1 00:00:49,417 --> 00:00:52,651 [theme music playing] 2 00:00:59,460 --> 00:01:01,727 MAN: There's this thing inside of me, it's like... 3 00:01:01,729 --> 00:01:03,629 the appetite. 4 00:01:03,731 --> 00:01:05,297 It's like a wolf that's... 5 00:01:05,299 --> 00:01:09,535 filling... the hunger. 6 00:01:19,213 --> 00:01:22,014 Tell us about this ammo that's no longer manufactured. 7 00:01:22,016 --> 00:01:25,217 This box, this logo, we want to know all about that. 8 00:01:25,286 --> 00:01:27,519 WOMAN: Lead Detective David Quinn let only 9 00:01:27,621 --> 00:01:29,822 Channel 2 Action News into the homicide unit 10 00:01:29,923 --> 00:01:33,492 to reveal the somewhat uncommon bullet that likely 11 00:01:33,494 --> 00:01:36,528 killed two homeless men just before Thanksgiving. 12 00:01:36,530 --> 00:01:39,898 We have a particularly evil individual that has shot two of 13 00:01:39,900 --> 00:01:42,401 our homeless community in Atlanta 14 00:01:42,503 --> 00:01:44,303 with -- and less than three miles away from each other. 15 00:01:44,405 --> 00:01:46,305 WOMAN: Detectives are hoping these bullets 16 00:01:46,307 --> 00:01:49,308 will be the clue that connects them with the killer. 17 00:03:06,053 --> 00:03:08,220 RAGHAVAN: He was, in fact, a failed Hollywood actor, 18 00:03:08,322 --> 00:03:11,657 and the killings start after his final failure. 19 00:03:11,725 --> 00:03:15,260 So his grandiose narcissistic dreams are shattered. 20 00:03:15,362 --> 00:03:18,330 Murdering, for him, was to overcome the rage and upset 21 00:03:18,465 --> 00:03:21,099 that he had as a failed actor. 22 00:03:21,101 --> 00:03:23,235 SAHNI: When Hollywood didn't work out for him, 23 00:03:23,304 --> 00:03:26,538 the need to have his 15 seconds of fame, 24 00:03:26,607 --> 00:03:28,607 I think, does play out in his decision to kill 25 00:03:28,609 --> 00:03:29,841 multiple people. 26 00:03:29,944 --> 00:03:33,111 Really, what he craved wasn't necessarily to be an actor 27 00:03:33,113 --> 00:03:35,147 and to develop that craft, 28 00:03:35,249 --> 00:03:37,015 but it was really to be notorious. 29 00:04:49,023 --> 00:04:52,357 When he kills, he realizes that this gives him 30 00:04:52,426 --> 00:04:53,659 so much pleasure, 31 00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:55,560 he's not interested in acting anymore. 32 00:04:55,629 --> 00:04:58,063 This gives him the thrill to replace 33 00:04:58,131 --> 00:05:02,401 the feeling of disappointment and rage at this other dream. 34 00:05:02,503 --> 00:05:05,504 But this is exciting. This is what he wants to do. 35 00:06:08,802 --> 00:06:11,670 The context in which he is a star is irrelevant, 36 00:06:11,672 --> 00:06:14,806 and so he reenacts the murder with glee. 37 00:06:14,808 --> 00:06:17,843 He's enjoying the fantasy of replaying the death, 38 00:06:17,978 --> 00:06:21,113 and it's absurd, because he's enacting a brutal murder. 39 00:06:21,115 --> 00:06:23,849 This isn't stage, and it isn't entertainment. 40 00:06:23,984 --> 00:06:25,817 But for him, it is. 41 00:06:29,256 --> 00:06:31,723 He said he's outside himself, feeling that 42 00:06:31,725 --> 00:06:34,326 something else is pushing him to action. 43 00:06:34,428 --> 00:06:37,562 There's not an ownership of his feeling and his volition. 44 00:06:37,631 --> 00:06:40,732 So there's a split, there is a world inside 45 00:06:40,801 --> 00:06:43,935 his head that's running the show that doesn't comport 46 00:06:44,037 --> 00:06:46,405 to reality -- that's what I think makes him dangerous. 47 00:07:04,324 --> 00:07:06,358 MORGAN: I wouldn't call it remorse, because 48 00:07:06,427 --> 00:07:08,860 that realization doesn't change his future behavior. 