Low battery message 96 GTX

[Tim's Ford Lake Tim]

My 96 GTX is giving low battery message and won't start. Swapped out battery & same thing. It does the double beep and when pressing start button the starter makes a high pitched whine. It did this after running fine & stranded me on the lake. Is this a bad starter, or is the engine locked up?

 

[SIMPLEARKANSAN]

Take your spark plugs out and ground plug wires and see if it will turn over. Also take off the gray PTO cover and hand turn the PTO. Those two things should let you know.