Adam Lanza: Some Initial Thoughts

We've been here before, different setting, different victims.  

A young man isolated at a crossroads of his life where he should be moving into adulthood.

I think what is important here are the differences.

Some things I find interesting:

• No note or "manifesto" in fact he spent a large amount of energy and time destroying hard drives.What did he want to hide from "us" when the dust settled.
• Why kill the mother.  Usually when someone kills the mother, it is because they blame the mother for their current situation or past injustices.  This is obviously not the case, because he moved onto the school for more victims.
• Why kill the kids?  School shootings are usually directed against peers who the gunman felt deserved it.
• How several of the shots where take at close range to be sure the victim was dead.
• Visit to the school on a different date before the killing spree.

What doesn't add up:

• Suicide.  It would make sense that this was a mission that he knew would end in his death either from his own hands or from the police.  Why would he stop killing when he heard the sirens, wouldn't he want to inflict more pain?  
• Why his mother, then the children.
• Visit to the school on a different date before the killing spree.
• How much attention the police have spoken about evidence from the hard drive.  It is obvious Adam Lanza was hiding something.

Now I normally have some statements to analyze, or footage from old home movies, or from people involved.  I do not have any of these in this case.  

What I have is a theory based on the actions of the shooter and statesmen analysis from the police statements that I have heard.

It is likely his mother was not the source of his violent rage.  He could have killed her and then killed himself. Why target innocent children and why visit the school earlier in the week. It could be he made a name for himself, become notoriously famous, but why not leave some sort of note or message to prove to the world how evil he is? It is a small community, we have heard it over and over, but did you know that 4 of the children lived within a one mile radius of the killer.  It is close knit, but it is a community  where none of the roads are perfectly straight even Main Street moves different angles- it is spread out. One child was his neighbor.  Remember where you heard this first:  It is plausible some sort of altercation or relationship existed between the shooter and one of the children killed.  It is possible if this would have become public it would have lasting effect on his and his mother's life.  It is possible Adam Lanza felt this was the only way out.

What was Adam Lanza hiding?  Investigators find this out, you find the motive and have a clear idea why...

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Adam Lanza: Some Initial Thoughts

Paul Ekman: the Science of Compassion

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Paul Ekman: the Science of Compassion

Deception Can be Perfected

EVANSTON, Ill. --- With a little practice, one could learn to tell a lie that may be indistinguishable from the truth.

New Northwestern University research shows that lying is more malleable than previously thought, and with a certain amount of training and instruction, the art of deception can be perfected.

People generally take longer and make more mistakes when telling lies than telling the truth, because they are holding two conflicting answers in mind and suppressing the honest response, previous research has shown. Consequently, researchers in the present study investigated whether lying can be trained to be more automatic and less task demanding.

This research could have implications for law enforcement and the administering of lie detector tests to better handle deceptions in more realistic scenarios.

Researchers found that instruction alone significantly reduced reaction times associated with participants' deceptive responses.

They used a control group -- an instruction group in which participants were told to speed up their lies and make fewer errors, but were not given time to prepare their lies -- and a training group, which received training in how to speed up their deceptive responses and were given time to prepare their lies. In the training group that practiced their lies, the differences between deceptive and truthful responses were completely eliminated.

"We found that lying is more malleable and can be changed upon intentional practice," said Xiaoqing Hu, lead author of the study and a doctoral candidate in the department of psychology at Northwestern.

Hu said they were surprised that even in the instruction group, members who were not given time to prepare their lies and told only to try to speed up their responses and make fewer errors were able to significantly reduce their deceptive response reaction time.

"This was really unexpected because it suggests that people can be really flexible, and after they know what is expected from them, they want to avoid being detected," Hu said, noting the findings could help in crime fighting.

"In real life, there's usually a time delay between the crime and interrogation," said Hu. "Most people would have time to prepare and practice their lies prior to the interrogation." However, previous research in deception usually gave participants very little time to prepare their lies.

Lie detector tests most often rely on physiological responses. Therefore, Hu said further research warrants looking at whether additional training could result in physiological changes in addition to inducing behavior changes as observed in their study.

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Deception Can be Perfected

Post photographer defends taking photo of subway victim: ‘No way I could’ve rescued’ him

This is a highly stressful interview, and the photographer is nervous  see his adam's apple bounce as the interview begins.

Several times he shows the micro expression of sadness when saying the name of the victim.  This tells me the photographer is not a sociopath who was thinking clearly of capturing the images of his personal gain.

He speaks freely throughout the interview, only one time does he have to stop to think what to say.

He does look from one interviewer to the other whenever he is saying anything where he is attempting to defend is actions- he is making sure he is being well received.

Matt says he is going to ask a direct question (good move in interviews) but goes on and on in asking the question, we'd have more to judge if it would have bee a simpler question like, could you have done anything to save him.

