All language subtitles for Signs.of.a.Psychopath.S10E08.1080p.WEB.h264-FREQUENCY_track3_[eng]

[reporter]
The details don't seem real.

Police say Nicholas went
to a friend's home,

and spent the night.

He came back home
Saturday evening around 5.

He came back out of
his house, told the friends

that he found his father
dead inside.

911 was called,
police responded,

found the father dead
on the ground floor,

his mother dead
in a bedroom upstairs,

and his two brothers
dead upstairs.

All dead from gunshot wounds.

[theme music playing]

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

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

feeling...
the hunger.

What's remarkable
in just looking at

how Nicholas Browning appears
in the police interview,

looking at his body language,
looking at his demeanor,

is that it's really unusual
to see a teenager who's saying

he had great relationships
with his parents.

Not looking distraught
over discovering

that everybody
in his family's dead.

You'd at least expect
somebody just trying

to get their emotions
under control

with the realization that
their family is completely gone.

And we don't see any of that.

He doesn't care that
his family is dead.

So there's no
emotional undercurrent.

At this point, you know,
Browning's sort of offering up

this lack of responsibility
excuse where he's saying

he was going to go joyriding,
"Oh, silly him or dumb him."

You know, like,
he's not that smart.

He's this naive 15-year-old
that doesn't know much.

He's manipulating
the narrative,

controlling how
the officers see him,

that's his way
of maintaining control

of this entire situation.

The detective recognizes
that describing this scene

is going to be
emotionally taxing.

The only movement
that Browning does

is move his hand
to describe the situation.

He is not distressed at all.

There is nothing disturbing
about that scene

to Browning for a lot
of reasons.

Primarily, it's because
he had already seen

his father bloodied,
and shot in the head,

and on that couch.

And the other element
is his psychopathy,

how he is getting further
and further detached

from his own humanity.

[suspenseful music builds]

[Dr. De La Torre]
It's all a facade.

He can't even get
the emotion up to really put

a full-throated defense
of himself.

He is not demonstrating
that he is enjoying

anything that's happening.

But he's also not putting
on any theatrics.

He's not putting on a mask
of someone who,

"I should be offended
by any of this."

He wants the detectives
to think that he's young.

He wants the detectives to think
that he's not really capable

of this level of violence.

Even though the keys
to the gun safe were found

under his mattress.

I mean, literally, this guy did
not care if he got caught.

It's just, "Yeah, I know,

because that's
where I left 'em."

And that's it.

End of story.

He's taking their argument,
and turning it around

to explain why
it couldn't be true.

He's trying to take
whatever ammunition they have

and make it fit
into his narrative,

and show why
that can't be a reason,

just to negate that reason.

So I do think it's about,
the -- it's still that

he's trying
to control the interview,

control their impression of him.

There's definitely some traits
of narcissism here,

traits of narcissism
are part of the psychopathy,

and he thinks that
he's smarter than police.

And when he finds out
that he might not be,

he's sort of trying
to wait the police out,

and information gathers,
so he can create and spin,

like, a new narrative,
that's also very manipulative,

you know, traits consistent
with narcissism and psychopathy.

And that's something,
you know, that threatens

Browning's ego to be
not smarter than the police.

I do think he was trying
to demonstrate

his level of
intellectual superiority.

Him saying, you know,

"Me telling you a story"
or "Me crying,"

those things are definitely
the glibness associated

with psychopathy.

I do think that this
is a challenge.

He's growing more
emboldened to challenge.

He's still not experiencing
any emotions, though, right?

He's still sitting there,
coolly, calmly.

He's still kind of whispering.

He's still getting
the attention that he wants.

So a common tactic
that police will use

in their interrogations
is to validate the emotions

of what's going on
with the perpetrator.

That usually will make
them open up and say,

"Oh, yes,
you understand me."

And Browning takes
that little carrot,

making himself out to be
sort of the victim in the story.

He's really trying
to distance himself from

any responsibility
in the crime.

He's trying to cry.
He's got some tears.

He keeps holding his hand
up over his eyes.

And now in the role
of being a victimized kid,

he gets a gun,
and he's going to shoot his dad,

but he hesitates.

He's not sure if
he pulled the trigger.

He's shifting in the story.
He's still a victim.

But it's meant to convey
that this wasn't premeditated.

In fact, we know, it was
when we look at the evidence

of hiding the keys
in order to get the gun.

But this is a new strategy
to manipulate the police.

He's figured by now
they don't believe his story

that he didn't do it,
so he might as well

give them a story
where he did it.

I think he shot his father,

and then he waited to see
if it would stir anybody.

When it didn't,
he recognized that

he was probably gonna have
to put a little bit more effort.

And I think him shooting
them in the head,

I think, was an element
of him being offended

that they made him to put
in so much work.

There's nothing about this
that says that he is sorry

for killing his family.

They were objects that
kept getting in his way.

And at 15 years old,
he wanted it his way

or the highway.

He's still being manipulative.
He wasn't out of it at all.

He figured out which door,
where to leave some footprints.

He had gloves.
He knew where the keys were.

He hid the keys.

He phoned his friends
in the morning,

and they decided to go out.

These aren't the actions
of a frightened teenager

who's just acting on impulse.

These are the actions of someone

who has forethought,
intent, planning.

So we see the behaviors,
and actions of a psychopath

on full display.

When Browning said that
there's no mitigating factor,

it's like the police
are working harder

than him to help him.

There's got to be some
other reason.

And Browning's just, like,
"Nope, there's no other reason."

Psychopathic parricide offenders
are extremely rare.

Most of the parricide offenders
tend -- overwhelmingly tend

to be the ones that
are severely abused.

But that's not what
we're seeing with Browning.

He's manipulative.

He's deceitful.

He's a pathological liar.

You know, he essentially
just, you know,

does not respect authority.

He's not giving
anything other than

what he needs to give them.

The phone call that
we're hearing from Browning

is almost a completely
different person,

and I think that's
on purpose.

The phone call,
I think, is the Browning

that friends would know.

He did this because
he wanted to do this.

He did this because
his level of psychopathy

was such that
he was going to be violent.

He was going to be
the violent psychopath.

[slow music playing]

[music intensifies]

[criminal speaking]

[interviewer speaking]

[criminal speaking]