Justin Mohn, 33, of Levittown.
Chilling details emerged this week during the bench trial of Justin Mohn, 33, who is accused of the brutal killing and decapitation of his father, Michael Mohn, 68, inside the family’s Levittown home in January 2024.
Testimony and evidence presented Monday and Tuesday at the Bucks County Justice Center painted a grim picture of the events surrounding the Jan. 30, 2024 slaying at the home on Upper Orchard Drive in Middletown Township’s Levittown section that captured international attention.
Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Corr is presiding over the bench trial, which means he will decide the verdict.
Prosecutors opened their case by asserting Michael Mohn had “no reason to believe that that day would be his last.”
Denice Mohn, Justin Mohn’s mother, recounted on Monday the horrific discovery of her husband’s body.
She testified that after returning home from work just before 7 p.m., she found Michael Mohn “crumpled” on the bathroom floor. Her initial thought was that he had fallen, but a neighbor, Jim Carnley, who responded to her screams for help made the shocking discovery.
“He has no head,” Carnley told a 9-1-1 call-taker.
Denice Mohn testified that her son Justin had changed dramatically since moving back home in 2019 after experiencing problems in Colorado, including what she believed was an “emotional breakdown.” She said he blamed the education system and the government for his life’s failures.
The court heard that in September 2023, Bensalem Township police detectives, who were working with the FBI, visited the Mohns’ home to warn Justin about his social media activity, which angered him.
Denice Mohn testified she knew little about the incident, but police warned Justin to stop posting on social media.
Denice Mohn said she was shocked by the murder and decapitation of her husband and “did not see this coming.”
Denice Mohn had been married to Michael since the early 1980s and lived on Upper Orchard Drive since 1985. The couple had three children, including Justin Mohn.
Carnley, a longtime neighbor, testified about Denice Mohn’s frantic screams and his discovery of Michael Mohn’s decapitated body. His 9-1-1 call, which was played in court, captured the chaos, with Denice Mohn’s screams audible in the background.
Carnley told the dispatcher Denice Mohn believed their son, Justin, had done something to his father.
Middletown Township Police Detective Jake Gallagher testified that Justin Mohn quickly became a suspect, and Michael Mohn’s white car was missing from the scene.
A video circulating on YouTube, showing Justin Mohn holding up his father’s severed head, was entered as evidence and brought tears and gasps from some in the courtroom.
Gallagher said he heard about the video from the 9-1-1 center as he was working to locate Mohn.
Prosecutors stated Mohn had made threats against other officials, including a federal judge who required U.S. Marshal Service protection.
Mohn had contacted several gun stores before purchasing the Sig Sauer 9mm handgun used in the killing the day prior, Gallagher said.
An employee at a Trenton Road gun store recalled Mohn emailing with questions about state background checks and the impact of canceling a medical marijuana card on gun ownership starting in December 2023, according to Gallagher and email records.
Middletown Township Police Detective Kevin Platenecky testified about the blood trail found in the Mohn home, as well as bloody gloves and plastic water bottles seen in the YouTube video, which were all recovered from the residence.
Emails mentioning “Mohn’s militia” were open on Justin Mohn’s computer after he fled, Platenecky testified.
Bucks County Detective Phil Kulan presented crime scene images, including a “to-do list” found in Justin Mohn’s room with “boom” and “slice” listed.
Detectives understood “boom” and “slice” to refer to shooting and decapitating his father.
Images of the bloody bathroom and the severed head, which was found in a stockpot, were displayed as Kulan testified.
Several Mohn family members left the courtroom before the images were displayed.
Justin Mohn, who was flanked by his defense attorneys, and sheriff’s deputies looked at the gruesome images.
Gavin McGuigan, whose family owns the Bristol Township gun store where Mohn purchased the firearm, testified Tuesday that Mohn entered the store dressed in business attire the day before the murder and asked “fairly normal” questions for a first-time gun owner.
Surveillance video showed Mohn handling the gun, a sight that caused Denice Mohn to shake her head from her seat in the courtroom.
Mohn paid more than $1,300 for the gun, an optic scope, a grip, and ammunition, according to receipts presented in court.
