Original subtitles

[ominous tones playing]

[reporter #1] Alright, as a parent, you never wanna hear this.

Police in Putnam County, Florida, say

a 15-year-old is in danger.

[reporter #2] Her name is Morgan Leppert

That is the child we're talking about.

She's been missing since April 22nd.

Police think she's with her boyfriend.

His name is Toby Lowry, and police say he is bad news.

[tense music builds]

[reporter #3] Sheriff's officials, this afternoon said that

James Stewart died a violent death in his home,

but they're not releasing the exact cause,

because they wanna preserve that for the investigation.

[officer] As we continued our investigation,

we discovered that the pickup truck was missing.

[reporter #4] As recently as two days ago, this truck that they believe

the couple is traveling in was found

along different parts of Interstate 10,

first in Biloxi, Mississippi,

then in Crowley, Louisiana,

and then in Katy, Texas.

[theme music playing]

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

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

feeling... the hunger.

[ominous tones playing]

[ominous tones build]

Morgan Leppert comes across younger than a 15-year-old.

She comes across as a 12-year-old little girl.

She's playing dumb, like she doesn't understand

what's gonna happen, like she thinks she's just

gonna be returned home, and she's a simple runaway.

She's well aware that she's in a stolen vehicle

with a boyfriend who's an adult.

There's no stress.

The most she's concerned about

is when she's gonna be going home.

And that lack of worry speaks to something

far more devious in her own personality.

[Dr. Fox] That look that Morgan gives when the police officer

just left and she's been just giggling and happy

to immediate change, where she's now sullen

and crestfallen and she's thinking,

"How am I gonna get out of this?"

You can almost see her thinking,

"What's my lie gonna be?"

I think Morgan is still feeling

like she has the upper hand.

She doesn't think that he has that much.

I think she's starting to get nervous

that her initial story may not be the one

that does the trick.

But she's very confident in her manipulation.

I'm in control. I can get away with this.

And I can have him see me

the way I want him to see me.

[ominous tones playing]

Morgan Leppert is definitely somewhat sophisticated.

She's trying to see where police are going

in the interview.

She's not being forthcoming and -- and honest right away.

She's determining, you know, based on what they say,

is gonna determine what she says in response.

That's not typical of a child that's innocent.

That's actually the -- the opposite.

You know, it's -- it's kind of consistent with someone

that's a pathological liar trying to dismiss blame.

This is a trick that Morgan uses repeatedly.

We've seen it now several times where when she gets cornered

into something she doesn't wanna talk about, she diverts.

Change the subject.

But when you are given a way out,

and you double down, sometimes triple down,

and you still don't take that path,

and you are that confident, and you're still going to say,

"I'm not involved, I didn't do this,"

that's what really sets the psychopath and others apart.

[ominous tones playing]

[tense music playing]

Psychopathic individuals oftentimes prey on people

who are easy to overtake,

particularly when they're opportunistic offenders.

And what we see in this couple is that willingness to engage

in something so callous and so antisocial,

with no real regard for the victim's life,

his family, his physical limitations or disabilities.

That kind of callousness,

that kind of rush and high

that they were looking for, like Bonnie and Clyde,

really speaks to some of their own psychopathic tendencies,

not only as individuals, but how those tendencies

played off each other.

I definitely think that Morgan Leppert

and -- and Lowry are bonding

over this fantasy of running away

and starting this brand new life.

And, you know, he's a young man

and he probably wants to be seen as this protector

and this provider.

And so he's gonna do that at any means possible.

So engaging in this crime and taking care

of what she wants taken care of, she --

he can fulfill, you know, her view of him being

the protector and the provider,

just in a very, you know, violent manner.

[tense tones playing]

[Dr. Fox] They could take the truck that moment.

But I think two things --

one, they'd worked themselves up into this,

and either one didn't wanna think

that they were being the baby by backing out.

The second is, I think they both enjoyed it that much.

They wanted this experience. It was thrilling.

It was like getting yourself pumped up

for a big event that gets canceled.

And I don't think either of them wanted that.

♪♪

[Dr. Sahni] Despite the fact that the couple knows

there's sufficient gas in the truck,

the keys are in the truck,

that if the goal really was and the motive really was

to get the truck and get out of Dodge,

why not just do that?

These two have now hatched a plan

to go engage in a level of violence together

that is a shared experience.

And while it may not have had

any sexual component to it at all for them,

it clearly taps into their individual psychopathy

and that desire to experience that thrill together.

[ominous tones playing]

If there was any doubt in anyone's mind

about Lowry's own psychopathic traits,

the callousness, the lack of remorse,

the lack of regard for human life,

in his own words, he acknowledges

he started laughing.

The victim is gasping for air.

Instead of leaving well enough alone,

grabbing the money, and leaving,

and getting out of the scene,

he suffocates the victim.

And that lack of total disregard for human life,

that lack of remorse,

really speaks to some of the markers of psychopathy.

[ominous tones playing]

♪♪

Morgan Leppert starts to become frustrated

and very irritable, and I think a little agitated

that police are honing in

on what exactly she did in this crime.

She makes light of such a violent act,

you know, minimizing the harm that she did to Mr. Stewart,

saying, "I only poked him.

It didn't even go through, for God's sake."

I mean, she's highlighting here

not just her level of callousness,

but she's also kind of showing us

that she really has no regard for human life.

And the way she's shutting off her emotions

shows that she is very sophisticated

and her behavior is very calculated and goal directed.

And when the detectives ask her,

"Do you have any remorse for what you've done?"

She says, "What is that?"

She's acting like she's never heard of this before,

which actually could be true.

She's never felt remorse in her life.

There's no word to put to this feeling she's had

'cause she's never shown it.

They didn't actually have that feeling of remorse

or feeling of empathy.

Both Morgan and Toby have different features

that are very distinct and problematic,

but when you bring them together,

it's almost like creating a super storm.

It's what you would think of as a true,

you know, unified psychopath.

♪♪