Geraldo Rivera provided his analysis of the ”¦ Natalee Holloway disappearance case. Prime suspect Joran Van Der Sloot has given a series of interviews proclaiming his total innocence. “The lie that he has fastened on,” Rivera pronounced, “is that he took her on the beach but didn’t have sex because he didn’t have a condom, then left her on the there. It’s at odds with the story he told earlier, but as he tells this story he becomes more confident and more glib. I believe there is a pathological aspect to this man.” The Factor concurred that Van Der Sloot seems psychologically unbalanced. “I can’t figure out why he wants do these interviews because he comes off as a sociopath. If he makes one slip-up he’s done. It looks to me like he’s a danger junkie – he likes this cat-and-mouse game, it’s exciting to him” (source)
Does it matter whether or not Joran van der Sloot is a sociopath/psychopath? Why not just be satisfied that he is a “criminal” and an evil person?
Yes, it does matter, because when dealing with a sociopath the usual rules of human interaction do not apply. Anyone who treats a sociopath as they would a non-disordered person is likely to get burned and to be implicated in the evil that sociopath does. Joran van der Sloot’s story illustrates this principle.
Joran’s father, Paulus, was an attorney many believed knew the truth about what happened to Natalie Halloway, the first young woman Joran was accused of murdering. Paulus strongly supported his son after the murder accusations first arose, and was even charged himself as an accessory after the fact, though the charges were dropped.
Paulus van der Sloot died of a sudden cardiac death last February and so did not live to see the result of his enabling of his son. Joran’s mother, Anita, is now alone to deal with the repercussions of the family’s enabling.
The lesson to be learned is that if you have a family member who has been charged with a serious crime, and that family member has psychopathic personality traits, or is diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, DO NOT HELP THAT PERSON IN ANY WAY.
Over and over again, we have said on this website that sociopaths are able to do evil in a large part because they are enabled by family members and various governmental agencies- including the judicial system and law enforcement. Well, law enforcement does it again.
It turns out that the FBI wired Joran $25,000 as part of a “sting” operation, as they were trying to arrest him for shaking down Natalie Halloway’s parents. According to former agent Paul Lindsay, “the FBI formula for extortion stings is, “set ’em up, pay ’em off, get ’em to talk, never let them leave the room without handcuffs on.” Because the FBI did not understand the psychology of their suspect, they let him leave the room and were out smarted by a sociopath.
The lesson to be learned here is that next time the FBI wants to sting a sociopath they should contact Lovefraud so that Donna and I can tell them not to give a sociopath any money”¦ that is unless they want the sociopath to use the money to kill someone.
One more lesson to be learned from the van der Sloot case is that media psychiatrists should stop confusing people with their false categorical statements. I came across this analysis of van der Sloot by psychiatrist Keith Ablow (who I have criticized before):
“Serial killers whether organized or disorganized are always made, never born. Having interviewed dozens of killers myself, I can tell you that it turns out that evil never appears ”˜out of the womb’.”
Well, I knew Rodney Alcala, and I can tell you that he was born with a disposition to become a serial killer that was present in his early childhood. Serial killers are both born and made. Evil is in the genes of some people but like many other traits it needs the right soil to take root and blossom.
Psyche,
In regards to addiction and ADHD, there is a relation. Mine hasn’t been diagnosed but I would say he has ADHD. He also has this weird thing when you talk to him, he looks past you or around the room. Will stare in your eyes when he is talking to you and wants you to ‘look him in the eyes’ when he tells a whopper.
He loves attention from women as well and will look around the room for potentials. If he stares at them and they look back at him, it’s like a hit. He seems to need many hits and has retreated in his shell when he isn’t getting sufficient attention. It’s all very subversive, under the radar. So my having proof of his flirting isn’t always possible, which he knows. I used to think I was just too jealous, but nobody I know will stare at women like he does. He picks out certain ones, it’s weird. He says he’s just a normal guy. Yikes, I hope that isn’t normal for every guy.
When looking up on the computer “10 Things to do on a First Date”, it’s for me, of course. Extra condoms when he goes to the cabin, for me of course (even though I wasn’t with him). Neighbor appologizes for his behavior at a Christmas party, he was just being neighboorly. Lesbian porn, “I have looked at naked women but who would ever look that stuff up?” Right. What is wrong with them? I understand appreciating beauty but staring and masturbating all the time? Phone sex?
