So say,

919
00:54:13,119 --> 00:54:16,000
will this fifth day of February twenty twenty.

920
00:54:15,679 --> 00:54:21,360
Speaker 1: Five not guilty on both counts? Can you believe that

921
00:54:22,119 --> 00:54:25,280
it's important to note that the jury was made aware

922
00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:29,679
of Colin's previous claim of murder by self defense, they

923
00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:33,800
just weren't told it was his other parent. I wonder

924
00:54:33,880 --> 00:54:37,239
if that would have made a difference. Also, I'm not

925
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:40,800
meaning to sound sexist here, but I so very much

926
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:45,639
wonder about the gender breakdown of that jury. I'll have

927
00:54:45,679 --> 00:54:47,960
to look into that, but I'm assuming it was made

928
00:54:48,039 --> 00:54:52,280
up of mostly women. I guess look it up yourself

929
00:54:52,719 --> 00:54:55,760
if you want to play. Regardless, a jury of so

930
00:54:55,880 --> 00:55:00,599
called peers acquitted him. Colin killed both of his parents

931
00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:06,719
and was deemed not responsible and not a threat. Nuts right.

932
00:55:07,800 --> 00:55:11,679
His family, though, that I assume knows him best, has

933
00:55:11,800 --> 00:55:13,199
different opinions.

934
00:55:13,719 --> 00:55:16,079
Speaker 18: Oh No, I don't think this was a self defense thing.

935
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:20,119
I think this was he snapped and lost it thing.

936
00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:21,039
Speaker 6: That's what I think.

937
00:55:21,079 --> 00:55:22,960
Speaker 19: I think he clearly just didn't want to go home

938
00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:25,800
to mom and this was the last straw. And you're right,

939
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:30,639
I think he snapped and unfortunately he's going to have

940
00:55:30,679 --> 00:55:33,880
to deal with the consequences, and unfortunately, you guys are

941
00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:35,639
gonna have to.

942
00:55:35,599 --> 00:55:36,840
Speaker 4: Deal with the consequences too.

943
00:55:36,920 --> 00:55:39,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, he needs to be at the end of a

944
00:55:39,239 --> 00:55:43,280
rope that we don't use the rope in Florida.

945
00:55:44,079 --> 00:55:49,119
Speaker 1: So Colin was released from jail later that evening. The

946
00:55:49,199 --> 00:55:54,840
sun had already set. Outside, news cameras waited for him. Eventually,

947
00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:58,119
Colin strolled out of the front doors. He was wearing

948
00:55:58,199 --> 00:56:02,119
black rimmed glasses and a stoic expression. He wore a

949
00:56:02,119 --> 00:56:05,760
white dress shirt with no tie and khaki pants without

950
00:56:05,800 --> 00:56:10,159
a belt. His boat shoes muffled his hurried steps as

951
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:15,440
he stared straight ahead. He walked with a practiced gait,

952
00:56:15,599 --> 00:56:19,719
like a soldier. He purposely ignored the cameras following his

953
00:56:19,800 --> 00:56:24,000
every move just a few feet away. He was free,

954
00:56:24,199 --> 00:56:29,199
but he left two dead parents behind. His family was

955
00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:35,159
convinced he was guilty, but the jury wasn't. As the

956
00:56:35,320 --> 00:56:38,679
seventeen year old walked into the dark parking lot outside

957
00:56:38,679 --> 00:56:42,480
the jail, onlookers couldn't help but wonder where he was

958
00:56:42,519 --> 00:56:46,079
going or if anyone was going to pick him up.

959
00:56:47,039 --> 00:56:50,679
I guess Colin finally got what he wanted. He was alone,

960
00:56:51,400 --> 00:56:56,079
completely alone. I'm sure Grandma Susan eventually picked him up.

961
00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:00,559
She was probably just avoiding the media. But still, that

962
00:57:00,679 --> 00:57:04,320
final image of Colin walking through the darkness dotted with

963
00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:08,360
street lights against the backdrop of barbed wire fences is

964
00:57:08,360 --> 00:57:14,320
an image that stays with me. It's almost poetic, a

965
00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:19,000
boy without parents, acquitted of murder, stepping out of one

966
00:57:19,079 --> 00:57:22,840
cage into the shadows of everything he's done. The only

967
00:57:22,920 --> 00:57:25,760
question now is what he'll do next.

968
00:57:26,480 --> 00:57:31,639
Speaker 2: Colin wanted to become a lawyer. Why, because he wasn't

969
00:57:31,639 --> 00:57:35,880
going to just stop with two bodies. It's just who's next.

970
00:57:36,480 --> 00:57:39,719
Speaker 1: At the time of this writing, it is unclear if

971
00:57:39,719 --> 00:57:44,639
the investigation in Oklahoma was reopened. It's also unclear where

972
00:57:44,719 --> 00:57:49,599
Colin Griffith is presently, having turned eighteen about a month

973
00:57:49,639 --> 00:57:53,960
after his acquittal. It could be anywhere. He could be

974
00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:59,360
in your town, living next door, buying groceries at the

975
00:57:59,400 --> 00:58:02,599
same place you do. Hell, he might even be bringing

976
00:58:02,639 --> 00:58:08,199
you your groceries on door dash nuts right, did you

977
00:58:08,280 --> 00:58:08,800
order nuts?

978
00:58:09,760 --> 00:58:10,079
Speaker 2: Did you?

979
00:58:11,079 --> 00:58:12,559
Speaker 1: I don't even know what to say about this one,

980
00:58:13,400 --> 00:58:17,079
so I'm just gonna end it here. Good luck out there, Colin,

981
00:58:18,039 --> 00:58:33,880
try not to kill again. Well, we hope you've enjoyed

982
00:58:34,079 --> 00:58:37,000
that story, it's going to do it for today. I

983
00:58:37,039 --> 00:58:40,440
sure didn't anyway. If you do like stories like this,

984
00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:43,559
head on over to swordscale dot com or check out

985
00:58:43,559 --> 00:58:46,840
our brand new YouTube channel, YouTube dot com slash sword

986
00:58:46,880 --> 00:58:49,719
and Scale TV. There you can check out our new

987
00:58:49,800 --> 00:58:55,480
television based show, which is kind of like a podcast,

988
00:58:55,519 --> 00:58:58,199
but it's got moving pictures. I know it's a little

989
00:58:58,239 --> 00:59:03,280
complicated to understand all this new fangled technology, but just

990
00:59:03,440 --> 00:59:06,360
head on over there and subscribe and watch a few

991
00:59:06,440 --> 00:59:09,920
videos and you'll get it all right until next time. Yeah,

992
00:59:09,960 --> 00:59:12,199
I know they could be annoying, but please try to

993
00:59:12,360 --> 00:59:15,320
not kill your family and we'll see you next week.

994
00:59:16,039 --> 01:00:03,920
Stay safe, I don't under do not be, don't rest,

995
01:00:05,119 --> 01:00:07,239
don't the stone Ston

