“I Couldn’t Get Him to Stop Breathing” – Inside The Disturbing Case Of Katie Lee & Austin Pikaart
A Michigan mother is facing an open murder charge after allegedly slashing her teenage son’s throat because he wanted to die before reaching adulthood, authorities say. Katie Lee, 39, of Holland was arrested early Friday morning following a 911 call in which she reportedly told dispatchers she “couldn’t get her son to stop breathing.”
Police say Lee’s 17-year-old son, identified as Austin Pikaart, died from a severe cut to his throat after mother and son purportedly attempted to overdose on medication together. Detective Sgt. Brent Sluiter told the court that Lee admitted she used a knife to cut her son’s throat while he was unconscious. Investigators also noted stab wounds on the teen’s arm.
“The caller Katie Lee told dispatch that she couldn’t get her son to stop breathing,” Sluiter testified at Lee’s arraignment. “She advised her son asked her to help him stop breathing because he did not want to turn 18.”
Officers with the Holland Department of Public Safety were called to an apartment in the Bay Pointe Apartment Complex at about 4:15 a.m. Lee reportedly confronted officers at the door with a knife, prompting them to deploy a Taser. After taking her into custody, investigators allege Lee told them she had hoped the officers would kill her so she could “be with her son.”
Lee appeared in court via Zoom on Monday, sobbing during the nearly 10-minute hearing. Holland District Judge Bradley Knoll ordered her held without bond, noting that Lee initially refused to speak to the Public Defender’s Office and a bond screener. Although hesitant, Lee eventually agreed to have a public defender assigned.
Family members in the courtroom were heard saying, “We love you, Katie,” as the hearing concluded. A date for Lee’s next court appearance has not yet been scheduled. She also faces a charge of resisting and obstructing an officer after allegedly threatening police at the scene.
If convicted of murder, the severity of the crime—whether first or second-degree—will be decided by a jury, as is the case under Michigan’s open murder statute.
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