The shocking family secrets of Collin Griffith, 17, charged with killing both of his parents a year apart

DailyMail.com can reveal the dark family history of a teenage boy who stabbed his mother to death, a year after he murdered his father in a shocking series of crimes that have baffled Florida detectives.

Collin Griffith, 17, is accused of killing his loving mother Catherine, 39, by stabbing her multiple times in the neck. He claimed she “fell” on the knife when she lunged at him, but neighbors told police they saw the teen drag her away by her hair while she repeatedly said, “Let me go.”

Catherine’s murder was the latest act of violence in the family’s troubled past, which included repeated murder threats, alleged domestic abuse and a nasty divorce battle that ended with the murder of Collins’ father Charles, 41.

The teen’s parents were embroiled in a legal battle over Collin when Charles, who had full custody of the teen, was fatally shot in the chest and head.

The former couple split in May 2020 after 20 years of marriage, according to court documents obtained by DailyMail.com, in which Catherine accused Charles of decades of abuse.

In August 2022, Catherine filed for sole custody of Collin, alleging that Charles had allowed “no contact” with the boy since December 31, 2019, after he “begged his mother to come pick him up.”

Catherine accused Charles of alienating Collin from her “by saying negative things to him and by monitoring and stalking her social media in an attempt to make her look bad.”

She alleged that Charles had harassed and stalked her, causing her to suffer from chronic PTSD, and asked the court for a restraining order.

The mother later said that Collin’s father wouldn’t let him leave the house, even to go to school, after Collin told him he was gay.

Catherine also asked the court to order Charles to take Collin to child therapy, saying, “This child may already be suffering from irreparable emotional damage from [the father’s] parental alienation and emotional abuse of the minor child.

Charles responded by claiming that Collin did not want that. According to him, Catherine was ‘mentally and emotionally unstable’ and had been abusing drugs and alcohol during that period.

The father said he stopped Collin from communicating with Catherine after she sent the teen a handwritten suicide note in May 2020. He also accused Catherine of only calling when she was “manic” and posing as an adult male on Discord to contact Collin and encourage him to run away.

The case was resolved when Catherine was awarded full custody of Collin in February 2023, days after the teenager shot and killed Charles.

Collin shot and killed his father in Oklahoma on Valentine’s Day 2023. The then 15-year-old was also the one who called 911. He claimed he acted in self-defense after his father cornered him in a room and threatened him with a knife.

An arrest affidavit for the boy stated that there was “probable cause to believe that the suspect, the juvenile, committed premeditated murder.” An officer noted that the boy’s claim that he was cornered by his father did not match the evidence at the crime scene.

Collin was arrested for murder and released after Catherine posted his $50,000 bail. However, the case was dropped when prosecutors could not rule out self-defense.

“A violent predator – he’s now killed both his father and his mother,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “We will hold him accountable in Polk County – we will do everything we can to keep him separated from society.”

Catherine had only recently reunited with Collin, when he moved to Oklahoma with his father following his parents’ separation in 2019.

Mother and son’s time together was problematic from the start, but Catherine kept it private. She raved about her son on social media, recounting their trips together and sharing the new car she bought him as a graduation gift.

Just months after his father’s murder, in September 2023, a school resource officer called police to conduct a psychiatric evaluation after Collin stated that his mother had pointed a gun at him during an argument.

Collin claimed that Catherine had said she would kill him and threatened to kill himself. She denied the claims to a sheriff, insisting that Collin was angry because she had taken his phone and AirPods because he was failing his classes.

Catherine added that Collin had been diagnosed with a personality disorder and PTSD after being held “captive” by his father for 1,041 days without human contact.

Collin was then placed in protective custody for a mental health evaluation under the Baker Act. He was scheduled to be released after eight days, but was held at the facility after threatening to kill his mother if he went back near her.

He reportedly told staff, “I’m going to kill myself or my mother… throw them out of the car, shoot them or stab them. I’ve done it before, to my father, and I know I can do it again.”

Catherine then placed the teenager in a long-term care facility near Jupiter, where he stayed for several months before moving back in with her.

Then, in November 2023, Collin was charged with domestic violence against his mother after he attacked her, pulling her hair and kicking her in the groin. He told officers at the time that he would kill his mother if he was released and forced to get into a car with her.

“He was very articulate and very smart, but you can tell he was a little bit controlling and manipulative. You can’t tell he was actually a murdering psychopath,” Catherine’s attorney Eric Reyes said. NBC2.

Collin is in jail awaiting his next trial, charged with first-degree murder.