Todd Kohlhepp - Profile of a Killer?

PositiveLight said:

Hmmm! My profile of him is all over the place right now.
He seems to have had issues from early on. Maybe he did have some birth trauma. But I will be honest when I say that I do believe there are bad seeds out there. You can give them all the love and attention and counseling you want but at the end of the day when they become adults and responsible for themselves, they will become what they want to become. I know many won't agree with me on this. But I do feel there are bad seeds. I think they are VERY rare and most of them are bad people who have been caught or yet to be caught. I think some of these bad seeds are extremely intelligent and know exactly how to manipulate their situations. If they want to get out of counseling they will pretend to be better and cured. They are master manipulators.
I also think that their environment can make matters far worse. I can see where some of their parents just wash their hands of them. They even fear them at a young age.
The thing is there isn't enough facilities out there to help in these situations. They end up in prison and that only teaches them ways to get away with crimes without getting caught!

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PositiveLight said:

Hmmm! My profile of him is all over the place right now.
He seems to have had issues from early on. Maybe he did have some birth trauma. But I will be honest when I say that I do believe there are bad seeds out there. You can give them all the love and attention and counseling you want but at the end of the day when they become adults and responsible for themselves, they will become what they want to become. I know many won't agree with me on this. But I do feel there are bad seeds. I think they are VERY rare and most of them are bad people who have been caught or yet to be caught. I think some of these bad seeds are extremely intelligent and know exactly how to manipulate their situations. If they want to get out of counseling they will pretend to be better and cured. They are master manipulators.
I also think that their environment can make matters far worse. I can see where some of their parents just wash their hands of them. They even fear them at a young age.
The thing is there isn't enough facilities out there to help in these situations. They end up in prison and that only teaches them ways to get away with crimes without getting caught!
I think he is extremely off the charts smart which makes him very scary.
I think he thought of ways to pursue his needs when he got out of prison. He was smart. He snowed so many people and I think he gets a thrill out of all of his crimes and talking and teasing LE and others about them. He is STILL in control and he is going to enjoy it thoroughly.
He doesn't care about others at all. I think with everything he does it's calculated.
I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to see his mother to tell her she's the reason for his crimes. To rub it in that she created the monster. And to give her a picture to remind her everyday.
As far as the college tuition.... I would be questioning that child. There may be a dang good reason he is doing that. To keep the child and mom quiet. "I will make sure you are taken care of as long as you keep your mouth shut about what you know."
That demand list doesn't show me he cares about anyone. It tells me he is still "in control" or wants to feel like he is.
He's a narcissist and nothing he does is without good reason. It is to directly give him pleasure.
He's a thrill killer + a grudge collector + a true psychopath + poor impulse control (the possible random quick kills)+ control freak (keeping hostages) + Master manipulator = nightmare.
I'd almost venture to say that he may have a split personality. Could explain the differences in the crimes and methods or killing and torture.
Plus he kept up a facade of being successful. Enough to fool most people.
It reminds me of what Ann Rule said once about Ted Bundy. He had many sides of him depending on who you were in his life. He could be the great friend and seemingly innocent guy, then the perfect boyfriend, then the monster. You saw what he wanted you to see.
They are able to compartmentalize all these different versions of themselves and fool people into trusting them.
This guy is a rare breed. I'm not sure if we will ever know what his true body count is unfortunately.
He obviously got a thrill out of messaging the family members with lies and cryptic messages.
He scares the hell out of me.
He seems like the person that you might run into at a store and smile at or not smile at and they would follow you and kill you over some imagined wrong you have done to them.
Those might be the random kills.
He is a true monster. He's what nightmares are made of.
I think the experts were right on the money with their analysis.
The hell he is opening up now will give him nothing but pleasure. There is no remorse. Each victim will continue to give him excitement as he relives the crimes. I think he will be very detailed in his descriptions too. Because it is part of the game for him. Before it's over, even the investigators will be his victims too.
I pray for all of his victims and their families right now. I think we will never know all of those he killed. I doubt he even knows some of their names. But I can guarantee you he can describe the crime and the location.
I just pray he gives up all the crimes and tells everything. Even if it gives him a thrill, let him talk so these cases can be solved and the victims and their families have proper closure.

