EP58: Face Eating Frat Boy 01:29:18

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It's not. Obviously, when people hear this, it's going to be the day. A few weeks past. But today is the day. It's a big day. March 14th. I felt great all day. Today? Yeah. Like, I felt like riding a high all day. It's a good day. Yeah. I can't believe we stuck it out. I can't believe it's Pi Day. Unfortunately, we are done now, though. What does that mean? This was just a one-year experiment. Oh, fuck you. I thought we agreed on that. Okay.

I'll find you. Yeah, Pi Day. You asked me earlier if I was good at math. And I was like, I'm not. But I do know that it's International Pi Day. Yeah. They're eating pizza at school. Are they? My kids, yeah. That's so cute. I know. I hope my kids are. You know what we haven't done in a long time that I want to do here right now in this moment? What? Fucking thank these people. I feel like...

thankfully, we express our gratitude. Don't act like, you know. I feel like we don't do it enough. Well, I can do it. I can make a whole episode about it. You know what I was thinking about? The fact that

Like at some point, because the numbers are still going up steadily, which means, and this is like, I love that people listen. I love that people like it. I love that they enjoy it. Do you know how much they have to love it to go tell a friend about it? I know. One of the comments on our anniversary post today was like, I bring it up inappropriately in almost every conversation I have. And I'm like, thank you. That's the best because that's such organic love and spreading. Whoever wrote that comment, DM us. Maybe we'll send you a t-shirt or something. Ooh.

Yeah. That's a great idea. I love it. Yeah, I want to start taking care of these people. They take care of us. It's been a year. I know. They've been supporting us. They've been the wind beneath my wings. They've been the wind at my back. Shout out to the Irish blessing that I don't know the rest of. And by the way, wind at your back is a real positive.

I have no clue what you're talking about right now. Well, the Irish blessing says, may the wind always be at your back. Okay. And then a bunch of other stuff. Jessica and I were down in Miami. We rode bikes. So we rode three miles one way and then we turned around and went back and the wind was coming at us. Oh, different ballgame. Literally almost abandoned the bike. That's even when you're on an airplane. Depending on like the wind, you feel different in your flight. Oh yeah. I was experiencing some personal turbulence on a personal level. But,

But we made it. We made it back. Thank God. And we're doing a regular case today. Yes. Correct? I'm so pumped. But yes, thank you to everyone for bringing us to this monumentous. Did you make up a word? Magnumentous? Like magnitude and monumental? Legitimately. Oh, legitimately. Okay. Well, I just made up a word then. What did you call it? Monumental and magnitude. I said like magnamental. No, you said monumentous. Oh. Oh, yeah. Where were you? Oh.

Whatever. The gratitude is all the same. Gratitatis. Yes. Thank you to everyone. One of your tatas. This day is about everyone. Yeah. It really is. So hopefully you guys like this case. If I'm not mistaken, you said that I was going to love this case. It's just, yeah. I mean, it's horrible and it's heartbreaking and it's tragic and it always feels terrible when I message you and I'm like, you're going to love it. I just mean to say that I think you're going to find it interesting and I think you're going to have a lot to say.

And make sure to stick around to the end of the episode when I do my tanks tidbits, because today I have what I think is a pretty good piece of advice that will probably help you if you take it to heart. Oh, good. I can't wait. And what else? Patreon.com slash psychopedia pod for everything you want from us and more. We really let it all hang out there. Yes, we do. I do.

I think I do too. I let my hair down. You let your hair down. I do something else. I'm like less buttoned up over there for sure. Oh, for sure. You're a formal investigator Slater over here. Over there, you're a casual Slater. Right, exactly. Did I wear jeans when we do Patreon? Why? So that you can be more formal? I'm sorry. I meant psychopedia since I'm, you know, formal investigators Slater during psychopedia. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I forgot my glasses. Anyway, without further ado,

Do-hoo-hoo, do-hoo-hoo-hoo-see. You know what that is? I thought you were having an episode. I'm ashamed to say it's an R. Kelly song. Oh, come on with that. It just came into my head. I can't help where thoughts come from. You know what, though? Do you have to, like, make public all your thoughts?

No. But where would we be if I did? Good question. The song that I was singing in the melody of is, booty, booty. He just does that like for six times in a row. What a genius. Genius. What an artist. All right. Let's get into this week's case. Okay.

On the horrific night of August 15th, 2016, in the otherwise tranquil town of Jupiter, Florida, a scene unfolded that could have been taken straight out of a horror film. A 19-year-old young man was having dinner with some family and a friend at a local restaurant when a surreal, nightmarish transformation overtook him. Time seemed to warp around him as the bustling sounds of the restaurant faded into a haunting silence.

Really?

Really? Heeding a voice in his head that firmly communicated, I am sin. I am in control. Compelled this young man to abandon his family and friend at the restaurant, step into the night, and begin to follow the stars like an ancient navigator guided by fate. In 2016? Yes. In Florida? Yes. Florida's crazy.

These ethereal voices guided him four miles away to Jupiter, Florida, an otherwise sleepy neighborhood where the veneer of normalcy was about to be violently torn away by this young man turned Grim Reaper. Out of nowhere. Out of nowhere.

On that night, under the ghostly luminescence of the moon while following the stars to Jupiter, this young man... That was sick. That was good, right? That was fucking good. I'm glad you picked up on it. You were like a second delayed and I'm like, he missed it. Ghostly luminescence to the something stars of Jupiter. This young man turned Grim Reaper encountered a figure disguised as a female woman who seemed to have materialized from the threshold of another dimension. Hmm.

This was no human, but rather a witch who now stood before him, screaming and revealing an evil, dangerous intent. You look evil right now because that red light's shining on half of your face. I like it. It's spooky. I like it. Grim Reaper or not, the very sight of the screaming witch sent a visceral shock of terror through him

So he had a knife in his hand. Mm-hmm. And in his mind, it was a scythe. Yeah. Okay.

Okay. He's, you know, obviously. And this woman before him who was screaming. Yeah. He believed to be a witch.

But the horror did not end there, sadly. Another figure emerged, this one male, radiating an otherworldly white glow as if he were made of the moonlight itself. In a twisted plea for salvation, the young man turned grim reaper called out for God to save him from this nightmare. Yet consumed by the dark calling that had overtaken him, he turned his weapon on the glowing figure and struck him down as he had done with the witch

Wow. Wow.

Because, of course, the gruesome figure described as the Grim Reaper in this horrific tale was, in reality, a human 19-year-old college student frat boy named Austin Hariff. And the supposed otherworldly beings he brutally attacked and shockingly mutilated during a cannibalistic frenzy were tragically regular, innocent human beings.

So not a witch. Not a witch and not a ghostly, luminescent figure. Not made of the moon. Correct. John Stevens III and Michelle Mishkan were a couple simply enjoying time together in their garage on Southeast Kokomo Lane when their peaceful evening turned into their last night on Earth. No, they were a couple? Yes.

So the woman was out there. She got attacked. Her husband came out to try to save her and he got... You'll find out the details, but that's the gist. But there's so much that goes into this case. And obviously when you're reading the headlines, because it wasn't that long ago, you're reading, you know, cannibal and... Skimming. You're skimming and you're just seeing all that. But as we know, there is so much backstory that goes into something so horrific that

And it's tragic and heartbreaking, but really fascinating to explore. Yeah. So we're going to do that together. I'm pumped. Because today we are discussing the case of a 19-year-old frat boy, as I said, named Austin Hariff, also known as the college cannibal.

Austin Kelly Harreff was born on December 21st, 1996 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to Mina, a pharmacist, and Wade, a dentist. Raised alongside his younger sister Haley in a wealthy part of Florida, Austin grew up in a stable Presbyterian household. The family's dynamic changed when his parents divorced in 2010, and both quickly found new partners. But

But in spite of these changes, Austin maintained a good relationship with both of his parents, describing his father as occasionally temperamental but nice, and his mother as very motherly and somewhat permissive.

his childhood, free from any abuse or real turmoil, was relatively typical, which is not something we often encounter when we're exploring the background of somebody we're featuring on Psychopedia. No. Austin's life in elementary school was unremarkable, though the transition into middle school marked the onset of more challenging times. Always. He grappled with weight gain, acne, and the cruel attention of bullies, which led to burgeoning insecurities about his appearance. Can we just take a moment to acknowledge

the struggle that people with bad skin go through. We can and we should. It's like a thing that I feel like people don't really think about and I don't think about it that much but right now I am.

