PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Newly released bodyworn camera video is shedding light on the case of 17-year-old Collin Griffith, who is accused of murdering his mother, Catherine Griffith, in September 2024.
Watch as Fox 4's Anvar Ruziev shows the tense moments between Collin, his mother, and his grandmother in the months before the incident:
Collin, who previously lived in Oklahoma, was cleared of killing his father in self-defense on Valentine’s Day 2023. After his release, he moved to Port Charlotte to live with his mother. But just seven months later, Charlotte County deputies were called to their home after a heated argument turned violent.
The bodycam video shows Collin in the back of a police vehicle talking to his grandmother.
"I was saying, ‘Mom, I’m not a psychopath. I’m not this murderer. I’m just trying to peacefully leave or peacefully coexist. She kept telling me to shut up and shut up, and when I wouldn’t shut up, she hit me.’"
His grandmother pushes back. "No, that’s not what happened, Collin. That’s not what happened. You never said you wanted to peacefully coexist," she said.
"I’ve been saying that!" Collin replied.
In another clip, Collin's grandmother explained that Collin did not want to go back to his mother’s house, asking instead to be placed in foster care.
"Collin did not want to come back home, and I said you don’t have a choice, you have to go back home," said his grandmother in the video. "And he said, ‘No, I want foster care,’ and even the corporal said that foster care isn’t good for you. You have issues you need to work on."
Despite his pleas, Collin was released the next day and sent back to his mother’s home. Hours later, he was Baker Acted after jail staff reported that he said he wanted to kill his mother.
In bodyworn camera video from that day, deputies are heard explaining their decision to Catherine Griffith. "I struggle with a kid that’s being released from jail saying, ‘If you bring me back there, she’s going to die,’" one deputy said. "If we don’t do something, then shame on us that we didn’t do our job and we failed you. And I’m not failing you, nor am I going to fail your son."
When deputies confronted Collin about the alleged threats, he said. "I’m in a constant state of fight or flight, and I don’t know. 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," he said.
The deputy asked, "You’re not sure if you’ll hurt your mom?"
"Only if she tries to hurt me," Collin responded.
Less than a year later, Collin called 911 from his grandmother’s home in Polk County to report that his mother had fallen on a knife and was bleeding from her neck. The medical examiner later ruled that her injuries could not have been accidental.
Collin Griffith has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping and remains in custody at the Polk County Jail.
Fox 4 will continue to monitor this case and provide updates as it moves through the courts.
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