Dawn Haas, a Florida mother, has spoken of her shock after hearing her son calmly confess to murder in a 911 call for the first time. Justyn Pennell, now 21, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading no contest to the killing of 75-year-old Michael Pratt, a Vietnam veteran and grandfather, in Hudson, Florida, on January 9, 2020.
In the call, played for the first time in the Investigation Discovery series Evil Lives Here: My Child the Killer, Pennell tells the dispatcher: 'I just killed someone. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.' He admits he had been driving around looking for people to hit and intentionally targeted Pratt, saying: 'I saw the old guy with the cane and then I made a U-turn. I just went for him.'
Haas, who had long suspected something was off with her son due to disturbing behaviours such as staring at her, fits of rage, and laughing at others' injuries, was horrified to hear his detached tone. She also saw photos of items recovered from his car, including knives, gloves, and a hatchet, which she described as 'a literal murder kit.'
Pennell told investigators he had been thinking about killing someone for months and enjoyed the act, saying: 'I just smiled and laughed. I enjoyed it, but afterwards, I calmed down. I was more ashamed that I broke the car.' He had no connection to his victim.
Haas recalled earlier red flags, such as when Pennell at age nine slammed a duck against a log and laughed when his cousin was hit by a car. She said: 'It created a red flag in the back of my brain that he might be a psychopath.' The episode airs on March 31.