I remember having breakouts when I was a teenager, even into like my late teens, early twenties. I didn't want to leave the house. I know. Same. I went on Proactive. Yeah. Burned the fucking shit out of my skin every night. I was so down on myself when I had breakouts. It's such a struggle and it's so hard to know what to do to fix it because there could be so many different causes.

That's why actually, like I know Jessica loves what she does with the aesthetics. She's an esthetician. I don't know what it's called. Skincare. Great. Wow. So much easier. Yeah.

She's like literally transformed people's faces and changed their lives because they battle with this for so long. And then sometimes if you deal with it wrong, you get scars. I'm just, I wanted to take a minute to like, I don't know, just acknowledge the struggle because it's such an unacknowledged struggle that people go through. Right. And I think people who have it suffer in silence, but also so publicly because it's so noticeable. But that was my motivation because they suffer silently.

And these struggles are not uncommon, right? I just said I struggled with it. You struggled with it. Your wife makes a career out of helping people who struggle with it. Yeah. But Austin's situation was compounded by episodes of sleep paralysis as well that he'd been experiencing since elementary school, which would leave him unable to voluntarily move or talk in a walking state. So it was almost like he was sleepwalking.

sleepwalking. Oh, it's so scary. He said that it felt like being abducted by aliens. Yeah. Right? Like completely out of control. So middle school was rough for Austin, but upon entering Suncoast High School in Palm Beach County, he seemed to have transformed. With the onset of adolescence, Austin took proactive steps. He took proactive? No. No? No.

He took proactive steps to address his self-perceived physical inadequacies by taking up football, wrestling, and weightlifting. Nice. Great hobbies for a young man. But this is what I'm saying. This is why I really thought that this case would resonate with you because you openly talk about your struggles when you were younger with like

being a little overweight. And then you transform things too. Like when I knew you, when I knew of you in high school, you were playing football, you were lifting, like you transformed from how you describe your childhood. Anytime I see a kid, I've done it like a handful of times. Obviously I'm not going to do it like every time because it gets weird.

But anytime I see a young kid who's like a little chubby, I make it a point to tell them that like, you look just like me when I was a kid. The insinuation is that like, I would not trade being fat when I was younger for the way I take care of myself now. Because I know a ton of people who stayed in shape easily, no effort, whatever. They don't know what to do. They don't even know where to start. They didn't have to fight, climb up a hill every day when they were 12, 13 years old. So they're unprepared to take care of themselves now. And it's, you know...

Listen, you're lucky enough that you were able to turn it around and to turn it into something positive. Oh, yeah. That has stuck with you clearly. But that's the road less traveled, I feel like. You know what I mean? That takes a lot of gumption. Yeah. I want to say. I love Forrest Gump.

Life is like a box of chocolates. Life is like a box of chocolates that your fat ass ate entirely? Basically. I don't know why I was going to tease you like that. Wow. It's not even like me. Thank God we're done after this episode. We're not done. No, I'm just kidding. We're just starting. We are just starting. Okay, good. Okay. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big ROAS man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend.

My friend's still laughing at me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com slash results to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com slash results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be, to be.

So this new physical regimen not only reshaped Austin's six-foot body into a muscular 200-pound frame, but it also seemed to offer a pathway to stronger social acceptance and higher self-esteem. Unsurprising. By junior year, Austin also began dieting in an effort to, quote, have a good body and look cool. And I will say he was a very handsome young man.

Now, in spite of the physicality and potential aggression that's typically associated with football and wrestling, Austin was really a very gentle and non-confrontational guy. His football coach would even attempt to get him angry on game day to ignite a fire in him that would transfer onto the field. But these attempts were largely futile as Austin's intrinsic calmness and affability just could not be shaken. His father, Wade, even nicknamed him Happily ever after.

Happy Boy. That's a great nickname. Yeah. I'm imagining his football coach trying to rile him up, and by the end of it, the football coach is like, damn, I gotta chill, man. What the fuck is wrong with me? He just wants to be happy. What the fuck's wrong with me? Academically, Austin excelled and was enrolled in advanced classes. By the time of his high school graduation in 2015, he truly seemed to be on an upward trajectory.

He was accepted into Florida State University's prestigious four-year pre-med program, was in top physical form, and was surrounded by great friends and a loving family.

And college started out seemingly very strong for Austin. He began with a major in biology, but then shifted to exercise science with aspirations of becoming a dietician. He joined the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and embraced a burgeoning passion for bodybuilding and fitness and prominently shared photos on social media that painted the picture of a young man excelling in his new environment. Did he get fucking jacked? He did. Nice. I'm saying he looked good. Nice.

I didn't see too many pictures of him before that, but my understanding is like the transformation was pretty epic. Well, he was eating people, a lot of protein in people. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. However, not all was how it seemed on the outside and the images of triumph and determination posted online be

betrayed the complex struggles that rapidly unfolded within. Because the truth was that despite his outward optimism, Austin had been contending with a very fragile mental health landscape for quite some time. He experienced unpredictable, hidden depressive episodes that began to surge forth more frequently and last for longer periods of time as he attempted to navigate the freedoms and challenges of college life. It's exactly when my...

mental health struggles kicked in. Yeah. Exactly when. I think that's the most common. Well, middle school is very tough because you go from being a kid to like an adolescent and that's a tough transition. I think it bears repeating if I've said it already, but for anybody who doesn't know this, I don't know if this is fact 100%, but I like this perspective.

Saw a video of some guy talking about the reason that suicide rates are so high among teens is because teens have this death urge. They don't know what to do with it. We have talked about this, but it's so interesting. You said this death urge can be quelled by leaving behind parts of yourself that were very important to you during childhood because now you got to grow up a little bit. So you can't use the things that used to work when you were a kid when you're a 14-year-old. Like I know, tell my son this all the time because he sometimes gets in bad mood and I tickle him.

I go, I'm not going to be able to tickle you when you're 15 out of a bad mood. It's going to be weird. I will try. I hate being tickled. I think it's a form of torture. Yeah, sure. So. My kids love it. I hate it. They love it. Because even though I'm laughing. Yeah, yeah. I don't like it. No, I know. It's startling. It is. Yeah. But anyway, so he's starting with to really have this depressive state, but he's hiding it.

He was trapped in a cyclical pattern where he would soar through euphoric manic episodes, feeling invincible and on top of the world, only to inevitably plunge into deep, terrifying lows that would ensnare him so completely. In the pages of his personal journal, which he began to keep, Austin unveiled the depths of his hidden psychological strife and confessed his battles with feeling inadequate and living in constant fear of being socially ostracized.

He yearned for the world to view him as a beacon of joy, kindness, and optimism, even though his internal reality was a soul in turmoil that silently waged a war against the shadows of doubt and loneliness that threatened to consume him. And I relate to that so much. Yeah. So much. He wrote that in his journal? No. You wrote that? I wrote that. I was going to say, this guy's a sick writer. He should write for Psychopedia. Yeah.

you're not going to want him anywhere near us in reality when you hear what he went on to do. No, I don't. But you kind of already know what he went on to do. But yeah, in college, I think I was looked at as like a very bubbly sorority girl until I got kicked out. Like very bouncy. I had this like New York flair down in Maryland. Like I had like a persona and I was dead inside. Yeah.

Enough about me. Yeah, I remember looking at you being like, that chick is dead inside. Well, you saw me for who I was. You really saw me. No, never once. No. It's also around the time when I met Dave in college. And I attribute my climb out of that to him, like entirely. Yeah. I don't even know how he did it, but he did it.

So anyway, during this time in college, Austin also began to experiment with drugs and alcohol. By 18 years old, he regularly drank at parties, on average about three nights per week, sometimes, or I would say often, to the point of blacking out. Oh boy. However, he wound up stopping pretty early on in his college career in 2016 in order to maintain his physical fitness. Okay.

Oh, no.

MDMA drugs like molly that provide both an energy surge and a distortion of time and perception, prescription stimulants like Adderall and Vyvanse, as well as cocaine, and some Xanax for good measure. So he was doing a ton of drugs. Yeah. Can I just say something? I am so scared for people who are just willy-nilly using acid, ayahuasca, mushrooms,

If it works for you, great. But I feel like so many people are absolutely missing the point and just making it like a way of life. Like micro-dosing? It's going to turn on you. It's going to turn on you at some point. If it's working now, great, but life is long. And there's plenty of time for that to stop working. And not only stop working, have an adverse effect. Do what you're going to do, obviously. My sister dated a guy years ago who took, I think he took acid...

