MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. -- Nearly 48 hours after a deadly double stabbing in Jupiter, the brutality is still hard to comprehend.
Why would a 19-year-old Florida State University student randomly attack a Martin County couple sitting in their garage?
The suspect, Austin Harrouff, remains under police guard at St. Mary’s Medical Center.
Sheriff William Snyder is adamant that there will be no visitors.
Harrouff’s parents, however, are still pushing to see their son.
Martin County investigators say Harrouff is stable and conscious, but unable to speak because of a breathing tube down his throat.
Detectives are still waiting to hear his explanation for the deadly attack Monday night, among many people in a very shaken community.
Over at Harrouff’s mother’s house Wednesday, there was little activity. A neighbor of Mina Harrouff identified one visitor as Mina’s boyfriend, seen picking up the mail. He spoke to WPTV while getting into his car, identifying himself only as “Bud”.
“We have a lawyer,” he said. “I just want to apologize to the family. We’re all hurting, we really are, for them and for us.”
A reporter with WPLG in Miami spotted Mina Harrouff at St. Mary’s Medical Center Wednesday. No timeframe has been given for when she will actually be able to see her son.
Investigators say he had surgery on his hand Wednesday after nearly cutting his finger off while stabbing John Stevens and his wife, Michelle Mischon and injuring their neighbor.
Mina Harrouff is heard on a 911 call Monday night telling dispatchers her son had a pocketknife with him Monday.
She called police when her son abruptly left Duffy’s Monday night after having dinner with his father and other friends and family.
He walked away from the restaurant and couldn’t be found.
Mina said he had been acting strange and saying unusual things. “He feels immortal and like a super hero, so I don’t know what’s going on with him,” Mina said.
A dispatcher responded, “Do you know if he’s been taking any drugs?” Mina is heard saying, “I’ve asked, nothing recent that I know of.”
It could take one to three weeks for toxicology results to come back.
Investigators know Harrouff did not have opiates, marijuana or cocaine in his system.
