TEQUESTA, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on the killing of a couple by an attacker caught biting the dead man’s face (all times local):
1:40 p.m.
A restaurant surveillance video shows a 19-year-old Florida college student walking calmly out of a restaurant about 45 minutes before he allegedly killed a couple at random and mauled the dead man’s face.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office released the video Friday of Austin Harrouff leaving Duffy’s restaurant in Jupiter, about three miles from where detectives say he attacked 59-year-old John Stevens and his 53-year-old wife, Michelle Mishcon, at their home in Tequesta.
Sheriff William Snyder has said Harrouff apparently left the restaurant in anger after an argument with his father. But the video, just six seconds long, shows Harrouff walking normally past other diners and a waiter carrying food as he heads toward the door. He is wearing a blue polo shirt, white shorts and a red baseball cap, on backward.
The Martin County Sheriff announced Friday that Harrouff will be charged with first-degree murder, meaning he would face the death penalty or life without parole if convicted.
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12:15 p.m.
After a horrific attack in Florida, the family of the suspect is offering its condolences.
Detectives say they caught 19-year-old college student Austin Harrouff biting the face of a man after killing him and his wife outside their outside their home.
Wade and Mina Harrouff issued a statement Friday through a lawyer expressing what they said was “their deepest sympathy for the pain and suffering caused by Austin.”
They said they love their son “and know he is not the person some are making him out to be.”
The Martin County Sheriff announced Friday that Austin Harrouff will be charged with first-degree murder for Monday’s slayings of 59-year-old John Stevens and his 53-year-old wife, Michelle Mischcon. That means he faces the death penalty or life without parole if convicted.
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11 a.m.
The Martin County Sheriff’s office says authorities will seek the death penalty or life in prison for a 19-year-old college student who detectives say was caught biting the face of a man after stabbing him and his wife outside their outside their Florida home.
A statement from sheriff’s spokeswoman Trisha Kukuvka Friday says Austin Harrouff will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 59-year-old John Stevens and his 53-year-old wife, Michelle Mishcon.
He also will be charged with attempted first-degree murder in the stabbing of their neighbor, Jeff Fisher, who tried to intervene.
Harrouff is still hospitalized and the sheriff has suggested that he won’t be formally charged until his release, so that his family has to keep paying the bills until then.
His attorney, Robert Watson, did not immediately return a call and email seeking comment.
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8:30 a.m.
The son of a Florida man who authorities say was stabbed by a 19-year-old Florida State University student wants prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
John Stevens IV tells the SunSentinel (http://bit.ly/2bOMZZz ) he doesn’t need to know exactly what led the student to kill his father and step-mother outside their house north of Jupiter on Monday night. But he wants prosecutors to seek the death penalty against the attacker, who investigators say also was biting the dead man’s face when deputies arrived at the scene.
Austin Harrouff hasn’t been charged in the attack. Sheriff’s officials say he’s still in the hospital where he’s conscious but heavily sedated.
Investigators say it took several deputies and a police dog to subdue Harrouff. He tested negative for street drugs. It takes longer to test for less common hallucinogenic drugs such as flakka or bath salts.
The younger Stevens says knowing the attacker’s mindset is not “super important” to him. He just wants him to “pay for what he did.”
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7:45 a.m.
Investigators are still trying to piece together the sequence of events that led to an attack on a Florida couple in which a 19-year-old college student is accused of killing them and biting the man’s face.
But Martin County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Dougherty tells the TC Palm (http://bit.ly/2b3AAkH ) neighbor Jeff Fisher came to their aid after hearing the screams of 53-year-old Michelle Mishcon.
Fisher told deputies Mishcon and her 59-year-old husband John Stevens III were still alive when he got there Monday night. But Dougherty says they were dead by the time deputies arrived and found Austin Harrouff on top of Stevens, biting his face.
Fisher ran home after being stabbed several times. His brother-in-law told the newspaper he was released from the hospital Thursday.
Harrouff hasn’t been charged. Sheriff’s spokeswoman Trisha Kukuvka says he’s conscious but heavily sedated.