Not that many times, like definitely more than 10, but less than like 20, somewhere in there. That guy wanders the streets in Comac still having no idea who he is, where he is. Oh my gosh. Doesn't know his name, like he's out of his mind. So he did irreversible damage? Irreversible damage, yeah. Oh my God, that's heartbreaking. Yeah. That's awful.

So now with Austin's enhanced drug use, he ping-ponged between the euphoria brought on by the various drugs and the cold clarity of sobriety, which was often marked by depressive thoughts that he just could not outrun. Yeah. And

Oh, my God. Oh, wow.

Holy shit. Well, do you know that melatonin is also a hormone that messes with other hormones in your body like dopamine? I took it for years. Really? Yeah, it really fucks up your dopamine. I had a very hard time caring about anything or getting up to go do anything. You're kidding. No. So it messed up your awake hours. And it didn't even help me sleep. Oh my God. How many milligrams are you taking? 40. What? I took a lot though. Way too many.

So Austin was clearly heading into a very dark and dangerous place, and he knew it. His internet search history by the end of his freshman year included questions like, I think I am crazy. What do I do? How do you know if you're crazy? How to deal with obsessive thoughts? Do I need sleep? And what happens if you don't sleep?

So wait, this was my internet history or his? Maybe both. Oh man, this guy sounds a lot like me and I don't like it. I know. It's very relatable. I have had a fear. I've abandoned it since then because it's like, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. But of...

Like just detaching completely from reality in an instant, never to come back. From like a psychotic snap, you mean? Yeah. Or sleep deprived, like anything behind that? Or just... Yeah, I guess the things I do don't really make it possible. I guess it doesn't happen out of nowhere. There's usually some kind of stimulus. You're going to hear with Austin the build up, build up, build up that led him to do what he did. Okay. There were signs, there were red flags. Yeah. Many times over. Okay. So you're good. Good.

Good. I wasn't scared anymore, but now I'm really not scared. Good. And just because you look like Robert Pickton in that picture, like you don't have to worry. That was rough.

So by the time summer break came around and Austin returned home to his mom's house, he appeared noticeably different to his family. He behaved strangely and started to do things that just did not make sense. For example, he moved his bed out of his current bedroom and into his old bedroom because he claimed that the house was full of demons and that he needed to remain in closer proximity to the family members in his house, particularly his sister, in order to protect them. That makes sense. He started to stay awake and

every hour of the night, which he was kind of doing anyway, but in order to patrol the home and guard his family from all those demons. He made sure to knock on everyone's bedroom door every two hours to make sure that they were okay and to reassure them that he was on guard. In response, Austin's family members started locking their bedroom doors at night.

And they, of course, his family knew that something was going on with Austin, but they attributed his unusual behavior to drug use. And that's like, I think...

think somewhat understandable because if he wasn't showing any signs of mental health issues at any other point in his life, you would think that the sudden onset, the sudden change was a result of sudden drug use. Yeah. I can understand why they leapt to that conclusion. I wonder if drugs can unleash dormant mental health issues. I feel like you would know the answer to that. Listen, I haven't snapped yet. Yeah, but you haven't been on drugs in a while.

Very true. You know? Good point. So his family figured that he was grappling with substance abuse and that he needed to combat those addiction issues. By July 2016, which was, of course, after his freshman year of college, Austin's emotional fluctuations intensified with his highs reaching new peaks and his lows deeper valleys.

This period marked a noticeable shift in his behavior and his inability to conceal his strange and erratic actions. Pup quiz. Oh, I was waiting for one of these. What did Austin do that displayed yet another bizarre deviation in behavior? A, boarded a flight to New York to enlist the help of the mafia to combat the demons in his house. B, declared that he was going to become a professional rap artist called Osty Frosty.

C. Robbed a local GNC shop with a knife he previously stole from an Outback Steakhouse. Wow, these are so specific. So he tried to enlist the mafia to kill these demons.

He tried to become a rapper or he tried to stab someone with a... He robbed a local GNC. With a knife from the outback. Okay. Jeez. How old is he? Straight out of his freshman year of college. What's the origin of this pop quiz? Can you use it in a sentence? What did Austin do? I'm joking. Oh. You never watched The Spelling Bee? I did, but I thought you really needed some help. No.

I need help, but none of you can get me. That much is clear. All right, I'm going to take a wild guess. Stabbed someone. Robbed the GNC with a knife. He's fucking great. No. Cool. Well, then he... I want it to be that he tried to enlist a mafia to kill the demons in his house. Nope. I came up with that. That's really creative. Thanks. I mean, I'm speechless. So, he declared that he was going to become a professional rap artist called Osty Frosty. Sounds dope. Pfft.

As such, he was on YouTube. He began dressing more fashionably and became absolutely obsessed with making YouTube videos under his pseudonym, Osty Frosty, when he was in one of his elevated moods. His commitment to this vision was so intense that during a visit to his then-girlfriend Katie in Tampa from August 4th to the 7th,

again, 2016, he spent entire nights awake fueled by his commitment to see it through. Yeah, because a lot happens between 3 and 5 a.m. in the music industry. Well, a lot happens

That happens in the psychopedia researching world between those hours. Text messages between Katie and Austin revealed that Austin considered dyeing his hair blue and wearing a thick gold chain to further embody his rap star image and stand out from the crowd. Yeah, so... He was planning on going all in. Yeah, I mean... If that's all in. Damn, this guy was going to dye his hair? What commitment.

Then, at a breakneck speed and at the height of his supposed passion to become a rap god, Austin suddenly experienced yet another profound shift in his life's direction.

No longer pursuing the allure of fame as a rap artist, he now became deeply engrossed in the realm of philanthropy and set his sights on becoming an influential civil rights advocate. Wow, he became a go-giver? Inspired by the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, Austin now envisioned himself as a bridge builder who could heal and reconcile the deep-seated issues underscored by the protesters.

To that end, he also became profoundly empathetic and started taking on all of the world's sorrows, feeling that he personally related to the losses and devastations that everyone else around him endured. Is he black? No.

No. Osty Frosty. Well, I don't know. I mean, no black person would ever name themselves something that corny. Well, I guess for me, Frosty, because he's white. Oh, okay. You know what I mean? So he was at these BLM marches with literal blue hair. I don't know that he ever went with the blue hair because by the time he decided to change his look, he changed his life's direction. Gotcha. So it was like three minutes of caring about the plight of black people. Right. Basically. Right. What a big help.

But he started now, and you've said this before, that when you sort of feel everybody else's trauma and everybody else's pain, obviously, it's so important to be empathetic. I truly stand by that. But if you take on everybody's pain, it can break you. Of course. Right? So, and a very striking example of this occurred on August 12th, which was just three days before the tragic and defining moment of his life. Really? Yeah.

A patient at the dental clinic where Austin was working at the time confided in him that all of his friends had died of AIDS. This news caused Austin to spend the rest of the day crying, bawling, as

as he was positively overwhelmed by the magnitude of the suffering that he now felt and experienced on what he believed to be a personal level. Yeah. That's a very, very scary place to be in. Listen, empathy is good. Being empathic, it's such an annoying word. It's actually empathic. Or being an empath. No, no, no. It's empathic. Oh, is it? And it's so stupid. I hate it. You're so smart, though. Let's say empathetic.

Big difference between being empathetic and being an empath. And I find that people who say, oh, I'm an empath,

Say it like they're proud of it. And I don't think that's a good thing to be. Mainly because it's so, so, so incredibly rare to actually be an empath. But more because what that means to me, because I've thought that before, all I'm doing is projecting what I would feel in the situation. And that's crazy. That's a recipe for absolute lunacy, trying to figure out what everyone's feeling in a given situation.

