Will Casey Anthony Commit Suicide As A Final Act of Control If She Gets Death Penalty?

by Dr. Lillian Glass

In examining Casey Anthony’s behavior, her body language ,and communication patterns throughout the years, it is my view that there are significant signals of sociopathy or psychopathy. According to the characteristics set forth by Canadian psychologist Robert D. Hare in his Hare Scale of Psychopathy, Casey Anthony appears to fit most of the characteristics seen below:

Factor 1: Aggressive narcissism

1. Glibness/superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Pathological lying
4. Cunning/manipulative
5. Lack of remorse or guilt
6. Emotionally shallow
7. Callous/lack of empathy
8. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions

Factor 2: Socially deviant lifestyle

1. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
2. Parasitic lifestyle
3. Poor behavioral control
4. Promiscuous sexual behavior
5. Lack of realistic, long-term goals
6. Impulsiveness
7. Irresponsibility
8. Juvenile delinquency
9. Early behavioral problems
10. Revocation of conditional release

Traits not correlated with either factor:

1. Many short-term marital relationships
2. Criminal versatility

When a sociopath or psychopath is cornered and there is no way out for them, they often become severely depressed. Because of that, it is not uncommon for them to commit suicide. That is  what happened with Craigslist Killer, Philip Markoff (right). He knew there was no way out of his predicament. So he found a way to kill himself in his jail cell and as a final act of control, write messages in his own blood on his cell wall. This could possibly happen with Casey Anthony as well.

Sociopaths and psychopaths do not commit suicide for the same reasons non-psychopaths or non-sociopaths would commit suicide. Instead, they commit suicide as a final act of control. So if Casey is found guilty of the crime of murdering her daughter Caylee and is sentenced to death by the State, she may very well attempt suicide and succeed. In doing so, it may serve as her final act of defiance and control. She may commit suicide as an act of controlling her own death on her own terms.

While many may believe that Casey is too narcissistic to kill herself, that may not  at all be the case. If and when she is housed in a prison’s death row, Casey will get a rude awakening.

Right now, she is the center of attention, and she appears to be loving it. She gets to show off her different outfits and hair styles in the courtroom. For Casey, it is important to her that she always look good. That is why you always see her grooming her hair or adjusting her clothing. She also gets the pleasure of seeing her crush and attorney Jose Baez, and whomever else she fancies at the moment. She gets the pleasure of sharing a smile or a laugh with Jose. Most of all , she gets the joy of seeing her parents agonizing over her in the courtroom, while she purposely ignores them. She gets the thrill of knowing that her every move is televised and scrutinized by the press and that she is the subject of websites, news articles and television shows. There is no doubt that she flourishes with all of this attention bestowed upon her.

But if she is found guilty and sentenced to death, all of that external attention will suddenly disappear. Instead, she will experience hours and hours of complete isolation and boredom. There will be a disturbing lack of visual and auditory stimulation on a regular basis.

So stimulus-seeking Casey, who needs all of that attention to survive, may have a terrible time dealing with and tolerating her newly imposed boredom. Because the lack of stimulation may be so intolerable and such torture for her, it would be highly possible for her to attempt to take matters into her own hands and kill herself because she may feel there is no way out.

Even though Casey would no doubt appeal her conviction, the legal process would be agonizingly slow. It could take years. There would not be daily, weekly or even monthly visits from attorneys. Even though she will no doubt continue to receive countless letters from fans who support her innocence, or receive marriage proposals from emotionally disturbed people who are captivated by her beauty, it may not be enough to sustain her.

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Seven Days of Rage

by Paul LaRosa

My new book on the Craigslist Killer case – “Seven Days of Rage” – was just published and here’s what bothers me most about the feedback so far: the idea that it's somehow okay to murder and attack prostitutes. All three of suspected killer Philip Markoff’s victims were sex workers. One describes herself as an escort, another as a stripper, and the dead woman – Julissa Brisman (photo left) – told friends she gave erotic or sensual massages.

