Adam 911. >> Hi. I need an officer here immediately. >> Okay. To where? >> Um Bay Point Apartments. >> Okay. What's going on? >> My son won't stop breathing. >> He won't stop what? >> Breathing. >> He won't stop breathing. >> Right. It's 4:19 a.m. in Holland, Michigan, and officers headed to the Baypoint apartment complex on 16th Street on reports of a stabbing. The unit is occupied by a woman and her teenage son. Disturbingly, she has just told dispatch she did something that cannot be undone. You got the Jimmy. >> Someone's at the rear. 01. We're approaching the door now. She's only got the phone in her hand. She just drop the knife. Drop the knife. >> This is the story of Katie Lee and her 17-year-old son, Austin Dean Pickart. And honestly, it's one of the more unsettling cases to come out of West Michigan in recent memory. Katie and Austin lived in Ottawa County for about a decade. To the outside world, they were just a quiet mother and son in a Holland apartment. Austin was described by loved ones as adventurous and a kind-hearted soul. Katie was the doting mother, always by his side. But the reality was a lot heavier. Behind that apartment door, something was very wrong. Court records would later reveal that Katie knew she was losing her grip on reality. She was spending several hours a day staring out her window, convinced the FBI was watching her. She was checking the electrical outlets for listening devices, and she spent most of her time doom scrolling [music] on social media, which had her fully convinced the world was ending. In the early morning hours of February [music] 21st, which by the way was the day before Austin's 18th birthday, Katie was on the phone with 911. And what she told [music] them is where this story really begins. >> Out of 911. >> Hi, I need an officer here immediately. >> Okay. To where? >> Um, Bayoint Apartments. >> What's going on? >> My son won't stop breathing. >> He won't stop what? breathing. >> He won't stop breathing, >> right? >> Okay. Like, is he like breathing too fast? I don't >> We were going to leave yesterday and it got way out of hand and I couldn't get him to stop breathing like he made me promise to do. >> Okay. So, is he asking you to like kill him? I don't understand. >> Yeah, that's what I've been doing for a while and I can't get him to stop breathing. >> Okay, hang on one second here. >> How old is your son? >> He is going to be 18 tomorrow, but he didn't want to turn 18. >> Is your son awake? No, he's just not stopping breathing. >> Okay. Can you get in a separate room from him? >> I am. >> Okay. Are there any weapons in the home? >> I have I used a knife. >> Okay. Where did you cut Did you cut him? >> It got out of hand. >> Okay. What happened? It was supposed to just be easy and he was just going to go to sleep and it didn't work and he kept telling me not to let him go to the hospital. >> Okay. Where's the knife now? >> He sits in the room. >> With him or with you? >> With him? >> Okay. Okay. And he's But he's breathing. I love >> Well, hang on, Katie. I I got a couple more questions. So, are you awake? I'm not going to see them. >> Well, T, we're going to talk. >> You need to puke, but please talk to here. >> Okay. Yep. I want you to keep your phone only. Your phone in your hand, Katie. Nothing else. She's only got the phone in her hand. Currently vomiting. She just hit a >> fine. DROP IT. DROP IT. DROP IT. DROP IT. DROP IT. DROP IT. >> DROP IT. >> You got a knife. >> DROP THE KNIFE NOW. >> Drop the knife, man. JUST DROP THE KNIFE. STOP. >> HEY, I GOT TO BAIL DOWN. I got to bail down. Just drop the knife. Just drop the knife. That's all you do. Please, please just listen to me. I need you to please. There you go. There you go. Thank you so much. Please just come out to the ma'am. STOP. STOP. TAS. >> MA'AM, do not move. >> Do not move. You're going to get tased again. Okay. >> You're fine. Okay. >> I can't move. >> Do not move. [snorts] >> Are people going inside him? >> You got the knife up there? >> Yeah. Uh, I don't know who has good connection. >> Ma'am, roll over on your stomach for me. Okay. >> With Katie now in custody, officers turn their attention to Austin entering the apartment to assess his condition. >> 11. Taser deployed on female. She's currently on the ground checking the status of the boy inside the apartment on the ground. [ __ ] >> How obvious is it there? >> Uh, obvious [ __ ] >> Yeah. Clotting coagulation. It's been a bit. >> Mhm. That's obvious. All right. [snorts] >> We just couldn't do it anymore. >> Okay. >> With everything that's coming on this side of the building. She's here. Um we'll escort her to downstairs. >> Katie Lee was arrested and taken to a local hospital where she was treated for minor injuries. While there, officers began questioning her and what she told them shed some light on the struggles she and her son had been going through in the days, weeks, and months leading up to the stabbing. >> There was also >> I know how up this sounds. I know it. I never thought I'd be the one on an interrogation video. I watch them, but they all think they're not going to be on them until they are. This isn't