Last October the Dr. Phil show conducted an interview with Austin Harrouff, the 19-year-old former Florida State University student accused of brutally murdering 59-year-old John Stevens and 53-year-old Michelle Mishcon in the garage of their Florida home in August — who was found at the scene consuming parts of Stevens’ face. For reasons that were not immediately clear at the time, the interview never aired and was indefinitely postponed, as new developments began to surface in the case.
On Tuesday, video of the interview was finally released, not by Dr. Phil but by the Florida state attorney’s office, which had apparently been reviewing the footage. In the above clip posted by West Palm Beach’s WPTV 5 News, Harrouff is asked about chemicals he may have ingested in the couple’s garage that may have contributed to his state of mind as well as causing the severe burns to his esophagus, to which he replied that he “can’t talk about that.”
In another clip, Harrouff recalls leaving the restaurant where he had previously been dining with his family, telling Dr. Phil, “I don’t remember thinking at all. It’s like a blur. I don’t think I was thinking straight.” Harrouff also claimed to have hallucinated being chased by a “demon-like figure” named Daniel, right up until the time when he recalls running up to the couple’s garage.
In the above chilling video, Harrouff describes what he remembers in those final moments, but seems unwilling or unable to recall how “the altercation” began, as he refers to it.
Harrouff’s attorneys argued against the video’s release before his trial, however Martin County Circuit Judge Lawrence Mirman ruled in favor of open records, stating that the recording would not prevent a serious and imminent threat to a fair trial.
“From its content, it is apparent that this video interview (with Austin Harrouff) was conducted at the request of the Defendant or, more likely, his father while the defendant was hospitalized after the events giving rise to his arrest,” Mirman wrote in the ruling.
You can view the entire 20-minute long interview here.
(Via Palm Beach Post)