FL - Michelle Mishcon, 53, & John Stevens, 59, murdered, Tequesta, 15 Aug 2016 - #1

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:goodpost: slanda

But gee...

Killed a bird in the neighbor's yard with a handgun and nobody in the neighborhood called the cops?

I do wonder if any family members were aware of his steroid use. Hearing about roid rage coming about after you stop taking the steroids means you probably should do it under a doctor's care.

Sounds like he sure was arguing with his father a lot. Actually, his father is lucky his son didn't use that gun on him.

A for sale sign is now in the front yard.

A neighbor calls Austin’s behavior “odd”—telling us a week or two before the double murder, Austin was in his backyard firing a handgun—and he shot and killed a bird in the neighbor’s yard.

The day of the double murder, Austin was seen fighting with his father in the driveway, then speeding away.

http://cbs12.com/news/local/gruesome-new-details-released-in-face-biting-murders
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What is so scary is the strength he had,To kill the couple in the garage and injure the man trying to help.Stun gun didn't faze him.This is like supernatural powers.I can't begin to imagine it.What that couple went through in their garage must have been horrific.I hope he gets the most severe punishment for his crimes.The devil took that boys soul over that day and it was in the form of a drug.JMO
 
To be honest, he's an absolute monster but if he's mentally ill, he needs treatment (and to serve out his sentence in an institution). I have thought perhaps he had schizophrenia or was developing it. It definitely sounds like a psychotic break, especially judging by the videos he'd been posting. Psychotic break with drugs added in.

My heart is with the victims and their families, and with the killer's family. How devastating this must be for everyone involved.
 
Definitely a psychotic break. Telling others than one is "invincible," "immortal," that he was sent to "protect" humans or that he's a "prophet" are classic signs of schizophrenia. Looks like he's shown signs of that before but his mom is totally clueless about the disease. His dad is ostensibly a dentist but also seems unaware. Him telling deputies to "shoot me" because he feels immortal is another obvious sign of being psychosomatic. He knows that well himself when he says he has a stable side and a deranged side. He's lost his mind, he says, help me find it.

It's possible his incipient schizophrenia was compounded by steroid withdrawal or flakka, although the latter seems less likely. But any mental health professional would have been able to see early signs of this guy developing mental issues that lead to psychotic events. He's at an age when he's most vulnerable. I would check the father's side of the family tree for mental issues, since he seems to have a penchant for substance abuse. Sad. Gory. Tragic. But if you know how schizophrenics and often (severe BP) patients behave, all of this is fairly consistent. Pretty sure he had auditory and visual hallucinations severe enough to cause all this.

cece5300 said:
To be honest, he's an absolute monster but if he's mentally ill, he needs treatment (and to serve out his sentence in an institution). I have thought perhaps he had schizophrenia or was developing it. It definitely sounds like a psychotic break, especially judging by the videos he'd been posting. Psychotic break with drugs added in.

My heart is with the victims and their families, and with the killer's family. How devastating this must be for everyone involved.
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Was anyone helping him find his lost mind?

Undiagnosed mental illness though understandable as a reason this happened doesn't really comfort the victim's family and friends. The children of the couple who were killed want AH to get a Death Penalty trial. The reality is I doubt AH will spend his entire life locked up.

MOO, every one of these cases ends up as cautionary tales to warn us all to not ignore signs or odd cries for help until it's too late.

AH could've easily killed a neighbor with that handgun in their backyard instead of a bird. I wish someone intervened then. I'm not sure this was a sudden psychotic break and think some warning signs were overlooked. Of course, his family had no idea this would happen, and I don't expect family members to be able to evaluate a loved ones mental state like a mental health professional, but it's still appropriate to ask whether he was getting any kind of professional mental help for his odd behavior. If not, I bet they're wishing they had taken those warning signs more seriously.

I feel sorry for everyone involved and wish it never happened and could have been stopped.
 
That's the point. The warning signs were definitely overlooked. What were the parents thinking. He goes around with a handgun killing birds. That's normal behavior? Did he have a hunting license? Whose firearm was this and was he entitled to use it? Why didn't the neighbor call the police? The mom is completely clueless and is at least negligent in not getting this lunatic to a mental health professional when he says stuff like I am "immortal." This is an upper middle class family and the father is a doctor. This is a telltale sign of psychosis and there is no excuse for letting this go on. Clearly she pampered him but was concerned enough to call police after he left in a huff. This sounds like Monday morning quarterbacking. But a reasonably informed adult working in health care professions would have immediately noticed psychosis when he said that kind of stuff. I'm wiling to bet more will come out and other tales of witnessing mental confusion and psychoses will emerge from his acquaintances.

But the doctor, his dad, is a serial substance abuser. He should have intervened when he witnessed him using steroids or other controlled substances. Witness what his mom said: Austin was not using drugs "recently," which suggests she's probably aware of his history of drug abuse or steroid use. From the statements, you can tell the mom is still clueless.

Curious Me said:
AH could've easily killed a neighbor with that handgun in their backyard instead of a bird. I wish someone intervened then. I'm not sure this was a sudden psychotic break and think some warning signs were overlooked. Of course, his family had no idea this would happen, and I don't expect family members to be able to evaluate a loved ones mental state like a mental health professional, but it's still appropriate to ask whether he was getting any kind of professional mental help for his odd behavior. If not, I bet they're wishing they had taken those warning signs more seriously.
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Seems like his parents were too busy with their own lives and not paying attention to his mental or physical health. Either that or he wasn't home much when his family was there, so possibly his problems were overlooked.
 
Something that's been on my mind: How did this monster manage to beat and stab to death two people? What was the other person doing, while he was beating and stabbing the first? Perhaps we will never know, because many different scenarios exist. It seems the perp is mounting an insanity defense, which is his only choice, but as history proves, will be very hard to win.

