Dr. Phillip Resnick writes that Austin Harrouff was suffering from 'severe mental disease' at time of murders
A forensic psychologist has concluded that a former Florida State University student, accused of fatally stabbing a couple and biting off parts of a man’s face in 2016, believed he was “half-dog, half-man” at the time of the fatal attack.
In a 38-page report obtained by PEOPLE, Ohio-based psychologist Dr. Phillip Resnick writes that Austin Harrouff was suffering from “severe mental disease” when, on August 15, 2016, he allegedly killed John Stevens, 59, and his 53-year-old wife, Michelle Mishcon, outside their Tequesta, Florida, home.
According to Resnick, Harrouff, 22, was living with bipolar disorder and acute manic episodes with psychotic features. As the attacks unfolded, Resnick maintains Harrouff suffered from a “lycanthropy delusion,” believing he was a canine.
Lycanthropy, as defined, is a form of madness involving the delusion of being an animal — usually a werewolf.
Resnick said Harrouff told him during a 2017 interview he “had the delusion that he could run ‘super fast’ because he was ‘half-man, half dog.’ He believed that other dogs’ hair was attaching to his face.”
Harrouff, who was 19 at the time of his alleged crimes, also told Resnick that when he heard a group of dogs barking, he felt as though the animals’ souls were calling out to him for help.
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He has been charged with two counts of murder for the 2016 slayings, as well as one count of attempted first-degree murder for attacking a neighbor, who suffered minor injuries while trying to stop Harrouff during the attack.
When police arrived at the scene, officers had to pull Harrouff, who was in his underwear, off of Stevens. As he was biting Stevens, police kicked Harrouff in the face several times, with no effect. Harrouff, according to Resnick’s report, was barking at the officers.
Investigators claim Harrouff was biting Stevens’ face and had bitten into part of his abdomen.
“The fact that Mr. Harrouff persisted in biting the male victim in the presence of police officers, in spite of threats of being shot, being tased and receiving multiple kicks to the head, suggests that Mr. Harrouff was actively psychotic,” Resnick wrote in his findings.
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The report also contends Harrouff suffered from delusions of grandeur, and at times, thought he was Jesus, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. He also said he believed the devil was coming for him and his family.
Resnick writes in his report that, after interviews with Harrouff, his relatives and his friends, he does not believe the defendant is faking his symptoms to dodge the death penalty. Resnick also referred to journal entries and text messages from the days before the fatal attack as support for his conclusion.
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The report further indicates that Harrouff made claims he was invincible in the days leading up to the killings, and that he had superpowers. He told Resnick he thought he was being targeted by evil forces, and that he thought Mishcon was a “witch.”
He also begged the responding officers to kill him, and later, told police he’d had something “bad” to eat that evening. When asked what he’d eaten, he responded, “Humans.”