Why? What was the motive?

[CyberLaw]

Why did Scott Peterson not just divorce Laci and not kill her and the baby.

Seems to normal people the logical thing to do.

But not Scotty........he thought that the Police would take a report and then that is it.

He could not understand why "all of the fuss" for a missing pregnant women on Christmas eve. He did not even think that the police would do anything except take a missing person report.

He did not even think that they would look for her. See that is Scotty's mind.

There is often no clear cut normal motive or reason for criminals, they have a weird and warped sence of why they do things.

it is not like you can jump into their heads.

I have seen way too many situation, that people attempt to justify in their own evils minds for doing what they do.

These people are poster childs for Personality Disorders, and I put money, yes ladies and gents, money on the fact that Darlie is a poster child for NPD and Histronic Personality Disorder.

In many circumstances when a person has one personality disorder(cluster type B)they have underlying morbity.

So don't even try to think of a "normal" motive for the way criminals think. Trust me you can't.

Really you can't. Not in a sence of understanding of the word normal. These people are not normal.

A man hits a child with a car. He gets out, looks at his car and phones his insurance company to report the accident.

Not 911 on the injured child, no, he is not concerned about the child bleeding in the street because it does not directly affect him and his money or his possession.

To him this is perfectly fine. To others, the man is warped.

A man runs into a very cold and desolate forest, escaping from the Police. Hides out for days, trying to evade capture. He is finally caught. Then he turns around and sues the police for not finding him faster enough, because he got frost bite on his toes and fingers(true story).

The injuries that Darlie inflicted on the boys, indicated extreme anger towards them. Extreme anger.

I don't even attempt to speculate "why" anymore. I would drive myself crazy if I did.

It comes down also to personal responsibility also.

Darlie saw the boys as objects, not children. She had little or no emotional attachment to them.

Darlie is all about Darlie and only Darlie.

 

[mollymalone]

SNIP
Darlie saw the boys as objects, not children. She had little or no emotional attachment to them.

Darlie is all about Darlie and only Darlie.

That's why I think Darlie alone is responsible. Darlie was about accumulating "things" that made her look good. Darlie engaged in activities with the children that made her look good. In Darlie's eyes, she worked hard to see that people around her saw her as a well to do mom who looked good in appearance and did the things moms do. Neighbors described them as an updated version of the Clampetts.

 

[cami]

Why did Scott Peterson not just divorce Laci and not kill her and the baby.

Seems to normal people the logical thing to do.

But not Scotty........he thought that the Police would take a report and then that is it.

He could not understand why "all of the fuss" for a missing pregnant women on Christmas eve. He did not even think that the police would do anything except take a missing person report.

He did not even think that they would look for her. See that is Scotty's mind.

There is often no clear cut normal motive or reason for criminals, they have a weird and warped sence of why they do things.

it is not like you can jump into their heads.

I have seen way too many situation, that people attempt to justify in their own evils minds for doing what they do.

These people are poster childs for Personality Disorders, and I put money, yes ladies and gents, money on the fact that Darlie is a poster child for NPD and Histronic Personality Disorder.

In many circumstances when a person has one personality disorder(cluster type B)they have underlying morbity.

So don't even try to think of a "normal" motive for the way criminals think. Trust me you can't.

Really you can't. Not in a sence of understanding of the word normal. These people are not normal.

A man hits a child with a car. He gets out, looks at his car and phones his insurance company to report the accident.

Not 911 on the injured child, no, he is not concerned about the child bleeding in the street because it does not directly affect him and his money or his possession.

To him this is perfectly fine. To others, the man is warped.

A man runs into a very cold and desolate forest, escaping from the Police. Hides out for days, trying to evade capture. He is finally caught. Then he turns around and sues the police for not finding him faster enough, because he got frost bite on his toes and fingers(true story).

The injuries that Darlie inflicted on the boys, indicated extreme anger towards them. Extreme anger.

I don't even attempt to speculate "why" anymore. I would drive myself crazy if I did.

It comes down also to personal responsibility also.

Darlie saw the boys as objects, not children. She had little or no emotional attachment to them.

Darlie is all about Darlie and only Darlie.

