Why was Michael J. Mohn decapitated by his son, Justin Mohn?

This article contains detailed descriptions of murder. Please read with caution.

The YouTube video was around 14 minutes long, and viewed at least 5,000 times before it was taken down. What it showed led to 32-year-old Justin Mohn‘s arrest on Tuesday, January 30. Justin is now charged with the murder of his father, Michael J. Mohn.

According to NBC News, Justin could be seen in the video, titled Mohn’s Militia — Call To Arms For American Patriots. Justin was wearing gloves as he ranted about common right-wing conspiracy theories involving President Biden, the Black Lives Matter movement, the LGBTQ+ community, and other social justice issues. According to CNN, Justin called himself the new U.S. president. The country was under martial law, he said.

Also seen in the video: the severed head of Justin’s father, Michael J. Mohn, 68, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, pictured first in a plastic bag, and then in a cooking pot. In the footage, Justin said, “America is rotting from the inside out as far left, woke mobs rampage our once prosperous cities” (via CNN). Justin’s video was online for roughly six hours before its removal from the platform.

Michael J. Mohn was a federal employee

As Justin Mohn said on YouTube, his father, Michael J. Mohn, was a federal employee, with the US Army Corps of Engineers for 20 years. In the video, Justin called his father a traitor and referred to himself as a militia leader, seeming to read from a script, 6ABC.com reported. Michael’s body was discovered earlier that night, on Tues. Jan. 30, 2024, by Justin’s mother, Denice Mohn. She said she saw Michael and Justin together earlier that afternoon.

Once police arrived at Michael’s home, they discovered Michael’s head, a machete, a large kitchen knife, and similar gloves to what Justin reportedly wore in the YouTube video. Police later confirmed the room seen in the YouTube video, as well as the pot and gloves, were the same as what was found at the crime scene. Michael’s car was also missing. Justin was arrested while driving the missing vehicle around 11:30 pm that night. He was around 100 miles away from the crime scene.

CNN reports that Justin broke into a National Guard base with a 9 mm Sig Sauer he purchased the day before. The firearm was missing one round, presumably the single shot that killed his father. Mohn broke into the facility “to mobilize the PA National Guard to raise arms against the federal government,” according to Bucks County prosecutor Jennifer Schorn.

Justin Mohn’s legal history

Justin Mohn’s arrest for his father’s gruesome murder was not his first legal issue. NBC News says he’d previously filed federal lawsuits, accusing the government of negligence in student loan policies related to Justin’ student debt. Justin graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2014. Those lawsuits were dismissed.

Justin was also active online and on social media as a self-published author and musician. Much of Justin’s material deals with dystopian themes. In 2017, he published The Revolution Leader’s Survival Guide, a non-fiction book addressing President Donald Trump and calling for a “peaceful revolution.”

Once arraigned on several charges, including first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse, Justin was held without bail. As of this report, Justin was expected to appear in court on Feb. 8, 2024.