Since it has been mentioned that JM was not the best student and that his tutor thought he was performing at a much lower level than the college material he was studying, my guess is that he may be dyslexic. That is not to say he isn't smart in his own way though.
That got me thinking about the correlation between dyslexia and rape. I found some studies that do substantiate this. I searched "dyslexia and rape" if any of you would care to see the information on it.
The idea is that they are sweet nice friendly people who have struggled with failure and humiliation as children. As they get older the way they approach women in their nice mode is sometimes not returned. All the humiliation and hurt they felt all those years bubbles up to the surface and they act out, a quick temper, which may make the woman scared. They then feel power over someone, maybe for the first time. They can escalate their behavior quickly and go from abuse to rape to killing, getting their pleasure from inflicting hurt that was inflicted on them as children with their new found feeling of power.
There is also the potential to change this behavior from ever happening if they are identified as dyslexic at an early age and shown other ways to learn in an environment that is nurturing as opposed to ridicule from teachers and the humiliation from other students, which may have been the norm many years ago. I know I have seen this happen in classes I was in.
Just trying to understand what would provoke someone as nice as people claim JM to be to possibly go from one extreme to the other. I don't believe that so many people are born evil. They either learn it or have been in circumstances they were not prepared to handle and their brain's defense mechanism takes over in horrible ways.
Kie Green, thanks for this informative post! My first response was, "Whoa! There can't be a SIGNIFICANT relationship between the two!" And I'm sure, of course, that it's a rare phenomenon. But actually, something along these lines was what I was referring to in my earlier question for Spicer. I asked him if he thought JM felt , not only the accolades, but also the pity. I think he may not have seen this aspect with JM. But I've worked with teens for over 20 years, and I have seen the curious combination of love and distance that some students place on others. For one example, I can just see a student (especially a female) reaching over, giving a quick hug, "love ya, bro!"--then quickly going her own separate way especially if he were awkward and a little "different," not wanting to be a REAL friend, but more of a superficial one...one with genuine feelings, yes, but not considering this person as a peer.
It is so hard for a kid with a learning disability to deal over years with struggle, and humiliation, and the sideways glances, and the suppressed giggles, and the labels....(and it's a darn shame, because dyslexia has NOTHING to do with intelligence.) But kids can be judgmental and cruel, as we all know.
Most kids with any kind of LD are smart, adaptive, and end up perfectly fine. But I can honestly see this scenario playing out with certain individuals IF there are also other significant negatives in his life, whether it be abuse or mental illness,etc. It's complicated, but it could happen.
I certainly would never assume anything about JM's upbringing or his mental health. I'm sure his family loves him and has most likely supported him, and they have done nothing wrong. I'm also not tolerating, rationalizing, or trying to explain away his behavior. I'm just trying to understand. My heart aches for the missing and their families, especially the Graham's now with Hannah's disappearance. The sad thing is we will probably never know the origins of this awful tragedy.