I'll cover your bet Pysche, I too believe Darlie is histrionic and narcississtic, and that she objectified her children and was detached from them emotionally. That she allowed the neighbours children in her home to play in the nintendo room and was so generous with gifts and designer clothes and elaborate birthday parties was to make herself look good to the community and nothing more. Yes, it's all about Darlie.

 

[camillllla]

Hi all,

That's the first I have heard about this... can someone point me to where this was in the transcripts (or a photo in MTJD?). Do you mean that there was blood spatter on the actual page of her and the boys but that it was found closed at the scene (ie. that she closed it after the attack)?

Dani

Dani, I dont know how much Dasgals inside info is worth on this particular point but take a look at page 315. The album is laying there open, not closed.
Had it been closed then that would have been all the evidence the prosecution ever needed.
And I never heard of any 'spatter' being on the album, just some blood.



c

 

[cami]

That's why I think Darlie alone is responsible. Darlie was about accumulating "things" that made her look good. Darlie engaged in activities with the children that made her look good. In Darlie's eyes, she worked hard to see that people around her saw her as a well to do mom who looked good in appearance and did the things moms do. Neighbors described them as an updated version of the Clampetts.

Yeah you only have to look at that Silly String Video to see Darlie's HPD on display.

"look at me, look at me, I'm the victim, I lost my children"

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Yeah you only have to look at that Silly String Video to see Darlie's HPD on display.

"look at me, look at me, I'm the victim, I lost my children"

Don't you just love the way these guilty aholes throw the word "lost" around?
Scott Peterson said he lost Laci;
Michael Schiavo said he lost Terri;
Darlie "lost" her kids.

 

[mollymalone]

Yeah you only have to look at that Silly String Video to see Darlie's HPD on display.

"look at me, look at me, I'm the victim, I lost my children"

You know, until SP came along with that comment "lost my wife," I would have taken that statement at face value. But now, I realize that most people mean that one way, they lost someone they loved, but others, especially those who murder mean it in an entirely different way.

The silly string was stupid, but explainable. Some people do weird things sometimes at funerals. In New Orleans & other areas, people mourn, but also celebrate a person's life at the same time during a funeral procession.
Playing jazz music, carrying umbrellas. That is strange to those not familiar with the concept.

What bothers me more is the injuries to the children, the angle of the wounds,
the fact that breakable "things," things that Darlie collected were not broken. They were all in place. The jewelry on the counter not taken. The vaccuum cleaner being placed as it was.

If indeed her son was stabbed by someone other than her, and awoke to "put pressure on mommy's arm" and whisper mommy.... if he was awake, wouldn't he be crying or screaming from pain? Would he be pressuring her arm while the man is standing there looking at them both? I have a problem with her multiple story changes. The boys were stabbed while they were sleeping and had no chance to respond or to scream or cry out. Darin heard a sound and then Darlie screaming. I think that sound was after Darlie cut herself and had set the scene.

 

[mollymalone]

Don't you just love the way these guilty aholes throw the word "lost" around?
Scott Peterson said he lost Laci;
Michael Schiavo said he lost Terri;
Darlie "lost" her kids.

Darlie reminds me of Diane Downs.

 

[cami]

You know, until SP came along with that comment "lost my wife," I would have taken that statement at face value. But now, I realize that most people mean that one way, they lost someone they loved, but others, especially those who murder mean it in an entirely different way.

The silly string was stupid, but explainable. Some people do weird things sometimes at funerals. In New Orleans & other areas, people mourn, but also celebrate a person's life at the same time during a funeral procession.
Playing jazz music, carrying umbrellas. That is strange to those not familiar with the concept.

What bothers me more is the injuries to the children, the angle of the wounds,
the fact that breakable "things," things that Darlie collected were not broken. They were all in place. The jewelry on the counter not taken. The vaccuum cleaner being placed as it was.

If indeed her son was stabbed by someone other than her, and awoke to "put pressure on mommy's arm" and whisper mommy.... if he was awake, wouldn't he be crying or screaming from pain? Would he be pressuring her arm while the man is standing there looking at them both? I have a problem with her multiple story changes. The boys were stabbed while they were sleeping and had no chance to respond or to scream or cry out. Darin heard a sound and then Darlie screaming. I think that sound was after Darlie cut herself and had set the scene.

