Meara
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I am sure it has been discussed before but for the benefit of newer members, it should be addressed.
Whoever killed JBR, was not satisfied to simply kill her. The killer went to extreme measures to make sure she was dead and likely suffered horribly in the process...overkill.
Using both a neck ligature and a blunt object like a flashlight or a golf club to cause fatal injuries demonstrates a level of violence that far exceeds what would typically be required to kill someone.
It suggests not just an intent to kill but an intent to inflict extreme harm or suffering. This excessive brutality can be indicative of intense rage, hatred, or a desire to ensure the victim's demise beyond any doubt.
Consider for a moment, is this something that either parent would seem to be capable of? What would be their motivation?
What of the intruder theory? Gary Oliva proclaimed love for JB and how she made him a better person.
Would he be capable of this?
Psychologically, overkill in a homicide can also signify deeper emotional issues or a lack of control on the part of the perpetrator. It may reflect a need for dominance or a way to exert power over the victim in a particularly vicious manner.
The only person in this scenario who would fit the bill is the jealous older brother who was very likely sexually abusing JB over an extended period of time and finally, the rage built up to the point he had to act.
My question would be, what prompted him to act at that particular time?
Did she receive more presents than him?
Was she shown more attention at the party that evening?
Did she recently win another pageant, causing him to get angrier at being marginalized even further?
JR and PR seeing what he had done, had to cover it up or lose their remaining child, and so began the clumsy attempts at trying to stage the house to look as if a miraculous intruder was able to carry this crime out.
Although I did a kind of forensic on BR that would account for his killing JBR and the timing of, I wasn't sure it accounted, in the end, for the overkill. From what we know of him at the time and have been able to observe since, I'd say he does display a broad array of symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome. While his traumas beginning around age 5 didn't cause it - the disorder is developmental - they surely can't have helped. But, were the organic and environmental factors together enough to cause what you describe as the intent to produce extreme harm or suffering, excessive brutality, intense rage, and viciousness? Would some degree of psychopathy also have to have been present for BR to inflict the injuries JBR suffered?
I know you've wondered about this, too, and it turns out we're not alone. This article in Psychology Today
Asperger's Disorder vs. Psychopathy suggests that people with AS tend not to be destructively or calculatedly violent. However, this article Psychiatric comorbidities in asperger syndrome and high functioning autism: diagnostic challenges - Annals of General Psychiatry and this one https://jaapl.org/content/49/4/462 from The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law both confirm that there is such a thing as Autistic Psychopathy; i.e., that AS and psychopathy can be comorbid (but aren't necessarily). In simple terms, the difficulty lies in sorting out whether the lack of empathy in an offender is one symptom among many others (as in AS) or a defining characteristic (as in psychopathy). It's a puzzle and a hot topic. With respect to BR, research shows the two disorders are likelier to overlap if there has been parental neglect and/or childhood trauma.
So where does that leave us? In an uncomfortable spot, I think. We can say that having AS made him very vulnerable to the skewed family dynamics but his lack of empathy may have had darker origins, as well. And that's what many have heard in his statement, "I'm getting on with my life" (One is tempted to ask, 'And do you like fava beans?'). If he is psychopathic, it's likely there would have been further offenses. We don't know of any - but then he does appear to live a somewhat cocooned life; and better management of AS after JBR's death may have dialed down the violent tendencies. His med records prior to the murder weren't sealed, only afterwards. You have to wonder whether that's because they included a new/tentative diagnosis of Autistic Psychopathy.