Austin Harrouff was found not criminally responsible for hacking John Stevens and his wife Michelle Mischon to death
A frat boy turned cannibal killer could soon be back on the streets after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the horrific double murders of a South Florida couple.
Austin Harrouff, 25, hacked John Stevens and his wife Michelle Mischon to death with a machete in 2016 and then proceeded to eat their faces off.
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When cops arrived, Harrouff was spitting out pieces of flesh.
The rich kid killer was arrested at the scene but bringing him to trial has been a long and winding road. He was slated to go on trial Monday, but heartbroken friends and family of the couple were stunned to learn Harrouff was getting a slide.
“Here we are opening the prison doors for a double murderer,” Cindy Mishcon, the sister of victim Michelle Mishcon, told reporters. “Four words come to mind. White, rich boy justice.”
Instead of prison, Harrouff, 25, is headed to a psych hospital. If deemed not to be a threat, he could potentially be released outright.
The killer and his dentist father insisted he was mentally ill when he butchered the couple. He pleaded not guilty.
Families of the victims painted Harrouff as a coddled junkie who was well aware of his heinous crimes.
But Judge Sherwood Bauer told the court that both Martin County prosecutors and Harrouff’s pricey legal eagles agreed to nix a trial in favour of the plea accord.
“I didn’t really know you could brutally murder two people, attempt to kill another, and not even have a trial,” Mishcon’s other sister, Jodi Bruce, read in a statement to the court. “That was news to me.”
There were no drugs in Harrouff’s system at the time of the murders, leading three doctors to declare he had a “sever psychotic break.”
However, in the months leading up to the shocking slayings that made headlines around the globe, Harrouff chronicled his daily drugs intake as a badge of honour. He ingested a veritable smorgasbord of cocaine, heroin, pills, meth and more.
He also told a pal about his desire to be famous.
“Why the f*** just not do what you want,” he wrote. “Just do the craziest shit you can. I just want to be great before I die.”
In another missive, he wrote: “I thought I was crazy, but really not. I just know that for me personally the drugs are taking a toll on me and I can’t handle.”
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The victims’ family were bitterly disappointed by the decision.
“I ask myself, why are we here today?” Mishcon said. “Why is there no trial? Why is my family being denied justice?”
Her sister added: “My sister just put on the case for you. That is sad. That is sad.”
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun
