Celebrity Stalking and Erotomanic Delusions | Christina Grimmie and Kevin Loibl Case Analysis

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of christina grimmie and kevin james loybell just a reminder i'm not diagnosed in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i will put the link to patreon in the description for this video first i'll look at the background this case i'll move to the timeline of the crime and offer my analysis christina grimmie was born in marlton new jersey on march 12 1994. her father worked for verizon and her mother was a receptionist she had an older brother named marcus at age six christina demonstrated a talent for singing and at age 10 she started playing the piano when she was 15 she started recording videos and uploading them on her youtube channel it did not take long for christina to attract a good deal of positive attention for her singing talent in 2011 christina was featured in a singing competition and placed number two behind selena gomez not long after this christina toured with selena gomez christine assigned to creative artist agency and her career took off she released her first album in june of 2011. by april 2013 christina's youtube channel had been viewed more than 375 million times and she had about 2 million subscribers in 2014 christina auditioned for season 6 of a tv show called the voice this is a singing competition where up and coming singers try to impress established singers who function as coaches and demonstrate how established singers don't always make good coaches the point of the show is to shatter the dreams of the singing competitors and promote the sales of power rotating chairs it's done a great job at the former but i'm not sure about the latter most people are happy with manually rotating chairs the host of the show carson daly once said that many of the singers on the voice have quit their sandwich making jobs and are doing well in music so here we see yet another example of anti-sandwich nonsense from the recording industry either way christina finished number three in the competition she signed with iowan records and toured with previous contestants of the voice in february of 2016 christina released her second album as christina was achieving success and fame she attracted the attention of an individual named kevin james loyable i will take a look at his background now kevin louisville was born on march 10 1989 and grew up in st petersburg florida he lived with his father paul and his brother chris sometime around 2008 kevin started working at a local best buy store he attended college for three years but dropped out in 2010. a few months later his mother died from aspirin overdose kevin's father found a new love interest but kevin did not get along with her the police were called to the family residence six times over a two-year period kevin filed two domestic violence injunctions against his father's lover kevin only had one friend a man named corey dennington corey had been kevin's friend for about 15 years and helped him get his job at best buy sometime in 2015 kevin developed an unhealthy interest in christina grimmie which grew into an obsession he would watch her videos all the time even when he was supposed to be working kevin never told his father or brother about his obsession with christina but his co-workers at best buy were aware of it they would occasionally tease him about his infatuation starting sometime around may of 2016 kevin started making a number of changes in his life in an effort to make himself worthy of christina he wanted to impress her and attract her as a romantic interest kevin had lasik eye surgery he started a vegan diet and lost about 50 pounds he obtained hair plugs and he had his teeth whitened kevin also secured a learner's permit which is the first step in getting a driver's license corey tried to discourage kevin from pursuing christina noting that it was an unrealistic endeavor kevin became angry and defensive he believed christina was his soulmate they were destined to be together forever kevin could not accept the idea that his plan would fail he insisted that he was going to marry christina someday now moving to the timeline of the crime on may 25 2016 kevin purchased a glock 26 and picked it up after the mandatory five-day waiting period on june 1 he purchased a glock 19 at a different gun store and picked it up six days later on june 9 kevin's father saw him get into a taxi cab kevin did not tell his father where he was going kevin was dropped off at a hotel in orlando florida at about 1 30 pm he rented a room for one night as this was going on christina was preparing for a concert at the plaza live which is a theater in orlando located two miles away from the hotel where kevin had rented a room christina was opening for a band called before you exit on june 10 kevin went into an old navy store which was in the same shopping center as the plaza life he purchased a hat and a bottle of water kevin had both of his pistols with him and he was carrying a knife on his ankle he then made his way to the plaza live and leaned against a wall in the back there were no metal detectors and security did not prevent him from bringing weapons into the concert security guards did manage to harass a few people trying to get food and beverages into the concert maybe they were thinking about the long game like preventing people from drinking sugary soft drinks was a way they could maintain safety they should have been thinking about the short run as well like people carrying weapons there were about 250 to 300 people in attendance at the concert which started at 7 30 pm when christina was done performing at about 10 pm she went to the back of the theater after saying a prayer christina started interacting with her fans she was taking photographs signing autographs and talking with various people her brother marcus was at a table selling merchandise when he noticed kevin in the crowd marcus felt as though kevin was out of place for example kevin was older than a typical fan of christina around 10 24 pm kevin approached christina she held out her arms as if she was going to give him a hug kevin produced a pistol and discharged four rounds striking christina three times twice in the chest and once in the head marcus jumped up from the merchandise table and wrestled kevin to the floor however kevin was able to break free he backed up against the wall and brought an end to his life through a shot to the head kevin was pronounced dead at the scene christina was transported to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead at 10 59 pm now moving to my analysis here my thoughts on a few items that stood out to me in this case item number one what mental health and personality factors were at work in this case kevin wiebel was never diagnosed with any mental illness he did not have a criminal record or history of violence to many people it was clear that something was different about kevin his co-workers described him as socially awkward detached and lacking social skills he was moved around the store to various positions before finally being restricted to the back where he would not have contact with customers at the hotel he stayed in before he committed the murder the manager at the front desk thought that kevin looked strange it appears as though wherever kevin went he stood out for negative reasons he really didn't fit in anywhere kevin mostly stayed in his room and played video games he was obsessed with a game called