Dr Gary Brucato is on towards the end and he adds that the MPD summary of his post arrest interview shows things ' you wouldn't expect to see from somebody on autistic spectrum...... masterful evasion' Exellent interview with Brucato on ' double life... manipulative mind, scheming.... masks'
(Snipped by me)
Masking in social situations is a common human behavior, including among autistic individuals.
Contrary to stereotype, autistic individuals can lie (masking, after all, involves some deception):
Deceptive behaviour in autism: A scoping review
Also contrary to stereotype, most autistic individuals have plenty of
affective/emotional empathy, though some may struggle with
cognitive empathy. It is
psychopaths who have no
affective empathy.
Though rare, an individual can be
both autistic and psychopathic:
The relationship between psychopathy and autism: a systematic review and narrative synthesis
IMO, incels who murder are likely to be
both autistic and psychopathic. Such an individual might join an online forum with other individuals who hate women and are envious of romantically successful men, then their lack of affective empathy leads them to use violence to get even.
I imagine if an autistic individual had co-occurring psychopathy, they may be able to lie masterfully—with enough practice.
For what it’s worth, I think the murderer may simply be psychopathic and not be autistic, as Dr. Brocato implies.
I
personally know many individuals with autistic traits, but none of these people have psychopathic traits—that I have witnessed, at least.
I also personally know only two individuals who I think are psychopathic. The first (a relative) shows no signs of autism and instead was often manic in his youth. The second (a former roommate) was socially awkward, but this awkwardness was due to his intensity, his need to control others, and his simmering anger that would suddenly erupt, appalling both co-workers and roommates. Like the murderer we discuss here, he was an excellent student, but unlike the murderer, he always had a girlfriend, in spite of his creepy vibe. (If a man is handsome enough, he usually has no problem finding a woman to put up with him.) Anyway, I periodically look up his name to see if he has moved away, or if he is in prison.
IMO