The best you can do is ask them, listen, and then trust them. I love that. That's it. That is solid ass advice. And that's my response. Nice. In the period leading up to the tragic events that I briefly talked about in the intro, which I will

very graphically describe in a little bit. Just to revisit for one second. I'm not saying it's bad to be an empath. I'm saying it's not good. I understand what you mean completely. Too much pain. Yeah, okay. I also know you very well. You are a very, very empathic, sensitive person. Myriad. So,

I said the correct word and you're mad. No, no. I'm just lining those two up together. Empathic and myriad opportunities. It's a myriad of. It isn't. It is. No, it isn't. Have you forgotten this conversation we've had three times and at the end of it you go, oh yeah, that's right. I guess so. It's either myriad possibilities or a myriad of possibilities. Oh yeah. Conversation number four.

Will you keep having this conversation with me and will you do it nicely? Sure. Okay. Sure. So in the period leading up to the tragic events, Austin's internet searches revealed a frantic dive into philosophy, religion, and conspiracy theories like the Illuminati. Yeah, looking for an answer. He's spiraling. Yeah. His obsession with concepts such as yin and yang, figures like Tony Robbins and Abraham Lincoln, and a belief in his unique ability to manipulate and purify water is

illustrate a mind in turmoil, seeking answers in the mystical. Convinced of his extraordinary powers, Austin adopted practices of spiritual giants that he admired, fasting like Mahatma Gandhi and emulating Jesus in his demeanor and attire to now fend off perceived dark forces.

This vexation extended to an all-encompassing vigilance against these forces and led him to keep lights on in his house constantly, seeking protection alongside his dog, Hubble. His connection to the animal world intensified around this time as well, and he began to interpret dogs barking as spiritual pleas.

A peculiar pivot to astrology saw him identifying deeply with his Sagittarius sign, the centaur, which is my sign. Yes, F-man, F-ball. Exactly, which symbolized a melding of his own identity with that of a mythical being. We're painting a picture, yes? Yes. You're getting the picture, yeah? I am. In the days before the tragedy, Austin experienced an overwhelming sensation of his mind racing.

granting him what felt like superhuman powers. Yeah. This new mental state marked by an intense feeling of invincibility, which is a very, very scary way to feel. Scary for like people watching this happen. Well, scary for you too, because you try some shit that's not possible. Exactly right. But those feelings overshadowed his struggles with depression and anxiety, and it filled him with a sense of fearlessness. Yes.

convinced of his protection by an invisible force field. Okay. He literally thought he had a force field around him. His actions grew increasingly reckless as they would. He embarked on a series of dangerous acts, including hitchhiking and intentionally walking into oncoming traffic.

pushing the limits of his perceived immortality. So scary. On Sunday, August 14th, which was the day before the tragic event, Austin visited a gun show with his father. There, he became intrigued by a discussion on survivalism with a vendor who was selling knives. Persuaded of the necessity to learn hand-to-hand combat for protection,

Austin eagerly learned the basics of knife fighting from this vendor. That day? That day. This instruction ignited a sense of responsibility in him to defend not just himself, but now others, prompting him to buy a nine-inch knife showcased by this vendor. Further, he purchased a $300 Fitbit, believing that it turned him into a cyborg Terminator destined to fight against evil. I mean, yeah, I guess. Sure, I get it.

But no. Pop quiz. Yay! What else did he purchase at the gun show? Okay, so he's got a Fitbit and a nine-inch knife. A, snake jerky. B, anatomy books on where to fatally wound someone during combat. C, an interceptor body armor or an IBA system, including a ballistic vest with a ceramic plate insert that he wore 24-7. Sweet.

Snake jerky. Yes. I went with my first answer. Good for you. Yeah. You didn't think on that. I saw that. No.

motivated by the biblical tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where a serpent led Eve astray, he bought snake jerky as a symbolic gesture towards eradicating evil. I wonder how snake jerky is. You want to find out? We can get some. Yeah. Yeah? No. Come on. Really? Let's do it. I just want to wonder. I'm going to get it. I don't want to find out.

Sadly, there are many, many more disturbing examples and incidents that reflect Austin's rapidly declining state of mental health. Well, yeah. I mean, to emphasize what you're saying, we're going day by day here now. Such a good point. I'm so glad you said that because, you know, I'm not painting a picture even of like years of mental strife. No. These are the days leading up to the incident. His decline was so fast. That said, there were definite clear signs potentially

this like fever pitch. Right? And his parents, his family just thought it was drug abuse. Not to make light of that, but they just didn't think anything deeper was going on. Well, most people when they use drugs, the drug is not the problem. The drug is the solution to the problem. Hmm.

Yeah, that makes sense. The problem's internal and the drug helps quell it for a little bit until it doesn't and then it tills. So like you have this problem and then the solution is alcohol. I mean, that's any kind of crutch. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But then the solution stops working on the problem. Then the solution becomes one of the causes of the problems and nothing can't solve itself. Oh my gosh. That's hell on earth right there. That is hell on earth. Yeah. This is why I empathize to use that word. It's like the theme of this case.

Up until this point anyway. That's why I empathize. Empathetize. I do with mental health struggles and addiction. And it's like a war waging you against you. It could be any one of us. And it is. It's the other thing. I feel like it was both of us at different points in our life with different crutches. Yeah. Right? Like yours, obviously, we know you struggled with addiction. I never struggled with addiction. But the depression? Oh. I mean...

I threw a printer out of my window in college. You little psycho. I know. Why? I couldn't get it to work and I was in such a precarious mental... This was before I sought help, obviously. And this is why I always credit Dave. We were like freshly dating. I'm like, this guy's going to think I'm a lunatic. But I was...

Wow. Yeah.

I know. And I did. And I went on medication at the time, which I desperately needed. Wow, I'm going balls to the wall here publicly. But here we are. And it helped. And I was in a dark place until I wasn't. Yeah. You know what I mean? Until I got the help I needed. I was in a dark place until I was. That's why I said that. Yeah, very good. That was for you.

So there's a lot of examples. These are like, I chose sort of the ones that's reached out to me in terms of Austin, but we're going to keep it moving. Okay. And the motivation for getting the snake jerky is, you know, it's crazy. Everything he did, every decision he made was underscored or prompted by some type of mental illusion. Yeah, exactly. Some type of mental illness. Yeah.

Needless to say, though, it did become apparent to Austin's family that his erratic behavior was not merely a result of drug misuse, but pointed to deeper psychological issues. Observing the escalating intensity and oddity of his actions, they considered invoking the Baker Act, which we talked about in our OnlyFans Femme Fatale episode. It's a Florida law that we discussed. Do you remember? It's a 72-hour hold for...

Involuntary.

So fucking proud of you. So the Baker Act, it's a law that enables emergency mental health services and temporary detention for 72 hours for those who, due to their mental state, cannot recognize their need for treatment. It permits involuntary examination of the individual if he or she is seen as a risk to themselves or others showing a mental illness that hinders voluntary help seeking. Yeah. Well, that's the other problem with...

Mental illness is like a lot of times denial is a symptom of it. And how do you fix something that you don't think you have? God, human beings are so complex. I mean, truly. I know. So his family was making a necessary move in that direction to invoke the Baker Act.

But in a devastating turn of events, they were never afforded the chance to do that because before they could take action, an utterly horrific event unfolded on the evening of August 15th, 2016.

But first, let's examine the bizarre hours that led up to the actual event. Okay. Because those moments will shed light on the severe and heightened psychological turmoil Austin was experiencing. And then you're going to recap the event, right? Because I forgot what happened. Oh, God, yeah. That was, yes. I remember some parts of it. Yeah, no, no, of course.

On the morning of August 15th, 2016, Austin unexpectedly showed up at his friend's doorstep, Sam Polachek, and he rang the doorbell. When Sam answered the door, Austin randomly asked, what year was I born? Sam, confused as hell, responded, um, 1996. Then, without explanation or saying one other single word, Austin turned around and left.

Concerned for Austin's well-being and obviously puzzled by this bizarre behavior, Sam immediately called Austin and persuaded him to come back under the pretense that he just wanted to spend time with him.

Really, though, Sam's intuition suggested that there was a deeper issue happening here, maybe involving drugs and alcohol, but regardless, he wanted to make sure that Austin was going to stay safe. Yeah. When Austin got back to Sam's house, the guys immediately left the house to meet up with some of their other friends, as well as Austin's sister, Haley.

The group of friends decided to spend the day together at the beach, an arguably hellish choice for a sweltering Florida day in August. I thought of you when I wrote that sentence because you said your organs would melt if you were ever in Florida in the summer.