IMHO
 
Actually three people-two killed and one wounded.
He was described as abnormally strong. He is an athlete, young, fit. So not that hard for him to kill 2 people and wound another one..
 
Curious Me said:
:goodpost: slanda
But gee...
Killed a bird in the neighbor's yard with a handgun and nobody in the neighborhood called the cops?
I do wonder if any family members were aware of his steroid use. Hearing about roid rage coming about after you stop taking the steroids means you probably should do it under a doctor's care.
Sounds like he sure was arguing with his father a lot. Actually, his father is lucky his son didn't use that gun on him.
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The statement didn't specify what type of gun. Possibly it was a BB Gun. Doubtful that anyone would call the police over that...
 
slanda said:
FWIW, I personally think AH had a psychotic break. Maybe he was already towing the line mentally when he most likely began steroid use/abuse. Maybe the steroids ignited the psychotic episode, but, I believe the propensity for violence was already there in him. Maybe it would have come out either way, but this person does not seem as though he was stable to begin with...

I also do not think Flakka had anything to do with his insanity. I read he advised LE that they would find nothing in his system. I believe him.

AH was probably throwing up red flags everywhere and probably has been for a while. He's 19 and male... I'm also going to give AH's family the benefit of the doubt until there is a reason not to. It's extremely difficult to get a psychiatric hold on anyone and just erratic behavior isn't going to do it. I'm pretty sure his parents are just as horrified as everyone else and never imagined their son was so deranged to butcher two innocent souls and eat one's face off. How incredibly horrible. I'm sure no one could predict that level of crazy and dangerous.
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In my opinion, there is a very good reason NOT to give his family the benefit of the doubt.
For goodness sake, the kid was talking about being "immortal", "a protector of people", "superhuman"...for a week and his mother did nothing.
She didn't have to attempt to him on psychiatric hold...a trip to see a regular MD or the emergency room would have been a good start.
And if he refused to go, she could have called 911 and had a police officer talk to him. Anything would have been better than what she did - nothing.
And then to tell the cops that he isn't a threat to others... This mom must have issues of her own to be so out to lunch.
 
I'm not trying to make excuses for AH or his family... I do, however, try to understand the motivations of the people involved in this horrific event... I will never excuse anyone for butchering two people and eating one of them, because clearly, that person is a deranged soul who should not be among us, and I'll even further say that (IMO) these very rare types of severely incapacitated people should be culled (much like pedophiles). AH was a danger to himself and society.

The only reason I wanted to chime in was because the drug Flakka was being used as a possible reason for his madness when, IMO, Flakka had nothing to do with it. I truly believe AH suffers from paranoid schizophrenia (and probably more comorbid personality disorders/ mood disorders/ anxiety disorders) and had a complete psychotic break. I also believe the Steriods magnified his illness and aggravated his already fragile mind.

It is what it is. Maybe a "perfect storm" of schizophrenia and anabolic steroids drove him to have a psychotic break, or, maybe he would have had a psychotic break without drug abuse... Either way, AH more than likely has severe mental incapacities and he and his family will no doubt suffer the consequences of his murderous rampage and their possible negligence by either ignoring the signs or being willfully ignorant and blind to his previous behaviors.

I will again say: I'm sure no reasonable parent could expect their child capable of something so awful and gruesome. I'm sure they are devistated. How could they not be?
 
It was a handgun. It killed a bird. Doesn't matter to me if it is a bb gun. It could take out mine or my child's eyesight. He's that weird kid next door. He might decide to start shooting my dog next. If I saw a neighbor boy do that next door, I'd call the police for sure.
 
glf said:
Seems like his parents were too busy with their own lives and not paying attention to his mental or physical health. Either that or he wasn't home much when his family was there, so possibly his problems were overlooked.
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Not sure how the mom overlooked her son telling her for a week that he had super natural powers....
 
wildebeest said:
Something that's been on my mind: How did this monster manage to beat and stab to death two people? What was the other person doing, while he was beating and stabbing the first? Perhaps we will never know, because many different scenarios exist. It seems the perp is mounting an insanity defense, which is his only choice, but as history proves, will be very hard to win.

IMHO
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A page back, I posted a link to a YouTube video that describes someone who went nutso while abusing Steriods. Or, a quick Google search illicits many stories of psychotic behavior and abusing steroids... Apparently, that type of super aggressive and very violent behavior has been documented... I still believe AH had an underlying severe mental illness (paranoid schizophrenia) that, if not treated, can cause someone to have a psychotic break. And coupled with steroid abuse is obviously a disaster waiting to happen.
 
I only watched his "I don't need to take steroids (anymore) video". I saw him as off and suffering some degree of depression in that one video.

I'm not able to watch his other videos due to my computer fan problems. Let me ask those of you who have watched his videos if you would be concerned as a parent that he might have some mental problems? Those videos will be mentioned if this becomes a mental insanity trial because the videos have been mentioned in almost every news article.
 
lmr said:
Not sure how the mom overlooked her son telling her for a week that he had super natural powers....
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Never ever underestimate the power of denial. Some people just don't want to believe or know the worst, some do. Everyone reacts differently in these situations. I agree that her lack of awareness and initiative (whether purposefully or not) could have contributed to the deaths of these two innocent people. But, we also don't know if he was an already eccentric personality who was prone to making exaggerated statements making it more difficult to assess his state of mind... Some people are just weird and say weird things but are usually harmless... It's not like he walked around saying, "I'm going to brutally butcher two people and eat one of them" ... Saying he's immortal and actually killing strangers and eating them are two very different things.

Should his parents have interviened? Absolutely... I'm sure they're very aware of their mistakes now; I'm sure their also aware of the fact that their inaction has proven to be fatal.
 
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