Episode 346

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:12)
I said, you're not going to be successful in killing them. I'll take you out, and then I'm going to have to explain to people that I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by six.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:30)
If you follow True Crime and Have for a while, then there's a place in Florida you might be familiar with. It's right in the heart of Florida, and it's far from the beaches and tourist traps. It's a little place called Polk County. It's mostly farmland, chain restaurants, and retirement communities, like the rest of Florida. But you may be familiar with the tough-on-crime press conferences that the sheriff loves to hold, many of which have gone viral over the last couple of years. And Polk County is the small city of Auburndale. Nestled between Lakeland and Winterhaven, two shitholes by the way, it takes pride in being quiet, friendly, and the kind of place where neighbors recognize each other. Inside the gates of the Hamptons, a 55-plus country club-style retirement community, are golf carts, manicured lawns, and rows of tiny pre-manufactured homes. At sunset, neighbors wave from their front porches as golf carts hum down the street. It's quiet, safe, or, well, it should be. But on September 8, 2024, just after 6 in the evening, that calm was shattered. Behind the white siding of 77 Hewlett Drive, a boy's frantic voice reached a 911 operator.

**Collin Griffith** (2:01)
My mom is having to use EMS now. She's bleeding out. Please help. Your mom is doing what? My mom is bleeding out.

**SPEAKER_5** (2:09)
She's bleeding out.

**Christine** (2:10)
Okay.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:11)
On the call was 17-year-old Collin Griffith. He told the dispatcher that his mother needed EMS because she was now bleeding out.

**Collin Griffith** (2:22)
I can't hit her up. How do I lift someone? I need you to get her to the hospital.
I lift someone. Okay. They say he's called number one, so we're going to send in an ambulance. She doesn't have time.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:37)
The ambulance couldn't get there fast enough. Collin's panic was obvious as he pleaded for them to help his mother. She didn't have a lot of time.

**Christopher** (2:46)
She's bleeding out.

**Collin Griffith** (2:47)
Where is she bleeding from, sir? She's bleeding from the neck, Nancy.

**SPEAKER_9** (2:51)
This is my mother.

**SPEAKER_3** (2:52)
Collin's 39-year-old mother, Kathy, was bleeding from the neck and fading fast.

**Collin Griffith** (2:58)
Is she awake? No. Is she breathing? No, no, she's not.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:11)
He said she was non-responsive and not breathing before he said, I don't think she's alive. Collin's voice trailed off as he realized his mother might already be dead. The dispatcher guided him through performing CPR. Collin got his mother flat on her back, positioned his hands over her heart, and started pumping. The dispatcher counted him down.

**Collin Griffith** (3:37)
Four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, one moment.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:45)
As the dispatcher relayed information to first responders, Collin continued to pump his mother's chest. I know it's difficult to understand, but Collin said, We got into a fight. She lunged at me with a knife, and she fell on it. He explained it was a long and drawn out argument that ended with his mother trying to attack him with a knife. But instead, she tripped and fell on it. She now had a gaping wound that was spilling blood, until there wasn't any left.

**Collin Griffith** (4:40)
These are all set off.

**SPEAKER_3** (4:42)
The wound was so large that the only thing CPR had done was help pump the rest of her blood out onto the kitchen floor. Only then did the dispatcher instruct him on how to stop the bleeding, get a clean, dry towel and apply pressure to the wound. The only thing was she had no blood left. It was already too late.

**SPEAKER_2** (5:03)
There's no blood, he lost all his blood.

**SPEAKER_3** (5:05)
Even though he himself thought it was already too late, Collin followed the dispatcher's instructions until first responders arrived and flooded the quiet retirement community with flashing lights and sirens.

**SPEAKER_7** (5:17)
As I walked into the house, I immediately began to clear the house as my partner walked up to Collin Griffith. Then after clearing the house is when I walked back into the living room area, made it known that it was clear and that is when my partner advised me to take Collin Griffith outside.

**SPEAKER_10** (5:33)
And while walking into the kitchen, I saw a knife, a blood covered knife over in front of the washer and dryer to my left. I saw the subject in the kitchen. In the kitchen, I saw a large pool of blood around the subject's head and neck area, as well as blood spatter going up the side of the cabinet.