I expected criticism when the book was released because, as I’ve learned from writing three previous true crimes books, there is always criticism. Usually, the flack is directed at me for making oodles of money off these cases (definitely not true), and this time I expected that a fair number of people would be offended that the book was written and released well before Markoff stands trial. I understand the concept of “innocent until proven guilty” but I was not troubled by it in this instance because, frankly, I’ve never seen or heard of such damning evidence against a defendant as there is against Markoff. His lawyer, a good one, is going to have to pull a Houdini to get his client out of this one.

What gets to me is the large number of viewers and readers who posted comments in the forums of both “48 Hours Mystery” and the Boston Globe (I co-wrote this book with Globe police reporter Maria Cramer), who think the Craigslist Killer’s three victims deserve what they got because of what they did for a living. Certainly, by choosing to be sex workers, they were inviting trouble, but does that make Markoff’s alleged crimes any less violent and cruel because of what his victims did for a living? To many people out there, the answer is ‘yes’ as if these women were somehow less than human.

It's so easy to pass judgment when you've never met these victims. But I've spoken to Trisha Leffler, the Craigslist Killer’s first victim (photo right), quite a bit as I prepared the book and television program. I can tell you that, although I believe she’s misguided in her chosen line of work, she’s a sweet person who keeps her word. And she is all too human – she lives with her parents, has trouble meeting her car payments, and is trying to make ends meet these days by selling scented candles.

As for the Craigslist Killer’s only murder victim, Julissa Brisman, well, all you have to do is look at her mother’s face to realize that she too was a real person who meant a lot to her family and friends – whether she was a sex worker or not!! Julissa’s mother Carmen is heartbroken and has taken down all the photographs of her daughter that once adorned the walls of her New York apartment. She can no longer bear to look at them and thinks about what happened to the precious girl she raised as a single mother. The holes on the walls, where those photos once hung, are a very sad reminder of the toll murder takes no matter what line of work the victim happens to be involved in.

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"Seven Days of Rage: The Deadly Crime Spree of the Craigslist Killer" is Paul LaRosa's fourth true crime book. In addition to being an author, Paul is a long-time producer for CBS's 48 Hours.

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Classified for Murder?

by Michelle Feuer

I don’t usually end up in happy places without there being an unhappy story to match. Last week, my job producing for CBS 48 Hours Mystery brought me to a town that I love—Aiken, South Carolina. It’s beautiful horse country where the equestrian scene is one of the finest in the world. The horse farms blow your mind and the polo matches are inspired grace. Sadly, I was not in Aiken to enjoy polo, but to learn more about alleged Craigslist killer, Philip Markoff.

Why was I in the South when the story happened in Boston? Turns out that a young medical student named Morgan Houston was in Aiken studying for the medical boards and she gave the first interview to the Daily News about her old friend, Philip Markoff.

Markoff and Houston had attended the State University of New York together. On Thursday, when I arrived at her parents' house after a 6:00 a.m. drive from Atlanta, local reporters were swarming and the whole scene was out of character for the nice, conservative, and peaceful South Carolina town.

After a long, long day of chaos, she was ready to sit-down and chat with us for our "CRAIGSLIST: Classified for Murder?" show that aired on Saturday night. You can see excerpts of her interview with Richard Schlesinger on the 48 Hours Web site as well as photos she gave us of Markoff during his college days.

Another exclusive find by CBS was our interview with Trish Leffler, a Las Vegas masseuse who advertised her services on Craigslist. Leffler says she was bound with a plastic cord and robbed at a Boston hotel by Philip Markoff four days before Julissa Brisman’s murder. Check out the partial transcript of our interview with her here.

What blows my mind about Leffler’s story is that she says the police came and took all the evidence from the hotel room, plus her cell phone. Markoff and Leffler had communicated by cell phones prior to the robberies, and they had sent messages via computer on Craigslist. Could they have prevented Julissa Brisman’s murder at the Marriott four days later if they had simply checked the Craigslist account faster and more thoroughly? Also, Markoff was captured on security camera footage both at the Westin and at the Marriott. Did they not take the crime seriously because of the nature of Leffler’s job?

New York Magazine just came out with the article I wanted to write—the conversation with Megan McAllister, Markoff’s 25-year-old fiancée. McCallister has come out publicly already saying she believes her man and insists he was set up. I can’t wait to hear more from Megan. And I cant wait to see if police are able to find more crimes committed by Markoff.

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