Understanding Teen Killer's Mind: Your Questions Answered
Nov. 16, 2010— -- Jovan Collier was able to keep a dark secret: He had killed his adoptive parents and younger brother when he was 14 years old. For years, he lived under another name and led a seemingly normal life, until his deep-seated rage was awakened. Collier began to aggressively stalk his ex-fiancee -- vandalizing her home, allegedly threatening her, even sending her a dead piglet. Collier is now serving time in a Florida prison for aggravated stalking.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Michael Welner, who has not treated Collier, offers an expert perspective on the case, and answered viewers' questions about Collier's strange behavior.
Welner, M.D., Chairman of The Forensic Panel, is an ABC News Consultant. He is an associate professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine and has worked in some of the most sensitive cases in America in recent years. Click here for more on Welner.
Cal asked: Based on his reported behavior, would you say that Jovan Collier aka Peter Zimmer is clinically a psychopath? Do you believe his claimed "abandonment issues" from childhood had any profound influence on the way he turned out, or is he exaggerating those issues to excuse his behavior?
Dr. Welner answered: You cannot tell Collier's diagnosis from the murder alone. Still, the brazenness of his sense of entitlement to the estate of the family he murdered, and the schemes of setting her up with unsuspecting sex website partners makes it realistic to ponder whether he actually is a psychopath. Brazenness is an exceptional "quality." When in the quality of lying or and having two wives unbeknownst to one another, when brazen in action, should inspire greater scrutiny.
Adolescents who kill have conflicts at home. Some have been abused; some are merely destructive characters who will not tolerate limits being set. Abandonment issues plague many, including those from intact homes. The choice of violence relates to how someone deals with abandonment or other life priorities and stressors, not adoption per se.
Emotional abandonment is not a trigger to familicide as much as material abandonment is, although issues ranging from abuse and threats to antisocial explosiveness to substance intoxication are all realistic possibilities.
When adolescent killers return to the community, it should surprise no one that they conceal their past as best they can. For every person willing to give them a second chance, there are many who are horrified at the notion that they, as killers, can be free to enjoy the simple pleasures their victims cannot.
When questions come from those who discover the frightening truth, and those questions are inevitable, killers often have rationalizations for explanations to put their behavior in a more understandable light. Not just for the rest of us – but if they have a conscience, sometimes for themselves.
Jean asked: How, after committing such a heinous crime at age 14, could he remain free from violent crimes (as far as we know) for 25 years? I'm sure during those years he experienced rejection or anger at some points, which should have triggered some sort of similar reaction. Why didn't these violent actions surface before now?
Dr. Welner answered: We don't know enough of Collier's movements for 25 years. Clearly he is effective at compartmentalizing the people in his life from others, such that the killings were only one of his important secrets.If he had remained non-violent for all of that time, and there are numerous cities, relationships, and stops along the way, he is an adult with a more fully developed sense of anticipating consequences and impulse control for example. The mistaken choices adolescents make would not necessarily be repeated in adulthood -- especially if a person is horrified by what he had done and punishment is strong enough to be a deterrent. But Collier's readiness to arm himself with a knife, even in public yet, and menacing Candy demonstrates that he has no qualms revisiting his destructive potential.
