Stockdale Family Murders | Did Obsessive-Compulsive Trait Lead to Murder?

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of the stockdale family murders just a reminder i'm not diagnosing him 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 then offer my analysis timothy and catherine stockdale lived on their small family farm in beach city ohio the couple had moved there to keep their four sons calvin charles jacob and james safe from bad influences at some point the family formed a bluegrass and gospel band which they referred to as the stockdale band they started performing publicly sometime around 2006 and were reasonably successful timothy and his sons played various instruments like the guitar banjo and the mandolin jacob played the fiddle he was a three-time ohio youth fiddle champion and won ohio state's grand fiddle championship catherine was the manager of the band she believed there was nothing as wholesome as playing old time bluegrass with your family catherine was known as a strict mother who homeschooled her sons she restricted her sons from having much contact with the outside world as part of her religious belief system for example her sons could not watch tv or play video games she believed that these items produced redundant minds and lazy children i'm not sure what a redundant mind is is that like an extra mind that a person doesn't need it's not really clear what she meant catherine's sons were forbidden from using expletives she did not want her sons exposed to any sexual influences violent language drinking smoking drugs or rap music catherine discouraged her sons from dating saying they needed to focus on a moral life rather than thinking about girls catherine had her sons on a highly regimented schedule they did school work ran the farm performed chores and practiced for their band performances they were busy from sunrise to sunset she believed this would keep their minds pure and their bodies healthy catherine implemented a token economy in the house whereby her sons could complete chores to earn tokens they would earn an extra token if they performed the chore with a glad heart her sons could use the tokens to buy mildly entertaining activities for example a few minutes listening to a family-friendly radio show as their mother supervised or sticks of chewing gum in 2008 the stockdale family appeared on the abc series wife swap the producers of the series had specifically looked for a family with strong faith-based values to create a significant disparity with the other family they would switch with timothy and catherine were initially reluctant to participate it doesn't really make any sense that they would have based on their values but their sons really wanted to so they gave in and the family was on the show by 2017 calvin and charles had moved out of their parents home so it was just timothy catherine james and jacob who still lived there now moving to the timeline of the crime on june 15 2017 at 4 36 pm a 911 call was placed from the stockdale residence the caller disconnected without saying anything when the police arrived at the house they noticed the door was open they saw 21 year old james on the floor near the front door he had been shot and killed at this moment 25 year old jacob shot himself with a 20 gauge shotgun he was seriously wounded but not killed after hearing the gunshot the police waited for backup and then entered the house they found 54 year old catherine upstairs in the bathroom she had also been shot and killed no one else was at the house during the time of the murders due to these severe injuries sustained by jacob he was not charged with murder until over a year later he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was held in a mental hospital in november of 2019 jacob tried to escape by hiding between stacks of books the next month he tried to blend in with people who were walking out of the facility he was unsuccessful in both escape attempts it's not clear how hiding between stacks of books could lead to an escape i don't know if the books were trying to escape as well i'm sure he had some plan behind this a mental health professional who evaluated jacob declared him to be clinically sane at the time of the murders a week before his trial was set to start jacob pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years for each murder his prison sentence is to run consecutively now moving to my analysis jacob stockdale did not have a criminal record no member of the stockdale family did the police had never been called to the residence before no mental health issues with jacob or any members of the family had ever been reported much of the focus in this case is on the behavior of catherine she had an unusually strict view of how her sons should be raised she stayed at home with them and closely monitored all their activities she said that she was completely involved in her children's lives catherine said that the family motto was it may be a hard life but it's a good life let's go through the various items related to catherine's behavior and beliefs and see how they may have contributed to a toxic environment item number one is how catherine was very strict in addition to a regimented schedule that was packed full of work catherine closely supervised her sons all day she expected perfection and obedience she said that teaching a child that it's okay to fail is not acceptable when her sons made mistakes she would take tokens away from them it appears though working all day for her wasn't enough she also wanted them to think a certain way like when she would give them an extra token for performing chores with a glad heart during the 2008 wife swap series her sons were sent to another family the mother of that family wanted the stockdale children to have some fun she let them watch television and play video games jacob ran outside crying she approached him and attempted to assess the problem jacob said he was afraid of burning in hell catherine said it was important for children to have boundaries but i don't think she understood what that term really means setting boundaries is about maintaining appropriate distances in certain