Son who beheaded dad, posted severed head video on YouTube was acting 'strange' before murder
The neighbors of a Pennsylvania man who allegedly beheaded his father and shared the severed head in a YouTube video calling for an end to the federal government said that they started noticing changes in the suspect’s behavior several months ago that made them uncomfortable.
Justin Mohn, 32, has been charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and possession of a criminal weapon. YouTube has since removed the video — after failing to remove it over several hours — of Mohn showing the remains of his murdered father’s head and declaring himself the acting president of the United States, stating that Joe Biden is no longer in power.
ABC affiliate WPVI-TV reported Thursday that a neighbor of Mohn’s in Middletown Township, Bart DeHaven, said he had called the police on the suspect several times before the murder due to the man’s strange behavior. The neighbor said he hadn't felt threatened by Mohn, however, when asked.
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"He just started acting funny over the summer. I made a couple of calls to the police department because he was sitting right there on that culvert thing and staring at my house constantly. I thought that's kind of strange," DeHaven said.
"But it's just weird for somebody to stay seated right there, stare straight at my house. You know, when I would come home, he would just pick up and move. Weird," he said.
Mohn’s father, 68-year-old Michael Mohn, was an engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District, according to WPVI-TV. In the now-removed YouTube video, the suspect referred to his father, a federal employee, as a traitor, in addition to making threats against federal officials.
Carrie McCarthy, another neighbor of Mohn’s, told the outlet that she watched the video without knowing what it was after someone sent it to her. The video reached 5,000 views before YouTube took it down, according to WPVI-TV.
"I totally screamed like, somebody sent the video and I opened the video and I was like, Oh, my God, That's the guy that, you know, I see every day that I knew something. You know, something was unhinged with him," McCarthy said.
"So, a lot of us, especially the people that walk the dogs, we've seen him,” she continued. “He's a fixture in the neighborhood. He would just walk around, always have his water bottle. And he would stop in random spots and just light up a joint and just start smoking."
As ABC News reported Wednesday, Mohn’s mother discovered her husband’s dead body in the bathroom, according to a police criminal complaint. Authorities then responded to the report of a deceased man in the middle of the night.
The complaint noted that a machete and a large kitchen knife were found at the scene. Mohn was the “prime suspect” in the case, and he fled the home where he lived with his parents, according to police.
Mohn fled in his father’s car, and police later apprehended him about 100 miles away from the crime scene after tracking his cell phone, according to Pennsylvania National Guard spokesperson Angela Watson. Police had located the vehicle near a National Guard Training Center, and though authorities found the suspect had a firearm, they arrested him without incident.
Mohn’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for next Thursday, and he has been denied bail, ABC added.
A spokesperson for the FBI told ABC that the agency is "aware of the incident and working closely with the lead agency to support their investigation." Police also confirmed that the incident is still under investigation and there is no threat to the community.
“We want to offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the victim. We will work hard to ensure the accused answers for these heinous crimes,” the Middletown Township Police Department shared in a Wednesday statement on Facebook.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