That to me was a great big red neon sign flashing "guilty" "guilty" That she could continue to allege that Damon walked and talked with 6 stab wounds in his tiny back. Bull effing Chit he did.

Sorry, I swing between contempt and compassion for Darlie. Some days I really feel sorry for her and others I want to strangle her.

Yeah that sound that Darin says he heard was the wine glass the intruder broke on his way out!

 

[Goody]

I think I have figured it out, folks. I was answering a post at CTV when suddenly it was clear as a bell. Right there in front of me all along, but I couldn't quite grasp it.

Here's the gist of it:
Darlie had been on diet pills since March, and not just any diet pills. It was FenPhen which is not recommended for people who only have 20 pounds to lose (like Darlie) and not recommended to be taken for over a month at a time (Darlie was on it for approx 3 months). I think it is safe to assume that it was interferring with her sleep which is why the baby's movements in the crib kept waking her up. On the other hand, it should have kept her from going into a deep sleep, which means she should have easily heard the intruder(s) attack the kids, who were sleeping only a couple of feet from her.

In her police statement she admitted to feeling depressed that night and said that she and Darin had words. How that evolves into a wicked argument, I am not sure. I personally have not believed there was any serious talk of separation. I have thought that was just a last ditch rescue effort the defense had talked Darin into for legal purposes. But now I am thinking I was wrong about that.

Darlie's bestfriend, Basia, testified that Darlie told her she was afraid if they did separate, Darin's mother would take her kids away from her, so my guess is that was Darin's threat that he hung over her head when she threatened to leave him. I also suspect that Sarilda probably critcized Darlie's parenting skills over the years, and maybe there was even a time when they had a little spat and the threat became more real. If not, i can't imagine Darlie taking the threat seriously, so something must have happened to put that fear into her. And according to Basia, it was there alright.

That tells me that Darlie probably felt trapped, unable to leave him, and if she were really, really angry with him over his inability to collect from those who owed him so that she could go on her trips, among other things, she might have reared up with an ultimatum or threat to leave that was countered by a reinforcement of the threat to take the kids (and make her pay child support. Talk about an equalizer!)

So now we have a very angry Darlie, nervous and rattled by a dangerous diet drug (it was taken off the market for several years) feeling trapped and rebellious, suffering from depression with her back up against the wall. Darlie and Darin both have big egos which is pretty obvious by their testimonies and the lifestyle they chose. It is easy to see them in a power struggle. Plus all these things coming together at once could have pushed her into an emotional corner and made her come out fighting. "I'll show him. If he thinks he can trap me like this, I will take his power away him. He can't hold the kids over my head if they don't exist anymore."

That is over simplified but you can surely get the feel of the rage that might have been churning around in her. I don't think it was the first time she thought of it. I think she'd thought of it whenever he made her feel he was the one in control and there was nothing she could do about it. I think her thinking about it was part of the PPD she suffered with within the last six months. Her suicide attempt was her last effort at getting Darin's attention, in getting him to understand he really really needed to help her more. But he didn't get it and no sooner did the moment pass than he was back to life as usual, doing his thing and abandoning her (in her mind), leaving all the work at home up to her. (I don't think she appreciated the work he did that paid for all she had. I think she felt he was weak and not aggressive/ambitious enough.)

I think they both saw the kids as a couple of anchors around their necks preventing them from the lifestyle they felt they deserved. But the kids also became weapons that the parents used against each other. Many feuding parents do that but these took it to the extreme, I think.

Anyway, their egos collided that night in a big power struggle and she simply decided to take the power he held over her away from him by erasing the boys. Drake might have been killed too if he had been downstairs with her. And that might also explain why Darin feels so guilty about it. I just don't know though if it explains why he is still tied to her almost ten years later. That is a bit hard to swallow.

Anyway she wouldn't be the first woman to kill her children to prevent someone else from raising them, esp her ex. With Darlie and Darin though I think it was more about power and control than it was prevention. If she hadn't been arrested, she could have walked away but I don't think that is what she really wanted. I think what she really wanted was to control Darin, to take away the control she felt he had over her. Once the kids were gone, she would have the power in the relationship, not Darin. And not his mother.

So what do you think? Is this why she did it?