situations like knowing how to be close in one relationship and distant another it's not just about moving away from something being asocial anti-social or isolated is not the same thing as having good boundaries by her definition ted kaczynski had good boundaries to have good boundaries somebody needs to critically evaluate situations and make decisions about how to progress with relationships based on logic and pro-social goals that's not what catherine was teaching her sons item number two is how catherine heavily restricted her son's activities she suggested that life is not about entertainment and fun she did not promote a lot of leisure time for her sons they never had a chance just to be children it was always about productivity enjoying oneself was equated to being evil catherine claimed that teenagers spend too much time hanging out with friends she wanted to prevent her sons from being quote corrupted by those meaningless relationships unquote it appears though catherine believed the only meaningful relationship her sons could have were within the family catherine did not appear to understand how important it is that children spend time with their peers that's how they develop some of their social skills she was promoting a tactic of isolation catherine really didn't like outsiders she viewed the world as evil overly interested in sex on drugs and criminal the world was a dangerous place and she was going to keep her sons safe from it it makes me wonder if catherine didn't have some bad experiences with her peers when she was growing up like maybe she was socially awkward and rejected so she tried to build her own little club of people that had to like her or at least she believed they had to like her item number three is how catherine kept her sons busy all day she said that no one in the family gets a free ride her sons performed a phenomenal number of chores like scrubbing the bathroom floors mowing the lawn and cleaning the entire house this was in addition to being homeschooled and running the farm she claimed that she didn't look at the chores as quote free slave labor rather she was giving her sons a good work ethic and a selfless attitude she thought this would bond the family together with this item we see that in addition to blocking off the outside world catherine made her sons work constantly she was trying to fill their whole day with something that would keep them away from thinking about the outside world this seems to be rooted in the same fear that outsiders somehow represent a terrible and destructive influence item number four is how catherine had a very unusual view about technology especially around the area of food and food preparation she had not believed in microwaving food or having it pasteurized she thought that prepackaged food was result of science experiments gone wrong catherine did most of the cooking she prepared only fresh food nothing processed some of the food was relatively normal like steak chicken and salad other selections were a little atypical like chicken hearts and gizzards fried liver sardines and digestive enzyme supplements her sons were forbidden from having any type of snacks including candy cookies and carbonated soda if they brought candy home they had to throw it away if the family was traveling they brought their own food with them they did not eat at restaurants with her attitude toward technology and food catherine appeared to be rigid and anti-science it's not just that she avoided certain foods that's everybody's prerogative it was that she believed the other foods were the product of the propagation of science catherine was protecting her sons from factual information as among the other influences considered evil when considering all the factors in this case could catherine's behavior have caused jacob to commit the murders no one can be certain about this of course but there are two main ways her behavior could have contributed to that act one jacob may have had mental health symptoms that catherine did not recognize she strikes me as the type of person who would have tried to cure mental health disorders with organic food and hard labor catherine appeared to have obsessive compulsive personality traits like being overly committed to rules and regulations perhaps jacob had some of these same characteristics but his expressed through violence two jacob may have developed mental health symptoms or a violent attitude because he was frustrated and miserable for years catherine kept claiming that she was teaching her sons to be independent but that's not what she was doing in a way they were being institutionalized even though he was 25 jacob never learned how to be an adult he was always controlled so even at that age he was still trying to break free ironically jacob would find his freedom in prison i guess one could argue that jacob is institutionalized now so i guess his mother did prepare him for the future in one sense it's clear that jacob wanted to die there's no question he was serious about that what's not clear is why he killed his mother and brother my theory would be that he killed his mother for revenge and his brother to protect him from the pain that jacob believed his brother had been suffering now moving to my final thoughts catherine's behavior was driven by fear obsessive compulsive traits and perhaps neediness like she needed to be important to someone she created her own little world where she was in charge and frightened its inhabitants with threats of burning in hell for eternity catherine mostly took away any possible source of fun made them work all day cut off contact with the outside world demanded perfection and controlled every aspect of their lives including what they ate and what they thought in the end her tyranny would result in a rebellion and her powerful need to have the perfect family would collapse due to her own desire for domination those are my thoughts on the stockdale family murders 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 informative thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 111,286

Keywords:

Id: 4CZOU64zW88

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 08 2021