A teenager who killed his father in Oklahoma last year but avoided prosecution by claiming self-defense is now facing first-degree murder charges in the stabbing death of his mother in Florida.
The 17-year-old boy is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of his 39-year-old mother. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference Wednesday that he is lobbying the State Attorney's Office to try the boy as an adult and that he believes the boy would reoffend if released.
“When I look at this kid, I see him as a child,” Judd said, “I see him as a psychopath. I see him as a completely insane behavior, being 17 years old and shooting his father, getting away with it, and then stabbing his mother in the neck with a knife all the way through.”
“He's now killed two people, he killed his own parents, and I can say beyond any reasonable doubt, based on his actions, that if he goes to live with his grandmother at the end of this and she betrays him, she will be the next target.”
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A Florida teenager allegedly used the knife to kill his mother. (Polk County Sheriff's Office)
Judd said the boy initially told 911 dispatchers that his mother had been “under a knife” after a “very lengthy struggle” on Sunday.
Judd said officers who arrived at The Hamptons, a 55-and-over community in Auburndale about 50 miles east of Tampa, where the boy's grandmother lives, found the boy “calm, cool, collected and with blood on him.”
The 17-year-old reportedly became “uncooperative,” showed “absolutely no remorse” and no sense of urgency towards his seriously injured mother.
“He looked the deputy in the eye and said, 'I know my rights. Call an attorney,'” Judd said.
The boy claims he had been in a protracted argument with his mother before she died, but the home was “tidy and clean.” [with] “We don't see any evidence of prolonged fighting,” Judd said.
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The incident occurred on Hewlett Drive in Auburndale, Florida. (Google Earth)
Witnesses said the boy and his mother were heard yelling at each other outside the home before the boy grabbed his mother by her hair and dragged her inside the house, with her repeatedly begging him to let her go.
The boy's grandmother, who was not present at the altercation, He told WFLA The boy had had multiple verbal and physical confrontations with his mother.
After the mother was pronounced dead, the coroner determined that the deep knife wounds to her neck were not consistent with injuries from an accident.
“The coroner said it was simply not reasonable or plausible that she died the way he said she did,” Judd said Wednesday, “and that's just not what happened.”
Judd said that when investigators “began to peel back this onion,” they “found[found] “This is not just a one-off incident,” she said. The boy's father also died by his hand last year.
“February 14, 2023, Valentine's Day, in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. [he] “The father pointed a knife at him, so he shot and killed the father,” Judd said. “He shot the father, once in the chest and once in the head, and claimed self-defense.”
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Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference Wednesday that he is asking for the boy to be tried as an adult. (Polk County Sheriff)
Oklahoma authorities dropped the charges against the boy less than a month after the shooting because they couldn't disprove his “claim of self-defense,” Judd said.
The boy's mother paid $50,000 to have him released from prison. New York Post He then moved into her home in Charlotte County, Florida, and within a month, he was involuntarily hospitalized for mental health reasons, according to the report.
Around this time, he made threatening statements, saying he was going to “kill himself or shoot or stab his mother,” according to Judd.
In November 2023, the teenager said: [his mother] Judd said he threw her to the ground and stomped on her after she took away his video game privileges. He was arrested and again claimed self-defense, but this time his claim was unsuccessful and he spent time in jail, the sheriff said.
After another argument with his mother in February of this year, the boy fled to his grandmother's home in Auburndale. Around that time, the boy's mother and grandmother contacted the sheriff's office, saying they felt unsafe around the boy, at which point he was turned over to family services, Judd said.
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But despite further threats to kill his mother – and again about two weeks later – the boy was reunited with his family, Judd said.
According to the sheriff, the boy had been involved in an “argument over household chores,” which prompted him to “run away from his mother's home. [go to] The suspect killed the boy at his grandmother's home on September 6. The suspect's mother drove to his grandmother's house the next day, where she and the boy got into an argument that left the mother dead.
Judd said any information uncovered during the police investigation that could incriminate the boy in his father's death will be provided to Oklahoma authorities.
“If Oklahoma could take action, [the teen’s mother] “He would still be alive and well,” he said, “but his mother took him in and cared for him as a mother should, and now she's dead. All the people who were supposed to be special in his life are dead because they defied him.”
