A chilling case has rocked this small Michigan city as 39-year-old Katie Lee faces an open murder charge in the death of her 17-year-old son, Austin Pikaart, just one day before his 18th birthday. Authorities say Lee admitted to slashing her son’s throat after a failed attempt by both to overdose on medication, claiming he begged her to end his life because he didn’t want to turn 18.
The Holland Department of Public Safety (HDPS) responded to a 911 call from Lee at 4:15 a.m. on Friday, February 21, at the Bay Pointe Apartment Complex on 791 E. 16th Street. In the call, Lee reportedly told dispatchers she “couldn’t get her son to stop breathing” despite their joint overdose attempt earlier that day. “She advised her son asked her to help him stop breathing because he did not want to turn 18,” Detective Sgt. Brent Sluiter testified at Lee’s arraignment, per MLive.com.
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Police say Lee confessed to cutting Pikaart’s throat and arm with a knife after he passed out from the drugs, an act that left him dead in a pool of blood on his bed. When officers arrived, they found Lee wielding a large kitchen knife, ignoring repeated commands to drop it. After an initial Taser attempt failed, she threw the knife into the hallway, only to lunge for it again moments later. A second Taser deployment subdued her, and she was taken into custody.
“Upon being taken into custody, Lee stated that officers were supposed to kill her … so that she could be with her son,” Sluiter told the court, revealing her apparent desire for a deadly confrontation.
Lee was arraigned Monday, February 24, before Holland District Judge Bradley Knoll, who ordered her held without bond. The open murder charge leaves it to a jury to determine whether she’s guilty of first- or second-degree murder, while an additional count of resisting and obstructing an officer stems from her armed standoff with police. Video from the hearing captured Lee in tears, visibly shaken as Knoll noted her refusal to speak with the Public Defender’s Office or a bond screener beforehand. When asked if she wanted a public defender, she hesitated before replying, “I think so. Yes. Yes.”
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The tragedy unfolded after Lee and Pikaart allegedly tried overdosing around 1 p.m. Thursday. When that failed, Lee told dispatchers she resorted to the knife around 6 p.m., cutting her unconscious son’s throat and arm. An autopsy confirmed a neck laceration as the cause of death, ruling it a homicide.
Pikaart’s family, devastated by his loss, described him in a GoFundMe as a “caring, humorous, playful” teen who loved video games, space, and his family. “His life was tragically cut short,” they wrote, planning a celebration of life for the boy who “had a patient, gentle, kind-hearted soul.”
Lee, unemployed and disabled, had lived in the apartment complex for a decade with no prior court-ordered mental health interventions in Ottawa County, per local reports. Her next court date—a probable cause conference—is set for March 4, with a preliminary mental health exam scheduled for March 11.
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The case has sparked questions about mental health support, with Lee’s sister telling WOOD-TV outside the courthouse, “The only thing I can say is to take mental health serious. That’s it.”
For now, Lee remains behind bars, her fate hinging on a jury’s interpretation of a mother’s unthinkable act and a son’s alleged final wish.
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