What caused Mont Vernon murders?

(NECN: Greg Wayland) – One of them had been a Boy Scout. One hoped to be a missionary. Two of them had performed leading roles in school plays. So how did four New Hampshire teenagers wind up being accused of horrific crimes? Small town boys. Police say like devils in the night, they fell on their random prey. A sleeping mother hacked to death as she slept in her secluded country home. Her daughter surviving with crushed bones and a slit throat. Parent James Marks, who says his son William was never violent is perplexed. Four young men. Four short life stories that everyone is combing through now, looking for warning signs. Steven Spader, 17, long-time Boy Scout, played Daddy Warbucks in a school play, friendly, told jokes. Christopher Gribble, 19, home-schooled, devout Mormon, hoped to be a missionary or go into the military. Quinn Glover,17. Nicest kid you’d ever want to meet, said a friend. Liked to wear oversized clothes so his friends could write loving messages on them. William Marks, 18. Sang in a chorus, starred in a school production of Cabaret. Friends say each of them took a dark, wild turn. But murder? Dr. Davidoff: In fact I think it’s very hard to explain murder. Dr. Donald Davidoff is Chief of McLean Hospital’s department of neuropsychology. Davidoff: So one wonders about this need for attention and if good behavior doesn’t get you the attention that you crave, maybe bad behavior will. Glover and Marks are charged with burglary at the Mont Vernon home of murder victim Kimberly Cates. Only Spader and Gribble are charged with murder. But friends say all four seemed to have entered into a dark and troubled phase. Spader may have been the ringleader. And, according to reports, also was on medication for bi-polar disorder — which he often failed to take. So now we add into this a very, very severe mental disease that really first makes its appearance most often in the teenage years. There are reports depression played a role making these young lives turn dark and violent. “That may have had something to do with it. Certainly you can’t say that depression causes aggression.” Dr. Malcolm Watson is chairman of the brandies university psychology department. He has found a pattern in violent youth. Somebody who’s victimized, ostracized from the group, doesn’t feel a part of things, thinks or talks about aggression or violence a lot, handles weapons or talks about weapons a lot, joins others who are thinking or talking the same way. I think you have to think of it as, there’s not one single cause. There’s probably a combination of things that when it comes together you have the perfect storm. There is always the question of home life and parenting — whether too strict or too lenient. Watson: Rather than leniency, I’d call it a lack of connection with the parents. Davidoff: If you think about growing up, the most important influences on your life in the first ten or twelve years of life are your parents. Sometimes, the violence of emerging criminals is partly about the brain itself. Davidoff: That’s where you start to think about psychopathy. Psychopathy being the lack of a conscience. Watson: I think these kids had the right confluence of problems that they would do this but not everybody would. Small comfort for a small town deep in shock and grief.