The father of a 19-year-old man accused of stabbing two people to death and biting one of their faces in a Florida home said his son may be suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness.
Wade Harrouff told The Palm Beach Post on Tuesday evening that unlike what his son's friends have told Martin County sheriff's investigators, Austin Harrouff had been acting strange the last few months. Harrouff believes his son's behavior was not a result of drug use, but instead of mental illness.
"I don't think he did (use drugs)," Wade Harrouff said. "I guess we'll find out when the test comes."
On Aug. 15, Austin Harrouff was out to dinner at Duffy's Sports Grill in Jupiter with his father. Harrouff said his son left, went to his mother's house and attempted to drink cooking oil. After, Harrouff said his son's mother, Mina, brought him back to the restaurant. There, Harrouff said he became upset with his son and grabbed him by the collar.
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It's unclear if there was a fight, but Austin Harrouff eventually left the restaurant and made his way to John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon's home on Southeast Kokomo Lane, just north of the Jupiter border.
The sheriff's office said the couple did not know the teen.
There, the sheriff's office said he stabbed the couple in their garage, attacked a neighbor who tried to intervene, then was found on top of Stevens, biting his face and his abdomen.
Harrouff told The Post he believes his son may suffer from schizophrenia, though he has never been formally diagnosed. He said the mental illness runs in the family. His mother told police her son said he had superpowers and was immortal, according to a Jupiter police report.
When deputies arrested Harrouff last week at the scene, he dared them to perform drug tests on him.
"Test me. You won't find any drugs," he said.
Austin Harrouff remains in the hospital in critical condition at St. Mary's Medical Center, according to authorities.
On Tuesday, the sheriff's office released radio transmissions of first responders saying Harrouff is "abnormally strong" and that he had bitten the man's abdomen and face.
"I got this guy wrapped around him, and he's biting him," a first responder said of Austin Harrouff via the radio transmission. "This guy won't let go."
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