All language subtitles for Signs.of.a.Psychopath.S07E09.1080p.WEB.h264-FREQUENCY_track3_[eng]

Are you
a family annihilator?

You mean like,
did I shoot my wife
and my son?

-Yes.
-No.

[man 1 speaking]

[man 2 speaking]

[man 3 speaking]

[man 4] Being inside of me,
it's like...

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

feeling...

the hunger.

[dramatic music playing]

[Tussey] When we think
about family,

we think about people
who love us

and care for us and support us

and someone who's going
to be there to protect us.

And keep us safe.

On the contrary,
family annihilators

and individuals
who have psychopathy,

their motives
are the opposite.

They are manipulative
and cunning,

and while they
might appear loving,

they are not, and often they
are scheming and planning

to destroy
their entire family,

usually out of rage
or vengeance.

[Sahni] We don't think
about the person

who sits across
the dinner table from us,

the person who sleeps
down the hall from us,

the person who
watches our children
when we can't be there,

is the most dangerous
person in our life.

We're going to cover
a unique and particularly
chilling group of murderers.

Individuals who are
not only psychopathic

but what we think of
as family annihilators.

The people they turn on,

are the people
that are closest to them.

[dramatic music playing]

[reporter] In South Carolina,
a major fall from grace

for a member
of a prominent legal family.

-Guilty...
-Alex Murdaugh
found guilty on all counts.

For the murders
of his wife, Maggie,
and son, Paul,

on the family's
sprawling hunting estate,

back in 2021.

[Bardey] Alex Murdaugh,
from the outside

had all the trappings
of an incredibly
successful, wealthy,

well-connected member
of his community.

Prominent law firm.

Happy family.
Beautiful real estate.

It all looked pretty perfect.

And it was his image
that he worked
very hard to maintain.

And a fantasy
which eventually
started to crack.

[reporter 2] Murdaugh
is already facing
a slew of charges

involving millions of dollars
in alleged theft,

fraud and money laundering.

Some stemming from
the death of Murdaugh's
former housekeeper.

Psychopaths,
especially if they're
at the head of the family,

will use their family

to bolster their self-esteem,
their image.

So the importance
of having a beautiful wife,

a nice car,
successful children...

it becomes fused

with their desire
to appear successful,

and it becomes more important
to protect that image,

than to really care
about the family members.

He had worked so hard
to create this image,

it became necessary for him
to do anything he could
to preserve that,

including the murder
of his family,

for financial gain.

And to shift
the attention away

from all of the other misdeeds
that he had committed.

And there's a chronic failure
to take responsibility

or of lack of willingness
to take responsibility.

But there's also
a lack of remorse, or guilt.

He just doesn't feel bad.

There's no real emotions,
despite the fact

that his wife
and his younger son

have been brutally
attacked and killed.

[reporters clamoring]

[reporter 3]
After a dramatic day
in court, Murdaugh

led out into
a van in handcuffs

to continue
his life behind bars.

[Sahni] Alex Murdaugh
chose fantasy over family

and stopped at nothing

to preserve that image,
that fantasy life
he had built.

Grant Amato
did the same thing.

And both of these men
showed a willingness

to take that need
to the ultimate extreme.

[reporter 4] Breaking news.

A murder mystery
emerges in the woods.

Three people are dead.

In a house in Chuluota,

police discovered
a family murdered.

A couple in their 50's,

and their son in his 30's
were found dead.

And now, this just in.

The prime suspect
is a family member.

Grant Amato.

[Tussey] He's an adult male
living with his parents

and not only
is he living off of them,

but he's actually
using their money
for this cam girlfriend.

But online,
to this cam model,

he is this online gamer.

He creates this impression
that he's a much
more independent,

successful individual
than he is in reality.

[Tussey] His father
gives him an ultimatum,

which includes a list of rules

that he's going to
have to follow

if he's going to
stay in the house.

[Tussey] Amato is on the brink
of being discovered.