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b_lab7410 said:

I should have clarified, by abuse, the comments in which I referred to as possibly having occurring due to structure of his casual statement on the now expired page with screencaps somewhere (the one thing TK may not be exaggerating), about 'slamming a glass down' coincided with physical beatings from I believe, "mother first, stepfather second, grandparent third." I hadn't been referencing maternal neglect alone. And honestly, if you knew the father was worse, she's not doing anyone any favors by leaving him without food, money, proper education, leaving him to become society's problem - like that poor 14 year old girl.

IMO, it was the mother's responsibility to call law enforcement or call emergency therapy if he's threatening her, and she certainly didn't do anyone any favors by attempting to marginalize it with the judge, am I right here, she went on to claim he walked the raped girl home?? I mean, she is kind of all over the place. If he's hurting animals, sending other people's kids down the streets, that implies quite a lack of acknowledgement or tactlessness on her part. As a parent of a child, I could hardly be so at ease with anyone abandoning a child they brought into the world, and leave for the rest of us to somehow handle... how did anyone think that we could be any more prepared?? Another reason I am not so sure about Todd's supposedly harm-free upbringing/largely due to genetics profile... again that's just me personally. I've seen too many of these cases start off with physically violent claims later confirmed by a more proper research on the upbringing...

I also have to wonder at the amount of knives and guns that were at his natural father's house... I think it's entirely possible that aside from TK claiming to know of his father's (said to be, anyhow) "like 25" girlfriends (and with 'daddy's' comments such as, "why'd you make me look so bad" in the court all those years ago), it's possible he took his son hunting (killing) as a matter of pride (could be proof of genetic and/or social influence I suppose). This paints a picture of a rather unhealthy patriarchal influence as well, I wouldn't be surprised if TK's aggression and comfortability with weapons increased as a result of some inappropriate appetite for destruction of other animals (note, not referring to the usual father/son hunt here).

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rsd1200 said:

I will be surprised if he has a drug abuse problem. I think he would feel above that. He has a pretty good sized ego from what I've gathered. Maybe not w/regard to his physic but he feels mentally superior. I don't see him ruining that w/drugs. He may possibly enjoy some recreational drinking or relaxing w/pot but that's about all I see him using. I'll be surprised if he has a hard drug habit.

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rsd1200 said:

I've not gone further than the Maricopa review, just yet, however, children with antisocial and conduct disorders, can feel remorse, and can care about others. They just care about themselves, and what they want, MORE. They don't see that their manipulation of others is a problem. If they do something for someone else, they usually get something out of it too. However, a small percentage of kids with these disorders will grow up to have antisocial personality disorder. [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]APD is very hard to treat. Mostly, again, because the person does not feel they have a problem. They don't see where they are ever in the wrong. It's always someone else's fault. They are not sociopaths nor psychopaths. They have very little empathy for others. They're impulsive. Easily angered if things don't go their way. They are usually diagnosed w/conduct disorders as a child or young adult. I'm not surprised about his thinking of his mother though, as I'd guess that she's been someone who has never bailed on him. Even though she probably was afraid of him at times and wanted to bail, at times. (just a guess)

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Foxfire said:

Not abuse rsd1200....drug use.. Meth creates psychopathic personalities ....and an extreme unpredictably brazened and violent behavior..

TN Senators convened March 11th, 2014 for a judiciary committee hearing to look at several bills aimed at curbing meth use in Tennessee, and TBI Director Mark Gwyn shared some pains of the drug from the front lines of law enforcement. It’s relevant in this hearing because TBI Director Mark Gwyn said Holly Bobo’s murder kidnapping case has to do with meth.

