From Kerrie’s Desk: The Truth Behind the Lie
Dear Friends,
I wanted to take a moment to thank you — truly — for being part of this journey with me. Every month, when I sit down to write this newsletter, I think about you: the readers, listeners, and truth-seekers who crave stories that challenge what we think we know about darkness, justice, and human nature. Your support means more to me than you can imagine. My aim is always to bring something of value to your inbox — a spark of curiosity, a hidden truth, a question that lingers long after you’ve finished reading.
Lately, I’ve been deep-diving into cold cases, completed Season Two of Crime Stands Still / Killer Instincts and the sensational story of the Tucson real estate mogul who was blown apart (by his ex-wife!) .
I’ve also had the honor of speaking to the Phoenix Screenwriters’ Association about Twisted Villains. I’ve begun work on a new crime story, one that’s as haunting and edgy as anything I’ve written before.
Thank you for reading, for listening, for daring to look beneath the surface with me. I promise to keep delivering stories that disturb, enlighten, and compel — stories that reveal, as always, the truth behind the lie.
With gratitude and grit,
Kerrie
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Did you know....
Most lies aren’t told in words. They're revealed in the face! Did you know that the average person touches his or her face over 40 times an hour?? Every gesture has a hidden meaning.
Criminal profilers and forensic interviewers combine facial tells with verbal and behavioral cues to form what they call a deception or stress profile.
Think of it as reading the “orchestra” of someone’s behavior — microexpressions, tone, syntax, and timing all playing at once.
"What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
🔍 1. Verbal–Facial Mismatch: “Leakage” Across Channels
Profiler focus: Do the words, tone, and face agree?
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Example: A suspect says, “I didn’t do it,” but there’s a micro-flash of fear or contempt right after.
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Another might laugh or smile when discussing a violent event — a sign of emotional incongruence or sadistic enjoyment.
What it signals: When the verbal channel (what they say) contradicts the nonverbal (how they look saying it), profilers suspect leakage — suppressed emotion slipping through control.
đź’¬ 2. Linguistic Distancing and Detachment
Profiler focus: Pronoun shifts and depersonalized language.
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Using “the body” instead of “her body.”
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Saying “that girl” or “the incident” instead of naming the victim.
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Avoiding the pronoun “I” when denying guilt (e.g., “Didn’t kill her” vs. “I didn’t kill her”).
What it signals: A subconscious effort to distance oneself from the crime or responsibility. Common in offenders who compartmentalize or dehumanize their victims.
⏱️ 3. Temporal Gaps and Delayed Reactions
Profiler focus: The timing between a question and emotional response.
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A genuine emotion appears instantly.
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A delayed reaction (e.g., smiling after realizing one should) suggests fabrication.
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Overly rehearsed speech, monotone pacing, or “perfect” recall can signal scripting.
What it signals: People recall truth with sensory detail and emotion; liars recall stories they’ve constructed. That delay is their brain catching up to the lie.
🎠4. Overcontrol or Overcompensation
Profiler focus: Too calm, too polite, too perfect.
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Some offenders, especially psychopaths, mimic “appropriate” emotional states — smiling, nodding, maintaining eye contact — but it’s exaggerated or too sustained.
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A lack of autonomic signals (no sweat, no pupil dilation, no micro-movements) can also be suspicious — too controlled.
What it signals: Someone who’s studied or rehearsed how to appear “innocent.” Profiler note: Overcontrol can be as revealing as overt anxiety.
🧠5. Narrative Content: The Lie’s Architecture
Profiler focus: Story structure and sensory detail.
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Truth-tellers tend to recall in chronological order with spontaneous sensory memories (“I remember the smell of gas”).
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Liars often tell stories backward or use vague, logical phrasing (“Then I went home. Then I ate dinner.”).
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Too few or too many details can both be red flags depending on context.
What it signals: Liars avoid emotional anchors — the sensory details that betray genuine memory. They narrate like someone reading a report.
🔦 6. The “Cluster” Principle
Profilers never rely on one cue. They look for clusters — multiple inconsistencies across verbal, facial, and physiological channels within a short window (usually 5–10 seconds after a key question).
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Example cluster:
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Lip compression (anger suppression)
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Blink rate increase
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Verbal distancing (“the girl”)
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Sudden dryness in voice
→ Together, that cluster indicates high stress or concealment. -
🧩 7. Emotional Baseline and Deviations
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Before interrogation, profilers engage in neutral talk — sports, weather, childhood — to map the subject’s baseline microexpressions and speech rhythm. Then, during key questioning, they track deviations.
