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you can trust. This

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is True Crime Psychology and Personality,

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where we discuss the pathology behind

0:43

some of the most horrific crimes

0:46

and those who committed them from

0:48

a scientifically informed perspective. I'm

0:52

Dr. Todd Grande. I have a

0:54

PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision

0:57

and I'm a licensed professional counselor of

0:59

mental health. Dr. Todd Grande, that's my

1:01

YouTube channel. Today's

1:03

question is, can I analyze

1:05

the case of Kathleen Dorsett? First,

1:08

I'll look at the background of this case, move to

1:10

the timeline of the crime, then offer my

1:12

analysis. Kathleen Dorsett was born

1:14

on July 2, 1974 and lived in Ocean Township, New

1:19

Jersey. She was raised

1:21

with one brother by her parents

1:23

Thomas and Leslie Dorsett. In

1:26

1997, she obtained her teaching certificate

1:29

and found work teaching kindergarten and

1:31

third grade. Kathleen became

1:34

romantically involved with a man named Stephen

1:36

Moore. He had been raised just

1:38

south of Los Angeles and was

1:40

six years older than Kathleen. Stephen

1:43

was described as not career oriented.

1:46

When his mother Evelyn decided to retire in

1:48

New Jersey, Stephen moved with her.

1:51

Like many people who moved to New Jersey, Stephen

1:53

may have had a sense that he was never going to

1:56

leave the state alive. In June

1:58

2007, Kathleen Dorsett was a nurse in New Jersey. She was a nurse in

2:00

Kathleen and Stephen married and moved into

2:02

a house in Oakhurst, New Jersey. The

2:05

house was owned by Kathleen's parents and was

2:07

right across the street from where they

2:09

lived. As Kathleen continued to

2:11

teach, Stephen worked as a salesman

2:14

at a Honda dealership. In

2:16

December 2008, the couple had a daughter

2:19

named Elizabeth. Immediately

2:21

after this, Kathleen became extremely critical

2:23

of Stephen and how he was

2:25

treating their daughter. He was not

2:27

allowed to build any type of relationship with Elizabeth

2:30

due to Kathleen's overbearing and

2:32

dominating demeanor. Stephen

2:35

became increasingly upset and worried

2:37

that he would never bond with his daughter.

2:40

In October 2009, Stephen

2:42

moved into his mother's residence and

2:44

filed for divorce. The divorce

2:46

was finalized in June 2010. Kathleen

2:50

was able to secure primary custody

2:52

of Elizabeth. Later after this,

2:54

Kathleen's parents decided they wanted to move to

2:57

Florida. This move was supposed to

2:59

take place in September 2010. Their

3:02

plan was to take both Kathleen and Elizabeth

3:04

with them, but this was

3:06

going to be challenging because of Stephen. The

3:09

family was not permitted to deny him access to

3:11

his daughter. To overcome this

3:14

problem, the Dorset family offered Stephen

3:16

financial assistance in exchange for him

3:18

moving to Florida as well. They

3:21

would help Stephen for six months after he moved, which

3:24

would allow him to get on his feet. This

3:26

way, everybody would be happy. The

3:28

Dorsets had what they wanted, Stephen

3:30

would be able to see his daughter, and

3:33

all of them would be out of New Jersey.

3:36

Before any move to Florida could take place, an

3:39

unexpected incident derailed the plans.

3:42

Now moving to the timeline of the crime. On

3:45

August 16, 2010, 42-year-old Stephen

3:47

Moore failed to show up at work, so

3:50

his coworkers at the Honda dealership reported him

3:52

missing to the place. Two

3:54

days later, on August 18, the

3:56

police received a report of a car fire

3:59

in Long Beach, Florida. Beach, New Jersey. The

4:01

vehicle was a 2001 Nissan Altima

4:04

owned by Stephen's mother, Evelyn.

4:07

After the fire was extinguished, Stephen's body was

4:09

found in the trunk. He

4:12

had been beaten and strangled before

4:14

the fire started. Here's what

4:16

the police found during the course of their investigation.

4:19

Kathleen said that the last time she saw Stephen

4:21

was at 7.45 a.m. on August 16 when

4:25

he dropped off Elizabeth as planned. Two

4:28

of Kathleen's neighbors told the police they

4:30

heard screams on the morning Stephen

4:32

disappeared. One of the neighbors

4:34

looked out of a window and saw

4:36

Kathleen running toward the back of

4:39

the house. She asked what was

4:41

going on. Kathleen responded by

4:43

screaming, closed the window. When

4:45

the police looked around Kathleen's house, they

4:47

found blood in the mulch. On

4:50

August 23, Kathleen was arrested and

4:53

charged in connection with Stephen's murder.

4:56

As the arrest was taking place, Thomas

4:58

emptied his pockets and gave the contents

5:00

to his wife, as if

5:02

he expected to be arrested as well.

5:05

This behavior attracted the attention of the police. Why

5:08

did Thomas think he was going to be arrested? They

5:11

didn't have to wait long to find the answer. The

5:14

owner of a seafood restaurant in Long Branch

5:16

contacted the police and told them a story.