49 00:07:08,962 --> 00:07:10,629 He doesn't go turn himself in. 50 00:07:10,731 --> 00:07:12,130 The feeling may be genuine, 51 00:07:12,132 --> 00:07:14,900 but it's not psychologically integrated 52 00:07:14,902 --> 00:07:16,401 into his sense of self. 53 00:07:16,503 --> 00:07:18,403 RAGHAVAN: There's a moment of remorse and guilt. 54 00:07:18,505 --> 00:07:20,205 It doesn't mean that psychopaths never 55 00:07:20,307 --> 00:07:22,073 feel remorse or never feel guilt. 56 00:07:22,075 --> 00:07:23,809 The issue is how brief it is, 57 00:07:23,911 --> 00:07:26,211 how shallow it is, and how quickly it's gone. 58 00:07:29,216 --> 00:07:30,448 Mm-hmm. 59 00:08:27,140 --> 00:08:29,841 SAHNI: Presley is very much in his own gangster movie. 60 00:08:29,943 --> 00:08:32,110 He clearly wants to portray himself as a gangster, 61 00:08:32,112 --> 00:08:35,413 but he killed a defenseless person -- that doesn't make 62 00:08:35,415 --> 00:08:37,115 him powerful, that makes him weak. 63 00:08:37,217 --> 00:08:40,819 But in his narcissistic psychopathic narrative, 64 00:08:40,821 --> 00:08:42,320 it makes him all powerful. 65 00:08:42,322 --> 00:08:44,222 MORGAN: Presley represents one of the most 66 00:08:44,357 --> 00:08:47,158 alarming kinds of cases of psychopathy. 67 00:08:47,260 --> 00:08:49,194 There's no recognition of the value 68 00:08:49,196 --> 00:08:50,362 of someone else's life. 69 00:08:50,463 --> 00:08:52,264 It's patients like this where you don't usually 70 00:08:52,365 --> 00:08:55,100 have a warning when they might be violent. 71 00:08:55,202 --> 00:08:56,334 He's scary. 72 00:09:31,939 --> 00:09:34,306 SAHNI: I think Presley's giving us a compilation of 73 00:09:34,407 --> 00:09:37,609 movies and scenes that he is glorified over his years. 74 00:09:37,744 --> 00:09:38,810 I don't think he gave a whole 75 00:09:38,812 --> 00:09:40,612 lot of thought to reloading the weapon. 76 00:09:40,614 --> 00:09:42,213 I think he enjoyed the power. 77 00:09:42,316 --> 00:09:44,616 I think he enjoyed the adrenaline rush. 78 00:09:44,618 --> 00:09:47,218 We know with psychopaths that they don't experience 79 00:09:47,220 --> 00:09:49,254 the same normal range of emotions, 80 00:09:49,356 --> 00:09:52,123 highs or lows, that most of us do. 81 00:09:52,125 --> 00:09:54,125 And as a result, they sometimes crave 82 00:09:54,127 --> 00:09:57,929 a greater level of intensity to feel anything. 83 00:11:03,363 --> 00:11:06,731 Most of the science data about it tells us that children who 84 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:08,800 are exposed to violence in pop culture, 85 00:11:08,902 --> 00:11:13,405 seeing violence in films or in cartoons, don't turn into 86 00:11:13,507 --> 00:11:15,607 violent members of society. 87 00:11:15,609 --> 00:11:19,044 What we're seeing in his murders is the playing out 88 00:11:19,145 --> 00:11:23,148 of the fantasy life that he's adopted for himself. 89 00:11:23,216 --> 00:11:26,751 His inability to stay grounded and rooted in normal society 90 00:11:26,820 --> 00:11:30,455 well predates his observation of these shows and movies. 91 00:11:30,524 --> 00:11:32,824 Presley is somebody who was violent at a young age. 92 00:11:32,826 --> 00:11:34,559 His mother was scared of him. 93 00:11:34,661 --> 00:11:36,828 He had had run-ins with the law. 94 00:11:36,830 --> 00:11:39,030 There was a foundation that was broken already. 95 00:12:33,053 --> 00:12:34,619 [makes moaning noise] 96 00:12:42,429 --> 00:12:44,129 RAGHAVAN: He's aware that his compulsion 97 00:12:44,230 --> 00:12:45,630 to kill is just overwhelming. 