Pack your bags and swimwear, my friends, we’re going on a trip.
The date is August 15th, 2016, and the specific place is Jupiter, Florida. The northernmost town in Palm Beach County, it’s a lovely town of about 61,047 people and was even named the 9th Best Southern Beach Town to live in as of this year. Sunny and warm, it seems like quite a quaint little town. Though, given it’s in Florida, there is bound to be some strangeness about, what with Florida Man running around, causing mischief and all.
Yes, it’s as we walk down the warm sidewalk while the sun sets in the distance that we come to the house of one Jeff Fisher, going about his business, none the wiser that his night and foreseeable future is about to be changed, as are the lives of many people in this beachside town. That’s because as night falls over Jupiter, the darkness has fully taken root in the mind of a poor and sick individual. It had been working its way into his mind for quite some time, biding its time as it’s one to do, and had now fully latched onto his brain, warping his sense of what is reality and what is fantasy.
Sadly, tonight is the night it all came pouring out of him like a waterfall.
As we observe Jeff getting ready to head to bed for the night, we take note of a woman across the street watching television in her open garage, enjoying the warm night breeze blowing in and saying hello to her passing neighbors. This is Michelle Mishcon, 53-years-old and a recently retired financial advisor, and this is a common thing for her to do as, fully furnished with a television, chairs, couches, and even a large, mounted deer’s head, her garage is her happy place. It is also common for her to be joined by her husband of 19 years, 59-year-old John Stevens, though he is out walking their dog Rebel at this time.
It’s then that we notice something out of the corner of our eye. A figure is running down the street and, looking rather disoriented, makes his way up Michelle’s driveway. After a few moments, we hear the sound of what could be a scuffle. Hearing this, Jeff sits up and listens to get a better grasp of what it could be…and that’s when we hear a scream. Jumping out of bed, Jeff runs downstairs and out his door, looking across the street.
At first, he sees someone cornering a clearly terrified Michelle in her garage, and after he books it across the street and up the driveway to help her, Michelle is laying on her back on the ground, and the assailant looks to be punching her over and over again with no sign of stopping. As Jeff comes into view, the attacker, without any hesitation, gets back to his feet, glaring daggers into him. It’s here that we get a good look at the individual: He’s a young man of about 19-years-old, handsome with short, curly brown hair, a muscular build…and a vacant, crazed look in his dark eyes as he snarls a warning at Jeff.
“You don’t want a part of this!”
Not paying him any mind, Jeff rushes at the young man, just as the attacker swings at him and catches him on the side of the head. Grabbing a hold of the kid, Jeff flings him down to the hard cement floor, the assailant’s face cracking against the ground, but much to Jeff’s shock, the kid gets back on his feet as if nothing had happened. Just as Jeff is getting ready to fend him off again, he quickly becomes aware of a tortuous pain in his head…and a red sticky liquid quickly drenching the side of his head and face, making its way onto his shirt and down his arms.
The young man has in his clenched fist a knife and he had managed to stab Jeff with it. Not only did he stab him with it, but from that one hit, he was able to slice into Jeff’s face, neck, and back, causing him to bleed profusely. Unsure of how truly bad he was hurt and thinking there’s a chance it could be fatal, Jeff makes a judgment call. As quickly as he can with his energy draining fast, Jeff bolts into Michelle and John’s house, thinking the attacker is going to give chase, makes it out the back door and around the property until he makes it back to his own house, locking the door and calling 911.
Jeff: “Please…get medical. Young man beating up a woman across the street…”
Operator: “Ok, are they outside or in the house?”
Jeff: “It’s in a garage.”
Operator: “Are either of them injured? Can you tell from where you are?”
Jeff: “Yes, there is a girl laying on the ground, He beat her up. I ran over there, I’m bleeding profusely here at the moment. I don’t know what happened.”
Operator: “Can you tell if she’s conscious?”
Jeff: “No, it does not appear so, no. I’ve been stabbed in the back and I’m bleeding pretty bad.”
The entire time Jeff was fleeing, he thought that he was doing the right thing, that he was helping Michelle by leading the young man away…but he was doing anything but. The attacker simply went right back to his dark handiwork, and it only got worse. Soon enough John came home to a horror show…only to get sucked into it as well.
