I'm going to start by saying I expect to receive alot of dissenting opinions but... I'm putting it out there anyway...
I don't believe that KC is a "true sociopath" at least not clinically speaking... She does exhibit quite a few of the traits associated with sociopathy, narcissism, depression , anxiety and dare I say it? PTSD.... I'm sorry, but she does...
True sociopaths are born that way and the evidence will present itself in early childhood and before the age of 15. As far as I can tell, and please someone correct me if I am wrong, but it is my understanding that KC was able to express positive emotions and feelings for people, was very well behaved in school, never in any trouble and made good grades... until she dropped out right before graduation in 2004. I would really love to know the reason why she did because I see that as the jumping off point for the buildup that had been occurring for years. [WARNING SIGN #1]
Sociopathic behavior (along with the other myriad of potential KC diagnosis) is a learned response. KC was raised in a home with a mother that has been described as having & has on several occasions exhibited the following characteristics in public; inconsistent maternal enforcement of rules, loud arguments between the parents, low maternal educational aspirations for the child, maternal difficulty controlling anger toward the child, maternal possessiveness, maternal use of guilt to control the child, maternal verbal abuse, paternal assistance to the child's mother, and paternal fulfillment of the role of father. (I posted that description earlier) [WARNING SIGN #2]
It is my contention that something happened in early 2004 to cause KC to quit school just shy of graduation and then find herself pregnant within 6 months or so.... I suspect the pressure to be perfect was finally building and KC was rebelling a little more at a time. My gut tells me that KC was raped either by placing herself into a compromising situation (and feels responsible) or she truly was forcibly raped... either way it would be traumatic enough to possibly cause PSTD and get the ball rolling with her new persona. [WARNING SIGN #3]
Regardless of whether or not she was raped, it is evident that she did not want to be pregnant. I would not doubt that she denied to herself that she was pregnant long before she finally had no other choice but to admit it to her parents. She confessed to at least one friend that she did not want the baby and wanted to give it up for adoption but that her mother was making her have the baby. Yet another example of CA's controlling behavior and now KC is really trapped with her parents. I'll go ahead and now say that, in and of itself may have caused some PTSD... throw in some major hormone changes before and after birth (PPD) (especially in that house) and we (the outside observers) could pull up our lawn chairs and wait for the top to fly off the pressure cooker. [WARNING SIGNS # 4 & #5]
However.... KC wasn't fully cooked yet.... she had a relationship with Jesse that would have provided an escape from her parent's house (but still probably not from under CA's thumb) but that relationship failed.... It appears that event was yet another stepping stone in her downward spiral... from what I can tell, it seems as though that time frame corresponds to when the excessive lying, stealing from family and promiscuity really started to take off... the sociopathic/narcissistic/adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depression KC was emerging from her cocoon.. [WARNING SIGNS #6, #7 & #8]
Jesse reports in November that he had thought about getting back together with KC but she had changed. Jesse also reports that KC had a seizure (I know alot about this has been discussed) but random seizures (with no prior history) can be another warning sign from your body that something is wrong in your brain, chemically and/or structurally, add that to the other stressors in KC’s life and the disorder pot starts boiling even harder. [WARNING SIGNS #9 & #10]
I know that she told two different friends on two separate occasions that she wanted to check herself into a mental hospital, telling them she was depressed and felt trapped. I believe the last call was in December/January 2008 (again, correct me if I am wrong). [WARNING SIGNS #11 & #12]
I believe by February 2008 KC was beginning to fantasize about her parents being out of her life and possibly Caylee as well (if only to spite her mother).. By March 2008 (when the computer searches began) she was starting to consider it even more and jumped from fantasizing to planning. She was looking for ways to accomplish the task when the day would come…. [WARNING SIGN #13 - in all fairness this would be hard to detect unless you were searching for it]
However… Given the dates below… regardless of whether or not she had actually completed all she needed for her “mission”… the middle of June appears to be the timeframe she was targeting anyway.
May 13th - KC starts talking to Amy about moving in together and that CA would be signing the house over to her in mid-June. About 3 weeks later Amy says that CA took back the agreement because she had 30 days to do so.... then said 2 days later GA was cheating on CA. (setting up murder/suicide?)
May 19th - KC provides Amy with a tentative move-in date of June 18th...
June 13th KC says GA has a mini-stroke and she can't go to Jax with Amy to get her car...
June15th - CA & Caylee visit GGP's.... alleged blowup fight at the A's that evening; CA strangles KC.
June 16th - KC & Caylee leave without taking extra clothes. They come back to the house and well... by now... KC has officially "snapped"… it was probably the night before but obviously she is in “mission mode”…. it is anyone's guess as to the exact method; duct tape to silence, to smother her mouth & nose, put her in the pool to drown/suffocate w/ the tape on, taped her up, wrapped her in the pooh blanket, put her in the laundry bag and then into the plastic bin in her car and drove away... then put her in garbage bags before she dumped her in the woods (to make it look like trash instead of a body)... and of course there is the possibility that part of her “mission mode” was that the duct tape was placed to make it look like a kidnapping so KC wouldn't be blamed when she was found… which brings us to the lying and how could anyone be that stupid to think that anyone is going to believe this story…
APD's are not always skilled liars because they expect their victims to believe what they say and don't know how to react when people don't buy their stories... they are very capable of turning off interpersonal connections when they are faced with the truth or stressful events. During acts that they know are wrong but just don't care enough to stop themselves it is very easy for them to disassociate themselves from what they are doing. That provides them with the ability to commit violent acts without feeling remorse.
KC’s lack of emotions except when she is the one being punished are good visual demonstrations of her disassociation with Caylee (no tears) and show that her only concern is for herself (tears). It is abundantly evident when people talk about Caylee, she shows no emotion except hostility and redirects the focus to KC as the victim. She only demonstrates tears when discussing her own suffering or punishment.
In summary... CA & GA provided an environment that would foster emotional and psychological damage by predisposing KC to their own maladaptive parental disorders. [Parents battling for control over one another & their offspring, insisting always on perfection, lying when it is not and literally getting away with murder for years… again, its learned behavior…]
And please don't misunderstand... I speak from experience... I could be a poster child for the most messed up family in the US but instead I prefer to be grateful that I didn't end up on the back of a milk carton.... I have little sympathy for people that grow up in very dysfunctional households and consistently blame their parents as the reason they are unable to function in society as well as others. If are you are able to recognize that you have a problem; then you are able to do something about it.... get help; therapy, medication - BOTH (trust me)... or at least have a warning label tattooed on your forehead for the rest of us to know that you are BSC...
(if I had a nickel....)