GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) — A mother accused of fatally stabbing her son — and who reportedly told police she was helping him fulfill a wish to die before turning 18, has pleaded guilty to torture and second-degree murder.
Katie Austin Lee, 40, entered the pleas Wednesday during an appearance in Ottawa County Circuit Court.
The killing happened Feb. 21 at an apartment complex in Holland. Her son, Austin Dean Pikaart, would have turned 18 the next day.
“She advised her son asked her to help him stop breathing because he did not want to turn 18,” a detective told a judge in an earlier court hearing.
When police arrived at Bay Pointe Apartments, Lee had blood on her clothes and was holding a large kitchen knife “up by her shoulder as if to threaten” officers, records show.
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