48 Hours: Bruce Beresford-Redman

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I have yet to watch 48 Hours from last weekend, but I have heard and seen that Bruce Beresford-Redman has been convicted of killing his wife Monica in Mexico in 2012.  You can watch the show above. If the link doesn’t work, you can click here.

I teach this case in my class and wrote about it on my blog back in 2012 when this case came to light that I did not trust Bruce.  Now a jury agrees.

Yet Bruce is still clinging to his innocence. I’m really curious to see if he makes more slips in this show!

You can read my original analysis of Bruce back in 2012 here.

Bruce was convicted on March 12, and given a light sentence of only 12 years.

“The Jinx”: Robert Durst’s Confession

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This is quite the fascinating clip of Robert Durst (no longer available) talking to himself after taping The Jinx. He forgets to take off his microphone when he goes to the bathroom. Can you imagine the faces of the producers when they go to edit the recording and find this? How I would have loved to been a fly on the wall! To say they were stunned would be an understatement!

This is a golden piece because its almost never that we get to hear a suspected murderer debrief with himself and let out his real thoughts after an interview! And that is exactly what we are hearing. His mind is running through everything that happened and he is having a “wholly shit” moment!

It would be hilarious, if three people hadn’t ended up dead!

Clearly Durst enjoys the cat and mouse game, and outsmarting other people, or he never would have done this interview!

I wish I had HBO so I could have seen this. Unfortunately, I don’t and didn’t see any of this show.

I find the very beginning of this clip the most revealing and damaging when Durst says, “There it is. You’re caught. You are right of course, but you can’t imagine.”

Ouch. I think that speaks volumes of his guilt and involvement.

But in the end when he says, “What the hell did I do?” and he replies, “Killed them all, of course.” Was he flippant or serious? The tone of his voice intrigues me here. Did he kill two out of three? Was someone else involved and hence he doesn’t feel responsible?   I found that statement completely intriguing!

I’d like to watch more of him to see his behaviors to see if I can understand the meaning of that last statement better!

ROBERT DURST’S BLINKING: IS IT A TELL?

Robert Durst blinks a lot in the interviews and some have pointed out that its a sign of his lying. It’s a tell.  But is it really?

The only way to know is to watch Durst talk–when we know he is telling the truth.  When he tells the truth, he shouldn’t do it.

Does he pass this test?   My answer to that question is no.

In this clip of him which is full of him squinting/blinking/shoulder shrugging, Durst says, “I did make mistakes.”   That would be a true statement, correct?

When he says that, watch him.  He does the tic.  Again.  So it doesn’t seem to support this is a tell. It supports that it is a behavioral tic.

I have only seen one person who had this tell in well over a decade of watching people, so be very cautious when you think a behavior like this is a tell. It probably is not.  Blinking occurs for several reasons and you must rule out other reasons before you could ever say this is a clue to deception.

Nick Gordon Speaks To Dr. Phil

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I know many people were anticipating Dr. Phil’s interview of Nick Gordon this week as many people are curious about what happened to Bobbi Kristina Brown.

Dr. Phil arrived to find to find Gordon in bad shape. Gordon admitted that he was taking Xanax and mixing it with alcohol, which can be fatal. Dr. Phil’s goal was simply to get him into rehab, which was the right thing to do.

As you can see in the video above, Gordon was highly unstable and erratic, and knowing he is under the influence, I would take heed in putting too much into anything he says. Xanax and alcohol combined are known to cause jumbled thinking, poor judgement, and can even induce severe panic attacks. You can read more about what Xanax and alcohol can do here.

While I saw a couple of things that raised my eyebrows, I would not put too much stock on them until Nick is of sane mind and able bodied again. When Dr. Phil does the next interview with Gordon, I will share my thoughts then.

Interestingly, it seem this combination of drugs also played a part in Whitney Houston’s death.  It makes you think if Whitney introduced these kids (intentionally or unintentionally) to these drugs?

Bill Cosby Speaks Out

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Have you seen Bill Cosby’s newest media release? It’s a short clip of him trying to be funny and promote his upcoming shows. I find the man pathetic, personally.  His true character has been exposed, and he isn’t liking it one bit.

What do you see when you watch the video above?  A desperate man seeking attention?  A defiant in-your-face attitude–you can’t kill me–I’m not going away!!  Or do you see something else?  Share your thoughts below…

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48 Hours: Melissa Calusinski

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Did you catch 48 Hours (click here for the full episode) this past weekend? If you didn’t, its a story you don’t want to miss. Erin Moriarty tells us of the story of little 16-month-old Ben Kingan. He was at daycare and was being cared for Melissa Calusinski when she says she he started to fall asleep.

“Ben was … sittin’ in his bouncy chair, playing with his blanket. …And then he kind of falls back asleep,” she told Moriarty. “When I saw him startin’ to fall asleep, I’m like, ‘Ben, Ben.’ And no response. …he didn’t look right. …and I touched his hand. He did not wake up at all.”

Ben died from his injuries.

The police interrogated Melissa for nine hours.  She denied hurting Ben over 70 times, but then she slowly broke down.  She confessed to police that she threw Ben to the ground.

But now she says she is innocent and her confession was false.

As an expert in human behavior, I absolutely believe in false confessions and this case has all the hallmarks of it.

If you aren’t familiar with false confessions, I highly suggest reading the information presented by the Innocence Project. They have some great statistics and facts for you.

The Innocence Project found that 60% of confessions of homicide that were later exonerated by DNA were false!!

Think about that.

I am thrilled to see Kathleen Zellner has taken on this case.  I regard her as one of the best attorneys in the country. She is amazing!  Many thanks to Erin Moriarty and 48 Hours for doing this show.

I support Kathleen Zellner and Melissa Calusinski, and I hope this case gets re-examined.