His family's
going to reach out
to this cam model,

and he knows
he's going to be exposed.

So this entire fantasy world,

this persona
that he's created,

and that this cam girlfriend

believes is him,

is about to be
completely blown up
in his face.

[dramatic music playing]

[Bardey] What's amazing here
is completely the lack
of any emotional response,

the lack of any sense
of guilt or remorse.

He killed one member
of the family after the other.

Over the course
of nearly four hours.

That's a dedication.
That's cold-blooded.

Nobody likes
to be picked last
or to feel left out.

But to a psychopath,

sometimes even
the most minor slight
or element of rejection

can feel like
an enormous transgression,

like we see in the case
of Paris Bennett.

In reality, he seemingly knew
very well what he was doing.

And he did it in a very
calculating manner.

So on the night
that this happened,

he actually manipulated
the babysitter.

So that she would leave him
alone with his sister

so that he would be able
to commit this crime.

What makes it
capital murder
is the victim's age.

Any child under the age of six
that is murdered,

carries the weight
of capital murder.

[Sahni] While
we classically think
of a family annihilator

as somebody who kills at least
two members of their family,

the Paris Bennett
case is unique.

But ultimately he is still
a family annihilator.

Paris Bennett told authorities
his true hatred
was towards his mother.

And while he had
fantasies and thoughts
about killing her,

he realized that if he could
take her child away,

that would be far more
painful to his mother,

than anything
he could actually do to her.

He managed to destroy
his entire family

with that one action
on that one day.

Bennett responded

to his perception of rejection
from his mother

in a very cold, callous way

by murdering
his four-year-old sister.

We see a similar pattern
in Russell Overlin,

where he has lived off
of his father and stepmother
for many years.

And whenever they
confront him about that,

he's angry about it.

What we see here
is a rejection

or perceived rejection,

and he responds
in a very cold, callous way.

In 2007, Russell Overlin,
a middle aged man

who lives most
of his adult life

off his elderly father
and stepmother.

He lives this parasitic life
of continuing
to rack up financial debt.

And expects his father
to bail him out.

And when his elderly parents
expect him to straighten up

and fly right and be an adult.

Russell Overlin reacts
with a level of rage

and callousness,
and decides to kill them.

[Morgan] Russell Overlin
says, "I've been thinking,"
about killing his stepmom

for a very long time,
and then he tells us why.

His room smells and he--
it needs to be cleaned up.

It smells like an outhouse.

That's her crime.

That's her sin
and it offends him.

She merits being killed
because she doesn't accept
the way he wants to live.

But he's living in her house,
on her property.

And this is the view...

This is the selfish point
of view from the psychopath.

They don't acknowledge
that other people have rights
about what they feel.

[Tussey] What's disturbing
about Overlin
describing this murder

is that he's talking about it
as if he's talking about

going to the store
and buying a new jacket.

I mean, there's really
no emotion behind
what he's talking about.

There's certainly
no indication of remorse

so that he feels bad
about any of this.

[Morgan] A psychopath will
view the family members

as useful to them
in the moment
to get what they want.

They don't have any concern
for your feelings.

If you happen
to disagree with them,

you are simply an obstacle
and an impediment.

They figure out
how to get rid of you,
get you out of the way

so that they can
accomplish their goal.

[Sahni] While
Paris Bennett's case
and Russell Overlin's case

maybe look very different
on some levels,

what we see in both
of these family annihilators
is the same motivation.

Which was to eliminate
the people that rejected them.

But it is also
important to remember
that it was their perception.

It was how they saw the world
because they weren't able

to do things exactly
the way they wanted.

[soft music playing]

[reporter 5]
Three-year-old Michael Smith

and his 14-month-old
brother, Alexander,

reportedly kidnapped
Tuesday night.

The boys' mother, Susan Smith,
told police a lone gunman

forced her
to get out of her car
without her children.

I would like to say
to whoever has my children...

That they please...

I mean,
please bring them home.