98 00:12:45,732 --> 00:12:48,099 He's also recognizing that, you know, 99 00:12:48,201 --> 00:12:50,401 brutally wounding the guy wasn't enough. 100 00:12:50,537 --> 00:12:52,837 If he didn't die, he wouldn't be satisfied. 101 00:12:52,939 --> 00:12:54,706 He's really losing control. 102 00:12:54,808 --> 00:12:57,108 It's just been three days after his last kill. 103 00:12:57,110 --> 00:13:00,145 He's not able to contain his desires anymore. 104 00:13:00,246 --> 00:13:02,113 In a really grotesque way, 105 00:13:02,215 --> 00:13:06,518 it's about extinguishing and annihilating somebody's life. 106 00:13:28,508 --> 00:13:32,811 SAHNI: He's getting more bold in his need for a killing high. 107 00:13:32,913 --> 00:13:34,712 I think he was testing out the limits of 108 00:13:34,848 --> 00:13:38,016 what other aspects of murder could give him a high. 109 00:13:38,018 --> 00:13:41,519 Would seeing blood give him a high? 110 00:13:41,621 --> 00:13:44,222 Would seeing brain matter give him a high? 111 00:13:44,324 --> 00:13:48,059 For individuals who experience more sadistic interests, 112 00:13:48,161 --> 00:13:50,728 the idea of force or fear creating pain 113 00:13:50,864 --> 00:13:53,665 in their victims -- Suffering, essentially, 114 00:13:53,733 --> 00:13:56,534 is something that is part of their arousal pattern. 115 00:13:56,603 --> 00:13:58,536 RAGHAVAN: This is the third time that he's enacting 116 00:13:58,605 --> 00:14:00,939 the moment of death, which means that he gets to 117 00:14:01,007 --> 00:14:05,210 explore his fantasies of being an actor in the most grotesque 118 00:14:05,312 --> 00:14:08,513 way imaginable, where he relives details of the death, 119 00:14:08,515 --> 00:14:11,850 including the really vivid and lurid details 120 00:14:11,952 --> 00:14:13,351 of how his victims die. 121 00:14:13,420 --> 00:14:16,321 [makes moaning noise] 122 00:14:16,423 --> 00:14:19,057 MORGAN: Describing him gasping and then shooting him 123 00:14:19,158 --> 00:14:21,626 again is very dispassionate and matter-of-fact 124 00:14:21,628 --> 00:14:22,760 and very callous. 125 00:14:22,829 --> 00:14:24,963 There isn't really an acknowledgment 126 00:14:25,031 --> 00:14:28,299 that it's another person, another human being. 127 00:14:28,401 --> 00:14:31,402 Anyone could be his victim in the way he thinks about people, 128 00:14:31,504 --> 00:14:34,539 which I think makes it even more horrifying. 129 00:15:29,930 --> 00:15:31,529 SAHNI: Presley's reality 130 00:15:31,631 --> 00:15:33,131 is a little different than his narrative. 131 00:15:33,133 --> 00:15:36,701 While he may have grown up in impoverished circumstances, 132 00:15:36,836 --> 00:15:38,503 he had a mother that was very involved. 133 00:15:38,605 --> 00:15:41,506 His mother moved him to a much more affluent school system 134 00:15:41,641 --> 00:15:43,341 so that he would be away from 135 00:15:43,410 --> 00:15:45,510 those influences, and by all accounts, 136 00:15:45,645 --> 00:15:48,313 he started to get his life in order, so much so that he was 137 00:15:48,315 --> 00:15:50,148 actually interviewed as a teenager 138 00:15:50,216 --> 00:15:52,150 about his former life in a gang. 139 00:15:52,218 --> 00:15:55,753 But Presley is wired differently than many of us 140 00:15:55,822 --> 00:15:58,957 and unfortunately, he enjoyed that high, that thrill, 141 00:15:59,025 --> 00:16:01,426 and that power and that's where we have 142 00:16:01,528 --> 00:16:03,227 these series of people that he's killed. 