“I worked one of the first methamphetamine-related murders back into the 90s, where a guy kidnapped two young men, tortured them for seven days, killed both of them, threw them off into Center Hill Lake,” Gwyn said. “Fast-forward to 2014, and I thought in my career that would be the only time I would ever see anything like that.”

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rsd1200 said:

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I don't see him as a meth user. Most folks can't just casually use meth. If they can, it's b/c they have other drugs to fall back on when they aren't using meth. This guy is sick all on his lonesome. No drugs needed.

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b_lab7410 said:

A little confused, while he may *seem to dote on his mother a bit, there were posts where he claimed he was beaten by the mother, mother's new husband and his natural father.

Either way, he implied there was much neglect and/or abuse for any circumstance which they perceived as "wrong" or 'unmasculine.' The only example I recall specifically was the comment about "putting a glass down too hard."

IMO, these are the types of comments that are often given by children from dysfunctional homes, their recall memory simultaneously reflects self-blame and self-deprecation. The language is consistent with their remarkably lackadaisical attitude and conveys their avoidance at remarking punitively at the provider(s) violently disrupting their boundaries. I think it's fair to say this is reflected back by their lack of empathy towards any of their own future victims and further contributes at dehumanizing/violating them.

I only state any of this as I kept seeing the comment about being unruly in nursery and thought to myself, well gee, of course! you can neglect basic human child care at that age (the younger you do so, the more behavioral issues you'll have at early development - you'd be amazed at what foster care/group homes have stories about at the earliest of these kids upbringings! And they do lash out!). They are so quick to blame it on genetics, meanwhile, we are not entirely able to rule about social environments. Psychologists have not definitively stated those *possible* brain abnormalities are really responsible for anti-social behavior. The prison inmates have all types of stories of anti-social upbringing, narcissism, and neglect, yet their parents don't get researched. Those whom bring up these individuals rarely have a complete story, IMO, there are huge gaps, too many notions of pity and helplessness due to tantrums (meanwhile there are no psychological or medical evalulations claiming things were going on at home - possibly because the child would reveal someone is harming them and doctors are lead to reporting it to the police?? Also, the parents co-workers, interview them, close co-workers know all, IMO), and at this point it goes to say the prisoner is at an ends financially - creating a conflict of interest in regards to blaming anyone of early authority in their life (they'll need canteen $$). Lashing out as an infant can also be a response of not having ones basic needs met for food, diaper changes, abusive intolerance, etc etc. Anyhow, at junctions like these I am always hesitant to strictly rely upon the 'helpless mother's' allegations of sudden bouts of childhood anger. There weren't any doctors reports or psychological notes about his early development so.. They should 'vet them' before we can fairly judge whom or what is culpable in creating this monster, IMO. Just my two cents

At one point, Todd was just a child, I think it's entirely plausible if circumstances were different, we'd see a different adult human. Children exhibiting irritability can be provided with care, proper medication, and/or receive coping techniques. This isn't even someone with an intelligence deficit here. Truth is, there are psychopaths out there that haven't and will not murder anyone - they've been brought up will so this can be a major factor. Their adult brain scans just happen to reveal they're psychopathic.

Just a side note - kids in school I can recall from back then, any of the teens with 'anger issues,' pretty much always had a bad family home life. I suppose the extraordinary example exists, I just find the 'born psychopath' bit fantasized a bit by some parents. It's a method to absolve them much of the time, IMO, I've seen foster families do this all the time.

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b_lab7410 said:

I would like to respectfully disagree on something here, antisocial personalities are sociopaths and/or psychopaths. They just give off the vibe they care, they are exceptionally pathological in cases of borderline personality disorder alone, let alone narcissism. Basically they are highly adaptive, are constantly learning, mimic normal human behavior, and excel at this after a certain age (as their minds swindle around with calculated thought-processes that the average person presumes is authentic. They may be functional sociopaths and/or psychopaths, that is all. They can marry, keep friends, but they use them all in some shape or another. There is probably no genuine connection with anyone in where they may feel safe enough to communicate their true motives and rather dark perception of the world at that point. And if confronted with their trigger, or trigger persons (social persons, if you will), you may glimpse the more stranger behavior they keep hidden from their 'close' connections/family.

