MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A Levittown, Pennsylvania, man is accused of decapitating his father and posting a disturbing video to YouTube about it afterward, in which he holds up the victim’s severed head in a plastic bag.
Justin Mohn, 32, was arraigned on murder charges around 4 a.m. Wednesday. He is charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse and possessing instruments of crime.
As part of the investigation, police are reviewing a horrifying and gruesome video that was believed to be posted on YouTube by Mohn shortly after the beheading. In the nearly 15-minute-long clip, which was titled "Mohn's Militia - Call to Arms for American Patriots," he talks about the alleged murder and shares anti-government rants.
Mohn opened the video by holding up a plastic bag that contained what he claimed was his father’s severed head. He described his father as a federal employee for more than 20 years, adding he “is now in hell for eternity as a traitor to his country.”
In the video, Mohn also claims to be thought of as the messiah while blaming immigration, the federal government, “woke” mobs, and affirmative action for the downfall of America.
The video has since been removed from YouTube.
“I am very sad for the family,” said Middletown Police Chief Joseph Bartorilla. “I’m very sad for the community and the people who knew him. He had a lot of community connections — the suspect did and the father did.”
Suspect flees bloody scene
Police were first alerted around 7 p.m. Tuesday by the victim’s wife, Denice Mohn. She called and said she found her husband, 68-year-old Michael Mohn, dead in the bathroom. At the house on Upper Orchard Drive, police found a bloody mess, including a machete in the bathtub and a large kitchen knife.
Denice Mohn told police she had been gone for a few hours, and Justin and Michael Mohn were the only ones in the house.
According to the criminal complaint, officers confirmed that the man’s head was in a plastic bag. The bag was placed inside a cooking pot, which police found in a bedroom next to the bathroom.
Officers found bloodied rubber gloves in another bedroom. Justin Mohn was also wearing bloodied gloves in the YouTube video.
The younger Mohn, however, was not in the house when officers arrived. Police said he took his father’s car and drove off.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Middletown Township police discovered Justin Mohn’s phone was pinging about 100 miles away in the area of Fort Indiantown Gap, Lebanon County, which is just north of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Police found the stolen car near the National Guard Training Center, which serves as the headquarters for the Pennsylvania National Guard, but Justin Mohn wasn’t in it.
Police got another ping of his cellphone from the property. Investigators said he had hopped a fence and was walking around the base. He was armed at the time, but authorities arrested him without incident.
Officials noted Justin Mohn was never a member of the National Guard. Investigators said they do not yet know why he was on the base.
Man ranted about anti-government ideas
According to federal court records, Justin Mohn repeatedly tried to sue the federal government, claiming mental and physical anguish for having to repay student loans.
In his complaint, Justin Mohn claimed the government was negligent in providing student loans for an agribusiness degree from Penn State. He argued that “his college degree only made employers perceive him as an overeducated, white male which led to affirmative action and or reverse discrimination against him whilst providing no benefits.”
A federal judge dismissed the suit in December, noting Justin Mohn “has twice been advised he cannot plead a negligence claim based upon a nonexistent duty of the United States.”