who I am. We're just going to we we just want to kind of understand. I don't know that we do. So understand >> Well, that's why we're here. We're hoping that you can maybe help us at least try. Okay. So, >> yeah. >> Tell me about that. He's got a brain injury and has been in the emotionally impaired classroom since preschool actually but kindergarten officially. He went there for 8 years and I have to go there all the time. It was a a big deal. And I am also disabled now. I can't drive and I can't take care of him. Okay. >> I we just went to the doctor. I know. >> Okay. And I was just tired. We were tired. He was tired. He was tired. He made me promise not to let him wake up after it started. [snorts] And then once it started, I couldn't stop. I didn't want the trick. You said something about the end times and you talking about that. What does that mean? >> Well, if you don't see it, we're on a fast track to nowhere with everything going on in the world. He's army age. He's I I don't want him to become something he didn't recognize and or to the opposite want to be that person. I don't know. And we're on a fast track to at least World War II. So >> So you said you had talked about times for forever. It's just like kind of joking about it that kind of not like a Well, I forgot you guys saw that. But mostly just I thought we were going to move lose our houses. Okay, that's supposedly what that was. >> You You thought you were going to lose your apartment? Why would that be? cuz he's turning 18 and I had to reapply for all the social security stuff and I had his appointment this Wednesday and the the >> the record they were going to send I wasn't comfortable with them sending because of people having access to it now. >> Okay. >> Okay. I've reached out to so many people for help. I've been crying for like two months. Sorry. Crying for help for 2 months, you said. Okay. Who have you been talking to in the meantime? >> I have a therapist. I talk to her. >> Who? there. >> Okay. >> Um, [snorts] that's really it. I talk about that. But >> did Austin have a counselor or therapist? >> We were getting him back in. He wouldn't report the appointments. >> Okay. >> And we were trying was trying to get him back in with a psychologist who just had a review and we were going to start seeing people there. I [snorts] think I saw an award on the wall from was it last year and academic excellence. So was he doing good in his school work? >> No, it wouldn't have been last year. >> Okay. Could have been I maybe I misunderread it a couple years ago. >> Was he keeping up with his school work >> when he went? Not always. He was they would put him in a cement room most of the time. They have those back rooms >> at >> Okay. >> And he would sit in that cement room for most of the day a lot of the time >> due [music] to his behavioral outbursts. >> Okay. >> And then when CO hit, he got expelled right before it. So we just hunkered down and >> okay >> did what I could to keep him alive. I know that there had been a history of arguments between you guys but in this on these days that we're talking about you guys there was no argument or anything that that you had mentioned. >> This was he wanted to do it as much as I did. >> Okay. Okay. The following day, Katie Lee appeared in court for arraignment. She was charged with open murder as well as resisting and obstructing an officer. Bond was denied. A court-ordered competency evaluation was conducted and she was found competent to stand trial. In October [snorts] 2025, she appeared in court again and pleaded guilty to seconddegree murder, avoiding a trial. Under the terms of the agreement, prosecutors dropped the first-degree murder charge, which would have carried an automatic life sentence had it stuck. Instead, she'll serve between 60 and 90 years in prison with a mandatory minimum required before a chance of parole. Do the math and Katie Lee will be well over 100 years old before she ever sees a parole board. It was during the plea hearing that many of the disturbing details from inside the apartment were laid out in open court for the first time, giving the public a clearer picture of what prosecutors believed took place. >> Is it true that honorable about February 21 of 2025 you were in Holland City, Ottawa County, Michigan? >> Yes. >> Okay. And you are the mother of Austin, correct? >> I am. >> And on that date, he was 17 years old, a minor. Yes. >> And did you administer a drug or a seditive to him? >> I did. >> As a result of administering that drug or seditive to him, was he unable to uh have control over his body? >> He was. >> I'm sorry. >> Yes. >> Okay. So you administered a drug and thereby he no long no no longer had physical control of his body. Is that true? >> True. >> And then you then exercise physical control over his body. Is that fair to say? >> Yep. >> And while you had him under your control, did you intentionally inflict uh severe mental pain or anguish on him? >> Yes. Uh, and did you administer a mindaltering substance to him? >> Yep. >> And that was done deliberately? >> Yes. >> And by the administering of that mindaltering uh drug, did that uh disrupt