Port Charlotte teen accused of killing his mother found not guilty on all counts

BARTOW, Fla. — A teenager accused of murdering his mother just 18 months after killing his father was found not guilty of all charges by a jury.

Collin Griffith, 17, was acquitted on charges of kidnapping and first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his mother, Catherine Griffith on Sept. 8, 2024. Collin’s attorneys told the jury he acted in self-defense the day his mother died and told 911 dispatchers that his mother “fell on a knife” during a “very long fight.” During closing arguments, Collin’s attorneys suggested that Catherine “committed suicide by son.”

Collin was in the custody of his mother, who lives in southwest Florida, at the time of the murder, but had fled to his grandmother’s house in central Florida after an argument over chores. Prosecutors say Catherine went to get her son to bring him home on Sept. 8, and within 30 minutes of her arrival witnesses said they saw Collin dragging her by her hair.

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Collin was previously arrested on charges of domestic violence in Nov. 2023 for an incident with his mother. At that time, a police recording captured him telling his grandmother and deputies that he did not want to be returned to his mother’s custody. “I’m in a constant state of fight or flight,” Collin told deputies at the time. “If I think she’s going to do something, even if she’s not, I might act. I’m not going to, like, go crazy or anything, but I’m not sure, honestly.”

Eighteen months before his mother’s death, Collin wascharged with first-degree murder after shooting his father to death in Oklahoma. Prosecutors dropped the charges less than a month later, saying they “could not disprove Collin’s assertion of self-defense.” Prosecutors in Florida pointed to texts they said showed Catherine was threatening to reveal that Collin had not acted in self-defense in that case. While the jury will heard that Collin shot and killed someone in self-defense, the judge ruled that they could not hear the victim’s name or learn that he was the defendant’s father.