 

[HeartofTexas]

I think this is quite good. It's pretty close to one of the scenarios I've come up with over the years. Several things came together in a horrible way that night... the use of diet pills, lack of solid and restorative sleep, PP depression, money problems, anger, a need for control, possibly a request for separation, etc. Everything was quite exaggerated in Darlie's mind that night, so her reactions were also very exaggerated.

The only thing I don't quite buy is Darlie being stupid enough to think there was any way Sarilda could take her kids away from her. That doesn't make sense to me unless Darin had convinced her that her previous talk of suicide would make her seem unstable before the Court system.

I can also see where, if she had asked for a separation that night, that she felt the kids stood between her and her freedom. IOW, since Darin was having money problems, what kind of lifestyle could she expect for herself if she had to take care of two young boys (in addition to the baby) on the child support payments she would get.

The only other thing I wonder about is how does your scenario explain the obvious rage the murders showed? Does your story make room for such rage against the boys, or at least one of them?

 

[cami]

Does your story make room for such rage against the boys, or at least one of them?

It is very very good Goody. I was going to ask the same thing Heart has asked here. You can still hear the anger in Darlie's voice on the 911 call, that's why I ask.

 

[Breehannah6]

I think all those diet pills are full of Amphetamines which can make lambs into tigers, I have seen these effects myself!

But without getting into a brawl like I am on another thread !lol Why didnt she kill hubby? He had to be insured for more than the kids, plus he was the seat of her anger not the kids,

I have been left by hubby who was an interstate truck driver to raise 3 babies and yes I used to get depressed (I didnt take diet pills!lol) and angry but mainly at him!:bang: If she could have thought this up I am sure she could have come up with a better scenario if she had of whacked him!

She could have hit him on the head stabbed him then said he tackled an intruder who killed him ! No need to slit her own throat! bruise and slice herself up. If she is as vain as they say on here why make that ugly mark on her own throat? They say when women commit suicide they usually do it in a way as not to disfigure themselves ,young men are the ones that shoot themselves in the head, ect.................
I just wish someone can tell me why the kids and not him!!!

 

[cami]

I think all those diet pills are full of Amphetamines which can make lambs into tigers, I have seen these effects myself!

But without getting into a brawl like I am on another thread !lol Why didnt she kill hubby? He had to be insured for more than the kids, plus he was the seat of her anger not the kids,

I have been left by hubby who was an interstate truck driver to raise 3 babies and yes I used to get depressed (I didnt take diet pills!lol) and angry but mainly at him!:bang: If she could have thought this up I am sure she could have come up with a better scenario if she had of whacked him!

She could have hit him on the head stabbed him then said he tackled an intruder who killed him ! No need to slit her own throat! bruise and slice herself up. If she is as vain as they say on here why make that ugly mark on her own throat? They say when women commit suicide they usually do it in a way as not to disfigure themselves ,young men are the ones that shoot themselves in the head, ect.................
I just wish someone can tell me why the kids and not him!!!

You'd have to ask Darlie that question. None of us here know why she murdered her own children. We can speculate till the cows come home but only she knows why this happened.

If Darlie were to kill Darin she would have had to do it while he was asleep that night. He could easily overpower her otherwise. How do you explain that scenario? How did an intruder even know Darin was upstairs? He would have had to have been stalking Darlie for some time to discern that info.

 

[Cassata11]

Snip

Why didnt she kill hubby? He had to be insured for more than the kids, plus he was the seat of her anger not the kids

I have always thought it was the attention from her hubby that she killed for. In my opinion she was moody that night, had a fight about Darren not spending time with her. I think normally Damon and Devin spent a lot of the late evening hours playing video games with Dad when he got home. I believe Darlie was jealous of that attention. (Or lack of attention.) I think it also explains why the boys would be outside riding their bikes until late. I think Darlie wanted Darren's attention all to herself.

Wasn't Darlie seen in the front of her home playing catch with Darren only days after the murders? Now she has full attention.

I agree that those diet pills had an effect on Darlie. Jealous rage? She drank wine that night as well??? I bet it was a blur to her. But it wouldn't change her guilt.

Maybe that's also why Darren covers for Darlie. He blames himself, and thinks perhaps it's his fault, for not paying attention to the drama queen.