Sadly, we can’t help these people, dear audience, nor can we help their attacker, a young man by the name of Austin Harrouff, as the darkness had taken hold of him that night and refused to let go. That same darkness consumes us now as we dive deep into the mind of an unfortunate boy plagued by his own brain and its rapid degeneration, as we witness his decline and the failure of his loved ones to act fast enough to stop the abyss from swallowing him whole.
Even a Man Who is Pure of Heart
Let’s take a step back and start at the very beginning. Austin Harrouff was born in Palm Beach County, Florida on December 21st, 1996, to parents Wade and Mina Harrouff. A year later, he would become a big brother to his little sister, Hayley.
Wade was a dentist and pharmacist, and was making a good amount of money to support his family, so much that he was able to keep up the uptake of their large and beautiful home in what is considered to be one of the wealthiest places to live in the entire USA. They were living the good life, one big happy family, that is until 2010 rolled around and Wade and Mina decided to suddenly get a divorce. Normally this is the part where we would go into detail about how this ruined Austin’s life or scarred him forever, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Both children seemed to adjust fairly quickly as they stayed at their home with their mother, and their father moved into a nearby place to stay close to his kids.
A year after this happened, both of his parents were in relationships once more and Austin began his high school career. Now for many of us, we look back on high school as an awkward and sometimes embarrassing time in our lives, kids growing up and learning how the world works as they get older. Austin, however, seemed to be a high school success story. A big muscular dude, Austin was a member of his school’s football team throughout all four years and even wrestled during his sophomore year.
Stereotypical jock, right? Well not quite. Austin was very intelligent, placing at the top of his courses all throughout his schooling, and even though he looked like the type of guy who could rough you up at a moment’s notice, that’s the last thing he ever wanted to do. A pacifist with a big heart, he was playful and funny, always smiling and having a great time.
Hell, he smiled so much every day that his father nicknamed him “The Happy Boy.” Known to stick his neck out to help anyone he could, Austin began looking more and more into a career where he would help as many people as possible, eventually focusing on medicine.
Near the end of his senior year, Austin’s prayers had been answered. Before his graduation, he received a letter from Florida State University, accepting him into their four-year pre-med program. A dream come true, Austin was ecstatic and accepted right away. Enjoying the summer with his friends and family, Austin packed up at the end of the break and drove with his family to Tallahassee, Florida.
Moving into his dorm and starting on his path to success, Austin was going in the right direction. His first year came and went, and everything appeared to be going all according to plan. He was doing well in his studies and working towards his career as he majored in biology, he had found himself a nice girlfriend, he was a member of a fraternity, and he’d taken up bodybuilding in the absence of football and had gathered a big social media presence by making videos for Youtube. It seemed to be smooth sailing…on the surface.
Underneath the Smile
Here’s a question for everyone out there: who here is good at hiding their emotions? Or how about this, let’s get a show of hands for everyone who has ever been under a mountain of pressure of their own making and has to force a smile so as to not worry those you love? But enough about my personal life, let’s get back to Austin, who was dealing with the exact same thing.
It wasn’t so much that his family was putting all this pressure on his shoulders so much as it was that he was doing it to himself, and Austin would seek solace in other means in order to cope. Starting at age 17, Austin started drinking and to say he drank like a fish would be an understatement. On many occasions and especially at parties, Austin would drink so heavily that he would black out every single time.
Eventually he would put down the bottle for good, only to dive headlong into other substances in order to escape the issues he had been suffering with. Weed was quite prominent in his life, so much so that he would end up smoking every single day, supposedly to help him sleep. Now there’s nothing wrong with that, the devils’ lettuce is a fairly harmless pastime…but the other stuff wasn’t.
You name it, Austin took it. Mushrooms, LSD, Adderall, MDMA (also known as both ecstasy and molly), the man had a cavalcade of drugs in his system at all times.
Austin, for most of his life, had also been struggling with some underlying mental issues. Depression is a hell of a thing, and something that most people deal with from time to time. Austin was no exception and growing up he struggled with occasional episodes of depression, though as he got older and particularly in 2016 while he was in college, said episodes simply got worse along with becoming more frequent.
