It has been nearly six weeks since Austin Harrouff, a Florida State University student, attacked and killed a couple in their Jupiter, Florida garage. Harrouff was found trying to “eat the face and abdomen” of the male victim, John Stevens, and exhibiting other odd behavior. Harrouff was tested for the usual drugs, including opiates, marijuana, cocaine, and PCP, but the hospital was not able to test for the more exotic drugs on-site. Beginning last week, the FBI began testing Austin Harrouff’s blood for things like Flakka, bath salts, and spice.
Dr. Wade Harrouff, a Florida dentist and father of Austin Harrouff, claims that his son is still in the hospital, and continues to deteriorate, according to the Inquisitr. Wade Harrouff believes that his son Austin suffered some sort of breakdown, as his behavior was out of character. Wade Harrouff says that in the weeks before this tragic event, Austin Harrouff’s behavior had been off, and that might have led to the meltdown. For now, there seems to be no explanation as to why Austin Harrouff attacked people and exhibited cannibalistic behavior.
For such an unusual and dramatic crime story, there has been little news about the Austin Harrouff case. Harrouff remains in the hospital and so far has been unable to communicate. Local Sheriff William Snyder requested that the FBI get involved to test Harrouff’s blood to get a better picture of Harrouff’s mental state at the time of the attack says the local ABC affiliate.
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Snyder says that the most common question he is being asked is “What is taking so long with the toxicology?” Snyder, who also seems frustrated, says that he has asked the FBI to expedite the tests, and was informed that testing began last week.
“That’s new information, that just now they have their hands on that blood, that the blood is going under the microscope and they’re analyzing it for the possibility there are bath salts in there.”
Snyder explains that the FBI is doing the testing as a favor, and they already had other cases on their plate when he made the request for the Harrouff case.
“We’re really not in a position to push on them; it’s a national lab — I mean, you can see recently we’ve had some pretty big terrorist cases — that’s a lot of evidence so we have to wait our turn in line.”
But understandably, the community and the families of the victims are frustrated by the lack of information in the case and are still trying to make sense of a scenario in which a college student randomly attacks strangers and then exhibits cannibalistic behavior. Steve Fisher, whose son, Jeff, tried to come to the aid of the Stevens, wants to know what led up to his son getting stabbed.
“Yeah, it’s a little bit hard and I’ve got a son that was almost killed, and we don’t have any answers, why?”
The sheriff explains that Austin Harrouff is no longer intubated, but he is still unable to talk, as his throat suffered burns. Snyder says that no matter what the FBI blood tests show, Harrouff will still be charged with murder.
TCPalm explains that Austin Harrouff is still under guard in the hospital, and his condition is unchanged. The sheriff says that when Austin Harrouff is medically cleared to leave the hospital, he will officially be charged with two murders, and attempted murder.
Do you think that even though he cannot speak, Austin Harrouff should have been officially charged and arrested by now?
[Featured Image by Kelley McCall/AP Images]