A mother accused of brutally stabbing her son to death during an argument shared chilling posts on Instagram in the days leading up to her murder.
Catherine Griffith, 39, was found with a knife in her neck in a home in Auburndale, Florida, on Sunday evening.
Her 17-year-old son Collin Griffith told police she “fell” on the gun, but has since been charged with murder.
Her death came a year after she posted bail for the teenager who shot his father in self-defense.
And while the late mother’s messages seem to allude to the turmoil in her family, she promises in a heartbreaking message that she will “live life to the fullest.”
Catherine Griffith, 39, shared chilling messages online in the days leading up to her murder, allegedly by her son Collin (pictured together)
“This past year has been a whirlwind of life events and memories,” she wrote last week, the day after her birthday.
‘I am grateful that no matter what I am going through or experiencing, I have family, friends, and a community that supports me, even on the days when I am not at my best.
‘Thank you to everyone who helped me see that life is an adventure worth living and fighting for every day. Life lessons are just that.
“I’ve learned some of the hardest lessons in my 30s, but I vow that my 39th year will be a year of living life to the fullest.”
Another cryptic message posted days before her murder features lyrics from Taylor Swift’s song “It’s Time to Go.”
“That old familiar body ache, The blows of the same little fractures in your soul. You know when it’s time to go… Sometimes giving up is the strong thing,” she posted alongside a picturesque photo of a boardwalk.
In other reports, it appears that mother and son are a picture perfect family, enjoying cruise vacations and trips to Disney and Universal Studios.
In May, she gave the teen a brand new 2024 VW Jetta worth $26,000 as an early graduation gift.
The mother seemed to allude to her traumatic past, but indicated that she wanted to live “life to the fullest”
Griffith, 17, is accused of fatally stabbing his mother in the neck after an argument
Her haunting last messages indicate she may have been struggling
“I love you and I’m so proud of you!” she exclaimed enthusiastically as he posed on the hood of the car.
Witnesses reported seeing Griffith drag his mother from the house by her hair two hours earlier and a coroner found she had been stabbed twice in the neck.
A year ago, Catherine paid $50,000 to get her son out of prison after he shot and killed his father.
The charges were dropped after he claimed he killed his father in self-defense.
“When you look at this, you see a child. When I look at him, I see a psychopath,” Sheriff Grady Judd said.
‘Everyone who should be special to him in his life is dead if they cross him.
‘He shot his father dead when he was 17 and got away with it, and he stabbed his mother in the neck so hard the knife went right through her.
“He’s now killed two people, and his mother and father. And I can assure you, based on his behavior, if he had gone to live with his grandmother after all this and she had stood up to him, she would be next.”
The incident occurred a year after his mother posted bail for fatally shooting his father, an act he successfully called self-defense.
Neighbors said they saw Griffith drag his mother by her hair to his grandmother’s house in Auburndale, Florida.
Griffith alleged that his 43-year-old father, Charles Griffith, pulled a knife on him before chasing and cornering him near a remote farm in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, on Valentine’s Day 2023.
But prosecutors “failed to disprove Colin’s claim that he acted in self-defense” and he was released after his mother posted bail.
Six months later, he was jailed again under Florida’s Baker Act after threatening to commit suicide and stab or shoot his mother.
In November last year, he was arrested for domestic violence after he kicked his mother to the ground when she tried to stop him from playing video games.
He again tried to claim self-defense, but his grandmother had seen the attack and corroborated Catherine’s story.
A restraining order was issued against his mother, allowing him to continue living with her, but forbidding any violent contact.
In February 2024, he ran away from his mother’s home in Charlotte County and went to live with his grandmother.
He told officers he would rather “kill my mother” than be reunited with her, but they turned him over to the Florida Department of Children and Families, who returned him to the home in Charlotte County, exactly one year after his father’s death.
Earlier this week, police released a series of chilling text messages Catherine sent in the hours before her death, in which she begged a neighbour for help.
The devoted mother’s Instagram painted a picture of a perfect life, but also hinted at past traumas
Griffith had recently graduated from The Academy, an alternative high school in Port Charlotte
On the day of her death, she told her neighbor, “I’ll meet with his probation officer Monday morning if he’s not home by 10:00 today. He knows the time and the deadline.
“He chooses to skip it and hide out at my mother’s house in Polk County, which is also a violation.”
In her final text, she wrote, “He won’t listen. I’m going to pick him up and if he doesn’t get in the car, Polk County can take him.”
Griffith’s grandmother was not home when his mother arrived at 4 p.m. on Sunday and the two got into an argument.
At 6:30 p.m., police were on their way after Griffith called to say his mother had self-harmed. When officers arrived, he showed “no remorse whatsoever.”
“He looked the officer in the eye and said, ‘I know my rights, I want an attorney,'” Judd told reporters.
He claimed that during the argument his mother lunged at him with a knife and fell on him, causing a deep stab wound to her neck.
“The coroner said it’s just not reasonable or likely that she died the way he said she did. ‘It just didn’t happen.’
Griffith had recently graduated from The Academy, an alternative high school in Port Charlotte.
His mother’s message reveals that he graduated early and plans to attend university.