They do seem to have these things in common. I know mine isn’t as bad as others but for me, it’s the lies. I may even be able to forgive an affair, but this fantasy world is only to avoid the emptiness he has inside.
His joking and optimism is a front so he doesn’t have to address any negative stuff. He always made me feel flawed because I was unhappy with some behaviors “why can’t you look at the good things?” “Why are you putting pressure on our marriage?” “Just lighten up”
Hopeforjoy,
I don’t know about you, but there are times during the day where I feel such intense grief, heartache over all of the nonsense. The lying does me in. I loathe it, just wanting straight answers. Every poster has something to say that I can relate to. It wasn’t until last fall that I figured out what kind of person I was dealing with, taking a while to accept that reality. During the marriage (I was thinking of this today), there were red flags, things that I didn’t pick up on soon enough, always some small drama going on. His family members knew things about him (pre-marriage), but didn’t inform me – I wish that they had clued me into his character because I would have thought twice about marrying him. No joke.
Bluejay,
I can relate to the grief you feel. How do we heal from the heartache and become whole again? I just want to move to the next stage of my life, whatever that may be.
For me, the red flags were there but my self-esteem was so low that I would second, and third guess myself.
Hopeforjoy,
I don’t think that I was “whole” at all, trying to get there though, but derailed further by the spath experiences.
I am not sure I see Joran VDS as a psychopath. I think he is more like an addict. Addicted to drugs and to poker playing.I think he rather has a bipolar disorder which is probably caused by extensive use of cannabis and other drugs. I followed the story line and I do not think Joran went to that room with the intention to kill the girl.If he did as a psychopath he would organise it much better. I think his motive was money. Not to rob the girl of her cash but to gain 250000 of Natalee’s family and Stephanie maybe was smart enough to find details of this on his computer. Or maybe she logged on his comp with her user name and password and won a big sum of money in a poker game and he transferred this poker money to his account. Remember poker rooms do not have real names connected to them so it might be that nobody knew how much money Stephanie had in her poker account under some “user name” You can talk about the psychopaths etc but to me this guy is just a cold hearthed criminal and he knows very well if he is hidden behind a mental illness he is not going to be punished that much. Also his victim seemed same junkie and poker addict, same as him. Why did he killed her remains unanswered, all the answers I heard so far doesn’t seem right. Remember they were both under influence of drugs and alcohol.Only god knows what was happening in that room and why that poor girl finished that way. IMO his motive is money, because a day prior to it he emailed his friend to send him some money. Maybe him and the girl played poker online together and she was logged on in her name and did not want to share the profit with him, this to me seems more reason why someone like Joran would kill a person. He is not mental, he is just too selfish and maybe narcissistic,
She drove him in her car to the hotel. I think that he was carrying her purse…intentions to steal her 3 thousand dollar winnings. In the video, you can see her following him, and her walk tells a lot. She looked upset and wanted her money, her purse. Once they got into the room, she probably demanded her money and he got mad and killed her. Thats my take on it.
“purpleandfluffy says:
I am not sure I see Joran VDS as a psychopath. I think he is more like an addict. Addicted to drugs and to poker playing.I think he rather has a bipolar disorder which is probably caused by extensive use of cannabis and other drugs. I followed the story line and I do not think Joran went to that room with the intention to kill the girl.”
If he shows no sense of guilt or remorse, he is a psychopath. He certainly gives the impression of no remorse regarding Natalie Halloway, whom I believe he killed.
How can this person not be a psychopath? Is there any debate to this question at all? He shows no remorse, pathalogical lying, addiction problems, can’t stand criticism (the wine incident), can be charming during interviews, glib, etc. The fact that he was so brazen when he murdered the girl in Peru means that he thought he could get away with it. He has no soul.
From what I have read and heard the reason he killed her was because she got on his laptop and learned about who he is and it pissed him off and he choked her out of rage for tresspassing on his privacy..doesnt matter if he is spath or not, serial murderer is his title now.. and they say he wont last long in Peru’s prison because there are other monsters lineing up to kill him…
I agree to all comments above about ADHD and substance abuse being related to psychopathy.
Left handedness, not sure, but I do remember reading somewhere that being ambidextrous children are more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems in childhood than right- or left-handed children.