Cassata

 

[beesy]

This is good, Goody, hee....I've felt for awhile she was meeting a dare or something like that. The "I'll show him" scenario. This is good...very good...some sort of threat from Darin. Suppose she actually said something along the lines of "I'll kill them before I let you(or Sarilda) take them?" He said "yeah, right go ahead and do it". All the other things you mentioned, the dangerous diet pills, sleep problems, being unable to snag Darin's attention, possibly paranoid that he and Dana are "flirting". Even he said he took longer dropping Dana off than was needed. Did this drive Darlie into believing her suspicions?
I think the "I'll show him" motive is a very good theory and not just because I've believed it for awhile either..lol..whether she actually threatened to "take" the boys from him(kill them) or she didn't, he would feel guilty. He knew he'd stirred her up enough to freak out, which is why he is still hanging on. If either one tells the truth, they both implicate themselves. I think that's why he won't unzip.:silenced: Now they're both trapped.

 

[Goody]

The only thing I don't quite buy is Darlie being stupid enough to think there was any way Sarilda could take her kids away from her. That doesn't make sense to me unless Darin had convinced her that her previous talk of suicide would make her seem unstable before the Court system.

Women live with a false sense of security today if they think custody is automatically reserved for the mothers in divorce court. Not so anymore/ In fact, a local social worker told me (a few years ago) that a huge percentage of grandparents are raising grandchildren today. Their kids get divorced and the grandparents end up with the responsibility. Or they go after it and being more stable financially often win. Besides, all Darin would have to do is move back home to prove that he could provide a more stable home for the children. Darlie certainly could not do that. So I think the threat was real. If nothing else, real in Darlie's mind. I don't think she was stupid to fear it.

I can also see where, if she had asked for a separation that night, that she felt the kids stood between her and her freedom. IOW, since Darin was having money problems, what kind of lifestyle could she expect for herself if she had to take care of two young boys (in addition to the baby) on the child support payments she would get.

What kind of lifestyle could she expect for herself period. She had no education and the best she could do was get herself another job in working motherboards for computers. Not a very high paying position at all. She might get alimony for awhile, but the courts would expect her to take advantage of the time to get herself educated. That means full time job eventually. Probably not all that appealing to Darlie.

The only other thing I wonder about is how does your scenario explain the obvious rage the murders showed? Does your story make room for such rage against the boys, or at least one of them?

Darlie was generally p.o'd that night. She was angry with the boys, she was angry with Darin, she was angry about the lack of funds, she was angry about having to give up her trips plus she was nervous and out of sorts due to the PPD and diet meds, lack of sleep, etc. And when she got angry she probably lost sight of the fact that the boys were just children. She felt the sting of their misbehaving very deeply. And I imagine she was not above taking her anger out with Darin on the boys like many parents do. I don't think she was calm as a cucumber. I think she was angry and she came up with her plan rather quickly, although I suspect it had crossed her mind in the past on other occasions when she was livid about something. People don't usually act on a wicked thought the first time it pops up. It is just on that night many things came together that had not before and how it did gave her the push she needed to cross the line.

I don't know whether she killed Devon first and then Damon later or if Darin interrupted it but not in time to save Devon or if he just stumbled into a horror crime scene when she woke him. The clean up on the kitchen floor causes a bit of a problem too, but I am thinking that maybe they didn't use it in the trial because Basia's mother washed it that day in bleach and they couldn't separate her cleaning from the the one they thought Darlie had done. If so, maybe there was no clean up in the kitchen except for the sink itself. If that is true, it at least clears the way for Darin to be innocent of the crime before and during, and that the motive was retaliation rather than elimination of burden or lust for money, etc.

If Darin threatened to take the kids and the house, etc. and use his mother to help him win custody over her (they liked drama he said), he would have the upper hand. Couples who are very competitive of each other never want to allow the other one that kind of power. And they hate losing. So if that was going on, I can see her sitting there after he went upstairs just seething and thinking of ways to get even with him, to take the power he thought he had away from him. And that might give her some bargaining power with him after the fact as well, if she can say, "If you hadn't said what you said, I wouldn't have felt so threatened and reacted the way I did. So you are just as much a part of this, too." it wouldn't work legally, but it might emotionally, depending on how co-denpendant Darin was.

