Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day: Open Letter to Kate McCann

As a criminal profiler, I have also sometimes been criticized for theorizing about a case I have not personally been privy to the actual facts from inside the investigation. As I do a lot of television commentary, this is quite often the case for me; I only can theorize based on the “facts” outlined by the media. Therein lays the difference between public speculating and true criminal profiling as part of an investigative team. The latter is going to be one hell of a lot more accurate!

Still, all is just theory until the crime is solved. Everyone doing the analyzing and paying attention to this theory and that knows that any “determination” is only based upon the validity of input. The only harm theorizing can do is if the police detectives theorize incorrectly about the evidence or bring in an expert who theorizes incorrectly and bases the entirety of their investigation decisions on this particular theory. If, on the other hand, the theory is accurate, then the investigative avenues will be pursued correctly, or, if the theory is interesting but not necessarily correct, the police will pursue a number of investigative strategies to cover all bases.

Are the PJ doing this? I haven’t a clue. I cannot assume they are any way inferior to other police departments in the UK or in the US or elsewhere in the world. Each department consists of individuals and it is a roll of the dice as to how good these particular individuals are at investigative work. I remember when Natalee Holloway went missing in Aruba, folks from the fine state of Alabama accused the Aruban authorities or incompetence and shouted how if Natalee had gone missing in the United States the case would have been solved quickly. Bunk! We have an ungodly high rate of unsolved murders and missing people here in the US, a good number of them right in Alabama. Fact is, some cases are hard to solve and some cases have detectives who are all that bright. Other cases have better evidence or top notch detectives. It isn’t a perfect world.

So, what do we know so far in Maddie’s case? Not much. We have zero clue about the evidence or the veracity of the witnesses. All we really have so far are the unvarnished public statements by the McCanns and I don’t mean the ones reported by the media in print as those can be misstated by the journalists (and I know this because I often quite displeased when I read in print some completely twisted version of what I told the reporter).

So, all we can truly be sure of is what the McCann’s have stated on television or radio or in Gerry’s blog. Even their PR team’s information is a bit questionable if we can’t hear it being said.


Before I comment further, I want to reiterate that the McCanns, while suspects in the disappearance of Maddie, are not legally charged with any crime. Therefore, they may be totally innocent of hurting Maddie in any way. But, I will also say, we as adults and members of the human race are also responsible for the way we behave and the things we say, so we must also take responsibility for the way other view us.

Therefore, based only on what the McCann’s said or written. I have some advice for the McCanns. SHUT UP! I have some advice for their PR team. Tell the McCanns to SHUT UP!



OPEN LETTER TO KATE MCCANN

Yes, Kate,

It isn’t your breast size or weight that is causing your problems. It is you and your narcissist evaluation of the situation and your PR team’s equally stupid assessment of the situation that is making you look so bad in the public eye.

I am a criminal profiler with years of experience dealing with parents of murder victims and missing relatives. Your behavior and the behavior of your husband fall far outside or the norm for grieving parents. Now, this may be because you are just terribly narcisstic folks who had nothing to do with your child going missing (outside of neglecting your children and putting your needs to party before their needs for comfort and safety, a narcissistic behavior if I have ever seen one). You and Gerry may simply be so narcissistic you have no understanding of how other people view your behaviors and your PR team may share your narcissism so that no one on your team has a clue to normal human behavior.

But, SHUT UP! Every time you open your mouths you do more damage to yourselves. You seem guiltier by the day. Your attempt at “damage control” is so obvious and so very much a day late and a dollar short, everything you do or say seems a cover up and a transparent attempt at proving your innocence.

Let me make clear what I think is weird about what you say and do:

You choose words about Madeleine’s disappearance which make it appear you know there is no abductor and that Madeleine is dead.

Both you and Gerry state your only guilt in the matter is not being their when Madeleine “was taken.” This statement makes no sense for abduction as Madeleine could not be taken if either of you were with Maddie when an abductor would have shown up. It makes more sense in the context that Maddie died while you were not in the apartment.

Your statements and attitude about Madeleine being alive do not square with parents who really believe their daughter is in the hands of a pedophile or pedophiles who are brutally raping and torturing her daily.

Your attempts at “finding” Madeleine do not represent the manner most parents would choose if they were actively searching for a live child but appear more to be the actions of parents trying to prove after the fact of a child’s death that they “cared” (not care) about her.

