Latest / Murder Files Unsealed / Cathy Griffith was stabbed to death by her 17-year-old son, a year after he killed his father

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Cathy Griffith was stabbed to death by her 17-year-old son, a year after he killed his father · Murder Files Unsealed

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep Dive where today we're gonna well,
• 0:03
  we're diving into a case that's truly heartbreaking. Really. We're
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  talking about Colin Griffith, this teenager facing charges and the
• 0:10
  deaths of well both his parents, and it happened just
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  a year apart.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's important to say right off
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  the bat, this isn't just another true crime story, right,
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  this case it forces us to really confront some really
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  complex issues mental health obviously, family dynamics, and even the
• 0:27
  limits of the justice system, especially I think when we're
• 0:30
  dealing with a minor accused of such serious crimes.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's heavy stuff. I gotta admit reading through everything,
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  I felt angry, sad, overwhelmed really, but let's try to
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  unpack this together. Starting at the beginning, our deep dive
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  takes us back to twenty twenty three Oklahoma, Colin just
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  fifteen at the time, living with his father, Charles.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: All right, this is where it all begins. Seemingly ordinary day,
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  know that becomes something unimaginable.
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  Speaker 1: Because that's when Colin makes that chilling nine to one
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  one call right claiming he shot his father and self defense.
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  Speaker 2: And right away we're faced with a challenge. Colin tells
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  police's father pulled a knife on him during an argument,
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  even describes the shooting in detail, But there's a crucial
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  element missing corroboration.
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  Speaker 1: No other witnesses, nobody to back up Colin's story, right,
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  just a teenager, a gun, and a deceased father. It's
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  easy to see how that lack of evidence would make
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  it nearly impossible to determine what really happened.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's the dilemma investigator's face. Without clear evidence
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  to contradict Colin's claim of self defense, the charges were well,
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  they were eventually dropped.
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  Speaker 1: So put yourself in Colin's shoes for a second. Right,
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  you're fifteen years old, You've just been involved in this
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  horrible situation where your father died, and now you're being
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  sent to live with your mother, Catherine, in Florida. You
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  would hope that would be a turning point, a chance
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  to heal, to find some stability.
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  Speaker 2: Right, a fresh start. But as we're about to find out,
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  that's not what happened. In fact, you could argue that
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  moving to Florida is where things really start to unravel.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, because it isn't long, just a few months, after
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  Colin moves in with his mom that while alarm bells
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  start going off and this time it's a call to
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  Colin's school. What is it? A school school resource officer? Yeah,
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  a school resource officer that kind of throws a spotlight
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  on the you know, on the really troubled situation in
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  their home.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, this incident, it really to me, highlights the difficult
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  reality that trauma passed trauma it can have this ripple effect.
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  It's not just the individual. It impacts their relationships, their future, everything, right, totally.
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  Speaker 1: Oh and let's break it down. We have the school officer, right,
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  they go to Colin's home for a mental health check,
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  which I mean, come on that that in itself speaks volumes.
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  And what does Colin tell the officer. He says, his mom,
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  Catherine pull a gun on him during an argument.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wow, just imagine, I mean, the fear of the confusion.
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  This is a teenager, right, already experience this traumatic loss
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  and now he's in a situation where he doesn't even
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  feel safe with his own mother.
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  Speaker 1: It's awful, and you think that would be the most
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  shocking part, right, But here's where the story it gets
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  even darker. Believe it or not, because Catherine she tells
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  a totally different story. Oh really, Yeah, she denies pulling
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  a gun on Colin at all, and she claims that
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  he's just angry because she took away his phone. I
• 3:19
  think his AirPods too, because of bad grades.
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  Speaker 2: And as if that isn't enough, she also tells the
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  officer that Colin he suffers from get this severe PTSD
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  because his father held him captive, completely isolated, for over
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  a thousand days. You heard that, right, a thousand days.
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  I mean it's a claim that, if it's true, it
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  paints this really horrific picture of his childhood.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's almost impossible to imagine. So on the one hand,
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  you have Colin right saying his mother pulled a gun
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  on him, and on the other hand, you have Catherine
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  claiming this these years of I don't know, horrific abuse
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  at the hands of Colin's father.