He’d be on the highest of highs only to crash down to the lowest of lows, and it seemed to affect him more and more in his daily life. His internet searches by the end of the school year included such things as “How do you know if you’re going crazy?” and “Do I need to sleep?’”, showing he was aware that something must have been wrong with him, though he never reached out for help from anyone.
During this time, he’d start becoming more serious, more devoted to serious topics, particularly focused on civil rights matters, even claiming to be a spokesman for the Black Lives Matter movement. Now, getting involved with pressing issues isn’t a bad thing, in fact it’s fairly commendable, but it was such a huge tonal shift from the person that he was that it just felt…off. And he wouldn’t shut up about it either. During that summer in 2016, he would talk to anyone who would listen about these serious and heavy topics, including the waiting patients at his father’s dental practice while he worked there over school break.
Great, just what I need, a root canal and a lecture.
However, these odd actions and behaviors wouldn’t be the only issue with Austin. The darkness had already started its devilish work on the boy, bringing to the surface that which had laid dormant within him for many years…and making them ten times worse.
Monsters of the Mind
Unfortunately, depression wasn’t the only thing that Austin had to contend with growing up. When he was younger, he would have bouts of sleep paralysis, accompanied by some minor hallucinations. Then in August of 2016 while staying at his girlfriend’s house, the hallucinations all came flooding back to Austin like a tidal wave. He woke up that night in a sweat and told his girlfriend he was seeing monsters.
While not the first time he had seen things that weren’t real, this time they seemed to be more pronounced than before, so much so that something within Austin seemed to change. Soon after he began studying religion and looking into the topic of philosophy. Through his studies, he believed that he would be the next savior of the people, comparing himself to figures like Jesus and Gandhi. He even believed that he had gained superpowers, that he had the ability to manipulate water.
Austin continued to get worse and worse as the weeks rolled by. During this time, he was terrified of the dark, stating that evil spirits were after his soul, and he would sleep with the family dog every night because he believed the pooch would scare the ghosts away. He at one point moved his bed into the garage as he believed his home was infested with demons, and at night he would wander endlessly around the house, loudly proclaiming every two hours to his family that he was guarding them and their home from the wicked evil that was all around them. He even started to believe that he was a centaur, a half man-half horse mythical creature, because his star sign was Sagittarius…We’ll come back to the whole half animal thing later, trust me it’ll be very relevant soon enough.
In a message to his girlfriend Katie several days before the attack, Austin stated that, “I don’t think I am going crazy. I’m just evolving. Becoming more intelligent. Thinking that I am worthy and just to help others with the pain they have. That’s all I want.”
Then on August 14th, 2016, the Sunday before the attack we started our story off with today, Austin attended a gun show with his father, his father’s girlfriend, and a friend of his. It was there that Austin bought a knife for “protection”…this same knife would be used quite heavily the very next day.
The Day of the Attack
With everything established, we’re once more back to the day of August 15th, 2016. It’s worth noting at this point, Austin’s family had indeed been worried about him for quite some time as his behavior over the summer had continued to get stranger. However, instead of thinking there was something wrong with his mental state, they confronted him and asked if he was doing drugs, to which he admitted that he was. His family clung to the belief that it was the drugs making him act out like he was, even after he’d told them he’d given up drugs near the tail end of summer vacation.
It’s understandable that they at first would latch on to any explanation, that they wouldn’t want to face the reality that something was off with their son’s brain. However, when it became clear that something other than drugs was wrong with Austin, his family made a plan to utilize something known as The Baker Act. Also known as The Florida Mental Health Act of 1971, this act allows for involuntary institutionalization and examination of a patient with said examination sometimes lasting up to 72 hours before the patient is deemed medically stable.
At the end of the 72 hours, the family or caretakers of the patient are given a treatment plan so that they may help their loved one going forward. This act is able to be initiated by the family and friends of said individual, but only under the conditions that the patient has shown signs of a possible mental illness and is in danger of becoming a harm to themselves or others or is self-neglectful.
Sadly, while the right course of action, it came far too late…
That morning, Austin was reported to have headed to a friend’s house and, after an odd conversation where Austin asked what year he was born, his friend suggested they drive to the beach to meet up with a group of their friends along with Austin’s little sister Hayley, to which Austin agreed. After arriving at the beach, Austin excused himself, saying he had forgotten something at home. When he returned, he had changed his outfit, now donning long thick pants, sunglasses, two wrist watches, and a thick Falcon’s jersey.