[reporter 5] After
a massive 72-hour search,
police are baffled.

[man] Except for the mother,
there were no witnesses.

We are going
to look at everything
and rule out nothing

until we can do it
with evidence.

[Tussey] Susan Smith
ultimately killed her children
for her own desires.

She wanted to date
an individual who said
he didn't want children.

So in order to be
able to date him,

she just took her children
out of the equation.

These types of behaviors
match what we see
in psychopathy.

Whenever we see individuals
that are manipulative,

deceitful, callous, cold,

failure to accept
responsibility
for their actions

and ultimately pursue
their own agenda,

no matter what it costs to
anybody else in their lives.

[woman] Killing
her two children.

I mean, uh...
You carry them
children for nine months,

and then all of a sudden,
you kill them.

This just ain't right.

[Sahni] When
psychopathic individuals
engage in conventional life,

they get into relationships,
they maybe go on
to get married.

They go on to have children.

But for psychopathic
individuals,
their narcissism.

Their focus on themselves
and meeting their own needs

really remains intact
even when they become parents.

[Tussey] Like Susan Smith,
John Hummel
is another family annihilator

who wanted to be a free agent.

This is an individual
who he perceives
his family as a prison,

that he has to escape.

[siren blaring]

[man whooping]

John Hummels saying,
"Well, I'm not sure if they
got out, my family of four.

"It was four of us
that were in there.

Oh, and, by the way,
my wife is pregnant, also."

He seems eerily calm.

It's not the reaction
you would expect

if someone were
watching their house
burn down,

with their family in it.

[Sahni] John Hummel doesn't
seem to be concerned.

There's no panic in his voice.

He's matter of fact,
and he just says
"There are four people

who live in this home,
including me."

[reporter] Police
say three bodies,

including
one of a small child,

were found inside
this flame engulfed home
early this morning.

Family members
identified the victims,

as 34-year-old
Joy Hummel and her

six-year-old daughter, Jody.

Hummel's father Eddie Bedford,
is also among the deceased.

[woman]
She'd just been, uh...

She was pregnant
with her second baby.

And she was so excited.

We know that
psychopathic individuals

have a higher threshold
for excitement.

They experience
boredom more intensely

and sooner than most of us
that conventional life

oftentimes ends up
feeling boring to them.

That everyday routine
and monotony

oftentimes challenges
a psychopathic individual.

But it's hard for many of us
to understand how somebody
who could be driven

to killing members
of their family,

particularly,
their own children,

when it's about a need to be
in a new relationship.

Why not just file for divorce?

Those are still options
that are far better

than annihilating
your family members
by killing them.

[Tussey] There's
nothing about the way

he's saying this
that would make you think

that he was describing
murdering his family.

There's just
really no expression.

There is no emotional
drive behind it.

He's just very
calmly stating it.

Violent psychopaths
hold no value for human life.

Hummel writes,

"I feel a strong bond with you
that I've never had
with anyone else."

And the girlfriend asked,
"Not even with your wife?"

"Nope."
"Then why did you marry her?"

And Hummel said,
"I truly cannot think of
a reason except for my kid."

It's really striking because
in these text conversations
with the girlfriend,

Hummel is painting himself
in some ways as a victim,

almost like
he just married her
because she was pregnant.

You know he's stuck
and he's trapped almost
by this pregnancy and his wife

that he doesn't really want.

[Morgan] The family's
getting in the way.

And so, rather than
asking for a divorce,

leaving or just
having an affair,
all of which is

in the normal range
of possibilities.

He kills them and burns them
in their beds

and sets the house on fire.

And he has no remorse
about it at all.

And if you're shocked by that,
that's a good sign,

because it means
you're normal.

[Sahni] They want
what they want
when they want it,

and they will
take out anything
that presents an obstacle.

Another reason
that Family Annihilators

act on those
urges and impulses

is simply to maintain control.

We see this sometimes
in child custody cases,

when a parent fears that
they're going

to lose custody
of their children,

they take out
their entire family.

