On the day she was stabbed to death by her “psychopath” 17-year-old son,
Catherine Griffith shared some haunting last words on social media, suggesting that “It’s Time to Go.”
Hours before she was killed, the mother of two, who turned 39 on September 4
posted an eerie photo along with a few lines of Taylor Swift’s song, saying “…it’s time to go…
Sometimes, givin’ up is the strong thing.”
Her death comes 17 months after Collin was accused, and absolved of fatally shooting his father, in what he claims was self defense.
Catherine Griffith’s social media channels are filled with posts that show a picture-perfect family.
The proud and supportive mom gushed over her older son Collin, who is seen in the majority of her posts, some that share vacations and one, from May, shows the 17-year-old leaning against his graduation gift, a new 2024 VW Jetta, complete with a huge red bow.
“I love you and am so proud of you!!!” she writes of Collin, who just started college.
In a more recent post, Griffith shared a montage of images that show her with her late husband, Charles Robert Griffith. The August 24 content also includes a snap of Charles’ gravestone and of her two boys.
In the caption, Griffith posted selected lyrics from Taylor Swift’s son “My Tears Ricochet.”
“I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace and so the battleships will sink beneath the waves, you had to kill me, but it killed you just the same.”
According to the arrest affidavit, Collin shot his father, once in the head and once in the chest, killing Charles on Valentine’s Day, 2023 in his Oklahoma home.
Charles,15, at the time, claimed the killing was in self defense and before speaking with investigators, he invoked his fifth amendment right to counsel.
His mother paid $50,000 to bail Collin out of jail and despite “inconsistencies” and “discrepancies” between the story told and the evidence, charges were dropped.
Birthday
On September 4, Griffith celebrated her 39th birthday, honoring her special day with a clip on TikTok, that shows several pictures of her enjoying time with Collin.
She writes, “This last year has been a whirlwind of life events and memories…I’ve learned some of the hardest lessons in my 30’s but I’m vowing that my 39th year will be a year of living life to its fullest.”
Sadly, her 39th year came to a crashing end on September 8.
‘Time to go’
Earlier that day, Griffith shared an eerie Instagram post that shows a long bridge.
In that post, she again quoted lyrics from a Swift song, “Time to Go.”
She writes, “That old familiar body ache, The snaps from the same little breaks in your soul. You know when it’s time to go…Sometimes, givin’ up is the strong thing.”
About 4:30 p.m., witnesses say they watched Collin and his mom fighting outside. He allegedly dragged her into the home by her hair as she pleaded “let me go.”
Then, about 6:30 p.m. Collin called 9-1-1 – a conversation “similar” to the one he made in February 2023 about his father – saying that he and his mother had a “very, very long fight.”
He also said she “fell on a knife,” and was bleeding from the neck.
When Polk Country Police (PCSO) arrived at the Auburndale, Florida home, where Griffith lived with her boys, they found Catherine bleeding from stab wounds to her neck.
She died at the scene.
Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters that when deputies arrived, Collin showed “zero remorse” and was “calm, cool and collected.”
“He looked the deputy in the eye and said: ‘I know my rights, I want an attorney,’” Judd told said.
‘Psychopath’
Judd then revealed that Collin claimed that during the argument, his mother lunged at him with a knife, and fell on it, resulting in a deep stab wound to her neck.
But the medical examiner says “it’s just not reasonable or plausible” that she died the way he claims. “It just didn’t happen.”
“When you look at this, you see a kid. When I look at him, I see a psychopath,” Judd said.
“Everybody that should be special to him in his life is dead when they cross him.”
“He’s already, at 17 years of age, shot and killed his father and got away with it, and stabbed his mother in the neck so hard that the knife went all the way through.
“Now he’s killed two people, and killed his mother and father, and I can assure you based upon his conduct, had he gone to live with his grandmother at the end of this, and she had crossed him, she would be next,” Judd adds.
Collin is in the Polk County Jail facing a first-degree murder charge for the death of his mother. PCSO said they asked that the state attorney’s office to prosecute him as an adult.
