Justin Mohn Beheading Video: Arrest, Trial, and Life Sentence

The Justin Mohn beheading video was a roughly 14-minute clip that Justin Mohn, then 32, uploaded to YouTube on the night of January 30, 2024, after shooting and decapitating his 68-year-old father, Michael F. Mohn, inside the family’s home in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In the video, Mohn displayed his father’s severed head, declared himself the commander of “Mohn’s Militia,” and called for the killing of federal employees. In July 2025, he was convicted of first-degree murder and terrorism in a Bucks County bench trial and sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole. It was the first conviction under Pennsylvania’s terrorism statute.¹

What Was in the Video

The video was titled “Mohn’s Militia – Call to Arms for American Patriots.” Mohn wore rubber gloves, displayed his father’s severed head, and identified his father by name.² Police said he appeared to be reading from a prepared script throughout.³

Mohn called himself the commander of “Mohn’s Militia” and declared his father a “traitor to his country” because he had been a federal employee for 20 years. He urged viewers to “kill any federal employees or capture and torture them for information,” issued bounties on several high-ranking officials including the FBI director, the attorney general, and a Supreme Court justice, and shared the home address of a federal judge.² He demanded the resignation of President Biden and all federal employees, declared martial law, proclaimed himself “acting president,” and railed against globalist leaders, big tech, the LGBTQ community, BLM, and Antifa.⁴

How Long the Video Stayed Online

Mohn posted the video at roughly 10 p.m. It remained on YouTube for approximately five hours before the platform removed it and drew more than 5,000 views during that window.⁵ A clip also circulated on X for at least seven hours and reached about 20,000 views.⁶

YouTube removed the video for violating its graphic violence policy, terminated Mohn’s channel under its violent extremism policies, and said its teams were “closely tracking to remove any re-uploads.”⁷ The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism activated its Content Incident Protocol roughly 40 minutes after midnight, alerting member platforms so they could use a digital “hash” to block re-uploads.⁸

The delay drew sharp criticism. Alix Fraser of the Council for Responsible Social Media called it “another example of the blatant failure of these companies to protect us,” adding, “We can’t trust them to grade their own homework.”⁷ Brian Fishman, co-founder of the trust and safety startup Cinder, noted that automated moderation systems struggle with content that is “new or unusual” and that human moderators remain “really, really critical.”⁶ Common Sense Media CEO James Steyer said platforms were unable to remove violent content fast enough and that tech companies could no longer be trusted to self-regulate.⁹

The Killing

Michael F. Mohn was 68 and worked as an engineer in the geoenvironmental section of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where he had served for 20 years.¹⁰ On January 30, 2024, Justin Mohn shot him in the head inside the family’s home and then decapitated him in a bathroom.¹¹ A machete and a large kitchen knife were recovered from the scene.¹²

Mohn had bought a 9mm Sig Sauer handgun the day before, on January 29. Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said there had been “nothing legally precluding him from purchasing that gun,” noting that Mohn had surrendered his medical marijuana card in the days before the transaction to make himself eligible.¹³

Michael Mohn’s wife, Denice, discovered his body when she returned home that evening. A neighbor, James Carnley, helped her and told a 911 dispatcher that Michael Mohn had no head.¹⁴

Arrest at Fort Indiantown Gap

After the killing, Mohn fled in his father’s vehicle and drove more than 100 miles to Fort Indiantown Gap, the Pennsylvania National Guard training center in Lebanon County.¹⁵ Security gates installed just three months earlier stopped him from driving onto the base. He scaled a fence to enter on foot and was arrested by Fort Indiantown Gap police and Pennsylvania State Police a few hours after the murder, carrying the handgun used in the killing and a USB flash drive.¹⁶

A search warrant on the USB drive revealed a folder titled “us army improved munitions handbook” containing photos of federal buildings and what appeared to be instructions for manufacturing explosive devices.¹⁷ Mohn later testified that his plan was to apprehend his father for “treason” or kill him if he resisted, then travel to the base to “rally the Pennsylvania National Guard” and see whether Governor Josh Shapiro was interested in “uniting” with him. He acknowledged he suspected the Guard would not join him and that he had a “limited chance of success.”¹⁸

Who Justin Mohn Was

Mohn graduated from Neshaminy High School and from Penn State University in 2014. After college he moved through a string of short-term jobs, including a call center, Progressive Insurance, a sandwich shop, a mortgage company, and flower delivery.¹⁹ People who knew him described a quiet honor-roll student whose behavior changed markedly after college, with roughly a decade of “ranting and railing about the government” and a long-term obsession with conspiracy theories.²⁰ Denice Mohn testified that she and her husband had been supporting Justin financially as he looked for work.¹⁰