his sense of personality, his his senses or personality? >> Yes. >> You then um is it true that while he was under your control and unconscious that you then had a knife? Is that true? Yes. >> And did you uh cut his arm on at least two occasions? >> Yes. >> And then did you also use that knife to slice his throat? >> Yes. >> As a result of you slicing his throat, did that result in his death? >> Yes. January 19th, 2026, the day Katie would learn her official sentence. The courtroom was full. Family members, reporters, many of the same faces who had followed the case from the very beginning. Before the judge imposed the sentence everyone had been [music] waiting for, Katie was afforded one final opportunity, the right of alocution, a chance to address the court in her own words. [music] But before Katie could speak, the attorneys were asked to make their final arguments, helping frame the issues the judge would consider before determining her sentence. >> This is people of the state of Michigan versus Katie Austin Lee. Case number 2547529 FC. Today is the date and time scheduled for sentencing. I have provided opposing council with the notice of appellet rights. I will also state for the record that the victim's father is present in the courtroom with other family members. I confirmed with that he does not wish to make a statement to the court regarding sentence but of course he's in the courtroom listening to the sentence prosecution. >> Um your honor you are well aware of the facts of this case that are presented in the present investigation report and those obtained at the time of the plea. Uh the plea agreement does involve a sentence agreement of a minimum of 60 years in the department of corrections with a maximum of 90 years on counts uh one and three. Uh the people ask the court to follow that agreement. >> Your honor, as far as the defense um the defense team here, our office has gotten to known um Miss Lee here for over the last year. Um and one thing that she has made very abundantly clear was her love for her son Austin. Um, you know, Katie was a single parent, um, trying to raise her son the best way she possibly can. Um, she's not here to make excuses. Um, this indeed was a tragic situation and she she has taken responsibility for that. Um, you know, as a single parent, she was doing everything she can for Austin, getting him the services that he needed. Um, but in doing that, your honor, you know, she neglected to take care of herself. Um so through that, you know, with the combination of ignoring her mental health, um being isolated from her friends, her family, um and society, you know, being cooped up in her apartment with her son once COVID hit, not leaving, um and then going down, you know, the multiple rhetorics online and what social media did. You know, this is where we are today. Um getting to know Katie, you know, it has taught me a lot of things. Um, always check in with your loved ones, prioritize your mental health. Um, and that's what I take from Katie over the past year meeting with them. >> Miss Lee, have you had an adequate opportunity to read and review the present report? >> I have. >> Any additions or corrections to make besides the ones that your attorney's already made? >> No. >> Anything that you would like to say before sentences are? >> Yes. >> Go ahead. How does someone start something so important when words can only convey so much? I decided on where it means the most to me. My love for Austin. I love him with all that I am. It's endless and my heart is broken. It was just us for 18 years and through it all. He's my baby, my rock, and my purpose. I fought as hard as I knew how for him to be included. There was never supposed to be a world where I am in it. but he is not and I am so lost without him. I've thought about writing the statement for a year now and all words fall short. [clears throat] I would like to apologize to the first responders who had to process that night and the ones I held the knife up to. I'm sorry. It was unfair of me to put you in that position. I'm sorry to the detectives for the unanswered questions and to the hospital staff for being so angry. You saved my life. I'm sorry to the prosecutor for having to fight on Austin's behalf and to the defense team for the hard talks and the tears over the year. To the community I had a ripple effect out to. I never imagined it would hurt. The hurt would spread so far. To Matt for taking him before you were able to fix your relationship. mostly to our friends and family and the friends that are family. [clears throat] I'm sorry for blind hide blindsiding you with such heartache. I can only begin to imagine what this has put you all through. I know there are no magical words to make it better. I started 100 letters trying to, but it never seems right. I guess because nothing will be right again. [snorts] At the time, I was too sick to see past our own pain and fear to grasp how much it would hurt the ones we love the most. Being suicidal is really good at that. Because of my health, the shame and the paranoia, there was so much I wasn't telling anyone. [sighs] Out of fear of losing Austin