Your behaviors of “keeping a normal routine” and “keeping up one’s appearance” is admirable, but extremely bizarre. I don’t know any other parents of missing children who can appear so together and cheery. When my daughter cooked our kittens by accident in the dryer, I cancelled Christmas.

Gerry’s blog creeps people out. It is too upbeat. Terrified and distraught parents of missing children are rarely able to jog and play tennis and go to park with their other kids and have a fun time. Over a long period of time, maybe, but this is usually years after the nightmare begins. Some parents never recover from the trauma and it is common for marriages to fail and the brothers and sisters to feel their parents went absent after their sibling went missing.

Your ability to sleep at night after the first five days, Kate, is beyond belief. It is the behavior of one who already knows the answer and even then, is quite a narcissistic trait. If you believed your daughter was being raped as you lay in bed at night, sleep would be very hard to come by. I guess you finally realize this and your mother is saying that NOW you can’t sleep and Madeleine comes to visit you in the night. What changed, Kate?

Your PR team coming up with an answer to every accusation, answers that are ludicrous in themselves, makes you seem awfully defensive, and, if there is no way you or Gerry had anything to do with Maddie’s disappearance, you have nothing to defend. Furthermore, if all you care about is finding Maddie, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on such silliness. After all, as Gerry said, Maddie is the only important thing, right?

So, SHUT UP, Kate. SHUT UP, GERRY. Fire your PR team as they are totally worthless. If both of you really are innocent and your think Maddie is alive, return to Portugal. Start searching for real (and it took six months to set up a hotline?). Cooperate with the police. Take the polygraphs as you have zero to hide and, with competent polygraph examiners, the questions are so simple you can’t screw them up. I will even give you the four questions that should be asked:


“Did Madeleine die while you were present?”
“Did you return to the apartment and find Madeleine dying or dead?”
“Did you move Madeleine’s body at any time?”
“Did your spouse move Madeleine’s body at any time?"

These are simple questions. The answer to all of them should be “No.” There is no ambiguity in these questions (unlike a question such as “Do you feel responsible for the disappearance of Madeleine?” which you could if you acknowledge leaving her without an adult caretaker is irresponsible; an affirmative answer to such a question would be useless to the detectives as it could falsely indicate that you had something to do with Maddie going missing when you are only feeling guilty over leaving her unattended. Also, an affirmative answer could mean you simply do not feel responsible for what happened to Maddie no matter what happened to her as a total narcissist might).

The above four questions are simple and unambiguous and even a narcissist can’t misconstrue the meaning of the questions. The answers will be a simple “Yes” or “No.” Have the polygraph session videotaped so the police will be unable to do any underhanded scare tactics or interrogation that might distort the results of the tests.

Quite frankly, Kate, you and Gerry had everything going for you as parents of a missing child if you hadn’t left your children unattended night after night to go out partying. THIS is what made people dislike you. It was to your advantage that you are both relatively attractive people because IF you had big breasts and a porky physique and were not well-heeled professionals, you would have become suspects right off the bat and you would have not had the incredible monetary support you have been blessed with nor all those kindly letters. You would have been viewed as just a pair of slobs who probably abused their children as well as neglected them and you wouldn’t have gotten the phenomenal amount of publicity worldwide concerning Maddie’s disappearance. Other parents have gone public, run campaigns, and had web sites, but your fortune with publicity and support has been unprecedented. And, you complain, Kate, that people are treating you badly because you are fit! It was being fit and professional and well-off that got you so much attention. It was you and Gerry’s fitness as parents and your peculiar behaviors that got you the negative attention.

I have a final suggestion. Ask the PJ if I can come analyze the case. My organization will send me pro bono. As a criminal profiler I can analyze the actual evidence to advise the investigators as to the best investigate strategy. I have no problem determining this crime as an abduction and finding the creep that took Madeleine if the evidence points that way. I don’t have to like you and Gerry as people to view the evidence in an impassionate and professional manner. No one should be convicted of a crime simply because of personality and because people don’t like the individual’s personality. Solid physical and circumstantial evidence must exist to the point where there is no question as to who committed the crime. I would work very diligently to assist the PJ with the evidence and the facts and do a thorough crime scene analysis that would move the case forward.

Furthermore, if you and Gerry get charged in Madeleine’s disappearance and must truly defend yourselves, my services are available to you and your lawyers. I will be more than happy to analyze the evidence and, if you are innocent, do all I can to serve in your defense.

