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[man] The thing inside of me
is like the appetite.
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It's like a wolf
that's feeling the hunger.
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[officer] Right.
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[officer] Okay.
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[Dr. Nameeta Sahni]
He's living a parasitic life.
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He's an adult who can't seem
to hold down a job,
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he's been in trouble
with the law, on and off,
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he's continuing to drink,
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despite it being
terms of his supervision,
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and these markers are all
indicators of psychopathy.
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[Dr. Chriscelyn Tussey]
You can hear the fear
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in Christopher Thompson's
mother's voice.
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in Christopher Thompson's
mother's voice.
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She's scared,
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and she's worried
about what's going to happen,
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and it seems like it's based
off of prior behavior
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that's been problematic
and worrisome in the past.
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[officer] Mmm-hmm.
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[reporter] Des Moines police
were called
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after a coworker
of 50-year-old Paula Thompson
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noticed she hadn't been
at work lately.
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They found that
there was a door ajar,
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and they entered
into the home to check on her,
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and unfortunately, found her
deceased inside the home.
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and unfortunately, found her
deceased inside the home.
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[reporter] For hours,
detectives were on a search
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for her son, 32-year-old
Christopher Thompson,
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and finally found him
three hours later,
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when he turned himself in
to the Polk County Jail.
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[sniffles]
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[sighs wearily]
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[Dr. Jonathan DeRight]
He doesn't have
any emotion in his voice.
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He says "I killed her"
the same way
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that someone might say
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where they had dinner
last night.
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His specific type
of lack of empathy
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really has more
of a juvenile type quality.
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He almost seems like
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he has
the problem solving skills
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of a three-year-old,
but obviously,
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of a three-year-old,
but obviously,
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the aggressive skills
of an adult,
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and that could be
a bad combination.
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[sighs]
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Many of us are able
to regulate our emotions
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like a dimmer switch.
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We know when
to turn things up,
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we know when
to turn them down,
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and it's
situation by situation.
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Thompson shows us
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that he really functions
like a light switch.
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He's either on, or he's off,
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He's either on, or he's off,
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and when he's on,
he's volatile.
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When he's drinking
and he's on,
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he's not only volatile,
he's violent.
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He almost sounds surprised,
when reliving it,
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that it happened that fast,
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but he also
then goes on to say
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he hit her a few more times,
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and that's where we see,
with individuals like Thompson
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that have
these psychopathic tendencies,
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there's that inability
to regulate
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their emotions and their rage,
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and it just came
stumbling out.
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[exhales]
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[Tussey] Victim blaming is
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a common characteristic
in psychopathic behavior.
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Mr. Thompson is exhibiting
a failure
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to accept responsibility.
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He's saying,
"Well, she was negative."
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He's saying,
"Well, she was negative."
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"She kept telling me
I wasn't living life well."
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And so, essentially,
it's her fault
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that he acted
the way that he did,
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and, ultimately, killed her.
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[DeRight] You can see
how he had
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this narcissistic injury.
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When someone is
very narcissistic,
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which is almost always
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what you'll see
in psychopaths,
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they have a very fragile ego.
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It's inflated, almost like
a balloon that's been inflated
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just about at its capacity,
and if anything
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just about at its capacity,
and if anything
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is going to disrupt that ego,
it's going to burst.
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[DeRight] What he's talking
about was
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kind of a white-hot rage,
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where he was
just fully unhinged,
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not trying to control
his behaviors anymore.
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He seems to remember it
pretty well,
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so I don't think
he blacked out.
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so I don't think
he blacked out.
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He may be trying
to get across the point
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where he's not planning
to do this,
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he didn't try to do it,
he was just reacting.
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He's trying to take away
some of the potential blame.
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Ultimately, the decision
to move his mother's body
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really seems like it was
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more about
a convenience for him,
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that it was just
offensive and messy.
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[DeRight] You have to think
about, at that point,
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five days with a dead body
that you're living near,
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it's going to start smelling,
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and he was sitting there
playing video games.
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and he was sitting there
playing video games.
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He was kind of living
this fantasy life,
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where no one
was bothering him.
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[Sahni] His decision
to go about his daily routine,
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playing video games,
continuing to drink,
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continuing
to watch television,
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as if life is normal,
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could be both his own way
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of processing and coping
with what he had just done,
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that he just distances himself
from it psychologically.
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It may also be
a very clear indication
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of the shallow affect
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and the lack
of empathy and remorse
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that this very psychopathic
individual experiences.
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that this very psychopathic
individual experiences.
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[Detective] Yeah.
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Someone who has
a conscience and a heavy heart
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is probably not
the same person
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who, after admitting
to a murder,
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drives to Walmart,
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and goes and eats
popcorn chicken
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and goes and eats
popcorn chicken
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in their car.
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[Sahni] Thompson's actually
utilizing
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the same passive approach
to his life
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that he always has.
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He doesn't make any decisions,
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he lets the world come to him,
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and he lets life
happen to him.
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He didn't turn himself in
right after he killed her.
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He turned himself in
after his mother's friend
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discovered
that she was missing,
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and he started to realize
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and he started to realize
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people would start coming
around to the house.
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[Tussey] There are
multiple instances
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of Mr. Thompson's
problematic behavior,
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starting with early teens,
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so for instance,
he's staying with a friend.
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When they ask him
to wash the dishes,
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he gets upset,
and ultimately ends up
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trying to run over them
with a vehicle,
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and in another instance,
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he is staying with
a different family friend,
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and this family friend
asked him to leave,
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and he threatens them
with a knife.
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[Sahni] Thompson is really
showing us an individual
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who can't deal
with his emotions.
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He doesn't know how to deal
with disappointment,
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with rejection, with rage.
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He also has
a very low threshold
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for when
those emotions kick in.
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If he's asked to do anything
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he doesn't want to do,
like a spoiled child,
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he tantrums.
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[Detective] Mmm-hmm.
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[Sahni] Individuals
who exhibit
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extreme levels
of antisociality,
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as well as psychopathy,
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do sometimes have
a pattern of harming animals.
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Sometimes they harm animals
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because
they're more vulnerable.
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They are easy to coerce,
and to control.
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He just doesn't seem connected
to the value for life.
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00:19:29,667 --> 00:19:31,200
[Sahni] Thompson acknowledges
that he had
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some difficulty sleeping,
knowing that his dead mother
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was in the other room,
but for days,
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he continued going about
his daily routine.
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He left the house,
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he went to the liquor store
and got more alcohol,
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as if he hadn't just killed
his mother.
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We have to wonder,
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if a friend had not noticed
that she was missing,
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if a friend had not noticed
that she was missing,
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00:19:51,867 --> 00:19:54,467
how long
would Thompson have continued
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00:19:54,467 --> 00:19:56,767
living in the home
with his decomposing mother?
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Ultimately, he's confessed.
It's over.
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Now he doesn't even have to
worry about
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the real cleanup of her body.
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He can just move on
to an incarceration,
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where he won't have to take
care of himself yet again.
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He doesn't have to take care
of the mess
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He doesn't have to take care
of the mess
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00:20:20,867 --> 00:20:22,700
that he created at the house,
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and he can go on
to the next stage of his life,
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basically allowing
someone else to care for him.