The unbelievable story of Austin Harrouff
Dan sped up down the street. He got out of his car and made his way past the cars in the driveway.
A massive stream of blood was flowing from where he was headed.
As soon as he got in front of the cars, he saw John on the ground. A man was on top of John. The man’s left arm was wrapped around John’s neck, and he was also biting John’s face. Dan pulled out a taser and tased the attacker, but he didn’t budge.
The man continued to bite into John’s face after Dan kicked him hard, severally in the head.
Finally, the police released a police dog. The canine inflicted huge bites on the man’s arm and tore away his muscles.
But the man continued to bite into John’s face.
Who Was Austin Harrouff
Austin’s parents suddenly divorced when he was thirteen years old.
Austin struggled a lot from the breakup. He started to feel inadequate and unwanted by everyone, including his peers. He wanted to stop being so shy and be more assertive and outgoing.
Austin started abusing drugs to feel better about himself. He grew more anxious and depressed by the day.
It felt like he was going crazy. Austin’s family noticed that Austin was behaving in a creepy way when he returned home from campus that summer. He was nineteen by then.
When he got home;
- Austin moved his bed down into the garage, claiming that the house was full of demons.
- Austin patrolled the house at night instead of sleeping.
- He knocked on the bedroom doors of his family members at different times of the night.
- He announced that he was guarding them against the demons in the house.
Austin’s family felt concerned for their safety, so they started locking their bedroom doors at night.
As for Austin’s behavior, they thought it was because of the drugs he was abusing.
Austin’s Friends Also Noticed The Strangeness
On the morning of August 15th, 2016, Austin knocked on one of his close friend’s house doors. Then Austin asked his friend what year he was born. Then he walked away after he got the reply.
Austin’s friend was worried about him, so he convinced Austin to hang out with him later.
Austin’s friend also invited his other friends and Austin’s sister. The group decided to spend the day at the beach. Meanwhile, Austin claimed he had to go to his house to grab something. Austin rejoined the group at the beach dressed in a thick football jersey, thick sweatpants, two wristwatches, and sunglasses.
When his friends teased him about his weird beach outfit, he threatened to kill them if they continued.
Austin’s sister calmed him down.
Austin proceeded to tell her that he was half-horse and immortal for the remainder of their conversation. Austin, Austin’s sister, and his close friend headed to a restaurant in town, Duffy’s, later that day.
They wanted to meet up with Austin’s father and his girlfriend. But Austin ended up arguing with his father during the meal.
He stormed off.
Michelle Mishcon and John Stevens
Fifty-three-year-old Michelle Mishcon sat in her garage watching TV, about four miles away from Duffy’s restaurant.
Michelle and her fifty-nine-year-old husband, John Stevens, normally sat in the garage together. John was out walking their dog, so Michelle was alone for a moment. The couple had stayed married for roughly twenty years.
They had three kids together from their previous marriages.
The garage was their happy place.
They loved to open the door wide so they could wave to neighbors and invite them for a drink. John and Michelle were particularly close to their neighbor from across the street.
He was called Jeff Fisher.
Jeff watched the couple’s dog anytime they went away. And he often went to their garage to hang out with them.
Jeff Heard Screams Coming From The Garage
On this particular night of August 15th, 2016, Jeff heard some strange sounds coming from John and Michelle’s property. He looked across the street. And he saw a man slamming the car door of Michelle’s car parked in her driveway.
Michelle stood terrified in the garage.
Jeff ran across the street to make sure that Michelle was ok.
The attacker grabbed Michelle and threw her to the ground. When Jeff arrived, the strange man was busy beating Michelle. Then he leaped off of Michelle and faced Jeff.
The two got into a fight.
Jeff got hurt badly. And Jeff ran back to his house, locked the doors, and he called 911.
Jeff: Please get medical. Young man beating up a woman across the street.
Dispatcher: Are either of them injured? Can you tell from where you are?
Jeff: Yes there is a girl lying on the ground. He beat her up. I ran over there. I’m bleeding profusely at the moment. I don’t know what happened.
Dispatcher: Can you tell if she’s conscious?
Jeff: No it does not appear so. I’ve been stabbed in the back and I’m bleeding pretty bad.
The police immediately got to John and Michelle’s house.
A female officer arrived first.
She rushed up the driveway, and she saw the attacker on top of John. But she couldn’t shoot him because she risked shooting John in the process. Soon enough, a male officer (we’ll call him Dan) arrived at the crime scene. Dan tased the attacker, but he didn’t budge.
The attacker didn’t even seem to care that he was surrounded by police officers with guns pointed at him.
The Attacker Continued to Bite John’s Face
The attacker was mainly focused on biting into John’s face.
Dan started kicking him hard in the head to get him away from John. But, each time, the attacker reached back and bit into John’s face. Another set of officers showed up, and they had a police dog with them.
Dan immediately told them to release the dog.
The canine clamped down on the attacker’s right arm and yanked it away from John’s face. But the attacker ripped his arm back. He repositioned himself, and he went back to biting John’s face. The dog went for two more bites on the attacker’s arm until finally, Dan timed the bite.
He kicked the attacker hard in the face as his arm was being pulled back.
The attacker flew off of John and landed on his back.
Austin Was The Attacker
The man who attacked Michelle and John was Austin.
Austin looked up at Dan, and he screamed, “Kill me! I’m eating humans! Kill me!” Dan, along with the other officers, restrained Austin. The officers checked on Michelle, who was in the garage. Unfortunately, she had died from blunt force trauma.
John was alive when the police officer showed up, but he had succumbed to a multitude of injuries. Thus, John also died trying to save the woman he loved.
The couple’s dog survived the attack, and it was given to one of their children to take care of. And Jeff survived the attack and made a full recovery.
The Aftermath
It was initially assumed that Austin was on drugs when he perpetrated the heinous crime. But Austin’s toxicology showed that he only had a very small amount of THC, which meant that Austin was sober at the time of the attack.
A forensic psychologist, Phillip Resnick, did a lengthy assessment of Austin, and he came to a very different conclusion than everyone else.
Resnick pointed out the fact that Austin continued to bite John’s face even when he was openly threatened with being shot by the police officer standing right over him.
Austin continued to bite John’s face after he was tased.
He continued to bite John’s face after he was kicked in the head repeatedly. He continued to bite John’s face after the dog repeatedly bit him. This all suggested that Austin was truly in a psychotic state when this attack occurred.
Resnick specified that Austin suffered from a psychotic episode called clinical lycanthropy delusions on the night of the attack. The now twenty-five-year-old Austin is still awaiting trial.