John Jefferson
Inset: Katie Lee (Holland Department of Public Safety). Background: Police at Katie Lee’s apartment in the Bay Pointe Apartment Complex in Holland, Mich. (WOOD/YouTube).
A mom in Michigan claims she murdered her son because he wanted to die before he turned 18 — slashing his throat after they tried overdosing together, cops say.
Katie Lee, 39, of Holland, is facing an open murder charge — meaning a jury will decide whether she committed first or second-degree murder — for the death of her 17-year-old son, Austin Pikaart, last Friday and one count of resisting and obstructing an officer for allegedly threatening cops who went to her home that night after she called 911 to report Pikaart’s death.
Lee, who was arraigned Monday and is currently behind bars after being denied bond, told police she was unable to get her son to stop breathing after the two of them tried overdosing on medication together, according to the Holland Department of Public Safety, which provides police services for the city. So she allegedly slit his throat.
“The caller Katie Lee told dispatch that she couldn’t get her son to stop breathing,” Detective Sgt. Brent Sluiter alleged at Lee’s arraignment, according to MLive.com. “She advised her son asked her to help him stop breathing and had been trying to for a while,” Sluiter stated. “She advised her son asked her to help him stop breathing because he did not want to turn 18.”
Police say Lee admitted to using a knife to cut open her son’s throat while he was unconscious. Stab wounds were also found on his arm.
“At about 4:15 a.m., HDPS officers responded to an apartment in the Bay Pointe Apartment Complex, 791 E 16th St., on a report of a domestic incident,” HDPS officials said in a press release. “Officers went to the apartment where they were immediately confronted by a female subject who was holding a knife. Officers gave multiple verbal commands to her and eventually deployed a Taser. The Taser deployment was successful and the 39-year-old female was taken into custody.”
On Monday, Sluiter detailed how Lee allegedly wanted to be killed by police who responded that night after failing to overdose on the medication she and Pikaart took.
“Upon being taken into custody, Lee stated that officers were supposed to kill her … so that she could be with her son,” the police sergeant said.
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Video captured by local news outlets during Lee’s arraignment showed her crying as Holland District Judge Bradley Knoll ordered her to be held without bond. Knoll told the court that Lee refused to speak with the Public Defender’s Office and a bond screener before the hearing, MLive.com reports.
Asked in court if she wanted a public defender to be appointed to represent her, Lee said: “I think so. Yes. Yes.”
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