Two emergency calls. Two dead parents. And a jury that never heard the full story.
- Strange Case Files
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
Collin Griffith: Two Parents, Two States, and a Self-Defense Claim
Two parents died in separate incidents, in two different states, just a year apart. In both cases, the same teenager said it was self-defense. One case never went to trial. In the other, the jury was never told about the first death.
Family Background
Public records show that Collin Griffith’s parents were separated and lived in different states. As a teenager, Collin moved between households, living with his father in Oklahoma and later with his mother in Florida, a pattern that placed him repeatedly at the center of an already fractured family.
By 2023, Collin was living with his father. By 2024, he was living with his mother.
In Florida, Catherine Griffith told deputies that Collin had serious emotional and psychological issues, which she attributed to his time living with his father. These claims appear in law enforcement and social service records as her statements and were not adjudicated findings in court.
The Oklahoma Shooting (February 14, 2023)
The first death occurred in Lincoln County, Oklahoma.
On February 14, 2023, Collin called 911 and reported that he had shot his father, Charles Griffith, inside their home.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Collin said an argument escalated into a physical confrontation. He claimed his father pulled a knife, chased him through the house, and cornered him in a bedroom. Collin said he grabbed a gun and fired twice.
Charles Griffith died from gunshot wounds to the chest and head.
Investigators noted inconsistencies between Collin’s account and the physical evidence at the scene. When questioned about those discrepancies, Collin invoked his right to an attorney.
Oklahoma prosecutors ultimately declined to file charges, stating they could not disprove self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt.
There was no trial. No jury. No legal finding on what actually happened.
Florida: Escalating Conflict
After his father’s death, Collin returned to live with his mother in Florida.
Records show repeated domestic conflict in the year leading up to her death.
In 2023, Collin was charged with domestic battery involving his mother. A no-contact order was later issued.
There was also a mental health related incident at the home. During a Baker Act evaluation, records later introduced in court indicated that Collin told a clinician he wanted to kill his mother. The statement was documented in professional notes and later referenced by investigators, but it was never tested as a criminal admission in court.
During the Florida trial, Catherine’s father, Robert Walantas, testified about a conversation he had with Collin just months before her death. Walantas told the jury that Collin said he kept thinking about slitting his mother’s throat and wanting her to bleed out. The statement was introduced as sworn witness testimony and was not independently recorded or adjudicated as fact.
Taken together, the records and testimony painted a picture of escalating fear inside the home, one that existed long before the final emergency call.
The Auburndale Incident (September 8, 2024)
The second death occurred in Auburndale, Florida.
On September 8, 2024, Collin called 911 and said he and his mother had gotten into a fight. He claimed she lunged at him with a knife and fell on it.
Witnesses described a different sequence of events.
Multiple people reported seeing an argument outside the home. They said Collin grabbed his mother by the hair and dragged her back inside while she pleaded to be let go.
Catherine Griffith was later found inside the home with a fatal stab wound.
The Medical Examiner determined the injury was not consistent with an accidental fall onto a knife.
When deputies arrived, Collin quickly requested an attorney and refused further questioning.
He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, and violation of a no-contact order.
He was 17 years old.
The Trial and the Missing History
The Florida case went to trial in early 2025.
The prosecution presented witness testimony, medical evidence, and Collin’s prior domestic history with his mother.
The defense argued self-defense.
What the jury did not know was that Collin had previously killed his father.
The judge ruled that evidence of the Oklahoma shooting was inadmissible. Jurors were never told that another parent had died just a year earlier in a similar self-defense claim.
They evaluated the case as a single, isolated incident.
Not as the second violent death involving the same teenager.
The Verdict (2025)
In February 2025, the jury found Collin not guilty of first-degree murder and kidnapping.
Legally, the case ended there.
The verdict did not determine what happened inside the home. It determined only that the state failed to meet its burden of proof.
A Timeline That Should Not Exist
Two parents are dead.
One in Oklahoma in 2023.One in Florida in 2024.
Both deaths involved claims of self-defense. Both cases ended without a conviction.
The public record shows a pattern. The legal system saw two separate cases.
And between those two realities is a timeline that remains unresolved, not because there are no answers, but because some of the most important questions were never allowed inside the courtroom at all, leaving a story that feels legally finished, but emotionally incomplete.
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