Monday, April 19, 2010

Criminal Profiling Topic of the Day? What is Someone Capable Of?

There is an ongoing debate among people following the Haleigh Cummings murder as to what Ronald Cummings is capable of. Some think he is manipulated by Misty Croslin, his ex-wife, ex-girlfriend, maybe still girlfriend, drug dealing associate --- and that while he talked a tough game about killing those who "stole his daughter", he is really just a blowheart, a wannabe bully. Others think he is quite capable of violence.

In the comment section of my last blog post, Linda Parris pointed out some of the threats Ron has made toward other people. She offered these examples:


"Hank Croslin Jr., Misty Cummings brother, told deputies that one of his neighbors saw Ron Cummings put something (it was a decapitated rat) in his mailbox around midnight." "Cummings allegedly told him that he would “get back” at him. He said that Ron owned guns and he feared the dead rat was a sign that Cummings was going to kill him. Croslin told the deputies that he wanted charges filed."

And it has been reported by Tim Miller that Ron said he would "blow the teeth out of the back of Misty's head" if she betrayed him.

Now, let's think about that last ideation; Ronald is visualizing picking up a shotgun, aiming it at Misty, and blowing her head off. So? Haven't we all at one time or another visualized doing something to someone but know we would never do it?

Actually, this is not really true. We have a hard time visualizing anything which is not within our psyche to carry out under some circumstance or other.

For example, would you be willing to shoot somebody? If I think about that question myself (and I do own two weapons, a 9mm and a 38 that I keep for protection), I can say, yes, I can actually see myself pulling the trigger. I have run that fantasy through my head. Do I visualize shooting my ex because he ticked me off? No, that has never crossed my mind and it creeps me out to even force myself to bring up such a thought; I simply can't even put myself in this scenario with a gun, not even as a threat of some sort, not even brought along with me to some location he might be at.

Can I visualize going after someone who is harassing and stalking me and threatening them with a pointed gun and telling them to stop? No. I can't bring the picture up.

BUT, I can bring up two scenarios in which I can actually see myself, like a video on my television set, pulling out my gun and blasting away until my target is dead, dead, dead. One scenario involves waking up in the night and seeing a rapist breaking through my bedroom door. I see myself grabbing the gun and firing every round into him until he is no longer a threat. The other scenario involves a rapist attacking my child. Same action taken; I shoot until he is dead, dead, dead.

In an exercise I use in training, I ask people to imagine what they would do if they came home and find their significant other having sex with someone else in their bed. After an initial stubbornness to tell anyone what they think, they finally give up their imagined action. Some say they would just turn and walk away. Some say they would scream insanely at the two of them. Some say they would throw things. Some say they would punch out their mate but leave the lover alone. Some say they would shoot them. And my guess is they might well carry out what they visualize unless fear of going to jail or some strong self-control mechanism kicks in and says, "Don't do it."

So, if Ronald did say he would blow away Misty if she screwed him over and intimated he would cut the head off of Tommy if he ratted him out, I would believe him.

If you have a spouse, boyfriend or a girlfriend, a coworker or family member that expresses some violent ideation, take them seriously. They may never carry it out if they don't get overwhelmed with failure or have a serious affront to their ego, but , if they do, you may find them standing in front of you with a weapon and totally willing to pull their index finger back..

8 comments:

  1. Not to mention Ron is on tape with Cobra describing in detail what he'd do to someone who stole from him: Instead of killing him and getting a murder rap, he'd instead just mess up the guy's hands with a hammer so he could never do it again. Ron would take the assault with a deadly weapon instead. SO, he's also already considered how to get through the court system on the lesser charge and still accomplish what he needs to do. That is extremely telling.

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  2. Excellent point.

    How quickly people forget how charming sociopaths can be. They can wrap us around their little finger. Ronald Cummings is calculating. He is totally directing this whole thing. He has Tommy and Misty scared to death. They are doing exactly as he dictates. And it's working - the press is going bonkers about Joe Overstreet and Misty and Tommy - all younger than Ronald. And Ronald looks like the poor grieving dad.

