HOLLAND (WWJ) — A West Michigan woman is reportedly being held without bond after allegedly stabbing her son to death because he said he wanted to die before his 18th birthday.
Katie Austin Lee of Holland — near the shores of Lake Michigan about 30 miles southwest of Grand Rapids — was arraigned Monday on charges of open murder and resisting a police officer, according to a report from WOOD TV.
The charges come after her 17-year-old son was found stabbed to death at their apartment last Friday, a day before his 18th birthday.
Lee called 911 around 4:15 a.m. on Friday and told police “she couldn’t get her son to stop breathing and had been trying for a while,” according to the report. A detective told a judge Lee’s son had “asked her to help him stop breathing because he did not want to turn 18,” the report said.
The woman told police dispatchers that she and her son had tried to commit suicide by overdosing on medication on Thursday. About five hours after they took the unspecified medication, she cut him with a knife in the throat and arm after he had passed out, according to the report.
When police got to their apartment, Lee reportedly had blood on her clothes and was holding “a large kitchen knife” by her shoulder, “as if to threaten,” according to the report.
The teen was found dead in a bed with a large cut to his neck and cuts on his left arm, according to the report.
Lee allegedly refused to drop the knife and an officer used a Taser on her. She eventually dropped the knife, but had to be tased again when she tried to retrieve it, per the report.
WOOD TV reported court records show that Lee told officers they were “supposed to kill her… so she could be with her son.”
Lee was taken to the hospital to be treated for a possible overdose. The judge denied bond at Monday’s arraignment.
A GoFundMe account has been launched by family to help cover the teen's memorial services.
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