When he was 19, Austin Harrouff fatally stabbed John Stevens and his wife, Michelle Mischon Stevens, while they were watching television in their garage outside Jupiter. Harrouff did not know the couple or the neighbor he stabbed who tried to intervene.
The so-called “frat boy cannibal,” the bodybuilding college student charged with murdering a Florida couple at random, has been found not guilty by reason of insanity, much to the outrage of the family members of those killed.
Austin Harrouff, then 19, fatally stabbed John Stevens, 59, and his wife, Michelle Mischon Stevens, 53, while they were watching television in their garage outside Jupiter in 2016.
Harrouff did not know the couple or the neighbor he stabbed who tried to intervene, and when police arrived, he was still attacking one of the victims. Harrouff also tried to bite chunks from John Stevens’s face and body. But he will not go to prison, as he was declared not guilty by reason of insanity.
Before the murders, Harrouff was caught on surveillance camera storming out of a restaurant where he was eating with his family, prompting his mother to call 911.
“He thinks he’s a superhero,” his mother told the operator.
In court Monday, Michelle’s sister, Cindy Mischon, turned the podium to face Harrouff.
“You can't even look at me?” she said. “Is it really so hard for you to understand that you are just a cold-blooded murderer? You are disgusting.”
Michelle’s other sister was amazed at the shocking turn in the case.
“I didn't really know you could brutally, like, brutally, murder two people, attempt to kill another, and not even have a trial,” she said.
But the judge presiding over the case pointed out that the prosecution and defense both agreed that an insanity plea was acceptable.
Harrouff’s defense attorney spoke outside court.
“He experienced a severe psychotic episode; it was always about mental illness,” his attorney said.
Harrouff will be committed to a secure mental institution. He will be held in the county jail until he is taken to the secure mental health facility, the judge said.
