Original subtitles

Good evening-- A break today

in a high-profile cold case murder

more than 30 years ago.

In June of 1988,

21-year-old UNM student Althea Oakeley

was walking home from a party

when she was attacked by a man with a knife near CNM,

stabbed multiple times before her assailant ran off.

Then, in September of 1980,

13-year-old Stella Gonzales was shot and killed.

The following summer, July 16th, 1989,

18-year-old UNM student Kaitlyn Arquette

was shot to death as she was driving home.

The thing inside of me, it's like...

the appetite, it's like a wolf that's...

feeling... the hunger.

53-year-old Paul Apodaca

showed up to the UNM police station

claiming he had found God

and wanted to confess to crimes

he says he committed decades ago.

This is not somebody who just stormed

into a police station

and said, "I've got to unburden myself--"

this is somebody who's picked up on a probation violation.

He is homeless, has no money.

He's disconnected from his family.

And I think those were the driving forces behind

Apodaca confessing.

He has been in prison before.

One of the things we see

in individuals who are psychopaths

is sometimes, what we call, a parasitic lifestyle.

Meaning that they're looking for ways

to live off of other people.

And his options, I think,

outside of prison are very slim, if none.

But it's a choice he's willing to make

to not have to take care of himself anymore.

What we know about Apodaca

is that he has this long history of violent sexual offenses.

He raped a 13-year-old.

So that early offense behavior,

followed by more assaults and rapes,

indicate that this is a person

that has a history of predatory behavior,

along with a lack of remorse for his actions.

And in fact, he recently assaulted his aunt.

He has a profound disregard

for the well-being and rights of others.

He goes on this rant

about how he's seen women treated badly,

how he had anger in his heart

and he had resentment towards women,

but he's still putting on the mask.

I don't think that that's the real reason

why he committed these crimes.

When we think of ritualistic killings,

we think that someone has to do

this particular behavior in this specific way

in order to achieve whatever satisfaction

they're looking for.

We have assault histories,

but then it graduates to a knife,

and then it graduates to a rifle.

He did this thing because he wanted to do it.

2

This smile that Althea Oakeley gives to Paul Apodaca

really triggers him.

Now, he says

that it's because of his hatred to women--

How can you kill someone who smiles at you?

But, when we look at why sex offenders

commit the acts that they commit,

there's often a misinterpretation

of behaviors being done by the victim.

And I think that the smile gave Apodaca the belief

that he was free to do whatever he wanted.

I think he was seeking revenge in his mind

on all these women

who had not been receptive to his overtures...

This is somebody who has been,

you know, exploiting women, raping women before.

And for him, it's just the next step.

He's followed the path

that so many other sexual psychopaths

have followed in the past,

which is Starting out with sex crimes

and progressing to murder.

He says the psychology of why he did

what he did is complex.

And that he had never actually

thought about engaging in this behavior.

But, when we look at him--

arms crossed, sitting back,

he's comfortable with describing what it is that he did.

He wants us to believe that it is more complex

because he believes that it's more complex.

But the notion

that he hadn't considered doing this

and that this is the first time he has ever done this

without ever having fantasized about this,

I think is just another lie

because the psychopath refuses

to ever tell the truth about anything.

2 When Apodaca is talking about the murder of Kaitlyn Arquette,

he is describing himself

going back to see his own handiwork.

By doing that, that just gives him

more of a sense of power and control.

He's seeing the actual damage

he's done to somebody after the fact.

And I think that really highlights

his ability as a psychopath to camouflage himself

and sort of put on this-- this mask of an innocent person

and be somebody he's not.

And that in turn could also be feeding his ego.

The idea that someone will give a false confession

is about notoriety.

He's trying to escape notoriety.

He's the psychopath that doesn't want

his name in the paper.

I think, in the moment,

He's just doing whatever feels right.

So he gives the number

thinking that, "Eventually they're gonna come get me".

And when they never do,

"Well, I guess I got away with it."

2 Apodaca's second murder

isn't as great of a story for him to tell.

You know, he shot her from a distance,

he didn't really have the details in mind.

So he can't really relive that experience,

which-- when a psychopath

is confessing to a murder to police,

part of the excitement there

is just them reliving the event in their mind

as they're going through it with detectives.

And he can't do that with Stella.

I think this is the element

of positive impression management

that we often see with psychopathy.

He wants to come across as someone

whose, you know, shame and guilt for everything that they did

has finally come to fruition

and they're here for-- uh, for penance.

I don't think so. But if this really was about...

accepting responsibility for what you did,

you wouldn't have waited

until after you abused your auntie

to get to that point.

From strangers to family members

is not a far leap for the psychopath

because they only see the relationship

in which they can get something

because of the parasitic lifestyle

that the psychopath leads.

When anyone, in this case women,

somehow challenge Apodaca,

he'll do what he has to do to maintain his masculinity.