Dr. Ian Hood, a forensic pathologist who works for the county coroner, presented autopsy photos and detailed how Michael Mohn had been fatally shot in the head near his ear before being decapitated with a kitchen knife and manchette. He indicated that there were not many signs Michael Mohn had a serious chance to defend himself.
Bucks County Detective Tim Fuhrmann, a longtime homicide investigator, testified about Mohn’s arrest at the Fort Indiantown Gap Pennsylvania National Guard training complex in the central portion of the state.
Mohn was apprehended after breaching the perimeter, still armed, and claimed to be “totally sober,” according to testimony and court records.
During the interrogation video played in court, Mohn expressed a belief he was owed $15 million to $30 million from the IRS as a whistleblower for alleged tax avoidance by Microsoft, where he had once worked as a contractor.
Mohn offered an apology to the detectives during the interrogation, saying, “sorry to make you guys drive all the way out here. I’m sure you are good guys.”
“There’s no chance of me talking to the governor, right?” Mohn asked detectives.
Mohn told detectives he “had one card left to play,” stating his whistleblower claims against Microsoft and a “national security issue” related to cloud computing.
Mohn expressed a desire to work a deal with the state of Pennsylvania through Gov. Josh Shapiro to secure his federal whistleblower reward. He admitted to previously sending “random ideas” to the governor via the state website, including a proposal for a ferry to bypass I-95 during its closure in Philadelphia.
“I’m not trying to place the biggest bribe ever,” Mohn told the detectives.
Fuhrmann detailed the items recovered from Mohn at the base: a gym bag, a phone, and a rucksack. The rucksack contained survival gear, including a shovel, tent shelter, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, 9mm bullets, a folding knife, slingshot, garden knife, a Pennsylvania map, and a book on foraging wild plants. Snacks, including what appeared to be animal crackers and dried apricots, were also found. The gym bag contained books about wilderness survival, clothing, toiletries, and the operator’s manual for the gun and scope.
Fuhrmann also testified about Mohn’s outgoing mail while in custody last year and this year.
Letters were addressed to the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Russian Embassy in New York City, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C., and the leader of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
In the letters, Mohn claimed he was conducting a “citizen’s arrest” on his father, a federal employee, when he had to kill him, referring to it as a “lawful citizen arrest” and “lawful use of deadly force.”
Mohn wrote to the Texas governor that he broke into the Pennsylvania National Guard base to deliver a “speech” to the general.
In his letter to the U.S. Department of State, Mohn declared, “I’m the smartest American” and stated the federal government had determined it.
To the Pennsylvania National Guard general, Mohn apologized for breaking into Fort Indiantown Gap and suggested security updates. He admitted to holding his father’s head “Taliban style” in the video and explained it was part of his bid to establish a new government. He insisted his actions were a sober and a calculated decision and complained that “nobody did shit” after he posted his video.
Other letters were sent to the United Nations, Donald Trump, podcaster Joe Rogan, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and conservative commentators Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. Mohn told Hannity he wanted to appear on the show to tell his story and to “take America back from the traitors in the federal government.”
Fuhrmann noted there were other letters as well.
A typed text to Mohn’s brother-in-law, a federal law enforcement official, was also recovered after the murder but Justin Mohn never sent. Its contents were unclear from testimony.
Additional law enforcement officials testified Tuesday afternoon regarding ballistics and cell phone tracking. A handwriting expert was also scheduled to testify.
Bucks County First Assistant District Attorney Ed Louka and deputy district attorneys Ashley Towhey and Christine Sassane are leading the prosecution. Mohn’s defense is led by court-appointed attorneys Steven Jones and Craig Penglase.
Mohn has a number of charges filed against him, murder in the first degree, abuse of a corpse, possession of an instrument of crime, terrorism, robbery, firearms not to be carried without a license, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal use of a communication facility, terroristic threats, and defiant trespassing.
During Mohn’s formal arraignment last fall, the district attorney’s office’s notice preserving the state’s right to seek capital punishment if Mohn is convicted of first-degree murder.
Mohn was declared mentally competent to stand trial last year.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