5:19

About how Thomas had asked to purchase

5:21

one of the security cameras off

5:23

the building. Thomas could be seen driving

5:25

the 2001 Nissan Altima,

5:28

which belonged to Stephen's mother, into

5:31

the restaurant parking lot near the dumpster.

5:34

Kathleen was behind her father in

5:36

her own vehicle. Less than

5:38

an hour later, Thomas returned to the parking

5:40

lot in his work van and

5:42

threw a few items in the dumpster. On

5:45

August 24, Thomas was found

5:47

unconscious in the parking lot of his

5:49

attorney's office. He had

5:51

consumed refrigerant, apparently

5:54

in an effort to cool off, permanently.

5:57

He was taken to a hospital

5:59

and survived. Thomas was arrested and

6:01

charged in connection with Stephen's murder. The

6:03

police also arrested a man who Thomas hired

6:06

to set fire to the Nissan Altima. When

6:09

Kathleen was in jail awaiting trial, she

6:11

talked her mother Leslie into trying to hire

6:13

a hitman to kill Stephen's

6:16

mother, Evelyn. Apparently, Kathleen

6:18

was upset because Evelyn had been

6:20

granted custody of Elizabeth. The

6:23

police learned of the plot and sent an

6:25

undercover officer in as the hitman. During

6:28

a meeting at a mall, Leslie handed him

6:30

$1,000 and was arrested a short

6:32

time later. Both Kathleen and

6:34

Leslie were charged in connection with this

6:36

plot. In May of 2013, Kathleen

6:39

pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder,

6:42

and conspiracy. She told

6:44

the court that she had conspired with her father to

6:46

murder Stephen. When Stephen dropped off

6:48

Elizabeth on August 16, 2010, she told him he needed to

6:50

pick up some

6:53

tools in the basement. The

6:55

entrance to the basement was at the rear of the

6:57

house. When Stephen walked back there,

7:00

Thomas beat him with a crowbar-like

7:02

tool and strangled him with a

7:04

rope. Thomas put Stephen's body

7:06

in the trunk of the Nissan and

7:09

eventually paid someone to set the car

7:11

on fire. Kathleen received a

7:13

total of 58 years in prison. As

7:16

if that wasn't bad enough, her teaching

7:18

certificate had been revoked. She

7:20

will be eligible for parole in the year 2057 at the age of 83.

7:26

Kathleen had Meyer's remorse as far as

7:28

her plea bargain and unsuccessfully attempted to

7:31

withdraw her guilty plea. I

7:33

guess prison wasn't as pleasant as she imagined,

7:36

especially without a teaching

7:38

certificate. Kathleen's father

7:40

Thomas pleaded guilty to murder and conspiracy to

7:42

commit arson. He received a sentence of

7:44

45 years in prison. He

7:47

could be released as early as 2040 at the age of 94. Kathleen's

7:52

mother Leslie pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit

7:54

murder and received a sentence of just 7

7:56

years. She was released

7:58

in less than 4 years. Now moving

8:00

to my analysis. The

8:02

romantic relationship between Stephen and Kathleen

8:05

seemed to be productive and loving

8:08

around the time they married. People

8:10

thought they would be together for a long time and

8:12

be happy. There was no

8:14

indication that disaster would strike. They

8:17

were both eager to start a family. Everything

8:19

seemed to be going according to plan. After

8:23

their daughter Elizabeth was born, Kathleen's

8:25

behavior completely changed. All

8:27

her energy was focused on her daughter and

8:30

any affection in her relationship with her husband

8:32

vanished. She became

8:35

aggressive, critical, impatient, and

8:37

obsessed. When Stephen would try to

8:39

help care for Elizabeth, he would find

8:42

himself being screamed at and demeaned by

8:44

Kathleen. She even put a

8:46

rule in place stating that Stephen was not allowed

8:48

to hold his daughter for the first

8:50

six months of her life. He

8:52

was made to feel dangerous and

8:55

incompetent. The situation was only

8:57

made worse by the behavior of Kathleen's parents,

8:59

Thomas and Leslie, who lived right

9:01

across the street from the young couple. They

9:04

owned the house that Kathleen and Stephen lived in and

9:07

would come by unannounced all the

9:09

time. Stephen could not get away

9:11

from them. They would not respect

9:13

the boundaries that Stephen tried to put in

9:15

place. Believing it was

9:18

the only way to spend more time

9:20

with his daughter, Stephen separated from Kathleen,

9:22

his strategy did not work his plan. During

9:25

his scheduled visitation with Elizabeth, Kathleen

9:27

would call him on the phone multiple times

9:30

to harass him. She would obsess

9:32

about every detail of the care he was

9:34

providing and leave him long lists

9:36

of things that he needed to do when

9:39

Elizabeth was with him. Even

9:41

separated from Kathleen, Stephen did not find

9:43

any peace. In an

9:45

effort to showcase the mistreatment that Kathleen was delivering,

9:48

Stephen saved some of her hostile

9:50

voice messages. In one

9:53

message, Kathleen said, quote, and I

9:55

don't give a blank what you think. You're right.