    The give away, to me, is Ronald's eyes. They reveal an intelligent, secretive person. He's been appropriately emotional about his daughter, which has convinced us all that he is a victim. and, if it was an accidental death by Daddy's oxy's, he would still grieve the loss of his daughter. But the cover up is the calculating part, the deception, the evil. That is where those eyes and the odd violent ideations and statements are alarming. that's where the red light goes off and says 'wait a minute, something's wrong here'. And it is. His reaction is NOT normal. Putting a decapitated rat in someone's mailbox is a THREAT. It is violent.

    No wonder Misty isn't talking. She was only 17 when this whole thing went down. Ronald is a man. She was a girl. If I were she, I would be doing whatever he says. And she is.

    And the scary thing is, he may just get away with it.

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  3. GREAT post, Pat! You're the best. Please go to writeintoaction.com and do some text analysis and stuff. The truth needs to come out sooner rather than later.

    Nope, Ronnie won't get away with it! Everyone else, too, look at writeintoaction.com. There is a lot of overwrought emotion to plow through but it is worth it. Separate the wheat from the chaff. (Okay, enough with the farming metaphors from me.)

    After that, consider Marinade Dave's teaser, "Meanwhile, word just came awhisperin’ in my ear that Ronnie Boy was afixin’ to git bonded out when a man of the law, fed-style, said don’t do that quite yet. There’s more to this story than meets the eye. Take it or leave it." There could be A LOT more than meets the eye.

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  4. Cath, the guy that writes at that web site, writeintoactino.com, appears psychotic to me. The overwrought emotion you are seeing which makes it difficult to understand what he is saying is typical of the writing of someone who is exhibiting psychosis. Also, the man is writing letter after letter to officials, also a sign of psychotic behavior. I put his name into the search engine and his my space page says:

    "Timothy... is a hybrid writer ... Channeling and toggling all five senses during the writing process, Timothy is capable of witnessing the process from a coordinate mental position. A recovering alcoholic, Timothy has died of an over-dose on two occassions; one of which took him to the abyss of hell, changing his view on life and his actual purpose. Performing live at small venues from time to time, Timothy openly testifies and discusses his experiences as an alcoholic, drug abuser, and former inmate of various correctional centers."

    In other words, he says he is channeling much of this "information" which simply means he is making it up out of his own head.

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  5. Pat,

    Marinade Dave is different from Tim H....Please, God, I hope so anyway!

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  6. Pat,
    Thanks a million for looking and commenting on writeintoaction.com.
    First, let me say this. Without a doubt the current "players" in the limelight exhibit more than enough criminality and guilty behavior to explain the situation. For a sufficient theory, no need to look further. What we are seeing now may be all that there is to it, I completely agree.
    Second, parsimony. Simpler explanations are better than complicated ones if they equally explain all of the facts. I'm on board with that. Another reason not to look any further. What we know so far seems to sufficiently explain everything on the paternal side of Haleigh’s family.
    Third, yes, the author himself writes that he “channels” and about “witnessing the process from a coordinate mental position.” He certainly sounds schizophrenic/psychotic/whatever disorder with psychotic features. But, like you have pointed out so well, there are often kernels of truth in speech and behaviors. You point it out in the context of lying but I would think that it would also be true in the context of psychiatric/psychological disorders.
    Fourth, because of his strange description of himself, and the ominous music in the power point presentations, and his inability to be clear in his writing, I didn’t bother with his site. But nothing was happening with respect to finding Haleigh so the same curiosity that drew me to her also drew me to the writeintoaction site.
    That said, there are some unusual behaviors on the part of the maternal family and their associates that are not explained by the “solution” to the case (any of its variants). I am wondering if you listened to any of writeintoaction’s taped telephone conversations. I don’t know how many he still has up but they are most clearly with “Cobra” and some others that we have seen in the news. The voices in his recorded telephone conversations match the voices in the news clips. So unless the guy has dissociative identity disorder and/or a remarkable talent for impersonating voices, I don’t think these are “channeled” conversations with himself. Also, some of the cryptic writing may be because he feels the needs to protect himself.
    This is long for a comment so I’ll wrap it up. I think there are some kernels of truth there if you plow through the entirety of the material.
    Cath

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  7. Obviously you've never been seriously harassed by criminals.

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  8. what are we capable of? what would you do? i spend a great deal of time thinking about this. are we all capable of murder? i believe most people could murder in passion or defense, but coldblooded murder not so sure. what you said about vision of murder has got me thinking. too me this a very dark place to go in my mind. it's creepy to reach into the core of yourself. i will be thinking about this article for awhile.

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