world of warcraft he spent most of his time online kevin had an aversion to light and sound he covered his windows with aluminum foil and heavy curtains and he frequently used earplugs he had earplugs in when he murdered christina this type of aversion to light and sound is associated with autism spectrum disorder but again kevin did not have a mental health diagnosis of any type so there's no way to know for some reason kevin developed an intense attraction to christina he started watching her videos all the time kevin claimed to be an atheist but said that christina's christian faith changed him he believed that he could see god in christina it appears as though kevin was delusional he may have been suffering from an erotomanic delusion in the diagnostic and statistical manual the dsm erotomanic delusions are a subtype of delusional disorder but technically they can appear with any mental disorder involving psychosis for example some people with schizophrenia have erotomanic delusions when a person suffers from an erato manic delusion they believe that some other person is in love with them when that is clearly not true often the person they fantasize about is of high status like a celebrity along with erotomanic there are other subtypes of delusional disorder including jealous grandiose persecutory somatic and mixed a person can have more than one type at the same time often people suffering from an erotomanic delusion try to contact the person who they believe is in love with them but that did not happen in this case item number two what led to kevin being violent as i mentioned he had no history of violence one moment he was watching christina's videos excessively and the next moment he was carrying out a homicide here's what may have happened in this case this is just a theory my opinion kevin was attracted to christina he viewed her as the ideal love interest he formed this delusion that christina loved him and they would be together as husband and wife at some level however he may not have believed that completely he felt inferior he felt as though he was not good enough for someone of high status like christina he started making a lot of changes in his life in an attempt to become good enough for christina like the eye surgery weight loss hair plugs and teeth whitening after he took all these steps he was still not confident when the validity of his plan to be with christina was challenged by his best friend his only friend kevin became angry and defensive he started to realize that he may never have christina at some point kevin saw a photograph of christina with her record producer this made him jealous and eroded his confidence even further at this point a normal reaction would be to disengage from the obsession but kevin held his beliefs at a delusional level kevin's belief about christina did change when confronted with new evidence but it did not exit the realm of the delusion he was still trapped within that framework feeling rejected he now believed that christina needed to pay she betrayed him and gave up on their tremendous love she was willing to sacrifice an amazing life with him now of course they never had a relationship to begin with and there was no betrayal but from kevin's delusional perspective this made sense again all his reasoning was constricted to the bounds set forth by the delusion he could not exit that area and move to a point where he disengaged kevin realized that to kill christina was to terminate his own life as well last time he saw his friend corey five days before the murder he told him that he loved him he was tired and ready to ascend and he returned items that he had borrowed from corey months earlier kevin was preparing to commit murder he did not intend on returning home kevin played the entire scenario in his mind without ever actually interacting with christina in any way most dangerous celebrity stalkers would be encouraged by positive communication with the celebrity or discouraged by a lack of contact or by negative interaction but kevin never even attempted to make contact his homicidal thoughts were entirely internal and not dependent on external stimuli item number three how is kevin similar and dissimilar from the typical dangerous celebrity stalker first looking at these similarities kevin was a male stalking a female celebrity he used a weapon he was fairly intelligent kevin had never been in a romantic relationship his obsession with his victim intensified over the course of several months he had unrealistic expectations of his victim he responded with inappropriate anger after perceiving a betrayal by the celebrity which of course never occurred kevin appeared to have extreme personality traits consistent with cluster a personality pathology for example he was socially awkward isolated and bizarre moving to dissimilarities kevin had no criminal record he was employed and he did not make any type of contact with his victim prior to the murder so when comparing kevin to the typical dangerous celebrity stalker profile his characteristics line up fairly well but not perfectly now moving to my final thoughts years ago the only way for a person to become famous was through a traditional route they had to get past certain gatekeepers like hollywood executives or record producers the traditional system is regimented people know what to expect people who become famous in the system recognize how the status changes their security concerns they realize that they are becoming popular and could attract negative attention in addition to the positive attention in recent times the path to becoming a celebrity has changed now with social media people can have their talent observed by a wide audience without going through the traditional system due to the nature of social media celebrities who become famous through it are much more geared toward interacting with their audience responding to their audience and being approachable and personable it's a different mindset than when the status is achieved through the traditional system where the celebrity is blocked off from communicating directly with fans the social media celebrities may not recognize some of the dangers associated with being famous individuals with distorted thoughts including delusions may misinterpret the openness and come to believe that it implies the existence of a relationship that is not there christina grimmie was one of those celebrities who attained fame through social media i think her murder occurred right as she was about to really become famous so she was in this awkward time when perhaps she wasn't as worried about security concerns and she was more focused on being outgoing and approachable at the same time kevin was delusional and adopted an atypical strategy where he did not make contact before committing a homicide christina did not have any chance she had no idea who kevin was this tragic case occurred because of an unfortunate confluence of unusual events it's a chilling reminder that sometimes there are no visible warning signs from the perspective of the victim those are my thoughts in the case of christina grimmie and kevin james loyable please put any opinions and thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be as intriguing as a gang of coaches seated in power swivel chairs thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 157,903

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Id: 7PDOT9vsYaM

Length: 16min 21sec (981 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 28 2022