9:58

My way or the highway. The

10:02

arrangement with financially assisting Stephen so they could

10:04

all move to Florida was nothing more than

10:06

a ruse. Kathleen and

10:08

Thomas wanted to keep Stephen content, so

10:11

he would not take precautions as

10:14

they plotted to murder him. Stephen

10:16

did not have any way to prevent his death.

10:19

No one would have thought that Kathleen and

10:21

Thomas would take things that far.

10:25

Even after being arrested for the murder that she

10:27

participated in, Kathleen was not

10:29

done wreaking havoc and destroying people's

10:31

lives. She recruited her mother

10:33

to hire a hitman to kill Evelyn, even

10:36

though that would not help Kathleen's

10:38

criminal case whatsoever. It

10:40

would only make things much worse for her. Kathleen

10:43

was not trying to get out of prison with this move. She

10:46

was simply trying to stop Stephen's mother from

10:49

raising Elizabeth. Even

10:51

at this point, facing life in prison,

10:54

Kathleen was still trying to control the situation.

10:57

The obsession about her daughter was

10:59

raging. What dynamics

11:01

could have led Kathleen and her family to

11:04

this dark place? This is

11:06

just a theory, in my opinion. Kathleen

11:09

was self-centered, irresponsible,

11:11

impulsive, sadistic, vindictive,

11:13

obsessive, petty, grandiose,

11:15

envious, possessive, cold,

11:17

callous, arrogant, remorseless,

11:19

aggressive, and had a

11:22

massive sense of entitlement. Coming

11:25

up, she never became independent from her

11:27

parents. Kathleen was

11:29

needy and unwilling to break free. Her

11:31

parents only fueled this mentality as

11:34

they vicariously lived through her. They

11:37

desired to protect her and make her happy

11:39

no matter what the cost, even

11:41

to the point of having Kathleen live across

11:44

the street from them in a house

11:46

they owned. Kathleen would permit

11:48

them to come over unannounced because

11:50

that's what she wanted. The

11:52

family was enmeshed. No one

11:55

had their own individual identity. When

11:58

Elizabeth was born, they saw an opportunity. to

12:00

add another member to the

12:02

disturbing dynamic. They wanted complete

12:04

control over Elizabeth and did not want to

12:06

share her with anyone, including her

12:09

father Stephen. There was even this

12:11

plan to run off to Florida and

12:13

live together as a happy family. Because

12:16

of the boundary crossing behavior and the belief that

12:18

they were functioning as one unit, it

12:20

was easy for the family members to share grievances.

12:24

Looking outward to find the source of their

12:26

pain, they identified Stephen.

12:29

They failed to look inward and recognize

12:31

how they were actually causing the problem.

12:34

Stephen became the enemy and was

12:36

a threat to their one big happy family

12:39

dynamic. Unable to navigate

12:41

her desires through peaceful means, Kathleen

12:44

ran to her father to take care of

12:46

Stephen permanently. It doesn't appear

12:48

as though Kathleen's mother, Leslie, had

12:50

anything to do with Stephen's murder, but

12:52

after Kathleen went to jail, the family's

12:55

options were limited. When

12:57

trying to convince her to hire a hitman, Kathleen

13:00

told Leslie that she had to do

13:02

her part. This further supports

13:04

a theory that they viewed themselves as

13:06

a team, and it

13:08

showcases Kathleen's manipulative nature.

13:11

She wasn't going to be happy until her

13:13

entire family was in prison with

13:15

her. Now moving to my final

13:18

thoughts. When young couples get

13:20

married, it's not unusual that they look to

13:22

their parents for support. This

13:24

type of help is fine, but it's

13:26

important to maintain boundaries. Marriage

13:28

depends on a transition into a

13:30

new family dynamic. It demands

13:33

a recognition of change. If

13:35

spouses hold onto their parents instead of

13:37

accepting that life moves on, they

13:40

may find themselves in a nightmare worse than

13:42

living in New Jersey. This

13:52

has been True Crime Psychology

13:54

and Personality from R's Longa

13:56

Media. This content is for

13:58

educational and entertainment. purposes

14:00

only. Ours Longa, Vida

14:03

Brebas. Allegedly

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is back for season two. A

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new crime every time. In each

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episode of Allegedly, you'll hear

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a crime told to you by

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the person who experienced it, intermingled

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with actor portrayals, original music, immersive

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soundscapes to create a cinematic experience

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for your ear. Season two's

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stories include a young woman finding salvation

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in God only to realize the leader

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of her church was running a sex

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cult. A case of a

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con artist swindling a kindly older man until

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he couldn't do anything to stop her. A

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landlord exploiting a mentally disabled man and

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keeping him a virtual prisoner. An

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act of bullying spinning a promising young

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man's life into total chaos. And a

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luxury boat captain inexplicably detained in a

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foreign prison with seemingly no

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hope of ever getting out.

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New episodes release every other week.

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Look for Allegedly from Voyage Media

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anywhere you listen to podcasts.