I have just sporadically kept up with this case so my opinion can't be worth much. If I try and put myself in a desperate male in this situation I am going to start with seeking indirect help. Needing confirmation of my game plan. I think initial inquiry was to gamer in Pulaski then later NK. I guess it DE starts physical relationship then wants out. Some form of blackmail ensues. DE asked Pulaski guy for advice. Pulaski suggest just ending relationship and cease all contact with underage girl. But that wasn't enough as blackmail continues. DE knows he is in major trouble and Pulaski can't offer a more permanent solution...which sends DE to NK. I can guess DE initially formed his comments in a hypothetical way, something along the lines of "Hey NK, let's say you started an online relationship, it turned sexual, then you want out but the other party doesnt want to end relationship. What would you do?" DE then finds out how committed NK is to helping him out. I personally think DE felt painted into a desperate corner but NK sickly volunteered to ally w/ DE. I am in no way justifying DE's desperate and terrible actions....but for NK to volunteer to jump in and help shows her just as desperate. NK desperate for attention of some type, DE desperate for a solution.
I go back and forth on this too. While I don't want to diminish or justify DE's actions---because he, without a doubt, knowingly preyed on an innocent child who was desperate for attention just because he wasn't socially savvy or confident enough to meet someone his own age and that makes him the worst of the worst---but sometimes I wonder if (like you suggested) he felt backed into a corner and NK planted the "murder" seed in his head.
I also wonder how these two met each other. When I hear NK say things like "secret club" I think of an online club/message board... not necessarily a video game related board but maybe one about role play? We know he liked to play role play video games and we know she liked theater/drama. At this point, I wouldnt even discount these two meeting after one responded to a post online that said, Im looking for a fellow VT sociopath to plot and murder a teenage girl with
Kik message me if interested. Ive said it before and Im sure I will say it again, but it really makes me sick to think about the callousness of these two.
I can see them both having serious sociopathic tendencies but can actually picture NK taking it a step farther into psychopath land for these reasons:
-the YouTube video project she made for school (the video has since been removed) where her face turned all red, and she looked full of rage, and she was practically spitting on the video camera
-she uses the word sociopath-in-training in reference to herself (as if this were something to be proud of)
-she said the secrecy and planning of NLs murder gave her the best feeling ever
-LE claims she was insistent about showing LE where her body was located, while pointing out tire tracks and blood stains on the snow (needs credit to be given where its due)
-She initially lied about several things (had no info about NL, heard about her disappearance on the radio, didnt go to Walmart with DE, said DE first contacted her to ask for help almost 24 hours after NL went missing); if she initially lied about those things, who's to say she's not lying about being present during the crime or even being the person who stabbed her
-Only after LE dumped her phone did she admit to knowing more; only after being presented with the video surveillance did she break down and admit her part in this (this shows a level of manipulation thats not really being portrayed by the media)
-Her almost giddy demeanor during the booking process
-DE looks gaunt, sleep deprived, and haunted in his mugshot, NK looks sleep deprived, pissed off, annoyed, and disheveled in hers
-She shows up to court in a purple hoodie (possibly to get others to identify her as someone who is still just a little girl), while DE shows up in a black suit and tie
-She was fidgety, took notes, and whispered back and forth with her lawyers; he remained still and stared at the table in front of him
I just dont know. Maybe I only feel like shes more lethal and evil than he is because shes talked a lot, whereas hes said very little. But I dont think I like where this is going----where she paints herself as a naïve little girl who is also a victim in this tragedy because she was manipulated by DE into helping him commit this crime. Because, regardless if she was the mastermind here or not, she played a much larger and more sinister role than shed like us to believe.
In South Carolina, any person who aids in the commission of a murder or is an accessory before the fact is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be punished in the same manner as the principal felon.. I wish that was also true in VA!