Now it was a rather hot day, it is Florida after all, so his friends were perplexed at his outfit, giving him guff about it and saying he would be too hot in those clothes. Austin, who normally would have taken their teasing in stride, exploded on his friends and sister, saying, “If you fucking tell me I’m crazy, I will fucking kill you!” This was once again so out of character of the happy and goofy Austin they all knew and loved that they were all taken aback, apologizing and letting the matter drop.
Austin, still agitated, continued to give nasty looks to his friends, saying mean spirited remarks, and running around like an animal the entire time they were at the beach. When Hayley confronted him and told him to settle down, he did so, only to tell her that he was half horse and that he was immortal.
Austin, Hayley, and his friend eventually broke off from the group and headed together to Duffy’s, a local restaurant in the area, to meet up with Austin’s father and his girlfriend. As the three of them were walking along, suddenly Austin decided he wanted to test his so-called “immortality” and began walking into the oncoming traffic! Thankfully, Hayley was able to grab him before he could go through with it and prevented him from trying again on the way to the restaurant. So yeah, if things didn’t seem dire before, they certainly seemed so now.
Finally meeting up with Wade and his girlfriend, the five of them entered Duffy’s and were seated in the back of the restaurant. Things were going well for a little bit, that is until 15 minutes or so into the meal. At that point, Austin simply got up from his table and walked out the front door of Duffy’s.
No prompting, no altercation, no real indication as to why, he simply got up and left, but it wouldn’t take long to figure out where he was going. A few minutes later, Austin’s mother Mina, who lived fairly close by the restaurant, heard someone enter her house. Going to investigate, she discovered Austin in her kitchen.
What exactly was he doing there? Why, chugging down vegetable oil like it was nothing and scarfing down parmesan cheese, leaving a mess all over the counter. Running up to him and stopping him from consuming any more, Mina made him change his clothes as they were now a mess from the cheese and oil, and then drove him back to the restaurant, driving away after dropping him off.
As soon as Austin sat down, Wade, who’d had enough of Austin’s antics over the months, finally looked at his son and, totally exasperated and at a loss of what to do anymore, agitatedly asked, “What is wrong with you?!”
With those words from his father, and after months of his mind slipping further and further away, whatever was holding Austin Harrouff together finally snapped, and the darkness consumed his heart and mind completely. With that, Austin stood up and slammed his father’s face against the back of the booth before letting him go and storming out of the restaurant. After a moment, his friend got up and went to look for him, but by that time it was too late.
Austin was gone…and the darkness was in control.
When the Wolfbane Blooms and the Autumn Moon is Bright
And with that, we’re right back where we started. Jeff had called the police and was lying there in his house, losing blood fast, all while the screaming from across the way was getting worse. Soon enough though, the sounds of sirens pierced the night as the police rushed to the scene. Allow me to put your mind at ease for Jeff, he was found and patched up, the medics making it just in time to save his life.
The same can’t be said for John and Michelle.
Disclaimer: What’s about to be relayed is rather disturbing and graphic, however it truly is the crux of the case and the biggest part of the story. So, stay the course and hold onto your butts and your stomachs, ladies and gentlemen.
As the officers arrived at John and Michelle’s house and exited their vehicles, they could hear what sounded like the grunts and snarls of an animal, the weak and desperate calls for help, and they could see a large stream of blood flowing down the length of the driveway. Rushing up to the garage, guns in hand, the police were thrown headlong into a horror movie. Michelle was lying lifeless inside the garage, having been beaten and stabbed to death before the police could arrive. John was a different story, and Austin was still upon him when the police arrived.
Austin had John on his back on the ground, gasping weakly for help from the officers. He wasn’t beating him, he wasn’t stabbing him, no…he was eating him.
Yes, you read that right. Austin Harrouff was latched onto John’s side, pinning him to the ground with one arm and, with his free hand, had it hooked into John’s cheek, allowing him to rip into it with his bare teeth, chewing and swallowing as he went, growling and snarling the whole time. As the police looked on, they observed that there were already portions of John’s face and chest missing, indicating that Austin had been on him for several minutes, consuming this innocent man alive. I can only imagine the sheer agony and terror John must have experienced in those moments.