They take out their children,
and then they turn
to themselves.

[reporter 6] Today, a special
accident investigation team,

is using drones to figure out

how the Harts' plunged off
this 100-foot ocean overlook.

The county sheriff says
the parents' bodies
were found in the front seats.

Three of the children's bodies
were found
along the shoreline.

[Tussey] From the outside,
the Hart family
seemed magical.

These mothers have
adopted these children,

rescued them from
otherwise bad situations,

and are providing them
memories of a lifetime.

[Sahni]
In the case of Jennifer Hart
and Sarah Hart.

This is a family
that seemed picture perfect
on the surface.

All social media accounts
and public accounts
of this family

are that these were two women

who loved their
six adopted children.

But what we also know
from the investigation

is that there were
no brake marks.

There were no skid marks.

Which means Jennifer stopped,

paused, and made
the decision to drive
the entire family of eight

over a cliff to their death.

The public image of the family
and all the social media
accounts of the Harts,

was that they were
a loving, close family.

But what we also know
is that the truth
of what was going on

for the Hart family,
was far more dark.

[reporter 7] In 2011,
Sarah Hart pleaded guilty

in Minnesota,
to domestic assault.

According to court records,
a teacher saw bruises

on the couple's
six-year-old daughter.

It gets uncovered
that this family

had actually been...
being investigated
by Child Protective Services.

And every time these services
would catch up with them

and try to investigate
allegations of abuse,

the mothers would keep
things under wraps

by basically
moving frequently,

[Sahni] By all accounts,
Jennifer was
the disciplinarian.

She was the one who
determined what the punishment
and interventions

would be for the children.

But she was also the one
who enforced them.

[woman] They portray
this happy little family.

And yet, their daughter
is telling us.

"Please, please, please,"
begging us

not to make her go back
and that they are abusing her.

And then Devonte
coming over here

and telling us that you know
he's being starved to death.

Psychopathic individuals
sometimes exhibit an intense
amount of impulsivity.

And when we think
about the decision-making
of Jennifer Hart,

what we see is the decision
to flee their family home

because CPS is becoming
aware that there is
child abuse happening.

I was trying to help them
and protect them
and this is the result.

[Sahni] Ultimately,
Jennifer Hart was a parent

who felt she was losing
control of the situation.

And was at risk
of losing her children.

She made
the ultimate decision

that if she could not
have them, no one would.

[Tussey] We see in
individuals with psychopathy
is they become

very myopically focused
on their goal,
whatever their goal is.

And in this case,
retaining control.

Like Jennifer Hart,

another mother
that was unwilling
to relinquish control

of her children
was Elaine Campione.

[dramatic music playing]

[crying]

Miss Campione appears
sort of lost and confused,

as though she doesn't really
understand how her
two daughters ended up dead.

She looks a little upset,
but certainly not, in any way,

in a manner
that would be consistent
with that genuine loss.

I think she's trying to
think on her feet in terms
of, "How do I handle this?"

She had a very deliberate plan
in terms of how this was
all going to happen.

And it didn't work.

She woke up and now she's
dealing with the aftermath.

In both, the Hart case
and the Campione case,

the children are objectified

and used for the emotional
wellbeing of the murderers.

In the Hart case,
the children are used

to bolster the image
of this perfect family.

And when that image
gets destroyed,

then the kids get
destroyed as well.

In the Campione case,
the children are used

specifically as weapons
to harm another individual.

It's brutal in that
the very children
that she gave birth to

that she had
such pride in raising,

that she repeatedly
asked them who they loved.

Her needs...

Her psychopathic needs
are so strong

that she'd rather kill them

than deal with losing
to her ex-husband.

[Sahni] When we look
to family annihilators,

we understand that
while most of us have

an expectation
and presumption of safety,

and trust within
our family units...

For the family
that has a psychopath
in their family circle,

that's simply
not necessarily true.

