Current:Home > MyA teen accused of killing his mom in Florida was once charged in Oklahoma in his dad’s death -WealthRoots Academy
A teen accused of killing his mom in Florida was once charged in Oklahoma in his dad’s death
View
Date:2025-04-12 22:39:40
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A teenager who is accused of stabbing his mother to death in Florida was freed last year after charges were dropped in the fatal shooting of his father in Oklahoma.
Sheriff Grady Judd in Polk County, Florida, described what he classified as the “cold-blooded murder” of the teen’s 39-year-old mother on Sunday at his grandmother’s home in Auburndale.
“And it’s not just a singular murder,” Judd said, explaining that the teen was charged in the Feb. 14, 2023, death of his father in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. The murder charge was dismissed after authorities in Oklahoma could not find evidence that disputed the teen’s claim of self-defense, Judd said.
Court documents do not indicate why the charge was dropped and Lincoln County District Attorney Adam Panter did not immediately return a phone call or email for comment on Thursday. The attorney for the teen in the Oklahoma case also did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press.
In March 2023, the teen came to Charlotte County, Florida, to live with his mother.
Since then, he had attacked her multiple times, the sheriff said, including a case of domestic violence in which he “stomped” on her.
At one point, the teen was briefly held for mental health services under a Florida law that allows such detentions. As he was being released, the teen threatened to kill either himself or his mother, Judd said. Authorities then held him for three more days.
On Sunday, the teen called 911 from his grandmother’s home in Auburndale, telling the dispatcher that he and his mother got into a “very long fight” and she fell on a knife and was bleeding.
When he met arriving deputies in the front yard, “he was calm, cool and collected, not upset, and he had blood on him,” Judd said.
Inside the home, deputies found the woman and a knife. The grandmother was not home at the time.
“He didn’t say, ‘Mom’s in here, mom’s bleeding to death, mom needs help,’” the sheriff said. “He looked the deputy in the eye and said, ‘I know my rights. I want an attorney.’”
The sheriff said he did not know who the teen’s attorney is.
Judd said the teen has shown “zero emotion.”
Neighbors told investigators the mother and son started arguing after she arrived at the house that afternoon, Judd said. They said the teen grabbed the mother by the hair and “dragged” her into the house.
The medical examiner told investigators that based on an autopsy, “it was not reasonable or plausible that she died the way that he said she did,” Judd said.
The teen is being held in a juvenile facility in Polk County on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and violation of a no-contact order. He is not listed in jail records. The sheriff has asked the state attorney’s office to charge him as an adult.
Judd questioned why authorities in Oklahoma dropped the charges in 2023.
“Because she took him and tried to do what a mother should do, she’s now dead,” he said of the teen’s mom. “Everybody that should be special to him in his life is dead when they crossed him.”
An Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent’s affidavit said the teen’s explanation of what happened did not match the evidence and that there was “probable cause to believe that” the teen committed first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of his father. The affidavit said the investigator tried to question the teen, who invoked his right to an attorney.
Judd said he hopes that if anyone has information about the father’s death, they will come forward.
___
Miller reported from Oklahoma City.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Legendary shipwreck's treasure of incalculable value will be recovered by underwater robot, Colombia says
- Canada wildfires never stopped, they just went underground as zombie fires smolder on through the winter
- 2 killed, 2 wounded in Milwaukee when victims apparently exchange gunfire with others, police say
- North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
- Scientists find new moons around Neptune and Uranus
- Full transcript of Face the Nation, Feb. 25, 2024
- Man is shot and killed on a light rail train in Seattle, and suspect remains on the loose
- Kylie Jenner Shows Off Sweet Notes From Nieces Dream Kardashian & Chicago West
- Cam Newton involved in fight at Georgia youth football camp
Ranking
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- Americans are spending the biggest share of their income on food in 3 decades
- Man beat woman to death with ceramic toilet cover in Washington hotel, police say
- Shadowbanned? How to check if Instagram has muted you and what you can do about it
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- We Went Full Boyle & Made The Ultimate Brooklyn Nine-Nine Gift Guide
- Horoscopes Today, February 24, 2024
- Nate Burleson and his wife explore her ancestral ties to Tulsa Massacre
Recommendation
DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
U.S. issues hundreds of new Russia sanctions over Alexey Navalny's death and war in Ukraine
Love Is Blind’s Bartise Bowden Reveals Real Reason He Hasn’t Shared New Girlfriend’s Identity
Man beat woman to death with ceramic toilet cover in Washington hotel, police say
Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
MLB rumors: Will Snell, Chapman sign soon with Bellinger now off the market?
West Virginia medical professionals condemn bill that prohibits care to at-risk transgender youth
Why Blake Lively Says Her Nervous System “Feels Electrified” Since Having Kids