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rsd1200 said:

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I just don't believe most of what he's said. Look how easily he lies. He was born this way or something happened to him at an early age, that caused his disorders. I can see Mom being all over the place. I can see Mom being afraid of him. We don't know that she didn't tell someone else. Even if she told the police? Big deal. He'd have to have actually, physically, harmed her, for them to act.

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rsd1200 said:

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Respectfully, there is disagreement in whether they are psycho / sociopaths. Some have categorized them as being distinctly different disorders. Sociopaths are different from Psychopaths. ADPs are highly adaptive, I agree. Not all of them are murderers either, but they all will manipulate and have problems with authority. Surprisingly, people with CDs and ADs, adapt fairly well to the structure of prison.

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PositiveLight said:

Hmmm! My profile of him is all over the place right now.
He seems to have had issues from early on. Maybe he did have some birth trauma. But I will be honest when I say that I do believe there are bad seeds out there. You can give them all the love and attention and counseling you want but at the end of the day when they become adults and responsible for themselves, they will become what they want to become. I know many won't agree with me on this. But I do feel there are bad seeds. I think they are VERY rare and most of them are bad people who have been caught or yet to be caught. I think some of these bad seeds are extremely intelligent and know exactly how to manipulate their situations. If they want to get out of counseling they will pretend to be better and cured. They are master manipulators.
I also think that their environment can make matters far worse. I can see where some of their parents just wash their hands of them. They even fear them at a young age.
The thing is there isn't enough facilities out there to help in these situations. They end up in prison and that only teaches them ways to get away with crimes without getting caught!
I think he is extremely off the charts smart which makes him very scary.
I think he thought of ways to pursue his needs when he got out of prison. He was smart. He snowed so many people and I think he gets a thrill out of all of his crimes and talking and teasing LE and others about them. He is STILL in control and he is going to enjoy it thoroughly.
He doesn't care about others at all. I think with everything he does it's calculated.
I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to see his mother to tell her she's the reason for his crimes. To rub it in that she created the monster. And to give her a picture to remind her everyday.
As far as the college tuition.... I would be questioning that child. There may be a dang good reason he is doing that. To keep the child and mom quiet. "I will make sure you are taken care of as long as you keep your mouth shut about what you know."
That demand list doesn't show me he cares about anyone. It tells me he is still "in control" or wants to feel like he is.
He's a narcissist and nothing he does is without good reason. It is to directly give him pleasure.
He's a thrill killer + a grudge collector + a true psychopath + poor impulse control (the possible random quick kills)+ control freak (keeping hostages) + Master manipulator = nightmare.
I'd almost venture to say that he may have a split personality. Could explain the differences in the crimes and methods or killing and torture.
Plus he kept up a facade of being successful. Enough to fool most people.
It reminds me of what Ann Rule said once about Ted Bundy. He had many sides of him depending on who you were in his life. He could be the great friend and seemingly innocent guy, then the perfect boyfriend, then the monster. You saw what he wanted you to see.
They are able to compartmentalize all these different versions of themselves and fool people into trusting them.
This guy is a rare breed. I'm not sure if we will ever know what his true body count is unfortunately.
He obviously got a thrill out of messaging the family members with lies and cryptic messages.
He scares the hell out of me.
He seems like the person that you might run into at a store and smile at or not smile at and they would follow you and kill you over some imagined wrong you have done to them.
Those might be the random kills.
He is a true monster. He's what nightmares are made of.
I think the experts were right on the money with their analysis.
The hell he is opening up now will give him nothing but pleasure. There is no remorse. Each victim will continue to give him excitement as he relives the crimes. I think he will be very detailed in his descriptions too. Because it is part of the game for him. Before it's over, even the investigators will be his victims too.
I pray for all of his victims and their families right now. I think we will never know all of those he killed. I doubt he even knows some of their names. But I can guarantee you he can describe the crime and the location.
I just pray he gives up all the crimes and tells everything. Even if it gives him a thrill, let him talk so these cases can be solved and the victims and their families have proper closure.