and out of fear of losing Austin and I see now that would have been best, but I didn't think anybody would ever love or understand the way I could. [snorts] Starting in 2020, my already struggling mental and physical health declined to the point we are no longer leaving the house house except for doctor's appointments. After 5 years of not being out in the world, it became really hard for me to tell what was real and not real with the algorithms on my phone being nothing but the world is ending content. I fell so deeply into an echo chamber that we were living in a different reality and it was a terrible one. I had managed to keep my head above water, but barely. In November of 2024 is when I drowned. My [snorts] mental health rapidly declined. I began to think the FBI was watching me from across the street. I would spend 8 hours a day watching out of my bedroom window trying to decode people's behavior and prove myself right. I was checking on my outlet for bugs. And when I couldn't find any, I thought they were using mind reading drones. My brain was broken. I [snorts] I then what I think was a jumping off point. I started seeing videos about the government sending mentally ill to what they call wellness farms and my brain broke. It very quickly turned into fear that they were coming to get us at any moment and taking us to concentration camps. All of this on top of my already declining physical health. My increasing chronic pain I no longer knew how to protect Austin. My mind and body were in a state of survival. And I was failing. We were scared. We were alone. And our depression had an answer. Only after a year of therapy, medication, soularching, and finding God can I now see you that night for what it really was. I now see the influence I had on his decision making and it haunts my every waking moment. I never intended for him to suffer in any way. In my broken thinking, I was saving him from it. Every day, every thought, every nightmare, every flashback, every moment without him, I'll forever be finished. But I know that's not enough. >> [snorts] >> I will spend the rest of my life in prison trying to process what I could have done differently and how I could have reached out [clears throat] and continually continuing to speak out about the warning signs that I so clearly see now looking back now for me the only thing scarier than life in prison is life without Austin and I'm so sorry I gave everybody that sentence Thank you. [laughter] >> That conclude your comments. >> Thank you. Your comments are very appropriate. You recognize photographs or images of what must have been scene because reviewing just investigation report. Just reading it in there was was difficult because it's was horrific. And frankly, the acts that you committed on that day were nothing less than two or on counts one and three department correction reporting minimum of 720 months. That's 60 years and maximum 180 months. That's 90 years in credit for 332 days. As pertains to count to the resisting and police officer charge is the sentence of this court turned over for a minimum of 16 months. The maximum of 24 months as well must be concurrent cost by statute. These are final stats. File application before condition attorneys here. The internet made me do it. During her alleocution, Katie Lee stood in front of a judge and explicitly blamed her phone for warping her grip on reality. It's the kind of statement that on its face sounds almost laughable. A grown woman pointing the finger at an app. But strip away the headline value of the quote and there's actually a real well doumented concept [music] underneath it. Researchers, legal scholars, and critics of big tech have a name for it. Algorithmic radicalization. The idea is simple. Recommendation systems are designed to keep users watching. And the longer someone engages with conspiratorial, fear-based, or apocalyptic content, the more of it the platform feeds them. Over time, that creates a feedback loop. a closed circuit, a version of reality handcurated by an algorithm that bears less and less resemblance to the world outside the screen. And this isn't a new idea either. Back in the 1970s, media researcher George Gerber coined the term meanworld syndrome, describing how heavy exposure to violent or threatening media can convince viewers [music] the world is far more dangerous than it actually is. He was talking about television. Today, the same phenomenon is running on autoplay 24 hours a day in everyone's pocket. None of that excuses what Katie Lee did. And because she pleaded guilty, the internet made me do it was never going to fly as a courtroom defense in any traditional sense. But it does help explain how someone with no prior history of violence could sit alone in an apartment, scroll for hours on end, and become so detached from reality that she ended the life of her own son. Katie Lee will spend the next several decades in a Michigan [music] prison. And somewhere in the quiet of a cell, without the phone, without the feed, without the constant stream of doom that helped get her there, she'll have plenty of time to reckon with what was real and what wasn't.