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  Speaker 2: It's a lot and this is where I think we
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  have to be really careful, right us. I mean, as
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  these outside observers, we're dealing with two really different stories here.
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  Both of them are clouded by trauma, potential bias, you
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  name it. It's not our place to say who's telling
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  the truth, but we can't ignore the impact these conflicting
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  accounts have on the case.
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  Speaker 1: Right, absolutely, And it's important to remember we're not just
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  talking about like he said, She said, these are allegations,
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  serious ones, and in this case, the authorities, if I mean,
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  they had to take action following that incident at the school. Colin.
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  He's placed in protective custody to get a mental health evaluation,
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  which you would.
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  Speaker 2: Think, I mean, you would hope that would be you know,
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  a source of support for him, right, and some stability finally,
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  But instead it seems like it just escalates everything. Oh
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  how so, well, while Colin's in custody, Catherine, she reaches
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  out to a juvenile detective with well more disturbing information. Really,
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  what do you mean? She claims Colin's been making threats,
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  saying that if he's released, he's going to harm either
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  himself or her.
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  Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, and these threats, I mean, I mean,
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  whether they were real or not, I mean, that's really scary.
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  Speaker 2: It is, you know, were they a cry for help,
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  Were they you know, an actual expression of his intent
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  or some combination of both. We don't know. But regardless,
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  you can't ignore something like that. They point to this
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  level of I don't know what, desperation, potential for violence.
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  It's something that demands attention.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. Wait, so it gets it gets worse.
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  What else did Catherine say? She told the detective that
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  Colin he had been making threats, not just you know,
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  towards her, but towards the therapists who were trying to
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  help him. It's like, I don't know, he was pushing
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  away like anyone who tried to get close, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's I mean, that's a classic sign of trauma. Really,
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  it's like a defense mechanism. You know, he's been hurt,
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  let down, and now he's pushing away any possibility of
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  I don't know, being heard.
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  Speaker 1: Again, right right, It's just this heartbreaking cycle. But even
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  knowing all this, I mean, nothing could prepare us for
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  what happens next. In February of twenty twenty four, less
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  than a year after his father's death, tragedy, well it
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  strikes again. This time it was Catherine. She was found
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  dead in her home and the details are well, they're
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  just devastating.
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  Speaker 2: It really is like this this horrific echo of the past.
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  You know, Colin calls nine to one one but there's
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  no question about what happened. Catherine was found with multiple
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  stab ones.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and neighbors actually they reported seeing Colin dragging Katherine
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  into the house. She was screaming for help, and when
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  the officers finally get there, they said that Colin was
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  just like completely emotionless.
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  Speaker 2: This is where the narrative, I think, you know, takes
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  on this whole new level of complexity. Right, We're no
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  longer dealing with the ambiguity of what happened back in Oklahoma.
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  This time the evidence, well, it seems much more straightforward.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and with Colin now facing charges right, first degree murder, kidnapping,
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  violating that no contact order, it makes you wonder did
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  the system fail Colin? Did it fail his family?
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  Speaker 2: That's I mean, that's the million dollar question, is it
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  could things have been different, have been you know, earlier intervention,
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  maybe more aggressive interventions. It's impossible to say for sure.
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  But you know, what we do know is that this case,
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  it's a painful reminder of just how devastating, you know,
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  untreated trauma can be, and it really highlights the need
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  for better mental health support for young people. I mean,
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  that's that's a bottom line.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, As we kind of reach the end of this
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  deep dive. Here it's clear there are no easy answers.
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  This isn't just a story about crime and punishment, right,
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  It's about mental health, it's about family dynamics, and it's
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  about the limits of our justice system.
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  Speaker 2: Really, it really is. And you know, this case it
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  forces us to ask ourselves some tough questions. How can
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  we identify and address those those warning signs? Right? How
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  do we break these cycles of violence that we see
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  in so many families unfortunately, And how do we make
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  sure that that vulnerable young people like Colin, how do
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  we make sure they get the support they need, the
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  support they deserve.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, those are questions we all need to be asking. Yeah,
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  because this isn't just Colin' star. This is a story
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  that it reflects a much much larger issue, and it's
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  a story that, well, it could have had a very
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  different ending.