POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County Sheriff's Office has arrested a 17-year-old for allegedly murdering his mother. PCSO said the teen murdered 39-year-old Catherine Griffith of Port Charlotte Sunday evening.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd provided more details about the arrest on Wednesday.
Nearby witnesses saw the teen and his mother fighting outside his grandmother's house on Sunday afternoon in Auburndale, followed by the teen dragging his mother into the home by her hair around 4:30 p.m. The witnesses said they heard the mother repeatedly say, "Let me go." The teen's grandmother was not home when the incident took place.
Around two hours later, PCSO received a 911 call from the teen who said that he and his mother had a long fight and she fell on a knife and was bleeding from the neck, Sheriff Judd said. The teen was given instructions on how to do life-saving techniques.
When detectives asked the teen what happened, he allegedly became uncooperative and asked to talk with a lawyer. Detectives also noticed inconsistencies in the teen's story during the 911 call and what was discovered at the scene.
During the investigation, a medical examiner said that it wasn't reasonable that the mother could have died the way the teen described.
Sheriff Judd said, "Our investigation clearly and unequivocally shows that that circumstance did not occur like that. He used similar language to when he made the 911 call, what, 18 or 20 months earlier when he shot and killed his father."
Sheriff Judd said that just over a year and a half ago, the teen allegedly killed his father, Charles Griffith, in Oklahoma. The teen claimed self-defense and said that his father pulled a knife on him first. The teen was initially charged with first-degree murder, but the charges were dropped after prosecutors said they could not disprove the teen's claim of self-defense.
The teen had allegedly threatened to kill his mother on multiple occasions, Sheriff Judd said. In November of 2023, the teen was charged with domestic violence battery against his mother by the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. The teen's grandmother told PCSO about several occasions in which the teen was verbally or physically aggressive with his mother in the past.
The teen is being charged with first-degree murder, and PCSO is requesting that the state attorney's office prosecute him as an adult.
Sheriff Judd said that they have also reached out to the prosecutors in Oklahoma, and any information found in their investigation may prompt a reopening of the murder investigation of the teen's father.
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