Diddian
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Do you think it possible that a "close friend relationship dynamic" could motivate a PAIR of individuals to attempt violence together that both - or at least one of those individuals - might not attempt on his/their own?I would have to know the entire circumstances of such an event. People can get enraged over ongoing roommate/neighbor/household feuds.
It's a horrific crime, no matter what the motivation, but I will stand by the rubric that the person is mentally disordered, isn't thinking like a normal person, is not a typical person, etc. And there are signs of that psychopathology in that person, although they may do a great deal to conceal it. It's always surprised me to interview people in jail or prison for violent crimes to hear their version of how it came about.
Since college students are of an age where certain mental illnesses first occur, I am not ruling out research that shows relationships between schizophrenia and bizarre murders, but there are many other mental disorders that could be comorbid in this case. Killer seems rather organized to be a schizophrenic killer, though.
I think about friends who have been surprised at some of the behaviors (bullying, stealing, cheating) their own children got involved in as part of a group that they'd likely never have engaged in on their own. Often there was one particular member of the friend group who was more of a risk-taker and boundary-violator and that member would dare or goad the others on. Often that member was more successful at evading detection while others might get caught and bear consequences.
Of course, these were relatively minor offenses compared to a quadruple homicide.
But I find myself vacillating back and forth between this looking like a "close-relationship-reactive" crime (based on factors reported about these particular victims, their long term relationships with each other and others, and timing of KG's visit before she moved on into post-college life) and a "thrill killer opportunist" crime (given four were killed and in such a vicious and bloody way with others present in the home, incl. possibly a dog).
In an earlier thread, @diggndeeperstill posted a variety of opinions and supporting factors from various former FBI behavioral analysts/agents and homicide detectives. While there were some commonalities, those experts also were divided between the two possibilities. To some extent, this is likely because there are so many missing pieces of information in the public sphere, but it could also be because there really are factors pointing to both.
This makes me wonder if there might be two perpetrators with independent motives; one feeling wronged and "left behind" and quite frustrated and angry about it and another - a close friend, perhaps for life - comfortable with risk and with taking action regardless of violating boundaries and with goading the other to act.
ETA: Alternatively, it could be that the risk taker might act entirely on his own and believe that by doing so he is serving the interests of his friend. (That is, the "wronged friend" played no role except in sharing his frustrations and anger.)