It's too hot. I went to Turks and Caicos and I got a sunburn. I didn't enjoy one second of that trip after that. Sunburns are brutal. This one was especially brutal. I was out for like an hour. You feel like you have a fever for three days. Oh my God, yeah. I mean, trying to eat outside and it was hot also. No. No. But before heading to the beach, Austin expressed the need to first return home to pick something up.

But he promised to meet his friends down by the water after he did that. So the group continued to the beach as intended and Austin headed back to his house. Oh, they let him split off? Nobody knew. I mean, Sam had a feeling that something was going on. But at this point, you know that also that group dynamic? Yeah. Where like he probably just infiltrated the group. They were together. It's a little bit of that bystander. Syndrome. Syndrome. Thank you. A little bit like, oh, nobody's saying anything about Austin. I'm sure everything's fine.

When Austin eventually made his way back to the beach, as promised, he suddenly looked different than he did before. Pop quiz. Okay. What was different about Austin? A, Austin stared blankly and wouldn't or couldn't talk, almost like he was sleepwalking. B, Austin was tripping on mushrooms. C, Austin shaved his head in that time. D, Austin was now wearing long sweatpants and a thick blouse.

Football jersey. So he was tripping on mushrooms or he was... Sleepwalking. Sleepwalking or he was... Shaved his head. Shaved his head. Winter clothes. Wearing hot clothes. Staring blankly? No. Cool. My instincts have betrayed me. As they so often do. Okay. Shaved his head? No. Wearing sweatpants? Yes. Okay.

In the sweltering August heat of West Palm Beach, the hottest on record for 2016, I looked it up. Really? Yeah. Austin was now wearing a Michael Vick jersey. Okay. And this was intentional, Michael Vick, because he was oddly aligning with his perceived canine connection. Because remember how I said earlier that he would sleep next to his dog, Hubble? Yeah. Because he thought Hubble would protect him. And he thought that dogs barking in his neighborhood were like,

reaching out to him. Yeah. So he put on a Michael Vick jersey in this like weird homage, you know what I mean, to animals. Why would he think that any dog would protect him wearing a Michael Vick jersey? Michael Frick was... He had his reasoning and obviously not sensical to somebody in your mental fit state of mind, but in his... Oh my God, did you just call me mentally fit? I know. Wow. It's like the nicest thing I ever said to you. Yeah.

But his choice of attire, baffling to his friends, obviously caused them to question and tease him a little bit. Nobody knew he was having this, like, breakdown. And now it's not day by day, it's hour by hour. It's, like, intensifying and accelerating. Yes, sir. Austin's reaction to his friends teasing him was fierce. Oh, my goodness. He lashed out at them and said...

if you fucking tell me I'm crazy, I'll fucking kill you. Then, in a wild display of his imagined animalistic identity, he charged along the rocks of the shorelines on all fours, convinced of his dog-man hybrid nature and invincibility. Okay.

In fact, an encounter with an actual dog on the beach further served to deepen his delusion as he felt that the dog's hair was mystically transferring onto his face as if they were becoming one.

Later that afternoon, Austin embarked on a four-mile run to his father's house, which is something he'd never done before. In sweltering August heat. Yes. Wearing warm clothes. Yes. Upon his arrival, Wade, his dad, immediately recognized the signs of Austin's rapid psychological deterioration and implored him to take a Xanax in hopes of calming the tempest within.

Austin agreed and he took the pill from Wade. However, he concealed it under his tongue and then spit it out when his dad wasn't looking.

Austin then used the little white pill to write the words, don't trust on the side of his father's car before leaping onto the hood like a wild animal or more accurately, like a half man, half dog hybrid that he felt he was. It turns out that Austin was actually experiencing a very specific type of psychotic delusion. All right. Okay. Which is called, you tell me.

Pop quiz. Oh my goodness, about psychology stuff? Yeah. Gonna nail it. A, episodic canine delusion. What? Episodic canine delusion? Uh-huh. B, clinical lycanthropy delusion. Wait, clinical lycanthropy delusion? Mm-hmm. Okay. Or C, mythical metamorphosis delusion. The fuck? The first one was something?

Episodic canine delusion. Episodic canine delusion. Really think about each word. Yeah, I am. Clinical lycanthropy delusion. How am I supposed to think about lycanthropy? What is lycanthropy? Oh, I thought you, we've talked about lycanthropy before. Zero. We talked about it on our goth family annihilator episode and you usually remember things. Lycanthropy? It's like werewolfism. Oh, clinical lycanthropy delusion. Mm.

Now I remember. Or the other one. Mythical metamorphosis delusion. I have no fucking idea. Lycanthropy. Yes. You took your shot and you made it. Wow. Congrats. Shot in the dark. Yeah. Clinical lycanthropy, a rare syndrome within the broader spectrum of delusional misidentification syndromes, involves a person's belief in their ability to transform into an animal, extending beyond just wolves.

This condition underscores very complex psychiatric scenarios where individuals are convinced that they or their surroundings have undergone fundamental identity or nature changes. And this is what he's believed to have been suffering from. So by this point in the case, it's the evening of August 15th, and we have essentially arrived at the devastating, culminating act of months and months of psychological deterioration,

followed by days and then hours of very rapid psychological deterioration. On this evening, Austin went to dinner at a place called Duffy's with his dad, Wade, Wade's girlfriend, Carrie, his sister, Haley, and his friend, Sam. While at the restaurant, Austin ordered chili and initially waited at the table like everyone else for his food to arrive. But service was taking a long time that evening and Austin suddenly felt trapped sitting there and waiting. That's a little bit relatable. I know. He was like,

He suddenly felt compelled to leave the restaurant because unbeknownst to anyone else there, an evil spirit of death took over Austin's mind, body, and spirit. This is according to him. This is according to him. Okay. Truly, in an instant, Austin suddenly believed that he had become the Grim Reaper.

So without uttering a single word to anyone at the table, Austin got up, left the restaurant, and went back to his mother's house. That's so scary. And there's CCTV footage showing him just getting up from the table and walking out. And his family, everybody at the table, they're just talking because they assume he's going to the bathroom or whatever. You just see him get up.

and walk out. That must be so hard for them to deal with. Oh my gosh. Now, Austin maintains that he has no recollection of leaving the restaurant or going to his mother's house. He's not even sure how he physically got there. But when he arrived, Austin made his way into the kitchen. There, he reached for a large container of Wesson vegetable oil and randomly started to drink it straight out of the bottle.

He felt that he was, quote, being natural like an animal. Yeah, because animals drink vegetable oil, bro. When his mother, Mina, discovered Austin chugging oil in the kitchen, she understandably told him to stop and questioned what the hell he was doing. She also noticed that there were large amounts of Parmesan cheese scattered all over the kitchen counter that Austin had presumably been eating. I get that. Pfft.

It's not peanut butter. What do you mean you get it? Well, to be honest with you, that's what I was thinking of. When I woke up that night and like ate and smashed peanut butter on the counter on the side of a Coke Zero can that I drank and scraped peanut butter off the side of it with a Quest bar that I microwaved. That's very specific. That really happened. I know. Yeah. And Jessica, she woke up. She was like, what happened last night?

She was upset. And you have no recollection. Concerned. Barely have a recollection. Yeah, yeah. Gray. After Mina told Austin to stop whatever it is he was doing, he went upstairs to his bedroom, changed into a blue polo shirt and a Make America Great Again hat, and returned back to Duffy's restaurant to rejoin Wade, Carrie, Haley, and Sam for dinner as if nothing happened.

Austin's return, wearing now a completely different outfit, was a full 30 minutes after he had left unannounced, which prompted his dad to immediately confront him when he came back. So Wade, his dad, gripped Austin's shirt, said, what is wrong with you?

which caused Austin to react by pushing Wade's face away with his hand. Again, this is on CCTV. You can see this. Austin rose to his feet in a stance that suggested that he was ready to like hit his father. But then the other people at the table immediately intervened and just pleaded with Austin to calm down. So he did. He got up again. He walked out. He exited the restaurant, not telling anybody where he was going. This is a scene where he's like,

This time, he was motivated by a desire to assert his dominance over his father and to prove to Wade that he could not be trifled with, as he was, in fact,

And the Grim Reaper. And the Grim Reaper. I hope his dad doesn't feel guilty about that. At this point, Carrie, so that's his dad's girlfriend. I'm sorry, not guilty, but responsible. Right. She actually called the police at this point to notify them that Austin was essentially unhinged and now on the loose. Psychopedia, unhinged. Unhinged.

