Dr.StClements
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Can you say more about what category of utterance the 9 phrases fall into? What role do you think fatigue and mental confusion play in that video? CSI, CBI and FBI would be involved in a case of a suspected kidnapping, right?
I'll tell you what I notice (almost 40 years of applied anthropology research, much of it in psychiatric settings).
He's very well coiffed and poised. By that I mean that he's chosen his camera angle and distance carefully and excludes viewers from seeing his hands or posture. He appears to be sitting down and I think it may be edited (there may be something right before "Oh Suzanne"). I say that because he looks very much "warmed up" to the awful task at hand. His facial expression is already fixed and in "full swing," as it were. There are very few sentence fragments, no stammering, Upset people often repeat fragments (heck, most normal speech does) and in envision one's wife in the hands of an evil kidnapper would cause the vast majority of people to be upset.
If we could see his hands, we might think differently. He might look more upset. People often bring their hands to their faces when grieving or upset. Did BLM unwittingly choose a camera distance that makes him look way more poised and much less grief-stricken?
He's confused about who is audience is. To me, it seems that his audience is Youtube, not any actual kidnapper and not Suzanne. Perhaps he wants very much to speak once again with Suzanne, but his mind immediately takes him to address "someone that has her." If he had stayed on the "speaking to Suzanne" part and really imagined himself speaking to her, I think he would have said different things - in fact, most of the utterance is to that "someone."
So, when I get to that step in looking at just his body language, framed by the fact that in his mind he's speaking to a criminal kidnapper...that's where I get a red flag. I know people have said "hinky meter" and others have said "totally sincere." I do think he's being "sincere," I think he truly is very very upset, hasn't been sleeping well, hasn't been crying much or at all, is way way more terrified than he is angry at the kidnapper.
He also mentions police. Maybe not the best way to negotiate with a kidnapper? Anyway, it seemed to me that the main point of the video was not to reassure Suzanne that she was loved and needed, but to address a kidnapper and threaten the kidnapper with the police (and by extension - a reward to that someone who knows who the kidnapper is).
Dr. St C - do you think that BLM's eyes look as if he had been crying in the past few hours? I think he looks like he's lost sleep (bags under eyes).
//I just saw that you answered my question - thank you!
He will be distressed and exhausted. Whatever the facts are, and whether or not he's involved, those behaviours will still apply.
Personally speaking, being careful to take my medical hat off here, (I'm concerned that I'm here as a lay person; not an expert). It was not my impression that he's speaking to potential kidnappers. Time is of the essence in such cases, and kidnappers don't usually go silent for a week, leaving next of kin wondering whether the person is alive or dead. Yes, things might go silent for 48 hrs or so, while an abductor is making good their escape, putting physical distance between themselves and the victim's next of kin. Not working with the police to at least coordinate a reward and how to manage it in the first instance is a red flag. Even if the family subsequently insisted that police were not involved in the reward drop, it is highly unusual to not involve them at all. The family could be jeopardising the abductee's safety. BM will have a named police liaison- why leave such people out.
For what it's worth, I personally think the kidnapper appeal is a red herring. It could also be that BM is showing profound remorse for something that has happened in the couple's personal life. The wording is odd - I'd need to know more about his usual patterns of speech. What he said, and the order in which he said it, makes me uneasy. The content might be little more than diversion tactics.
Again, as a qualifier, if he was having an affair, and he genuinely doesn't know where Suzanne is, he could feel overwhelmed with guilt, which could affect his performance. That still doesn't explain why he marginalized the police; nor does it explain his over-emphasis on the abduction theory (which I think is contrived). What if she had left him: wouldn't it be more fitting to convey his love for her, say that they could work through things together if she came home? He defaults to abduction in the absence of evidence for same. That in itself is suspicious.