If someone normally smiles evenly but freezes when asked about a specific date or name, that deviation can be the strongest tell of all.
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Signature Verbal Cues Facial/Physical Cues Psychological Root Leakage Incongruent statements Microexpressions (fear, contempt) Suppressed guilt or anxiety Distancing Depersonalized language Gaze aversion, jaw tension Emotional detachment Overcontrol Rehearsed or rigid answers Fixed smiles, lack of micro-movement Psychopathy / rehearsed deception
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What separates FBI or Scotland Yard profilers from ordinary interrogators isn’t that they spot lies — it’s that they decode the type of liar sitting across from them.
🪞 1. The Narcissistic Liar
(Driven by ego and image preservation)
Core motive: Protect self-image, maintain superiority, avoid humiliation.
Facial tells:
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Microexpression of contempt — the half-smile that says “I’m smarter than you.”
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Occasional “duping delight” when manipulating or outwitting the interviewer.
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Overuse of eye contact — an attempt to “dominate” rather than connect.
Verbal cues:
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Grandiose language: “You wouldn’t understand,” or “People always come to me for advice.”
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Overemphasis on status, appearance, or social perception.
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Avoids vulnerability; will redirect blame toward others.
Profiler interpretation:
They lie not out of fear, but out of vanity. Their greatest anxiety is exposure as “ordinary.” Profiler’s note: Confrontation often fuels rather than breaks them — they double down, reframing lies as “misunderstandings.”
🕶️ 2. The Psychopathic Liar
(Driven by thrill, control, or predation)
Core motive: Power. The lie is a weapon — manipulation for gain or amusement.
Facial tells:
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Flat affect or incongruent emotion — smiling while discussing violence.
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Microexpressions nearly absent — the “mask” of calm.
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Subtle signs of duping delight when they believe they’re deceiving the profiler.
Verbal cues:
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Fluid, confident storytelling; rarely hesitates.
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Uses charm and mimicry — mirroring the interviewer’s tone and phrasing.
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Tends to speak of people as objects (“the body,” “the thing I did”).
Profiler interpretation:
They don’t experience guilt or anxiety — so you won’t see typical “stress tells.” The deception lies in their smoothness.Profiler’s strategy: introduce cognitive dissonance (moral or logical contradictions) to rupture control; the cracks appear not as guilt but as irritation or contempt.
đź’” 3. The Neurotic Liar
(Driven by fear, shame, or avoidance of punishment)
Core motive: Escape — from fear, judgment, or loss.
Facial tells:
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Microexpressions of fear or sadness leak easily.
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Tightened jaw, downward gaze, frequent blinking.
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Often overcompensates with forced calm or excessive agreeableness.
Verbal cues:
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Stilted or fragmented speech; fillers (“uh,” “I guess,” “maybe”) increase.
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Overjustifies details: “I swear, I was home — I can show you my texts.”
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May tell partial truths — minimizing rather than inventing.
Profiler interpretation:
They’re often easiest to read — emotions leak through faster than they can manage them. Interrogators use rapport and reassurance, not confrontation, to elicit truth. Anxiety spikes visibly when deception nears exposure.
🧩 4. The Hybrid / “Adaptive” Liar
(Evolves across time — common in serial offenders or long-term manipulators)
Core motive: Survival of the false self. They learn from each deception.
Facial tells:
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Begin as neurotic (visible guilt), evolve toward psychopathic control.
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Emotion becomes increasingly compartmentalized — the mask thickens.
Verbal cues:
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Incorporate previous interrogations’ feedback into new lies.
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Rehearse empathy — “I feel terrible about what happened” — without affect.
Profiler interpretation:
Highly dangerous — deception becomes part of identity. The lie is the self. The only reliable tell is inconsistency over time: subtle narrative drift, evolving details, contradictions in retelling.
| Type | Emotional Engine | Facial Tells | Verbal Style | Breakthrough Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Narcissistic | Ego & admiration | Contempt, “duping delight” | Grandiose, self-referential | Undermine superiority subtly |
| Psychopathic | Power & thrill | Flat affect, predator calm | Smooth, manipulative | Create moral dissonance |
| Neurotic | Fear & shame | Fear microexpressions | Hesitant, overjustifying | Build rapport and safety |
| Hybrid | Identity preservation | Masked, adaptive | Inconsistent over time | Use prior contradictions |
With appreciation (and a touch of darkness!)
Kerrie
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