I'm going with the "socially savvy" part of Kam to be an acquired skill. From what we have heard (and it isn't much), he appeared to be outwardly pleasant. But we now know what you saw with him isn't exactly what you got.
I disagree...I think Kam actually was a kind and pleasant person for most of his life. I've never seen anyone say anything to the contrary. I don't think he was secretly doing evil things the entire time behind peoples' backs, because there's no evidence of that, and I think something would have come out by now. However, people change, and sometimes they change for the worse. Something pushed him over the edge.
Same with Bryer -- although Bryer was troubled and had homicidal thoughts, having those thoughts and acting on them are very different things. There's no evidence that he ever was physically violent towards anyone before this. Something pushed him over the edge too. I've always said this whole thing was kind of a grasshopper to locust transformation for both of them.
But I do think probably in the past Kam was a lot more socially awkward and learned more social skills as he got older, but still felt socially inferior and had low self-esteem. That's just based on my experience with people I knew growing up. JMO.
I'm curious which "dorky" interests he had .... I only knew of him being an avid gamer and he camped in the woods, etc. I'm genuinely interested if you can elaborate more on that?
Well, I know he was also into anime. And I'm pretty sure he was also into Airsoft and survivalism, since Bryer was. BTW I'm not trying to put anyone on blast for having those interests or anything...go live your best life! I'm just saying that other teenagers might see them as dorky interests or something to make fun of.
Agreed, Kam and Bryer were each other's only true friend ... whether they preferred it that way (my guess) or people instinctively didn't get close is another question. Maybe a little of both. MOO
According to the latest interview, Bryer had a group of four close friends including Kam. And I've seen evidence suggesting that Kam had some other friends as well. I definitely don't think they were each others' only friend at this point, although it's likely they were at some point in the past. However I think they were definitely very emotionally codependent on each other and probably felt like nobody else truly understood them.
However, having a group of friends doesn't preclude one from being bullied or socially excluded in general.
Yes, definitely possible! I'm not totally convinced Kam was bullied, or maybe he was due to his friendship with Bryer ... so this alternate scenario between them also makes sense. IMO
I've thought he was the entire time. It just fits. When two people are that emotionally codependent on each other, it has to be for a reason. Something has to have happened to bond them together. Bryer was codependent on Kam because of his troubled home life and, as we've now found out, being bullied in school. It makes sense that he would depend on Kam that much because there were probably many times where he felt Kam was the only person who truly cared about him.
But Kam emotionally depended on Bryer too. There has to be a reason for that. Why would Kam be "inseparable" best friends for 13 or 14 years with the weird outcast kid with the dysfunctional family, if he didn't relate to that on some level? Obviously he related to Bryer's suicidal and homicidal thoughts, as we now know. He didn't seem to be bothered by Bryer's more troubled behavior at all. I think there's also some evidence indicating that Kam had very low self-esteem in general. I've been saying the whole time that Kam likely went through something too and that it was most likely bullying or even social exclusion. (And people argued with me when I said Bryer was probably bullied...turns out I was right....)
And BTW I'm now even more convinced that they never would have been captured alive. Bryer was bullied in school for years. Kam probably was too. If they went to prison it would just be more bullying for their entire lives, except on a much more violent and brutal scale and with nowhere to hide. We all know they would have fared very badly in prison. And, they would never see or talk to each other again. They never would have allowed that to happen. That's probably why they seemed so terrified when they were stuck in the mud and pulled over by the police.
I think they stayed alive for so long because that's how long it took them to go through with killing themselves -- they probably had to work up to it -- and maybe on some level they hadn't accepted the reality and were hoping they might be able to escape somehow.