'Frat Boy Cannibal' Austin Harrouff Chewed Victim's Faces, Spitting Out Flesh
Austin Kelly Harrouff is an American killer from Florida who killed two victims, Michelle Mishcon and her husband John Joseph Stevens, in a brutal late night attack. Harrouff is mostly known as the ‘Frat Boy Cannibal’ since he bit and chewed the faces of his two victims.
Like A Good Neighbor
On the evening of August 15, 2016, police dispatchers received a call from Jeffrey Michael Fisher, who lived across the street from 19010 SE Kokomo Ln. Jupiter, Florida, 33458.
Jeffrey Fisher claims that he heard a female scream around 9:15pm that came from inside his neighbor’s garage.
Fisher rushed to the front of the garage of Michelle Mishcon and John Joseph Stevens’ home and the scene of a gruesome attack in progress.
Michelle Mishcon was “lying in a pool of blood and was not moving or saying anything”, Jeffrey said. Michelle died from her injuries by the time officers arrived on the scene.
The assailant, Austin Harrouff began screaming at Fisher saying “you don’t want too, you don’t want this, you don’t want any part of this.”
Harrouff then punched Jeffrey, who then fell on his back and onto the ground. During the tussle, Austin stabbed him multiple times. Fortunately, Jeffrey Fisher survived the attack, could return to his home to call 911.
Jeffrey stated that as he was trying to get away, “he heard the suspect yelling but didn’t know what he was saying.
Flesh-Ripper
Deputy Grace Zopf was the first to arrive on the scene and described the suspect as “choking and biting a male latter identified as John Joseph Stevens.”
Zopf stated Austin was “biting the victim and spitting out his flesh.”
Even after Zopf pointed her gun at Austin Harrouff, he “continued to bite and rip off the flesh from the victim (John Stevens).”
Deputy Zopf used her Taser, but the electrical current did nothing to abate Austin from chewing the flesh of his victim. She also attempted to handcuff Harrouff, but was unsuccessful due to him being able to overpower her.
Deputy Wayne Trocan was the next officer to arrive and tried to rip Austin off Stevens, but “the suspect kept biting the victim.”
Trocan not only used his Taser but also “began kicking the suspect in the head area which temporarily caused the suspect to let go of the victim but then the suspect grabbed the victim again and began to chew the victim’s face again.”
"Help me. I ate something bad. I ate humans."
A Tequesta K-9 officer, also on the scene, deployed his dog. According to the police reports, “the dog was able to latch onto the suspect’s arm but the suspect continued to bite and rip off flesh from the victim (John Stevens).”
It took 3 officers and a police dog to apprehend Austin Harrouff and to put him to handcuffs. The entire time he kept yelling “fucking kill me, fucking kill me, shoot me now, I deserve to die.”
A Normal Family
Austin Kelly Harrouff was born on December 21, 1996. His parents divorced at 13, but he remained in contact with them, living at his father's home at 18421 Lost Lake Way, Jupiter, Florida, 33458.
He has one younger sister.
Austin describes his father, Wade Harrouff,61, as "different, kind of loud, and a redneck" but also as a "nice guy who has a temper sometimes."
Mina Harrouff, Austin's mother, is "really nice", although he describes her as somewhat permissive.
Psychiatry and police reports (listed in sources) does not point to any family traumas or an abusive childhood.
Books Before Brains
Austin was an average student. He had attended FSU Tallahassee for a short stint and was studying biology.
At FSU he joined the fraternity Alpha Delta Phi, but he soon failed in his classes and changed to a technical school.
It is also during his college career that Harrouff experimented with many drugs, including mushrooms, alcohol, marijuana, ecstasy, and others.
Former friends say that Austin would "drink till he passed out" regularly.
Drugs Or No?
There are two camps to the Austin Harrouff case. Either you believe he was on drugs when he bit off his victim's faces, or that he suffered from a serious psychotic episode.
In a 38-page psychiatric report (sources section), Phillip J. Resnick, M.D. documents Austin's life, childhood, and daily happenings leading up to the murders.
Within this report it describes how Harrouff dropped his Presbyterian religion and adopted Atheism. However, looking through his journals and computer searches, it is easy to see that Harrouff was attempting to find answers to life searching for many philosophical leaders such as Jesus, Ghandi, and Krishna.
Also found in Austin's journals was questions he posed showing a potentially declining mental health.
"I don't think I am going crazy" and searches for "schizophrenia" were present in his computer search history.
Days before the murders, Austin describes himself as "divine" and like a centaur, often imagining himself as half horse and half man, or half dog and half man.
Initially, Austin was labeled as under the influence of drugs when he was brought to St. Mary's Medical Center.
They brought him in "howling, making animal-like sounds, writhing in contortions." He didn't know who he was or what had happened.
No drugs or chemicals that could immediately be blamed (flakka or bath salts) were found in his system when his blood work was submitted and tested.
What do you think? Mental health or drug reaction?