After leaving the restaurant yet again, he wandered by foot about four miles away, now into the town of Jupiter, Florida, supposedly guided by the stars above him. He left the restaurant twice, right? Yeah. Well, he actually left it three times twice.

I didn't mention the first time because nothing happened. But he did leave once, came back. Second time he left is when he went to his mom's and he was chugging oil and Parmesan cheese and changed his clothes. Put on a MAGA hat. And then the third time is where we're at now. With a belly full of oil. Exactly. Made his way to Jupiter. So he's being guided by the stars, right?

But then a sudden encounter gave him pause. Austin suddenly found himself being greeted by a dark figure with a white face. This is what he's seeing, obviously. Yeah. Who uttered the word, hello. Hello.

This ominous figure was in fact a young man named Daniel who was a childhood friend of Austin's cousin. But in Austin's mind, Daniel was not Daniel. Rather, he appeared as a menacing, threatening creature who was there to hurt him. Overwhelmed by a primal fear for survival, even though he felt invincible. This is where I like struggle, right? I mean...

I guess I'm trying to make sense of something that maybe you can't make sense of. Yeah, exactly. Austin fled from Daniel and screamed in terror as he sought sanctuary from this perceived threat. It was then that Austin's gaze fell upon a lit up garage, a short distance away, convinced that reaching the light would bring him to safety because remember how he felt that he was safe in the light, which is why he left lights on 24 seven, but that demons came out in the dark and,

he dashed towards the lit garage. A moth. Tragically, this garage was where innocent 53-year-old Michelle Mishkan happened to be, peacefully spending her evening unaware of the impending danger. But to Austin, Michelle was not an innocent 53-year-old woman. She was a witch.

Oh my God. Oh my God.

Fisher told investigators that he was lying in bed when he heard unusual sounds coming from across the street, including a blood-curdling scream, which was from Michelle. Yeah. Being the ultimate good Samaritan, which is something you can relate with, right? Oh, big time. Yeah, I'm a hero twice in Puerto Rico. Jeff went over to his neighbor's house to make sure that everything was okay.

But everything was not okay because when he arrived at the garage belonging to his neighbors, Michelle and John, Austin was standing over Michelle, beating the shit out of her. And he's a strong 19-year-old man. That's right. He works out.

When Austin turned to notice Jeff's arrival, he looked at Jeff with empty eyes and angrily said, you want no part of this before swinging his right arm and belting Jeff on the side of his head. Austin continued swinging at Jeff who hadn't realized that Austin was not just throwing fists, but stabbing him with a nine inch knife.

The same nine-inch knife that he purchased at the gun show the day before. Have you ever heard somebody recount being stabbed? I can't think of it now, but like Mary Vincent, for example, has recounted her. No, no, no. Just like on the news or whatever, or TikTok, YouTube, whatever. They always say it feels like they got punched.

It's interesting. Like they don't, obviously their body just like shuts that off. Right. We're not going to talk about that. We're not going to talk about the metal inside us. We'll just do the surface thing. You can handle that. That searing, burning pain, I imagine, just shuts off. It's just like a blow. Yeah, they just feel like a boom, like a pressure. At one point, Jeff managed to get the upper hand and grabbed Austin and threw him to the ground and Austin fell down face first. Jeff.

Jeff suddenly realized that he was bleeding profusely and he took that opportunity with Austin now lying on the ground to run through Michelle and John's house around the back where he knelt down by a bush for a few moments to like collect his breath and now to process the searing pain that was coursing through his body. And while he was kneeling, Jeff quickly assessed the scene and didn't see Austin. Like Austin hadn't stood up yet. Yeah. So Jeff took that chance to run back

to his house across the street and to call the police. Sadly, though, with Jeff now out of the way, Austin took the opportunity to finish what he started. Using the knife, Austin stabbed Michelle's body over and over again in an absolute frenzy before biting at her flesh. By this point, Michelle was already gone. Following Michelle's absolutely tragic, brutal, and fatal attack...

Austin entered her garage, picked up a bottle of caustic liquid and drank it down while calling out for God to save him. Austin did? Austin did. So he killed Michelle, right? Like I was like sort of at the top of the driveway. He went into the garage that was open and he drank the exact chemical is unclear, but it's believed to be a corrosive lawn care substance. And he drank it down. If I came outside and somebody was stabbing Jessica,

I feel like I would be able to pop their skull with my hands. I know. Like I would grab their throat and rip their esophagus out like fucking Steven Seagal. But if he had a nine inch knife and he... It wouldn't factor into it at all. Right. Well, not mentally, but physically it might. Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. I meant it wouldn't factor into the decision making process. Oh, right, right, right. So after Austin drank this liquid...

Michelle's 59-year-old husband, John Joseph Stevens III, unfortunately returned back from walking his dog to find his wife dead and slaughtered in their garage. Noticing John's arrival, and of course still drenched in Michelle's blood, Austin shifted his deadly focus to poor John. With a frenzied intensity, Austin immediately turned his knife on him and unleashed a vicious assault on John's head, neck, and

and chest. As John fought back with everything he had, the struggle spilled out onto the driveway. It was there on the driveway that Austin began to gruesomely bite off pieces of John's face, spitting out chunks of flesh while horrifyingly chewing and swallowing others.

Austin was positively rabid and even got pieces of John's flesh caught in his teeth, which I saw in photographs that were released by state prosecutors. How'd that go for you? No bueno. It was bad. It was bad. First of all, Austin looked... He didn't look human. Really? He truly did not look human. Yeah. And then...

knowing what was in his teeth and how like it belonged to this man. Oh, was he dead when he was biting his face or we don't know? He was not.

When the Martin County Police Department showed up following Jeff's 911 call, there was a six-foot-wide stream of blood flowing down the driveway. Oh, my God. And at the top was Austin grunting and making animalistic guttural noises as he laid sideways on top of John's chest with his left arm wrapped around John's neck and his right hand pulled

pulling up and out John's right cheek like a fish hook as he bit off chunks of flesh from inside John's mutilated cheek. Oh my God. John's eyes were fixed wide open as he moaned, help me, to the officers who observed that chunks of John's face were missing.

Have you ever seen Split? No. With James McAvoy where the guy turns into like a, basically like a mythical creature, but he's human? No. But he gets like, in an instant, he gains like 30 pounds of muscle and he starts...

and whatever. That's what this reminds me of. Yeah, well, sounds accurate. It wound up taking an extraordinary amount of force for the two deputies to stop Austin from continuing to ruthlessly cannibalize John. The first responding officer fired her taser at Austin, which had absolutely no effect on him. Then two additional sheriff's deputies arrived who unleashed a police canine that bit Austin

Austin's right arm while officers kicked him in the head repeatedly. But Austin was exhibiting abnormal

abnormal levels of strength and nothing seemed to stop him from biting John's face off. Yeah. Finally. Dog bites him. He's like, what? Bro, I'm one of you guys. Finally, though, after a second bite on Austin's arm by the canine officer and a simultaneous kick to the face by one of the human cops. Yeah. The team managed to physically pull Austin off of John's body. Wow. Why didn't they shoot him? Well, he will, as you have astutely noticed, that

They did not fire a weapon. Not one of them. And initially, this baffled me. Yeah. How was it possible that this...

unrelenting, horrific attack was not met with lethal force, right? Especially when he continued to mutilate a man before the cop's eyes. Yeah. Well, some speculate it had to do with the fact that Austin is a white male. Yep. However, Sheriff William Snyder with the Martin County Sheriff's Department vehemently denied that race played any part in how his deputies handled the situation and

and indicated that his team decided not to fire at Austin in part because they were worried about wounding John, who they believed was still alive. So they were worried that the bullet would penetrate, you know, Austin, go through him, and then kill John. Especially if he's on top of him, depending on the angle. That was one thing that occurred to me. The other thing that probably is not, but it would, in retrospect, I would want, I'd have so many questions. And if they're dead, like, you can't ask those questions. Yeah. Yeah.

Eventually, when law enforcement managed to cuff Austin, which was no easy feat, he apparently said, which was reflected in court documents, help me, I ate something bad. When one of the cops asked Austin what he ate, he replied, humans, as he spit out a piece of human flesh.

At this point, Austin began begging the deputies to just kill him, professing that he deserved to die. Any flesh, really. Any flesh. Any flesh that you bite off of something that's living and then spit it out is going to be unsettling. Then Austin became unresponsive. Really?