The police leveled their guns at Austin, but they didn’t want to shoot for fear of hitting John. Instead, one of the officers pulled out his taser and fired it into Austin, sending 50,000 volts of electricity through the man’s body…and it did nothing. Austin simply ignored what should have been mind-numbing pain and continued to devour John’s face, seemingly oblivious to the police officer’s presence.
Without a second of further hesitation, the same officer repositioned himself and kicked Austin squarely in the face, throwing him off John for but an instant. Austin, in his deranged state, simply leapt back onto John and continued to try and eat him, chomping down on his face. This continued repeatedly with the officer kicking Austin in the face over and over again, only for Austin to completely ignore him and continue to try and eat more of John.
As this was happening, more officers showed up, including the K-9 unit. Coming upon the situation, the dog was released and bit down on Austin’s arm, pulling him off of John. Austin though, like a rabid animal, ripped his arm from the dog’s mouth, severely damaging said arm, and jumped back onto John, determined to finish the job. They repeated this twice more, Austin’s arm getting more and more mangled in the process, and on the third try, the officer kicked Austin in the head just as the dog pulled him back, which sent Austin flying back.
The officer wasted little time, leaping over John and onto Austin, cuffing one hand and dragging him away from the victim. As he did so, Austin was screaming at him the whole time.
“Kill me! I’m eating people, kill me!”
Austin begged and pleaded over and over for the police to shoot him as he was dragged away, struggling to escape the whole time. It took several officers to pin him down and get the cuffs on him as he cried for death all the while. Checking on the victims, they confirmed that Michelle had passed away and John, while alive when they arrived, had succumbed to his wounds, having been beaten and stabbed repeatedly along with being partially eaten.
As the officers tried to process all the carnage before their eyes, Austin went limp on the ground. They tried to wake him up with little success, so they loaded him into an ambulance and had him transported to the hospital.
The ironic part of this whole thing? As all this madness was going down, 911 received another worried call…from Austin’s mother, Mina. She’d heard that he was missing and was calling in to see if anyone had seen him. Too little too late, mom…too little too late.
Where We Stand
While at the hospital, Austin was examined and he had sustained several injuries, including severe damage to his tongue, muscle and tissue damage to one arm thanks to the police dog, and a few scrapes and cuts on his hands. The real problem though was internal. Apparently while he had been in the garage before the police arrived, Austin had picked up what he would later state he thought was alcohol and he chugged the whole thing.
This was most likely something along the lines of bleach or some lawn-care chemical, and it had burned his throat and stomach, caused internal bleeding, and severely damaged multiple organs, so much so that they continued to fail over the next several days. The doctors were able to bring him back from the brink though and, after being in a coma for 11 days, Austin started to make a full physical recovery.
The first thought on everyone’s mind was he must have been on some sort of drug. Illicit substances are not uncommon in Florida, and such drugs as bath salts and Flakka were very popular around that time. There was even a well-documented incident of a man by the name of Rudy Eugene, high on bath salts, attacking and maiming a homeless man named Ronald Poppo. Eugene would become known as the Miami Zombie because of the incident, having eaten much of Poppo’s face during the attack.
However, all tests came back negative, Austin was totally clean and sober at the time of the attack.
Once he was awake and recovering, the police came and asked Austin about what happened that night, why he did what he did. At first Austin played dumb, saying he didn’t remember anything about the night or any damage he had caused, but that didn’t last long. What he told them next could only make sense in the mind of a crazy person and further demonstrated just how far into mental illness Austin had fallen. After fighting with his dad and leaving Duffy’s for the final time, Austin would, in his words, “follow the stars,” wandering the streets aimlessly until he came upon what he described as a dark shadowy figure with a white face.
Terrified, Austin ran for his life, screaming his head off. He would run about 4 miles before he came to the neighborhood of John and Michelle. Not knowing where he was, he saw what he described as a bright light emanating from an open garage. Running up to the light and looking for help, he saw Michelle who screamed as soon as she saw him.
Believing her to be a witch, he pulled out his knife and began attacking Michelle. After attacking her and drinking what was in the garage, he claimed he saw a white figure, presumably John, with a dog making its way into the garage…and then everything went dark. No mention of Jeff Fisher, no mention of interactions with the cops, no mention of eating John’s face. For Austin, it was a total blank for almost two weeks after seeing the white figure, and then waking up in the hospital.