Good luck, Kate. May the truth be brought to light soon and you and Gerry get the justice you deserve in the case of your missing daughter.

All the best,

Criminal Profiler Pat Brown

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wondered if you have had a chance to view Gerry and Kate's latest interview yet? (For a Spanish TV station).
In light of the speculation over Madeleine's paternity I noticed Gerry avoided calling Madeleine his daughter throughout this interview ,even forming quite bizarre sentence structures to prevent this happening . One sentence has him saying "as parents " twice , another refers to Madeleine's siblings but he steps away from saying brother and sister and hesitates then opts for "the twins".Another time he talks her of her needing to be reunited with "her family", again avoiding stating his relationship/"ownership"(hate that in terms of children but hope you understand my drift here). Kate does the opposite saying that she knows only that she is "Madeleine's mummy and someone has taken her".
Maybe it's just sophistry but I found myself noticing this.

Pat Brown said...

Yes, Gerry does tend to be very abstract about his children. But, the one time he does say specific is in relation to the last time he supposedly saw Madeleine.

""I was the last to see her," he said. "I saw her and thought how beautiful she was and thought how lucky I was to be a father of three children," he added.

Now, Gerry may have really thought this or he may be making a statement that covers to issues: one, that he DID see Madeleine asleep in bed when he checked on her" and "the three children are his biologically."

If innocent, Gerry seems to be most in control and Kate most in denial. Kate states that she believes Maddie is alive and living peacefully in someone's house and she doesn't see that it is possible for anyone to hurt such a beautiful child. If Kate isn't acting, she may be convincing herself that Maddie was just taken because someone wanted a pretty daughter and, therefore, Maddie will eventually come home relatively unharmed. Maybe this is why she isn't freaking out about Maddie being raped and tortured on a daily basis. Maybe this is why she has never broken down and cried during an interview (even though some of the print media claims she did during this interview, all I saw was a continuous sad, stressed, person with a slighty shaky voice who seemed to wipe away one tear before pushing her hair back (like she was embarrassed to have a tear fall). In other words, her behavior is very similar to other interviews, although a bit less angry and more sad.


One of the oddities about the McCann interviews is that both parents are very even in their speaking (except a few minor flares when asked about drugging Maddie or being suspects). Most parents of missing children have a very varied responses when answering questions and often one of the parents completely loses it. I see a steady answer from say the husband, and then the wife breaks in and starts pleading with the abductor. Or the wife starts telling what her daughter is like and the husband jumps in and, choking on his words, starts talking to his daughter, "Just hang on, honey! We are looking everyway for you. Don't give up!" And so it goes. The only other couple I have ever seen come across this way are the Ramseys and that isn't exactly a good sign. Of course, if we can prove the McCanns or Ramseys innocent, then we will have increased our education as to the anomolies of parent of missing children behavior.

Pat Brown said...

Yes, Gerry does tend to be very abstract about his children. But, the one time he does say specific is in relation to the last time he supposedly saw Madeleine.

""I was the last to see her," he said. "I saw her and thought how beautiful she was and thought how lucky I was to be a father of three children," he added.

Now, Gerry may have really thought this or he may be making a statement that covers to issues: one, that he DID see Madeleine asleep in bed when he checked on her" and "the three children are his biologically."

If innocent, Gerry seems to be most in control and Kate most in denial. Kate states that she believes Maddie is alive and living peacefully in someone's house and she doesn't see that it is possible for anyone to hurt such a beautiful child. If Kate isn't acting, she may be convincing herself that Maddie was just taken because someone wanted a pretty daughter and, therefore, Maddie will eventually come home relatively unharmed. Maybe this is why she isn't freaking out about Maddie being raped and tortured on a daily basis. Maybe this is why she has never broken down and cried during an interview (even though some of the print media claims she did during this interview, all I saw was a continuous sad, stressed, person with a slighty shaky voice who seemed to wipe away one tear before pushing her hair back (like she was embarrassed to have a tear fall). In other words, her behavior is very similar to other interviews, although a bit less angry and more sad.