Really? So rather than arresting him at this point, Martin County PD took him to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where they placed him under surveillance. And the reason why Austin suddenly became unresponsive was because he'd gone into organ failure as a result of drinking whatever chemicals he drank in the garage. He actually fell into an 11-day coma.

but wound up making a full physical recovery. Wow. Austin spent the next two months in the hospital following this harrowing double homicide where he underwent extensive physical and psychological testing, as well as being treated for having a burnt esophagus.

A toxicology test was of course administered to determine if he had drugs in his system at the time of the attack because it was speculated that Austin may have been on Flacca or bath salts. Flacca. Which was very popular at the time. Oh yeah. And the symptoms were indeed fitting because these synthetic drugs have been linked to causing paranoia, nightmarish visions, and periods of superhuman strength. Strength, yeah. But,

after being screened in an FBI laboratory, his tax report revealed an absence of hallucinogens. He had like a small trace of marijuana, but that's it. Oh, so no drugs? No. Like those? No drugs, besides a little bit of pot. So we're going to go on to hear a little bit about the legal proceedings, but I first want to take a moment to shed light on Michelle and John and talk about who they were as human beings and not just victims of one of the most savage murders that I can recall in recent history. Yeah.

John, 59, met Michelle, 53, 20 years earlier when the two were working together at Prudential Securities. Both Michelle and John grew up in the Miami area. Michelle went to North Miami Beach Senior High School and John attended Miami Killian High School. Interestingly, Michelle's father was the mayor of North Miami Beach and John's father played baseball in the majors.

The couple married on July 2nd, 1997 and looked forward to retirement together. Michelle having just recently retired from a financial group in Boca Raton and John from owning a landscaping business. Their retirement was up until this point filled with joy from boating adventures with friends and their dog to evenings in their garage Mahal, as they called it, which is so cute.

which was also a haven for neighborhood gatherings because it was complete with a Jimmy Buffett-inspired bar, very comfortable seating, a flat-screen TV, an ice maker, and a humidor. Their deep love for each other extended to their adult children, whom they supported as they navigated their own paths. And envisioning this chapter as their golden years, they really anticipated having so many more adventures together and anticipating the arrival of a granddaughter just two weeks after

after their tragic end. Oh, God. The only small mercy, if we can even consider it that, is that the medical examiner who performed the autopsies on Michelle and John stated that they died relatively quickly because of the extent of their multiple injuries.

According to Michelle's autopsy report, her official cause of death was blunt force trauma with multiple stab wounds. John's autopsy report listed his official cause of death as multiple stab wounds and blunt trauma, including serious stab wounds to his head, neck, and chest.

Now,

Now, two mental health experts in 2020, one hired by the defense and the other hired by the prosecution, both examined Austin and determined that he experienced a decompensated mental state associated with an emerging mood and or thought disorder, resulting in an acute psychotic episode during the attack. As a result of this condition, he was unable to distinguish between right and wrong.

Oh, yeah, he's totally detached from reality. Absolutely. Doesn't matter. You still got to go away, bro. That's it. Eventually, in November 2022, Austin agreed to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. He was in jail for six years before he... Well, he was in...

mental health facility. Okay. But under arrest. So there was delays for mental health evaluations, then COVID. Exactly. And then he finally had his trial in 2022? Well, he forfeited having a trial because he agreed to plead not guilty. And the defense agreed to plead not guilty? By reason of insanity. Oh, okay.

And the defense and the prosecution wound up avoiding the trial, which they both wanted. Yeah. It was scheduled to take place before Circuit Judge Sherwood Bauer, and it was expected to last three weeks. So like everybody was anticipating the trial. Yeah.

But the lawyers from both sides agreed and the judge accepted it that there was no need for a trial and a jury and the costs associated with it if he was pleading insanity. They both accepted that. Austin was involuntarily committed into the custody of the Department of Children and Families to receive mental health treatment at a forensic mental health facility. Judge Bauer noted that a defense expert found that Austin suffered from a mental illness, specifically bipolar I disorder with psychotic features.

It will be up to the court to determine how long Austin will be involuntarily committed to receive treatment based on his progress and results of periodic psychological evaluations. So apparently there's a six-month review that's sent by the attending psychiatrist. And then after that, there's an annual review that's sent to the judge with the recommendation as to continuing treatments.

Florida State Hospital, which is where Austin's being held and treated, is one of four state-run forensic mental health centers that provide behavior stabilization for criminal defendants found incompetent to proceed or who have been acquitted by reason of insanity. Crazy thought right now. Yeah. One of the very few times we've heard about somebody having like a, you know, crazy break. I don't want him out, but I think he could be rehabilitated for sure. If he stays off drugs, stays on medicine,

gets help, does therapy, long time, like real super, super stable. No incidents at his residence for, I don't know, 10 years. Right. Whatever it is. Yeah, it's interesting because Michelle's family, in particular her sister Cindy, who's an attorney,

has been very, very vocal about the fact that they really wanted a trial and they wanted to challenge the insanity defense. Yeah. So Cindy has laid out a very methodical case as to why she doesn't believe that Austin was actually insane when the killings occurred. So Cindy has indicated that she listened to tapes of Austin's jailhouse phone calls with family members. She also read pages of text messages in the year prior to the killings, which were all part of like court records, right? Yeah.

And the text messages with his friends outlined the life of a student who was fucking around, taking drugs, smoking pot, drinking, partying, whatever, the entire year before the attack. Yeah. So she has stated, and this is a quote, is it really so hard for you to understand that you are a cold-blooded murderer and not a victim? She just doesn't buy it. I don't think he's a victim, but I don't think he...

very rarely do I think a not guilty by reason of insanity is an actual viable plea. In this case, I mean... I agree with you. So I think that Cindy's entitled to feel and believe anything she wants. I might feel different if I was Cindy, by the way. Totally. She's a grieving sister and she automatically gets our respect, sympathy, acknowledgement. However, again, from a layman's perspective, right, Austin's actions do indeed align with symptoms of psychosis.

And periods of blacking out. Yes.

His internet searches pointed to a struggle with profound questions and a quest for help, right? Like he was looking for help and answers. It's a big if that I mentioned before, if he stays off drugs and if he stays on medication. Right. Also something worth noting that after the event, Austin expressed significant remorse and during his time in the hospital following COVID,

when he came out of the coma, indicated that he felt like he was mourning, grieving, and experiencing spiritual warfare. Well, he could be not guilty by reason of temporary werewolf.

The lycanthropy? No, seriously. Yes. When I used to drink and I would black out, I felt so much like a werewolf. I just wanted people like away from me. I know I'm going to say something that's going to hurt you or make you see me differently. Let's just take a break for now because I'm getting blackout drunk and I don't want to cause any trouble that I can't even defend myself against because I'm not going to remember it. Yeah. Yeah.

Following the attack while he was in the hospital, this is your last PQ and then we're wrapping up. Okay. What I'm about to tell you about happened before he was like officially arrested. So it was that weird time, right? After they took him to the hospital and he was being treated, but before they formally charged him. By the way, do you know why they waited to formally charge him? Why? I thought this was interesting. According to the sheriff, he didn't want the taxpayers to have to pay for the medical care that he received. Okay.

Because if he was arrested and, you know what I mean, received the medical care, it would be on our dime. Yeah. The Florida resident's dime. Yeah. Okay. So following the attack while he was in the hospital, but before he was officially arrested, what happened? Pop quiz. Okay. A, he conducted a covert 10-minute interview with Dr. Phil from his hospital bed. Interview with Dr. Phil? Uh-huh. Covert? Yeah. What do you mean covert? Do you know what covert means? Yeah, like... Secretive. Secretive.

Secretive, but how is it an interview? How do we even know that's the right answer? Let's not focus on it. Let's just keep moving. Okay. It might be, though. I'm just saying. It isn't. B, he developed what's known as ICU psychosis after insisting that all the lights stay on full blast 24-7. C, he refused to speak actual words and would only bark. B. No. C. No. No.

Well, now you have to explain it. I shall. What does a covert interview look like? Somehow. And this is baffling because he supposedly had surveillance on him. Somebody got a tablet to him. Okay. Yeah. And he had an interview with Dr. Phil that was supposed to air on October 28th. Okay. 2016.

