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.”
