A Michigan mom sliced the throat of her son and claimed she was only fulfilling his wish to die before he celebrated his 18th birthday the following day.
39-year-old Katie Lee called 911 and told the police she had killed her son, 17-year-old Austin Pikaart. According to her, she and her son had initially wanted to commit suicide together, but that failed.
She claimed that she and her son overdosed in their home at around 1 pm on Friday, February 21, 2025, but that when he would not stop breathing, she decided to help him die by slicing his throat and arm with a kitchen knife at around 6 pm.
During the call, she told the dispatcher that Pikaart did not want to be alive to see adulthood the following day and that she acted “out of love” to grant his death wish, and that he did not feel any pain.
When the police arrived at her home, blood-stained Katie Lee was still holding the bloodied knife up to her shoulders, posing a threat to the officers.
According to police reports, she refused to drop the knife when ordered to do so, and when she was tased, she threw it into the hallway but then rushed forward as if she wanted to take it back. She got more tasing and was successfully arrested without further injuries.
The report also revealed that she wanted the officers to shoot and kill her so she could be with her son and pleaded with them to kill her when she was in custody.
Pikaart’s body was found lying on his bed with a large cut on his neck, which the autopsy report said was his cause of death.
Lee was first taken to the hospital to check and treat a potential drug overdose and was charged with homicide. She pleaded not guilty in her first appearance online and will appear in court again on March 4.