[reporter 8] Good afternoon.
A 19-year-old man has
admitted killing his parents

and then
using their credit cards

to spend £30,000
on trips to the US
and Caribbean.

Brian Blackwell was suffering

from a serious
personality disorder,

when he beat and stabbed
his parents to death
at their home on Merseyside.

[reporter 9]
When Brian Blackwell
was arrested,

it was a shock
for staff and students

here at Liverpool College,

they'd seen him
just days earlier

when he came in here,
alone, to pick up
his A-level results.

[man] When Brian came in,
Obviously his results
were very good.

He seemed very happy.

He was part of a group
of...of youngsters
who were very pleased

with what the results they had

and it seemed
perfectly normal.

[Tussey] Brian Blackwell
was an individual who,

growing up,
was labeled as very bright.

He was nicknamed The Brains.

His parents were
really proud of him.

And excited for his future.

They thought he could
be a great surgeon,

and unbeknownst to them,

this outcome for him
could not be further
from that projection.

[Morgan] He's told,
"You can't go on a trip
with your girlfriend."

Then the solution
to this problem
is to kill the parents

so that he can go on a trip
with his girlfriend.

Most people
who are normal, would say
there's another solution.

But with the psychopath,
they want what they want,

when they want it.

There's usually lower
impulse control.

And so the action
in Blackwell's case
of killing the parents

is the immediate solution
to the problem.

And it surprises people
that-- when they hear
that someone

who is apparently normal
has murdered their parents.

We still have this
longstanding belief

that if you're going
to commit a murder,

there's a long
track record of you

creating havoc
all along the way.

Although that's true,
sometimes, it's...

it's not necessarily the norm
with people with psychopathy.

[Tussey] Andrew Balcer.

This is another example
of a good kid
gone horrifically bad.

[reporter 10]
It is an all too real
Halloween horror story

a Winthrop teen is now charged
with murdering a couple.

He was a great kid.
Smart, brilliant,
good in school, focused.

He was...

planning on going to college.

So it doesn't make sense.

It's a shocker
that this could happen.

[Morgan] I think what--
what we learned,
looking over multiple cases

of people who are psychopaths,

is that the families

that they are linked to,
often, don't know

how much of a psychopath
their loved one is.

They're normal,
and one of the things
we do when we're healthy

and sometimes it works
to our detriment

is that we tend to assume
the good in other people.

You can tell he's articulate,
he responds very,
very quickly.

He appears to be quite
nimble, intellectually,

and if we do hear
the superficial affect,
he giggles, laughs.

But it's just
a matter of fact.

He discusses walking
into his parent's room

and his mom hugging him

and then him stabbing her

in a very a shallow
and glib way.

He almost
sounds proud in a way

as he's describing
what he did.

He certainly doesn't
sound remorseful.

[Morgan]
People with psychopathy
do know that they're different

and they do not connect
easily to other people.

They usually
have a superficial
relationship with them.

Other people may feel
that they know them,

but from the person with
psychopathy is perspective...

They don't.

People don't know them
and they don't feel connected
to other people.

[Tussey] There is
zero remorse,
still, for the fact

that she murdered her parents,

and this attitude at the end.

It's very glib.

She's almost joking.

There is an air
of entitlement, also,

that comes across.

Because she is most important,

and it really doesn't matter
who was damaged along the way.

She has gotten to
where she wants to be,

and everybody else
should just overlook
any dead bodies along the way.

I think what we learned
from the from the cases

where people have killed

either one or several members
of the family is,

that we learn that
it's well within the realm

of psychopathy--

that it's a myth
that they'll only kill people,

that they don't know.

[Sahni] Just because somebody
is a member of your family,

doesn't mean that
you're automatically safe.

People shouldn't underestimate
their gut instinct.

And if you have
a family member

that doesn't connect
to the rest of the family,

hasn't been exhibiting

any real conscience
or sense of guilt or remorse

for things they've done
that have brought harm,

and problems
to the other members
of the family...

Pay attention to them.

Sometimes the risk is within.