143 00:16:04,230 --> 00:16:06,331 MORGAN: Externalizing all blame 144 00:16:06,466 --> 00:16:08,633 is something that psychopaths do. 145 00:16:08,735 --> 00:16:11,703 They'll acknowledge their role in the actions, 146 00:16:11,705 --> 00:16:16,841 but they really will feel that society is to blame. 147 00:16:16,943 --> 00:16:20,611 He views whatever he does as being caused by something 148 00:16:20,613 --> 00:16:22,947 outside of his control and beyond him, 149 00:16:23,049 --> 00:16:26,718 which means a very good place for him is in prison. 150 00:18:01,614 --> 00:18:03,214 SAHNI: The robbery was an incidental 151 00:18:03,216 --> 00:18:04,315 part of his narrative. 152 00:18:04,417 --> 00:18:05,817 His goal was to kill again. 153 00:18:05,819 --> 00:18:09,153 He broke his own rules and boundaries by killing a woman 154 00:18:09,222 --> 00:18:11,823 when he swore that he would never kill a woman or children. 155 00:18:11,825 --> 00:18:15,259 Presley became addicted to the power, the control, 156 00:18:15,361 --> 00:18:19,430 the ability to decide when and how somebody would die. 157 00:18:23,903 --> 00:18:26,037 MORGAN: In the big picture of his perspective, 158 00:18:26,106 --> 00:18:28,206 we see that non sequitur between, "I'd never 159 00:18:28,208 --> 00:18:31,142 hurt women and children to murdering a woman, 160 00:18:31,244 --> 00:18:35,113 but I don't think he sees any contradiction in that, because 161 00:18:35,215 --> 00:18:37,849 she represents, I think, just now 162 00:18:37,950 --> 00:18:41,586 the new class of targets, which just have to be white. 163 00:18:41,588 --> 00:18:45,123 RAGHAVAN: His pleasure comes from annihilating alive. 164 00:18:45,125 --> 00:18:48,726 So the question is why does he get so thrilled when he kills? 165 00:18:48,728 --> 00:18:50,428 The contrast between his 166 00:18:50,530 --> 00:18:55,099 humdrum, low-feeling life and the moment of killing 167 00:18:55,101 --> 00:18:58,202 is very dramatic, and that's what creates addiction. 168 00:19:24,531 --> 00:19:26,230 SAHNI: This really captures 169 00:19:26,332 --> 00:19:29,400 the fantasy world that Presley lives in, 170 00:19:29,502 --> 00:19:32,503 where he is acknowledging that 171 00:19:32,605 --> 00:19:34,105 he's playing a part. 172 00:19:34,207 --> 00:19:38,209 He's acting as if it is a film, and the camera can just be 173 00:19:38,311 --> 00:19:42,146 turned off, the set dismantled, and everybody will just go back 174 00:19:42,248 --> 00:19:43,714 about their business, 175 00:19:43,816 --> 00:19:46,317 not really recognizing these are real human beings 176 00:19:46,319 --> 00:19:47,618 he killed. 177 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,789 He's literally in a movie set or on a movie set in his head. 178 00:19:51,791 --> 00:19:55,426 RAGHAVAN: He's starting to feel like he's a superstar. 179 00:19:55,428 --> 00:19:56,727 There's the catharsis, 180 00:19:56,729 --> 00:19:58,729 and then this cooling off period where you're 181 00:19:58,831 --> 00:20:01,899 fantasizing about it, and then the compulsion starts again. 182 00:20:01,901 --> 00:20:04,602 There is no doubt in my mind, he would have kept killing. 183 00:20:21,254 --> 00:20:23,754 WOMAN: Dekalb D.A. Robert James planned to 184 00:20:23,790 --> 00:20:26,123 seek the ultimate punishment for the murders. 185 00:20:26,226 --> 00:20:29,660 But Presley avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty. 186 00:20:29,762 --> 00:20:32,964 I am not a serial killer. 187 00:20:35,201 --> 00:20:37,134 I am a brother 188 00:20:37,236 --> 00:20:41,072 that has some real serious issues 189 00:20:41,140 --> 00:20:46,110 and problems who did some things 190 00:20:46,112 --> 00:20:47,712 that I am not proud of.