Austin, dubbed the “Face Eating Murderer” by the press, was taken into custody after he was released from the hospital, charged with the double murder of Michelle Mishcon and John Stevens, and the attempted murder of Jeff Fisher. When word leaked to the public of the story he told, many refused to believe it, calling it too fantastical and a clear ploy to aim for an insanity defense. However, that’s not what the experts claim, particularly one Dr.
Philip Resnick. A world-renowned forensic psychologist who had worked on many high-profile cases, he examined Austin at length and, combined with all the information about time before the attack, diagnosed him with not only schizophrenia, but also clinical lycanthropy.
Before anyone reaches for the silver bullets, it’s simply a rare mental disorder that causes the patient to experience delusions and beliefs of being part animal, particularly a wolf. So, remember the instances when Austin claimed to be part horse? Well, there were also instances when he stated to his friends that he felt like he was part dog, both of which line up with the diagnosis.
This would also explain Austin’s animalistic and rabid behavior on the night of the attack, constantly going after John’s face even after he was tased and kicked by the officer and bitten by a dog. A werewolf in action and disposition, he was the furthest thing from human that night, at least in his mind. Perhaps the second half of the episode title makes sense to everyone now.
One final thing to note here. Before he was taken into custody, Austin actually did a 10-minute zoom interview with none other than Dr. Phil McGraw, world famous tv personality and former clinical psychologist. During the interview, Austin told his side of the story, and when asked by Dr. Phil if he felt remorse for his actions, Austin said that he did, even though he personally doesn’t remember what happened. Breaking down in tears, he proclaimed how sorry he was and that his life felt like a nightmare.
So where does that leave us? Well, pretty much at a standstill. Austin was arrested in 2016 and he still has yet to go on trial as of this year. The proceedings have constantly been postponed, mostly due to COVID, and he remains in custody to this day.
His defense lawyers have gone on record stating they will be seeking to get a full acquittal by reason of insanity, and whenever the trail gets underway, I’d say they have a decent chance as psychologists from both the prosecution and the defense agree that he wasn’t mentally sound during the attack 6 years ago. One way or another, one hopes that things progress soon so that everyone involved can begin the process of healing from this terrible tragedy.
Wrap-Up
And that, as they say, is that. A case that could have been easily prevented if more attention and care had been given in time, and one that hurts my heart every time I hear it. Austin Harrouff was a young man with all the potential in the world, a kind and fun-loving boy who only wanted to help people, but in the end, he ended up swallowed by the evil of his own mind and it cost two innocent people their lives.
I don’t blame his parents entirely for this, they acted as most parents probably would. Parents never want to believe that something could be wrong with their child, that they need help. It’s easier to either believe that it is something that will pass or to latch onto an external force such as drugs as the cause.
In the same breath, had they paid closer attention and acted quicker, this whole thing could have been stopped before it even began. Austin could have gotten the help he so desperately needed, and his victims would still be alive today.
As the darkness leaves us behind yet again, I wish for us to think of the victims. John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon. This loving couple did nothing wrong, hurt no one, and was simply enjoying their golden years together…only for everything to be taken away from them one dark night. I hope, despite their grisly end, that they both find peace in whatever afterlife may or may not be waiting for us all in the end.
And my thoughts and condolences go out to all the family members of both victims, I hope they all can find solace and peace during this hard time.
As for Austin? While a killer, I find it impossible not to feel sorry for the man. He didn’t want this, he didn’t ask for this, his mind betrayed him and it caused him to do something awful, stealing away two souls in the grimmest way possible. The families of John and Michelle apparently are hoping for the death penalty should he be convicted, and I couldn’t disagree more.
This young man was and is mentally ill and, like the case of the Greyhound Bus Beheading, I believe that he should be sentenced to a mental hospital for however long the law sees fit and stick to his medication whenever he is released. Taking his whole life away because of something he had no control over wouldn’t be justice, it would be vengeance, and that helps no one in a situation like this. This tragic act will haunt him for the rest of his days, and in my mind, that’s punishment enough.
Key Takeaways
- On August 15, 2016, Austin Harrouff attacked and killed Michelle Mishcon and John Stevens in their Jupiter, Florida garage, also stabbing neighbor Jeff Fisher.
