A man was arrested in the United States hours after he appeared in a video with a severed head that he claimed was his father’s. He is suspected of murdering his father and had made a political rant against the US authorities in the video.

The man was detained on Jan 30 in Fort Indiantown Gap in central Pennsylvania, approximately two hours away from his home in Levittown where the police found a body with a missing head in the bathroom.

Fort Indiantown Gap is a training facility for the Pennsylvania National Guard but the suspect is not part of the guard.

The police said they received a call at around 7pm on Jan 30 to investigate a death. The body belonged to a man in his 60s, it added. Local media reported that a woman called emergency services saying her husband’s head was found in her home.

The 33-year-old man was arrested just after 9pm after officers arrived at the Levittown home and found his father dead, said Middletown Township police chief Joseph Bartorilla.

The Pennsylvania authorities told local media a man identified as Justin Mohn was connected to the death. The YouTube video which showed the decapitated head was uploaded by a person with the same name. The video has been taken down for violating the site’s policy on violent and graphic content.

At the start of the 14½-minute video titled Call To Arms For American Patriots, the man, believed to be Mohn, picks up what appears to be a human head and says: “This is the head of Mike Mohn, a federal employee of over 20 years and my father. He is now in hell for eternity as a traitor to his country.”

He went on to direct the brunt of his tirade at the US federal authorities and called for violence against federal officials.

Apart from declaring himself as the “commander of America’s national network of militia”, he also called for the arrest of US President Joe Biden and “issued bounties” for public officers including Federal Bureau of Investigation chief Christopher Wray and US Attorney-General Merrick Garland.

Middletown Township police said the authorities are investigating what they refer to as a “suspicious death”. 

Describing Mohn as the youngest son of his family, Mr Bartorilla added that the police have warned the victim’s wife and her other children about the graphic content of the video.

Previous grievances

According to court documents, Mohn may have had reasons to be disgruntled with the US authorities after suing the government and having his case thrown out at least four times.

In the most recent ruling dated June 12, 2023, Mohn sued the US for allowing him to take a student loan for his college degree without advising him that he would not find “satisfactory work” after graduation.

Mohn, who graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness management, had sought US$10 million (S$13.4 million) from the US government. The judge dismissed the claim, writing in his ruling that the US does not have a duty to him as a lender.

In his video, Mohn named the presiding judge of his last case and read out his alleged address, placing another “bounty” on the judge for US$100,000 after he ruled that the government has “no duty to care for its own citizens”.