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Foxfire said:

Well said PositiveLight . Sadly, TK will claim more victims in the future, imo... The Jurors and alternates that will be forced to witness his atrocities and relive his henious crimes and be traumatized for life.. It would be reasonable to conclude that TK captured his many evil deeds on camera..

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Foxfire said:

Well said PositiveLight . Sadly, TK will claim more victims in the future, imo... The Jurors and alternates that will be forced to witness his atrocities and relive his henious crimes and be traumatized for life.. It would be reasonable to conclude that TK captured his many evil deeds on camera..

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rsd1200 said:

.
I just don't believe most of what he's said. Look how easily he lies. He was born this way or something happened to him at an early age, that caused his disorders. I can see Mom being all over the place. I can see Mom being afraid of him. We don't know that she didn't tell someone else. Even if she told the police? Big deal. He'd have to have actually, physically, harmed her, for them to act. This is why I believe he was sent to the private school. Private schools aren't cheap. It was two hours away from where his mother lived. When you are at your wit's end w/ a kid with these diagnosis, and in that era there were no support groups for parents, no internet to talk to other parents, or research alternatives, then you do what you have to do to maintain your sanity, and safety. But even if she helped him, and wrote that letter, she knew to be afraid of him. That's my gut feeling on Mom. She is probably horrified, and relieved, and feeling safe, right now. I may be wrong. She may have beat the Holy ***** out of him and tortured him relentlessly, along with Dad, Step-Dad, and Grandparents, but I just don't buy what he's selling.

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rsd1200 said:

.
Respectfully, there is disagreement in whether they are psycho / sociopaths. Some have categorized them as being distinctly different disorders. Sociopaths are different from Psychopaths. ADPs are highly adaptive, I agree. Not all of them are murderers either, but they all will manipulate and have problems with authority. Surprisingly, people with CDs and ADs, adapt fairly well to the structure of prison.

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hokeechic said:

Can you explain a little more the difference and what you think Todd is? Also could you define the acornyms you are using. Thanks so much. Learning a lot !!!!

Im still learning about these mental health issues, particularly due to my child. He has sensory processing disorder, anxiety, ADHD, oppositional defiance/mood disorder. I do thinknits genetic bc his father has these plus narcissitic personality disorder. Hes taking medications and therapy and the symtpoms have all but disappeared, minus occasional issues. Hes much happier and so am i!!!! I hope when hes an adult he will continue to be succesful in managing it on his own. I firmly believe in nurture over nature.

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hokeechic said:

snipped.. But his parents failed him miserably. In the end, they will not pay for their grievous mistakes... and yes he does deserve the harshest penalty possible.

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I am raising a child with some issues. His father is a diagnosed narcissitic personality disorder among other things. He had me fooled for sure. But i am literally doing everything i can to make sure my child is raised with love, therapy and proper medication. I dont want him to grow up like his dad or worse, turn into a sociopathic or psychopathic murderer. And while he was exhibiting some similarities of his father, the last 2 yrs we have overcome a lot and hes doing much better. So i truly believe nurture is critical and can overturn nature. thank you for reading. Ill go back to lurking. Love reading everyones theories. Love yall!

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hokeechic said:

Can you explain a little more the difference and what you think Todd is? Also could you define the acornyms you are using. Thanks so much. Learning a lot !!!!

Im still learning about these mental health issues, particularly due to my child. He has sensory processing disorder, anxiety, ADHD, oppositional defiance/mood disorder. I do thinknits genetic bc his father has these plus narcissitic personality disorder. Hes taking medications and therapy and the symtpoms have all but disappeared, minus occasional issues. Hes much happier and so am i!!!! I hope when hes an adult he will continue to be succesful in managing it on his own. I firmly believe in nurture over nature.

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