 

[Goody]

It is very very good Goody. I was going to ask the same thing Heart has asked here. You can still hear the anger in Darlie's voice on the 911 call, that's why I ask.

Well, as I told Heart in my previous to this post, Darlie was angry at everyone that night....at Darin, at the boys, at the financial situation, because of disappointment, because of stress, because of rattled nerves, etc. etc. I don't think she went off into an uncontrollable rage. If she did the kids would have had a dozen stab wounds and it would be more frenzied rather than so well targeted, but I do think she was definitely P.O.'d and that she might have been striking out at Darin when she stabbed the boys. Kind of like pushing your husband's sports car off a cliff after you catch him with another woman.

 

[Goody]

I think all those diet pills are full of Amphetamines which can make lambs into tigers, I have seen these effects myself!

But without getting into a brawl like I am on another thread !lol Why didnt she kill hubby? He had to be insured for more than the kids, plus he was the seat of her anger not the kids,

I have been left by hubby who was an interstate truck driver to raise 3 babies and yes I used to get depressed (I didnt take diet pills!lol) and angry but mainly at him!:bang: If she could have thought this up I am sure she could have come up with a better scenario if she had of whacked him!!!!

She didn't want to kill Darin. She didn't want his life insurance. In fact,she didn't want money in its pure form. In my scenario, she would have felt trapped and would be striking out at the locked door rather than the jailer. You find this kind of thinking in couples who are very competitive with each other, like the movie "The War of the Roses." That couple did not fight over the material things, they just usedt them to strike out at the other one. It was a power struggle in its purest form. People who get caught up in this kind of "dramatic BS" lose sight of logic and even what is truly important to them. They just want to win, to beat their competitor, in this case Darlie wanted to beat Darin at whatever headgame they were playing with each other, which I am guessing might have been him keeping her in a position where she could not fight back. Then he could wave off what he probbably viewed as her silly drama, and that would drive her nuts. She'd turn herself inside out regaining the power in the relationship and wouldn't get his attention back until she did. It was more than just seeking attention, much more, and all about winning the emotional battles in their relationship. It just got all out of control and extremely bizarre. Hope i am making sense here.

She could have hit him on the head stabbed him then said he tackled an intruder who killed him ! No need to slit her own throat! bruise and slice herself up. If she is as vain as they say on here why make that ugly mark on her own throat? They say when women commit suicide they usually do it in a way as not to disfigure themselves ,young men are the ones that shoot themselves in the head, ect.................!!!

That is exactly what she hoped people would think, that a pretty woman would not cut her throat just to get away with murder. But the truth is she didn't do anything to herself that couldn't be fixed. Friends of hers have said that she talked of going to Europe for a long vacation with Darin after the crime and that while there she would have world renown plastic surgeon fix it for her. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want to view it) she was arrested before she could do that and the scar is still there.

Also remember that when you say women who commit suicide don't usually shoot themselves in the head/face, etc, you are correct but Darlie wasn't trying to commit suicide. It would have been too easy for her to slice deep and she didn't. That slice on her neck was for show, not for death.

I just wish someone can tell me why the kids and not him!!!

Because the kids were the weapons he used against her. If your husband was always threatening to shoot you with his grandfather's shotgun,at some point you might break that sucker up in a million pieces so he couldn't threaten you with it again. Same thinking processes. Seems far out, I know, because we are talking about kids, but we don't think twice about it when fathers do it. The truth is feuding parents use their kids as pawns in power struggles all the time, and sometimes they go off the deep end and kill them in the process.

 

[Goody]

Snip

Wasn't Darlie seen in the front of her home playing catch with Darren only days after the murders? Now she has full attention.

Yes.

Snip
I agree that those diet pills had an effect on Darlie. Jealous rage? She drank wine that night as well??? I bet it was a blur to her. But it wouldn't change her guilt.

Darlie did have diet pills in her system but no wine or any other kind of alcohol or drug.

Snip
Maybe that's also why Darren covers for Darlie. He blames himself, and thinks perhaps it's his fault, for not paying attention to the drama queen.


Cassata

I am sure she has milked that pretty much to death by now (if this scenario has any real degree of truth in it.) I don't know what keeps Darin loyal and silent, but I am sure it isn't his conscience. If it is, I have certainly misread him.