Killer who brutally decapitated his dad and put it on YouTube explained why he did it
A man who admitted to decapitating his dad and showing his father's severed head on YouTube has explained why he did it.
On 30 January, 2024, Philadelphia man Justin Mohn, 32 at the time, uploaded a YouTube video in which he held up the head of his father, Michael F. Mohn, and called his dad a traitor to the US.
AP reported that in his video, which was taken down by YouTube after around five hours, he ranted about a series of conspiracy theories including the then-US President Joe Biden, the war in Ukraine and immigration.
The body was found later that day after Justin's mother Denice returned home, finding her husband's body while his car and their son were both missing.
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Justin was arrested later that day on a weapons possession charge after trying to climb over a fence at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania's National Guard headquarters, with prosecutors saying he had been hoping to mobilise them to overthrow the government.
At his trial he explained why he killed his father and decapitated him, according to NBC, Mohn said that he shot his father dead in their family bathroom after trying to perform a 'citizen's arrest' on his dad, thinking that his father would agree to it.
The killer told the court: "Unfortunately, he resisted, I was hoping to perform a citizen’s arrest on my father for, ultimately, treason."
Mohn told the court that his politics were different to that of his parents and he believed his father was trying to stop him from becoming a politician in the mould of Donald Trump.
He claimed to the court that he beheaded his father to send a message to the US government and demand their resignation, authorities said a USB drive they recovered had pictures of federal buildings and instructions for building explosives.
Prosecutors told the court that the scene of the killing was 'something straight out of a horror film', and accused Justin Mohn of killing his dad in a 'cold, calculated, organized plan'.
While Mohn admits to killing his father and his legal representatives said he didn't commit first-degree murder.
Mohn's attorney Steve Jones told NBC: "Justin believed that there were certain indignities that he suffered, and he did what he believed was the thing that he could do.
"And the judge is going to decide if that was something that he could do."
His case will not be decided by a jury as his trial is a bench trial, meaning that the verdict will be decided upon by a judge.
Joe Harker