The mother of a Pennsylvania man on trial for the brutal murder and beheading of his father tearfully described discovering her husband’s mutilated body in their home, as the high-profile case opened in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom Monday.
“I believe I screamed,” a distraught Denice Mohn testified, according to the Associated Press. “I was screaming out front. I think I dialed 911.” She recalled speaking to her husband, Michael F. Mohn, earlier that day before leaving for work. “I said goodbye,” she told the court. “And I said I’ll see you later.”
Justin D. Mohn, 33, stands accused of murdering his father, decapitating him, and posting a graphic YouTube video displaying the severed head while calling for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. He faces charges including first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and terrorism-related offenses for the January 2024 killing at the family’s Levittown home, according to KKTV.
Prosecutors played the harrowing 911 call made by Denice Mohn after she found her husband’s body, capturing her screams in the background. Neighbor James Carnley testified that he rushed to assist her, telling the dispatcher that Michael Mohn had been decapitated.
In a chilling display, prosecutors showed the jury the now-removed YouTube video in which Justin Mohn brandished his father’s head, ranted against the government, and urged viewers to join his cause. Authorities allege the murder was part of a “cold, calculated, organized plan” to incite fear among federal employees.
According to investigators, Mohn shot his father with a newly purchased handgun before using a knife and a machete to sever his head. The 14-minute video remained online for hours before being taken down. Mohn was arrested later that day after scaling a 20-foot fence at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania’s National Guard headquarters, while armed.
Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn stated last year that Mohn had hoped to provoke soldiers into rebelling against the federal government. Upon his arrest, authorities recovered a USB drive containing images of federal buildings and instructions for making explosives.
Mohn had also authored violent anti-government writings and, in the video, railed against immigration, fiscal policy, and the war in Ukraine. Michael Mohn, 68, was a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers geoenvironmental engineer. His son labeled him a “traitor” in the video, citing his two decades of federal service.
In a 2023 competency hearing, a defense expert revealed Mohn had written to Russia’s U.S. ambassador, seeking asylum and apologizing to President Vladimir Putin for falsely claiming to be Russia’s czar. Mohn’s defense team declined to give an opening statement. The trial continues as prosecutors present their case in what they describe as a “horror movie-like” crime.