Colby Avenue in Everett, Washington, 1930s. From http://www.pstos.org.
Yesterday the Everett Herald published a story titled “The secret of the Halloween murder: For 75 years, a murder victim’s daughter didn’t know who shattered her family.”
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20101031/NEWS01/708269848/1122
Eric Stevick has written a fantastic piece detailing the 1934 murder of an Everett, Washington bakery owner by a cold, calculating criminal. William Buehrig was shot dead by Henry Young– as Stevick points out, a very different Henry Young than the one that appeared in the 1995 “biopic” Murder in the First.
Hollywood does have a way of grossly distorting facts. In this article, Stevick includes a comparison chart contrasting the movie version of Henry Young with reality. By billing this as an “amazing true story”, Warner Brothers disrespected Young’s victims and garnered sympathy for a man who did not deserve it. This is the kind of legacy sociopaths dream of.
I’ll let Stevick’s piece detail Young’s criminal history and self-serving behaviors. As I read this, I was struck by how much Young resembles more contemporary killers that criminal profilers like Robert Ressler and John Douglas have written about. Many red flags that usually signal the existence of a certifiable sociopath/narcissist are there, which becomes even more apparent when you read the supplemental .pdfs Stevik provided.
One of these .pdf files contains a psychological assessment of Young, and its author clearly states that he doesn’t think this man can be rehabilitated. He was probably right. This is what author Sandra L. Brown and other experts on pathological behavior keep saying– you cannot rehabilitate or love this type of person into wellness. They should be locked up to protect society, not “taught” to be a better person. Counseling and therapy are just means they can utilize to appear more normal while their deviancy can actually get worse.
Of particular interest to me was how Young threw himself into studying during his time at Alcatraz. It doesn’t look like he was after a degree, but he may well have been using this education to bolster his manipulation skills. Psychology, philosophy, and correspondence with a nun were among his areas of interest.
His prison records show that he only wanted to work in certain kinds of jobs while incarcerated, likely ones that would suit his personal plans. An aversion to food smells was listed among the reasons he wouldn’t work in the kitchen.
Stevick tells how Young supposedly converted to Catholicism and shed tears of remorse when he went before the court voluntarily to confess his crimes. Stevick’s account of Young’s conversion story was eerily similar to other “murderers finding salvation” accounts I’ve read.
These accounts have a common thread, and that is how much the killers focus on themselves in an attempt to convince the court or public of their change of heart. They still don’t appear to have genuine empathy or remorse. It’s all about what God has done or can do for them, sometimes accompanied by a largely intellectual discussion of good and evil.
Two other Washington-based killers who have displayed this type of introspective “regret” are Kenneth Bianchi and Robert Yates. I do believe that some murderers have been saved by the grace of God, and cannot say with certainty who has and hasn’t been. But there are stories in which the nonverbal communication and underlying currents in their repentance speeches belie an ulterior motive.
Plus, if a convicted murderer is truly repentant, wouldn’t they tell the police the rest of the story even if it costs them? Wouldn’t they finally want to give their victims’ families answers?
Sociopaths and narcissists stand for one thing above all else– themselves. I’d say Henry Young, based on the information here, is a great example of a narcissistic sociopath, a vampire, as I call them, because of their callous use and abuse of other people. He wasn’t a genius, he didn’t have a degree, but he killed at least two people, committed other felonies, and yet (presumably) died with the nation believing that he was some kind of hapless victim thanks to a “true” movie.
This is what sociopaths and narcissists do– this is so important to keep in mind in your daily interactions with people– they prey on your pity. Eliciting your pity is a far more effective tactic of gaining control over you than anything else.
Sociopaths will always have an excuse, a sad story, a desperate need– think of Ted Bundy and the fake cast he used to lure unsuspecting women to his Volkswagen. They may be the overwhelmed single mom who needs a man to rescue her. They may be the articulate neighbor who unfairly lost their job and can’t seem to find another one.
While we don’t need to be overly suspicious or paranoid, we do need to recognize that the most effective vampires are often the ones who seem to need us most. Question their back stories, do your homework, and trust that tiny uneasy feeling in your gut that makes your sympathy hesitate.
In regard to Young’s ability to manipulate others, conditions at Alcatraz may have been bad and I don’t doubt that some inmates suffered violations of their civil liberties there. But Young murdered a fellow prisoner and was only convicted of involuntary manslaughter because he “didn’t know what he was doing”– I strongly question that. Recommending that he be placed in a mental institution instead of a prison was also a mistake.
From what I see, this man knew exactly what he was doing, and he got off easy considering the horrors he inflicted on others. This is just further proof that participants in the criminal justice system need to have proper psychological evaluations and be screened for rehab-averse conditions such as sociopathy and narcissism. People like Henry Young should not be able to manipulate the system and then disappear into oblivion as free men.
Thank you, Eric Stevick, for such a great historical account. I hope that people will remember the Buehrig family’s name because of your work and use this opportunity to become further educated in the tactics of manipulators.
Sometimes they’re right next to us.
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It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a façade of order—and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order.
–Douglas Hofstadter
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©2010 H. Hiatt/wildninja.wordpress.com. All articles/posts on this blog are copyrighted original material that may not be reproduced in part or whole in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from H. Hiatt/wildninja.wordpress.com.
Seriously, what do you think?