It was pulled at the last minute, but then prosecutors wound up releasing the footage. Nobody really has any idea, at least that I couldn't find in my research. Maybe somebody out there knows.

But basically, he had this secret interview with Dr. Phil that was supposed to air, that wound up airing a whole thing. Yeah. But Dr. Phil attempted to extract a motive out of Austin. But Austin, who was seen sobbing throughout this interview, more or less just continued to explain that he experienced an out-of-body experience and was so, so sorry for what he'd done. Yeah. He said...

I'm sorry for their loss and I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. This is talking to the families of the victims. And I'm so sorry. I never wanted this to happen. I'm so sorry. It's like a nightmare. Yeah.

In conclusion, the outrageous Austin Harroff case highlights the devastating impact of untreated mental health issues and underscores tragic outcomes that can ensue when signs of deep psychological distress go unaddressed. This case brings to light the sorrow endured by the innocent victims and their devastated families, victims of a senseless act of horrific violence.

Similarly, though, it casts Austin Harreff not just as a perpetrator, but also as a young individual overwhelmed by his untreated mental conditions. It's just a poignant reminder of the critical importance of recognizing and treating mental health issues early on. And while it mourns the loss and suffering on all sides, it also calls attention to the necessity of compassion, understanding, and the role of timely mental health intervention in perpetrators.

in preventing future tragedies. Yeah, so crazy. And that is the case of the college cannibal. He's sometimes called the frat boy cannibal. Osty Frosty. Osty Frosty. I'd like to hear that music. I mean, it might still be on YouTube. I'm going to check.

I'm going to check for sure. That was a twisty journey. Can't stop thinking about James McAvoy and Split. Mom, I have to check it out. You would love it. I'm definitely going to check it out. Love it. I can't remember if Split was the one where he kidnapped girls and kept them in a basement or if it's the one where he just... You watch some pretty dark shit. Oh, it's just James McAvoy.

Just James, he's incredible. He's in this movie where they curve bullets. Ooh. Fucking sick. Wow. It came on, I came across it somehow, and I was like, this movie looks fucking stupid, Curve Bullets. Then I went back to the beginning, watched it, obsessed. Can't remember the name of it. But obsessed. Yes. Thank you for doing all that work. It seems like you put a lot of work into that. Oh.

Yeah, well, I mean, there's a lot to go into. Yeah. But the mental health buildup, you know what I mean? Or breakdown, I guess, is the way to say it. And of course, you know, the victims were so beyond innocent, just chilling in their garage. Oh, fucking horrible. Looking forward to their golden years together. Their grandchild being born in two weeks. Oh my gosh. And they died in the most horrific way imaginable. Coming back from walking the dog? And first he had to see his wife dead. I mean...

Yeah, the shock would just... I mean, that's what I'm saying. I don't... That's why, like, when you tell me about this guy losing it temporarily, you know, not guilty for... By reason of insanity? By reason of insanity. I feel like I would go insane in that case. If I saw Jessica laid out by the garage dead, I would feel like I could rip my house out of the ground and throw it. I feel a surge like that when somebody...

really quick. We went to a birthday party over the weekend. My kids, this was horrendous. It was a cooking birthday party, which was actually very cute. And the employee there is teaching the kids how to manipulate the pizza dough. Right. And she's like, don't ball it up. If you ball it up, it's not going to bake in the oven. What does my son do? He balls it up. He's 10 years old. Yeah. Right.

I kind of pointed at him like he's going to need more dough because now you just told me that this won't rise. And she goes, he doesn't get more dough. That's how she said it at the birthday party. I was like, but he can't make pizza now. He didn't listen to my instructions.

The blood drained from my face and my head. I felt tingling in my limbs. I mean, I think I puffed out. I probably looked as big as you did in that moment. Like I was ready to throw down. And what happened? He got pizza dough. I'm not going to get into specifics. But my boy got his pizza dough. Yeah. I mean, 10's not that young though. I said that just...

Just to see what kind of face you would make. Did I disappoint? No, it was pretty good. Even more than I thought, actually. Okay. I wish we had video. Yeah, that was a good one.

So you're going to give us some tank titties? Yeah, I'm going to give you a little tank's tidbits. We're not doing tank's titties. All right, fine. All right? So it has to do with something that you were talking about during the case. I wrote a book. A lot of people don't know this because I'm embarrassed of it. What the fuck are you talking about? I don't know. Whatever. It's called Happiest and New Rich. But there was a line in there that I wrote that said, that which cannot be understood must be accepted.

And I love talking about acceptance because people think, and I totally understand why, because I definitely thought the same thing. If you accept the unacceptable, then you're giving in to something or you're weak or you are a coward or whatever. And what all it means to me is

acceptance doesn't mean approval. So you don't have to like what's happening, but if something's happening, that's happening and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, you have to accept it or you'll be, you'll just suffer indefinitely until the end of time, until you accept it. So accepting it as a kindness to yourself. Oh, a hundred percent. Not a weakness. No, no, no. Just like forgiveness. You know, people, you know, I don't forgive people for them. They don't know. They can't feel it. It's for me so I can be free of it. So forgiveness would be for a person or an event.

acceptance would be more for an event or a circumstance. How do you genuinely feel it though? I,

I don't know if it can be described. You know, like that, even just going back to what you were saying about forgiveness. Yeah. How you were like, oh, I forgive. It's not about them. It's about me. Yeah. But like, if you genuinely can't muster genuine feelings of forgiveness. Yeah. How do you do it? How do you, I forgive you. Like, it's just words. You got to really feel it. No, no, I can't just. Yeah, you got to really feel it. The words are absolutely secondary to the feeling. How do you get that feeling?

It takes... It depends on what it is. It takes an open mind. It takes seeing things from other people's point of view. It takes...

so far apart from weakness that I thought it was, it takes a lot of strength to be able to forgive somebody or something or accept a circumstance that you do not want. Because if you like, let's say I got a cancer diagnosis, God forbid, right? I can either handle it with grace and dignity or I can suffer all the way to my actual death, dying beforehand in a way. God.

Gosh. So acceptance is like, you know, there's something in the book. I forget exactly how it goes, but like he said, acceptance is the answer to all my problems. Whenever I find anything or anyone out of the bounds of which I believe it should be, I suffer.

But you don't mean acceptance because then we would never have revolution and we would never have change if everybody just accepted everything. Yeah, I don't mean acceptance in the weak phrase or the way that, you know, would indicate that you don't fight for something that you think is good or right or that you want. So it's more like the outcome has already happened. The outcome has already happened. So that's probably an important distinction to me. Yeah, the outcome has already happened. Like you can't change it. It's impossible. Right. Yeah, good distinction. That sounds nice.

Nice and healthy though Oh yeah How do we get me some of that? Do you have things that you haven't accepted? I mean I couldn't accept that she wouldn't give my son pizza dough Well that's not what I'm talking about I know okay Yeah I'm stuck in that moment cause I would have done the same exact thing Yeah I don't know if I would have been as nice about it I wasn't Who said I was nice? I skipped those details

Oh, all right. So those are the titties. I want to thank everybody for sticking it out. I know this was a long case and I hope that they found it interesting. And if you know this case, I hope I did it justice. I hope I did the victims justice. All the usual. Yeah. Hopes. Well, I'm sure they'll let us know if you did or if you didn't. Okay. Yeah. We want to know. We want to know what's up. Yeah, we do. And let me know if I talk too much this episode. Stop it. It's very possible. You did not. I can tell you. You asked me. Okay.

It's like I ask you if I did good and you get mad at me every time. That's like eight months since that's happened. You've been very good about it. You need to accept the current conditions. You're right. You're right. Yeah. It's on me. Please stop punishing me for past inadequacies. I forgive you. Do you? I got to work on the genuine feeling of it.

All right. Well, listen, if you made it this far, Megs, Meg 2 with Jason Statham, you're a real one.

This was one of my favorite cases I think we've ever done, but also one of my least because I'm not going to be able to forget about the guy eating the face of the wife with the husband with the thing with the thing with the lady and the... Understandable. Whatever. But I do appreciate people listening this far. Thank you for telling people about the podcast. Thank you for reading, reviewing, subscribing, all that, everything. Everything you do does not go unnoticed. We appreciate it. It helps us. So we want to thank you. And that's it. I think we'll see them on the next episode. We hopefully will. Thank you. Bye. Bye.