Tag Archive for: 20/20

Scott Falater: Truth teller or liar?

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Did you catch ABC’s 20/20 this past weekend? They told the story of a Scott Falater who murdered his wife, but claimed no memory of it. As the story evolved, his family came to the conclusion he must have been sleepwalking. Scott, in his confusion, seemed to agree with them.

It’s highly likely many of you rolled your eyes at such a claim, right? I mean kill someone in their sleep while sleepwalking? That’s nuts.

But could it happen?

Would you believe it possible?

Did you believe it happened?

I actually was an active sleep-walking child into my adolescence. It was chronic for me. I did it many, many times. One time I even got dressed and ready to go babysit after a nap, and woke up holding the phone on the other side of our house in the kitchen. I was so confused as my father was standing there annoyed with me, telling me I was belligerent with my mom on the phone.

Belligerent? What was I doing and saying? I truly had no idea.

I had no memory of getting up, getting dressed, answering the phone or moving around the house, let alone talking to my mom and being grumpy and agitated. It was stunning and shocking to hear these stories of me doing things I had no conscious recollection about! I had dozens of stories told to me about the crazy things I did when asleep. If anyone could understand this, I would say it would be me.

People can do weird things in their sleep that we don’t know or understand.

And I did things I wouldn’t do in my awake life.

One time I was away at a camp in junior high school. I was in 7th grade. The 8th grade group slept in another area and they were, you know above us. No one dared pull anything on them. We were somewhat intimidated by them. You remember those days, right?

Well, I guess in the middle of the night I walked into their room where there were a dozen bunkbeds, turned on the light and said “Hey guys!” My best friend knew I slept walk and realized I was gone and got me and put me back to bed! I had no idea. I had made quite a stir and became this oddity among them. Did you hear what Renee did?

Again, I had no idea I did any of it. I just had to watch these people tell me in disbelief what I did, and realize it probably true.

While watching this story of Scott Falater on 20/20, it appears this story is a true mystery to many people.

But I do believe this show gave us a very clear answer as to what the truth is in this case.

Did you see it?

Check back to the blog in the next week for my response! I will either leave a comment in the comment section or I will post about it!

Take a vote. What do you think?

Diane Downs on 20/20: Are you a good detective?

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The story of Diane Downs was profiled on 20/20 this past weekend. I have to admit I am only half-way through the show as it was two hours long. But there was a shocking moment in the first half (guessing approximately where I stopped) that I saw that blew my mind! Did you catch it?

It’s one of those moments that if you have attended my class, I show you examples of–where the human mind hears one thing, but switches it to another because they cannot reconcile the truth as being that obvious. I think it is a protective measure at some level 99% of people do this! It’s the weirdest phenomenon I have encounter teaching people about deception.

Basically, a person can say a very TRUE statement that leaks the truth in a huge way –that is SO PROFOUND–it should stop people dead in their tracks.

But what happens in these situations is that people’s subconscious mind can’t reconcile what was actually said–was said. And so the mind distorts it. The listener actually subconsciously changes the words the person who is telling the truth said to make it benign!!!!!!!

When liars admit their deeds openly in an unexpected reveal, people will literally hear something different! It happened in the black widow case in Texas. And now its happening again.

Diane Downs said something very profound. On the show, we don’t see her say it, but we see someone else who interacted with her repeat her words. I trust this person is telling us 100% the truth.

I wrote those words down because they were MIND BOGGLING. And I searched Google today to get the clip. When I typed in the words, guess what?

They were completely modified on 6 different websites quoting the story!! Including ABC news! And yet when I listen to the actual statement said, it is completely different. This is what happened with the black widow killer too. The news journalists literally change the words, as well as others who write about the story! Because its that surreal.

Do you know what I am talking about? How good of a detective are you? Did you catch it??

Check back later this week for the answer!

Note: I do not know if the clip above contains the segment I am talking about. And I am guessing I was half-way through. I may have been a few minutes more past the half-way point–just so I don’t mislead anyone when I quit watching because I was tired.

Liam McAtasney on 20/20

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If you caught 20/20 this past weekend, they featured the story of Sarah Stern’s murder. The story was surreal to watch. You get to witness the accused and convicted killer talk in open-frankness about his deeds. It’s something you rarely get to see. I warn you, it’s stunning and horrific at the same time.

Liam McAtasney, the man who killed Sarah, comes across as emotionally void as you can get. He is haunting to the core. But I also get the sense he was highly intelligent.

Intelligent you say? Then how come he got caught? If he was that smart, he wouldn’t have been caught!

Well, actually, that isn’t necessarily true.

Intelligence is no match for arrogance. Arrogance will always trip even the most intelligent people. People like McAtasney lie and successfully manipulate people so much and so often that they start to feel invincible. They can do and get away with so many things–they start to feel supremely intelligent and smarter than everyone around them. They do bolder and bolder things until they commit these heinous crimes convinced no one will be the wiser. I see McAtasney as this type of person.

The other part of the story I found fascinating was why McAtasney went to his filmmaker friend. Do you have a sense of why he did that?

Was it guilt plaguing him? Was he itching to get this crime off of his chest?

I would argue, no, that is not why he went to his friend. He didn’t have an ounce of regret or remorse–not in the slightest.

Watching McAtasney confess, it was clear to me that it wasn’t enough that he killed sweet Sarah and got her money–that didn’t fulfill his needs. No, he needed to be given attention for his supreme intellect. He wanted to be seen as the outrageously smart, intelligent man he saw himself as, and be admired for it. He wanted to impress his friend with how clever he was–how he managed to do this most incredible feat and get away with it! He smiles multiple times talking to his friend as he confesses to his disgusting murder.

Pretty twisted, of course, but thank god he had that need to do this. His arrogance tripped him! Without the cooperation of his friend who worked with the police to capture his twisted thoughts, McAtasney may have gotten away with his crime.

For me, McAtasney and his roommate were full of hot spots in every interview.