- Harrouff exhibited severe mental decline before the attack, including delusions of being part animal, hallucinations, and erratic behavior that his family attributed to drugs rather than mental illness.
- During the attack, Harrouff was found eating John Stevens’ face and chest; he resisted tasing, police dog bites, and repeated kicks before being subdued by multiple officers.
- Forensic psychologist Dr. Philip Resnick diagnosed Harrouff with schizophrenia and clinical lycanthropy, a rare disorder causing delusions of being part animal.
- Despite being arrested in 2016, Harrouff had not gone to trial by the time of writing, with his defense seeking acquittal by reason of insanity and both sides’ psychologists agreeing he was not mentally sound during the attack.
Dana Ortiz covers prosecutorial mechanics, evidentiary procedure, and how investigations unwind decades after the original case file went cold.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who were the victims of Austin Harrouff’s attack on August 15, 2016?
The victims were Michelle Mishcon, a 53-year-old recently retired financial advisor; her husband John Stevens, a 59-year-old; and Jeff Fisher, their neighbor who attempted to intervene and was stabbed but survived.
What was Austin Harrouff doing when police arrived at the scene?
When police arrived, Austin Harrouff was on top of John Stevens, pinning him to the ground with one arm while using his free hand to hook into John’s cheek, ripping into it with his bare teeth, chewing and swallowing portions of his face and chest while growling and snarling.
What substances did Austin Harrouff use prior to the attack?
Austin Harrouff used alcohol (starting at age 17, drinking heavily until he quit), marijuana (daily), mushrooms, LSD, Adderall, and MDMA (ecstasy/molly). However, he tested completely clean and sober at the time of the attack.
What mental health diagnosis did Dr. Philip Resnick give Austin Harrouff?
Dr. Philip Resnick, a world-renowned forensic psychologist, diagnosed Austin Harrouff with schizophrenia and clinical lycanthropy, a rare mental disorder that causes patients to experience delusions and beliefs of being part animal, particularly a wolf.
What happened at Duffy’s restaurant that precipitated the attack?
At Duffy’s restaurant, after Austin had already exhibited bizarre behavior including walking into traffic and chugging vegetable oil at his mother’s house, his father Wade asked him ‘What is wrong with you?!’ This caused Austin to snap, slam his father’s face against the back of the booth, and storm out of the restaurant.
What was the Baker Act and why was it relevant to Austin Harrouff’s case?
The Baker Act, also known as The Florida Mental Health Act of 1971, allows for involuntary institutionalization and examination of a patient for up to 72 hours if they show signs of mental illness and are a danger to themselves or others. Austin’s family had planned to use it but acted too late.
What injuries did Austin Harrouff sustain during his apprehension?
Austin Harrouff sustained severe damage to his tongue, muscle and tissue damage to one arm from the police K-9 unit, scrapes and cuts on his hands, and severe internal injuries from drinking what he thought was alcohol but was likely bleach or a lawn-care chemical, which burned his throat and stomach, caused internal bleeding, and severely damaged multiple organs.
What was Austin Harrouff’s explanation for his actions when interviewed by police?
Austin claimed that after leaving Duffy’s, he ‘followed the stars’ until he saw a dark shadowy figure with a white face, ran for his life, and ended up at John and Michelle’s garage. He said Michelle screamed when she saw him, he believed her to be a witch, and attacked her. He claimed to see a white figure with a dog, then everything went dark until he woke up in the hospital.
What is Austin Harrouff’s current legal status?
As of the article’s writing, Austin Harrouff was arrested in 2016 and still had yet to go on trial, with proceedings constantly postponed mostly due to COVID. He remains in custody, and his defense lawyers are seeking a full acquittal by reason of insanity.
What did Austin Harrouff tell Dr. Phil during their interview?
During a 10-minute Zoom interview with Dr. Phil, Austin told his side of the story and when asked if he felt remorse, he said he did even though he personally doesn’t remember what happened. He broke down in tears, proclaimed how sorry he was, and said his life felt like a nightmare.
Sources
- Original Casual Criminalist video: Austin Harrouff: The Frat Boy Werewolf
- Hero image source by Msullivan1 / openverse, by.