He does attempt on several occasions to shift blame to those closer to the man.  If the person who pushed the man on the tracks was walking towards him, he'd likely be scared and would not do ANYTHING to incite the dangerous person.

I believe him.  If he was lying about attempting to signal the conductor, or doing more to help the man, you'd expect to see hot spots.  What we see is natural and expected from a body language and facial expression standpoint.  The only thing we have to go on is the words he chooses, and if he could have helped the man he would be likely show mocked frustrated and anger by the questions.


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Post photographer defends taking photo of subway victim: ‘No way I could’ve rescued’ him

Suri Cruise Shows Contempt with an Eye Roll

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Suri Cruise Shows Contempt with an Eye Roll

Paul Ekman: Hacking Your Emotional Database

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Paul Ekman: Hacking Your Emotional Database

Metal in Halloween Candy: Which one faked the discovery?

Parents find metal objects in Halloween candy

I find it pretty obvious, my quick thoughts are in the comments section of this post.

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Metal in Halloween Candy: Which one faked the discovery?

Updated: Missing 12 Year Old Girl From Clayton, New Jersey Parents Speak

Her body was found last night.  Thoughts and prayers go out to the family and the community.



I see no deception or hot spots from her father in the below video.  You can tell her father is speaking freely and has nothing to hide.



Missing 12 Year Old Girl From Clayton, NJ - Autumn Pasquale: Reported Missing Sunday October 21, 2012. IF YOU HAVE ANY TIPS TO HER WHEREABOUTS, CONTACT THE CLAYTON POLICE DEPT AT 856-881-2300

Police are searching for a missing girl from Clayton, New Jersey. 

Police say Mising 12 year oldAutumn Pasquale, 12, was last seen leaving her home on W. High Street in Clayton on Saturday around 12:30 p.m. while riding a white Odyssey BMX bike to a friend's house. The girl's parents called police after they say she never made it to that friend's house.

"It's not like her," said the girl's father, Tony Pasquale. "She would have been home 11 o'clock this morning if she slept over a friend's house."

Police say Pasquale may have been spotted at an unknown time on E. Academy Street near Scotland Run Park in Clayton though this has not yet been confirmed.

Late Sunday night, hundreds of neighborhood volunteers met at a nearby church and passed around fliers. Police announced the search for the girl will continue through the night. The Clayton Police Department, Child Abduction Response Team, New Jersey State Police, the FBI and officers from 40 other police departments are all taking part in the search. Police say a cell phone tower in Williamstown was the last to pick up a signal from Autumn's phone. Investigators believe her phone is now either off or has run out of power.

A family representative told volunteers to stay out of the woods so bloodhounds could try and pick up the girl's scent.

"People have been out searching all day everywhere," said Michelle Connell of Clayton. "All over town, every little park, railroad parks and school buildings. Every place we can think of." 

The girl is described as a white female, standing 5-foot-2 and weighing 120 pounds with blue eyes and blonde hair in either a pony tail or bun. She was last seen wearing navy blue shorts underneath navy blue sweatpants, a yellow t-shirt with the words "Clayton Soccer" on front, bright blue high-top sneakers and a silver or light Grey Cinch backpack with the word "Reckless" printed across the back.

"She's a good kid," said Connell, who's daughter is friends with Autumn. "She's a sweet girl. Everyone is upset."

"Everyone's working together to try and find her," said Tony. "We love her and we want her to come home."

If you have any information on the girl's whereabouts, please call the Clayton Police Department at 856-881-2300.

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Updated: Missing 12 Year Old Girl From Clayton, New Jersey Parents Speak

Body Language Expert Tonya Reiman analyzes the Second Presidential Debate

Body language does matter and both candidates are coached on how they use their body language.

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Body Language Expert Tonya Reiman analyzes the Second Presidential Debate

UPDATED: Missing Woman, Whitney Heichel's Husband's Laughs at News Conference

At 1:39 see him laugh, hide his laugh with his mouth, and then cry without tears.

Now, there is such a thing as inappropriate laughter that can appear when a person is under immense stress (like a funeral)- but it is not followed immediately us by a huge negative emotion, like we see here in the form of sadness and crying.  When we experience emotions, chemicals are released in our brains and bodies.  These chemicals  are used to regulate the body, they cannot turn as quickly as we see here.

I'm reminded of the late comedian Patrice O'Neal when he talked about a husband wouldn't be "emotional" when his wife turned up missing...

Whitney Heichel was scheduled to work a 7 a.m. Tuesday shift at an East Gresham Starbucks on Northeast Burnside Road, but never showed up. The coffee shop is a two-minute drive from the apartment she shares with her husband, Clint Heichel.

The search for missing barista Whitney Heichel, 21, came to a close Friday night when police found her body and arrested a neighbor in connection with her death.◦

UPDATED: Missing Woman, Whitney Heichel's Husband's Laughs at News Conference