BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. (TCN) — A man accused of decapitating his 68-year-old father with a machete and posting a video with his head online could face the death penalty if he is convicted due to filings made by the district attorney before the suspect’s arraignment.
The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office announced that Justin Mohn appeared in court on Friday, Oct. 4. He is charged with the first-degree murder of his father, Michael Mohn, as well as two counts each of terrorism and possession of an instrument of crime and one count each of robbery, firearms not to be carried without a license, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal use of a communication facility, terroristic threats, defiant trespassing, and abuse of a corpse. Mohn pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors said they “filed notice of aggravating circumstances” and preserved their “right to pursue the death penalty should he be convicted of first-degree murder.”
A judge previously deemed Mohn competent to stand trial with one forensic psychologist reportedly claiming the defendant seemed smart and socially aware.
According to the criminal complaint, on the evening of Jan. 30, Middleton Township Police responded to a home after the victim’s wife, Denise Mohn, found her husband deceased. Officers located Michael Mohn’s remains in a downstairs bathroom bathtub, and his head was in a plastic bag in a cooking pot in a bedroom. Denise Mohn reportedly left the residence at around 2 p.m. that day and said her husband and Justin Mohn were together.
According to the criminal complaint, police learned Justin Mohn posted a video to his YouTube Chanel, which was called “Mohn’s Militia — Call to Arms to American Patriots.” In the video, Mohn allegedly held his father’s head, identified him, and claimed he “is now in hell for eternity.” Investigators reportedly found gloves at the crime scene that matched the ones Mohn wore in the video.
In the video, Mohn allegedly called for people to kill federal agents and said they should be “tortured for information and publicly executed.”
According to the complaint, Mohn also provided the name and address of a U.S. District Court judge and named him as one of his targets. The defendant reportedly “stated that the capturing and torturing of federal employees and their associates will not stop until the people he has deemed traitors to America are identified and completely wiped out.”
Authorities executed a search warrant and located a shell casing, a large kitchen knife, and a machete in the downstairs bathroom. They also reportedly found a computer in Justin Mohn’s bedroom and identified it as the room where he recorded and posted the YouTube video. Bloodstains were allegedly discovered near the keyboard, as well as blood-soaked gloves.
Following his father’s death, the complaint alleges Mohn stole the victim’s vehicle and drove to the National Guard base Fort Indiantown Gap, where he was later taken into custody. According to the district attorney’s office, investigators believe Mohn went to the base “in an effort to mobilize the National Guard to raise arms against the federal government.”
A forensic pathologist performed an autopsy and determined Michael Mohn died of one gunshot wound before his head was removed with the kitchen knife and machete.