‘I NEVER WANTED THIS TO HAPPEN’
Suspect in face-bite killings weeps on vid
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Austin Harrouff wept over the brutal face-biting killings of a Jupiter couple last year. He apologized to the victims’ families on camera, expressing shame and regret.
A recording of an emotional 22 minutes between Harrouff and TV show host Dr. Phil was released yesterday, for the first time revealing Harrouff’s account of events on camera.
Dr. Phil spoke with Harrouff via video conference while he was in the hospital in October, just days before authorities moved Harrouff to a jail on murder charges.
“Is it hard for you to imagine that you did this to these two people?” asked Phil McGraw, the psychologist who appears on syndicated television.
“Yeah. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through, er, I never imagined that this would ever happen,” Harrouff, then 19, said.
The interview never aired. A judge last week allowed for its release to the news media, and an appeals court agreed.
During the interview, Harrouff had a hard time recalling many details of the Aug. 15 killings, describing it as a “blur.”
McGraw asked Harrouff what the teen would tell the families of John Stevens, 59, and his wife, Michelle Mishcon, 53. Harrouff sobbed.
“I’m so sorry and I never wanted this to happen,” Harrouff said. “I’m so sorry.”
The Florida State University student was visiting family and friends on summer break last year when he got into an argument with his father and ran away from a family dinner at a sports bar in Jupiter, records show.
After walking several miles, he randomly killed the couple at their Jupiter home, authorities said.
Harrouff has pleaded not guilty to second- and first-degree murder with a weapon, as well as attempted first-degree murder and burglary.
Family members told investigators Harrouff was acting erratically in the days leading up to the arrest.
On the day of the killings, Harrouff told his sister and a friend he was “immortal” and a “half-human, halfhorse,” according to court records.
He told McGraw he has a faint memory of stripping off his clothes, drinking something that burned his throat and grabbing a weapon from the garage of the Jupiter couple he is accused of murdering.
While crime scene pics showed a pocket knife with a 3-inch blade covered in blood and hair, Harrouff told McGraw he thinks he grabbed a machete from the corner of the garage. He said he doesn’t remember why.
He also said he has no memory of attacking a neighbor who intervened after hearing the screams from across the street.
“I don’t remember fighting or stabbing him. I don’t remember how my hands got like this,” he said.