Mohn published prolifically. His Amazon author bio claimed seven books and three music albums. In an August 2020 pamphlet titled “America’s Coming Bloody Revolution,” he wrote that violent revolution was “inevitable” and that Americans should consider “killing their own family members, teachers, coworkers, bosses, judges, elected leaders, and other older generations” who might be “traitors.”²¹¹⁹²²

The FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received four tips about Mohn’s “concerning” online content between 2018 and his arrest. FBI spokesman Ned Conway said the agency “found no evidence of illegal activity or imminent threat requiring further action” in any of the four instances.¹⁹ Local police had three encounters with him over 15 years, including reports of paranoia and an employer’s concern about erratic behavior. Middletown Township Police Chief Joe Bartorilla said his department could not pursue an investigation at the time because the employer was “seeking legal advice” about how to fire Mohn.¹³ Mohn had no known history of diagnosed mental illness or involuntary hospitalization before the killing.¹⁶

Charges, Trial, and Sentence

Mohn was initially charged with first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and possession of an instrument of crime.²³ In February 2024, after the USB drive was analyzed, prosecutors added two counts of terrorism along with robbery, firearms charges, criminal use of a communication facility, terroristic threats, defiant trespassing, theft, and receiving stolen property.²⁴ The Commonwealth sought the death penalty but did not ultimately secure it.²⁵

A five-hour competency hearing on August 1, 2024, produced dueling expert opinions on whether Mohn suffered from delusional disorder. Judge Stephen Corr found him competent to stand trial.²⁶

The bench trial before Judge Corr began July 7, 2025. Nearly all facts were admitted by stipulation.²⁷ Mohn took the stand and framed the killing as a failed “citizen’s arrest.”¹⁸ No mental health defense was raised.

On July 11, 2025, Judge Corr convicted Mohn on all counts, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and two counts of terrorism.²⁸ The terrorism conviction was the first in Pennsylvania under the state’s terrorism statute.¹ He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole, one for each murder count, plus a maximum of 40 additional years on the remaining convictions, all consecutive.

At sentencing, Judge Corr described the case as “an indictment on the mental health system,” remarking, “Somewhere this went off the rails.” Mohn told the judge, “It’s not the outcome I wanted, but that’s okay.” He apologized to his family but called the killing “justice,” said he did not feel guilty, and requested a prisoner swap with Russia.²⁸

Appeal

Mohn filed a post-sentence motion arguing the verdict was against the “manifest weight of the evidence” and that the trial court should have granted a motion for acquittal. Judge Corr denied the motion, and Mohn appealed to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.²⁷ On March 2, 2026, a three-judge panel affirmed the sentence, ruling that Mohn had waived his claims because his appellate brief improperly conflated challenges to the weight and sufficiency of the evidence. He remains in state prison without the possibility of parole.²⁹

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Bucks County. Justin Mohn Convicted First Degree Murder and Terrorism
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CBS News Philadelphia. Justin Mohn Terrorism Charge Beheading Video
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WHYY. Levittown Pennsylvania Man Beheading Father Trial
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Crimewatch. Justin Mohn Convicted First Degree Murder Sentenced Life Without Parole
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ABC News. Police Social Media Post After Man Found Deceased
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KSAT. Woman at Son’s Murder Trial Recounts Finding Husband’s Decapitated Corpse
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WGAL. New Gates Prevented Decapitation Suspect From Driving Onto Base
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Bucks County Courier Times. New Charges Justin Mohn Terrorism
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Levittown Now. Justin Mohn Explains Father’s Killing as Failed Citizen’s Arrest
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Bucks County Courier Times. Justin Mohn Levittown Beheading Murder Bucks County
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NBC News. Suspect in Father’s Decapitation Went Off the Rails After College
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Newsweek. Justin Mohn Revolutionary Pamphlet Killing Family Members
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CourtListener. Mohn v. United States, No. 23-cv-02653
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Crimewatch. Man Charged Killing Father Middletown Township Home
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Crimewatch. Justin Mohn Arraigned Aggravators Filed Middletown Township Capital Murder Case
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WWNY TV. Son Convicted Sentenced Life Shooting Beheading Father
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Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Commonwealth v. Mohn, 1868 EDA 2025
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CBS News Philadelphia. Justin Mohn Levittown Father Beheaded Verdict
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Levittown Now. Superior Court Rejects Justin Mohn’s Appeal in Murder Beheading Case