A 32-year-old Levittown man was arrested without incident Tuesday night by Fort Indiantown Gap Police and Pennsylvania State Police, and taken into custody within 30 minutes of the Gap police being notified of the suspect’s presence near the 17,000-acre military base at the northern part of the county.
The suspect, identified as 32-year-old Justin Mohn of Levittown, is accused of decapitating his father and subsequently uploading YouTube footage in which he displayed his father’s head. Mohn faces charges of first-degree murder, abuse of corpse, and possessing an instrument of a crime.
Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs spokesperson Angela Watson said the incident unfolded locally starting at 9 p.m. Tuesday when the FTIG police department received a call from police in Middletown Township, Bucks County, requesting assistance in tracking down a homicide suspect who was determined via cellphone ping to be close by. Watson said that the initial ping was near the Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, which Gap police canvassed but did not locate the suspect. Police also informed Snitz Creek Brewery on Fisher Avenue (formerly Funck’s) to shut their doors and remain inside while the search was underway.
Watson said that the Bucks County Detective Bureau was able to get another cellphone ping that positioned the suspect near one of the side fencing areas surrounding the base. Upon arriving to that location, Gap police found the suspect’s vehicle but did not locate Mohn himself. A third ping relayed to Gap police indicated that Mohn had made his way into the installation near a main office area on the grounds by climbing over the fence.
Watson said Gap police asked state police for assistance in making the arrest, which was carried out without incident around 9:25 p.m. Mohn was walking through the base at the time of his arrest, and he was carrying a firearm at the time. No officers or other individuals were injured or threatened while Mohn was on Gap grounds, and he did not resist arrest.
Mohn has no known ties to Fort Indiantown Gap, said Watson, and has never been a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard.
“For a reason of why he came here, we’d have to refer you to the Bucks County District Attorney’s office,” said Watson. The initial statement from the Bucks County DA’s office is embedded below.
A 32-year-old man killed his father inside their Middletown Township home on Tuesday and then posted a YouTube video holding his father’s decapitated head.
Justin Mohn, of the 100 block of Upper Orchard Drive, was arrested hours after the killing in Fort Indiantown Gap, Lebanon County, and was charged early Wednesday with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and possession of an instrument of crime. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Lisa J. Gaier who sent him to Bucks County Correctional Facility without bail.
Middletown Township Police were dispatched at 7 p.m. Tuesday to 145 Upper Orchard Drive in the township’s Levittown section, for a report of a deceased male. The call to emergency dispatchers came from the victim’s wife.
While patrol officers were responding to the scene, they received further information that an elderly male in the downstairs bathroom with a large amount of blood around him and that he had been decapitated. A machete and a large knife were located in the bathtub.
Police located the male’s body in the first-floor bathroom. The deceased male’s head was located inside of a plastic bag, which was inside of a cooking pot in a first-floor bedroom next to the bathroom. Police located bloody rubber gloves in another first-floor bedroom and more bloody rubber gloves in a trashcan next to a desk in that room.
The victim was later identified as 68-year-old Michael F. Mohn. He lived at the home with his wife and his adult son, Justin Mohn, who was missing when police arrived.
The victim’s wife told police she had last been home at approximately 2 p.m. Tuesday and her husband and son were the only ones there. She also reported that her husband’s white 2009 Toyota Corolla and her son were gone when she came home.
Police later received information about a 14-minute video posted to YouTube, which showed Justin Mohn wearing the same style rubber gloves observed at the crime scene. In the video, he picks up the decapitated head of his father, identifying him by name and as his father.
Hours later, Justin Mohn was later stopped and taken into custody by the Fort Indiantown Gap Police Department.
This case is being investigated by Detectives with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and the Middletown Township Police Department, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Fort Indiantown Gap Police Department.
This case is assigned for prosecution to Deputy District Attorney Ashley C. Towhey and Assistant District Attorney Christine Sassane.
Mohn was held by Gap police until around 4 a.m. Wednesday morning when Bucks County officers arrived to retrieve him. His car was also towed back to Bucks County.
Mohn may face additional charges from Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf for trespassing at FTIG and carrying a firearm onto the installation, Watson said.
For more information on Mohn’s alleged homicide of his father, visit the Philadelphia Inquirer for complete coverage. You can also read the complete criminal complaint below.
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