One of the oddities about the McCann interviews is that both parents are very even in their speaking (except a few minor flares when asked about drugging Maddie or being suspects). Most parents of missing children have a very varied responses when answering questions and often one of the parents completely loses it. I see a steady answer from say the husband, and then the wife breaks in and starts pleading with the abductor. Or the wife starts telling what her daughter is like and the husband jumps in and, choking on his words, starts talking to his daughter, "Just hang on, honey! We are looking everyway for you. Don't give up!" And so it goes. The only other couple I have ever seen come across this way are the Ramseys and that isn't exactly a good sign. Of course, if we can prove the McCanns or Ramseys innocent, then we will have increased our education as to the anomolies of parent of missing children behavior.

Pat Brown said...

Check out the end of the video:

mms://a710.v368404.c36840.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/710/36840/v0001/wms.antena3tv.com:81/a3ntv/1/7/omnlk33265.wmv


It appears Gerry says "Do you want to say anything to whosever got her?

Kate sort of grimaces or smirks or a combination of both, and Gerry before he asks her, brushes at his neck as though he is uncomfortable.

Then, at the end if the interview, Gerry seems totally pissed. I wonder why?

Anonymous said...

Yes ,they always use the most abstract and non-specific terms to describe Madeleine, as if they hardly knew her.
In the women's hour interview I was struck by that ,and also how much more comfortable Kate was when she was reeling off statistics about abducted children world-wide, rather than talking about her own child.
But even then there is a vagueness , borne out by this most recent interview ,about the reasons and consequences of abduction.
You might expect a parent in their situation to be angry and campaigning against child pornography on the internet say, rather than wanting better statistics on numbers of abducted children?
Gerry seemed to be reigned in during the Spanish interview.
It was a chance to see Kate cry basically ,that was how it was billed in the UK. A response to her mother's paper interview and the she doesn't look maternal line.
Could Gerry's exasperation at the end be because Kate had not made a plea to the assumed "nutty lady "?

Anonymous said...

Are you really a criminal profiler?
I've never read such dreary hate-inspired bollocks until I got to the section of your own children cooking and killing the kittens in the boiler. I found myself desperately wanting you to expand on the story. How? Why? etc..
Anyway, keep up the good work

Anonymous said...

Lie detector test? No chance! Yes or no answers? No chance!

I have prepared the sort of answers you might expect if your questions were asked in an interview.


“Did Madeleine die while you were present?”

Kate: (indignant) I won't even answer that one.

Gerry: There is no evidence that happened. We have asked that the media be more responsible and that sort of slur is very unhelpful.



“Did you return to the apartment and find Madeleine dying or dead?”

Gerry: That is ludricous. There is no suggestion of that.

Kate: We are very good parents. Cuddle Cat proves Madeleine was abducted.

Gerry: The authorities have confirmed that everything we did was within the boundaries of good parenting.





“Did you move Madeleine’s body at any time?”


Kate: There is no real evidence of that.

Gerry: That is ridiculous. The police have do not charged us and they will clear us. We have had our own forensic tests carried out on the car and are confident the results will show we are innocent.





“Did your spouse move Madeleine’s body at any time?"


Kate: (looks at Gerry)

Gerry: There is very little criticism and everyone knows we didn't have a car for 5 weeks after Madeleine was abducted. We are both 100% confident of each others innocence and there is a wholly innocent explanation for everthing.

Pat Brown said...

::shakes head:: It was an accident involving a dryer, an all too common cause of kitten deaths because they like to snuggle in warm clothes. My daughter was ten-years-old and the incident was a horrible experience for her (and the rest of the family).

I am not sure why a number of folks have found this sad incident some sort of pathological behavior on the part of a child who adored those kittens or how this makes me a monstrous mother because my daughter close the dryer door unaware while I was busy cooking dinner for the family.

I am surely no perfect mom (my kids will tell you that!) but I worked hard to be a good and responsible one.

If the McCanns had been as concerned about their childrens' welfare, they would not have left their little ones without proper supervision while they went off to have fun.

Why is this such a difficult concept for some to see? Yet these folks have inverted the two stories - calling the McCanns' behavior understandable and the behavior of my daughter and me despicable.

Oddly, I didn't share this story to even compare good or bad parenting but to discuss emotional reactions by caretakers to horrible events that happen on their watch and that when someone has the ability to minimize their responsibility, their feelings of guilt (even if they really didn't do anything so wrong), the incident itself and the devastation that incident had on an innocent one, one has to wonder if there is not somethin about the caretakers that is not quite right.

Anonymous said...

5 british criminal profilers did a TV show on the McCann case last week,they travelled to Portugal and investigated from there,they came to the most likely scenario being that Maddie WAS abducted.

