As details continue to emerge in the case in which 19-year-old Florida State University student Austin Harrouff is charged with brutally murdering 59-year-old John Stevens and his 53-year-old wife Michelle Mishcon as they sat innocently in their garage — chewing on the husband’s face after he killed him — the story is already taking another turn for the bizarre. According to a new report released Wednesday, Harrouff’s mother told police that her son had been acting strangely for days before the tragedy occurred, and even claimed to have superpowers.
Mina Harrouff called Jupiter police about three hours after Austin Harrouff stormed out of a restaurant Monday night following an argument with his father, the report said. She told an officer her son had been acting strangely for about a week, said he had superpowers and that he was “here to protect people,” the report said. She told Officer Luis Rocha her son had no history of mental illness nor heavy drug use.
“Mina told me that she does not believe him to be a danger to anyone or to himself,” Rocha wrote.
Harrouff was still in the hospital as of Wednesday, where he is to undergo surgery on his hand, presumably from injuries he sustained when police attempted to subdue him.
Meanwhile, although initial drug testing turned up negative for substances such as cocaine, opiates, methamphetamine, and marijuana, it still can’t be ruled out that Harrouff wasn’t under the influence of flakka or bath salts at the time of the killing. People spoke to an anonymous friend claiming to have gone to high school with the teen who defended Harrouff, saying that he isn’t himself now, and that he lost his way after graduation, starting to “play with some things he shouldn’t have.”
The source says hearing about his friend’s alleged crime made his “stomach turn.” “Austin is a super kind-hearted kid,” the friend tells People. “Whatever happened, isn’t him.”
Snyder said he “would not be surprised” if Harrouff, who was “heavily sedated” in a hospital on Tuesday, was under the influence of flakka – a psychoactive stimulant that has been linked to bizarre behavior and drug overdoses – at the time of the attack.
As previously reported, Harrouff did not have a raised body temperature when he was taken to the hospital, which would suggest flakka use, but until answers finally start to emerge authorities are not ruling out any possibilities.