Anonymous said...

No they did not ! They looked at 3 possible sceanrios ; abduction, woke and wandered and death in the apartment. By the end of the limited programme they had ruled out 1 and 2 and were left with 3.

As for the kittens , how horrible for all of you . Kittens , kitten's mother, you and your daughter . And I can totally understand you cancelling Christmas .Hope your daughter is Ok now .

Anonymous said...

All the 5 British criminal profilers did was at the end of the program they dismissed DNA evidence, which have been reported by the press, as pure speculation.

Now if you got 20 minutes have a look at this BBC program about how DNA evidence could be dismissed as unreliable:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/
(remove this space, plz)
newsid_4670000/newsid_4679900/4679986.
(remove this space, plz)
stm?bw=bb&mp=rm&news=1&ms3=12

Dear Pat, the PR compaign may not the best they should have from your point of view, but they know what they are doing and where they are taking all of us. They got the best support they could have - British Goverment support. British PM Gordon Brown is himself involved in the matter.

Anonymous said...

Dear Pat,

In none of your blogs regarding the McCanns have you disregarded the possibility that Madeleine was abducted, and I find your balance and rationality on this subject refreshing.

The bottom line is that either:

1. Madeleine was abducted.
2. Madeleine's parents are implicated

So, to even harbour thoughts that abduction is the less likely scenario, is to acknowledge that the McCanns were involved.

And that, in a nutshell, is why the PR campaign HAS to continue and why sensible, thoughtful, observational blogs like this one attract the kind of overly defensive posts like some of those above.

You are of course quite correct in your assessment that the most sensible thing for the McCanns to do is to SHUT UP ... yet they cannot do so, because their narcissism itself will not let them, AND they are still fooling some of the people. Their frantic scrabbling to justify and deny every new revelation reminds me of my children - who when younger, would demonstrate similar behaviours when trying to deny some household wrongdoing.

As for the sad story of the kittens - I perfectly understood the point that you were making: A normal parent gets extremely distressed and guilty about ANYTHING which harms their child - as parents we take every hurt to heart, and put ourselves on trial over how we could have prevented it. the McCanns display no such concern or behaviours.

That episode in your daughter's life must have been heartbreaking, for both of you. It is common for cats and kittens to climb into enclosed warm spaces, and this is an accident which happens more frequently than people realise :-( I hope that this tragedy did not stop either you or your daughter from welcoming future furry companions into your lives.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for an intelligent and objective view of the McCanns' behaviour. As you point out, if they are innocent as they claim, why don't they (and their friends) cooperate with the PJ - forty questions left unanswered, refusal to take part in a reconstruction, etc.

Anonymous said...

I wish to express my appreciation for your discerning assessment of the McCanns. Some pro-McCann individuals try to emulate the fallacious discourse of the pro-McCann Press when they comment on more factual assessments of the case, like yours. You may be experiencing comments of that nature, if you haven't already!

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Anonymous said...

Pat Brown !! ...I loved your assessement of this case. I have gone on record from day one of the Madelaine McCann case and suspected that something was n't quite right. I have since followed the case with more than a degree of some interest as my profession lies within this field and has done so for many years.
I would love to read the entire case files in order to establish whether my long held opinion could stand up ...that poor Maddie may have died within the flat and that her body was somehow disposed of. My counter parts in Portugal obviously believe this also and it is foolhardy to think that these people are totally incompetent...trust me they are not.Furthermore, I would dearly love to speak to the McCanns and their tapas friends again just to see their body language because although not proof of guilt you would leave knowing in your heart of hearts whether their respective claims were true or not. People often ask why would they (the McCanns) do such a thing.The answer is simple (in my opinion) they firmly believe that they did nothing wrong (other than leave her alone which I think they fully expected to be vilified for in a court of law and strangely were n't)and that whatever happened to Maddie was somehow an accident so their response was to concoct this scenario in order to protect themselves, their remaining children and their lifestyles. Quite a callous but somehow a quite understandable reaction from them in the light of how they come across in interviews. One day perhaps someone will crack under the stress of it all.

Anonymous said...

oh i know that feeling i did something very similar, my dog was having pups and i picked one up that i didnt even no she had given birth to, it was some how inside the towel i picked up and put in the washing machine its a horrible feeling, 14 years later and i still cringe when i think about it