I don't have any experience with identity thieves or con men, but I know what it's like to see what you want to see. For years, comparisons were drawn between my father and I. I saw the similarities between us too, same as anyone else. With the advent of mail order DNA/ancestry kits, I found out my dad wasn't my biological dad. We had zero DNA in common. I was shocked and initially looked for ways it wasn't true, before accepting reality. Like I said, my family and I all saw similarities, (we thought were) plain as day. With my own version of seeing what you want to see in supposed family, motivated by an emotional desire, it allowed me to empathize with the Barclays.
I was very unimpressed with the FBI agent. She seems to possess zero humility, which prevents her from being able to remain objective. -First, she interviewed Frederic and was fooled by him. Like she said, he was either being honest or was a fantastic actor. Well, she clearly fell for his act. -THEN, the local PI sees something the FBI does not, which again, brings the FBI agent's competency into question. The PI reports his observations, WITH photographic evidence to back it up, and she ignores him. She should have at least considered what he was saying for a few minutes. She obviously thinks so highly of herself, she couldn't possibly be wrong, nothing could possibly get by her, a local PI couldn't POSSIBLY see something she missed. Her unwillingness to explore other perspectives or angles REALLY annoyed me. Narcissism has no place in such delicate circumstances. -When Frederic made the accusation that the mother and older brother killed Nicholas, AND THE FBI AGENT BELIEVED HIM, a pathological liar who fooled her before, I was shocked. There was zero hard evidence. How was she ever employed by the FBI?! I even rewound the bit where they jump to "the mom and Jason killed Nicholas", thinking I missed something or didn't hear why. Nope. There was never a legitimate reason, besides Frederic's wild lies. -When the FBI agent can't think of a reason the Barclays wouldn't want her conducting DNA testing, aside from having something to hide, I was hoping she was no longer employed by the FBI. She was looking at things in a cold, cynical manner. There was no humanity involved, whatsoever. I can think of a reason the family was so opposed to a DNA test, besides a nefarious ulterior motive. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. The Barclays lost Nicholas 3 years prior, which would have been a colossal emotional trauma, with next to no closure. Times helps wounds, so after 3 years, the pain from losing Nicholas had probably lessened. To have the wounds ripped open again, have their hope restored, and be relieved to finally get to hold him again would have been a powerful blinder. Even if, in the back of their head, they knew something wasn't quite right, it would have been extremely excruciating to voluntarily admit that Frederic was not Nicholas, because it would put them back to square one, and then some. It was much more comfortable to remain in denial or maintain that they'd found Nicholas. That kind of pain is probably what led to Nicholas's mother lying down in peaceful protest, refusing to take a DNA test, if that ever happened. What the family said happened and the FBI agent said happened were two very different accounts, which usually means someone's lying. We shouldn't be so quick to assume it's the Barclays. I just can't believe the FBI agent couldn't see a motive for not wanting to prove Frederic wasn't Nicholas. I thought FBI agents would be trained better, but I guess at the end of the day, she's still just a human being with a badge, fallible like everyone else. I just don't understand why she can't admit to errors or even consider she might be wrong. -I was appalled when the FBI agent talked about making Nicholas's mom take the polygraph 3 times. The FBI agent kept saying "it can't be right", when it came up with a result she didn't like. She was practicing confirmation bias, which is to say she wanted facts to suit theories INSTEAD OF allowing theories to suit facts. Her theory was that Nicholas's mom killed him and the FBI agent wanted the facts to prove that, so she had the polygraph administered until the results she wanted showed up. Nicholas's mom passed 2 out of 3 polygraph tests, but the FBI agent chooses to ignore that and focus on the third and last test administered. I'll be honest, if I already took a lie detector test twice and passed, especially if I was innocent and being accused of murdering my own son, but that wasn't the result my interrogator had in mind...I'd probably be agitated by the third test as well. Nicholas's mom isn't James Bond, trained to fool a polygraph test. She's a blue collar worker, for crying out loud! I just felt the way the FBI agent conducted herself was totally inappropriate. Maybe she was embarrassed she fell for Frederic's act, just like everyone else, and launching a murder investigation was her way of saving face. She needs to find a way to deal with failure and embarrassment that doesn't inflict emotional turmoil on a grieving mother. The FBI agent's ego was out of control. It honestly reminded me a bit of Making a Murderer. A documentary on Netflix about a man named Steven Avery.
I was very unimpressed with the FBI agent. She seems to possess zero humility, which prevents her from being able to remain objective. -First, she interviewed Frederic and was fooled by him. Like she said, he was either being honest or was a fantastic actor. Well, she clearly fell for his act. -THEN, the local PI sees something the FBI does not, which again, brings the FBI agent's competency into question. The PI reports his observations, WITH photographic evidence to back it up, and she ignores him. She should have at least considered what he was saying for a few minutes. She obviously thinks so highly of herself, she couldn't possibly be wrong, nothing could possibly get by her, a local PI couldn't POSSIBLY see something she missed. Her unwillingness to explore other perspectives or angles REALLY annoyed me. Narcissism has no place in such delicate circumstances. -When Frederic made the accusation that the mother and older brother killed Nicholas, AND THE FBI AGENT BELIEVED HIM, a pathological liar who fooled her before, I was shocked. There was zero hard evidence. How was she ever employed by the FBI?! I even rewound the bit where they jump to "the mom and Jason killed Nicholas", thinking I missed something or didn't hear why. Nope. There was never a legitimate reason, besides Frederic's wild lies. -When the FBI agent can't think of a reason the Barclays wouldn't want her conducting DNA testing, aside from having something to hide, I was hoping she was no longer employed by the FBI. She was looking at things in a cold, cynical manner. There was no humanity involved, whatsoever. I can think of a reason the family was so opposed to a DNA test, besides a nefarious ulterior motive. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. The Barclays lost Nicholas 3 years prior, which would have been a colossal emotional trauma, with next to no closure. Times helps wounds, so after 3 years, the pain from losing Nicholas had probably lessened. To have the wounds ripped open again, have their hope restored, and be relieved to finally get to hold him again would have been a powerful blinder. Even if, in the back of their head, they knew something wasn't quite right, it would have been extremely excruciating to voluntarily admit that Frederic was not Nicholas, because it would put them back to square one, and then some. It was much more comfortable to remain in denial or maintain that they'd found Nicholas. That kind of pain is probably what led to Nicholas's mother lying down in peaceful protest, refusing to take a DNA test, if that ever happened. What the family said happened and the FBI agent said happened were two very different accounts, which usually means someone's lying. We shouldn't be so quick to assume it's the Barclays. I just can't believe the FBI agent couldn't see a motive for not wanting to prove Frederic wasn't Nicholas. I thought FBI agents would be trained better, but I guess at the end of the day, she's still just a human being with a badge, fallible like everyone else. I just don't understand why she can't admit to errors or even consider she might be wrong. -I was appalled when the FBI agent talked about making Nicholas's mom take the polygraph 3 times. The FBI agent kept saying "it can't be right", when it came up with a result she didn't like. She was practicing confirmation bias, which is to say she wanted facts to suit theories INSTEAD OF allowing theories to suit facts. Her theory was that Nicholas's mom killed him and the FBI agent wanted the facts to prove that, so she had the polygraph administered until the results she wanted showed up. Nicholas's mom passed 2 out of 3 polygraph tests, but the FBI agent chooses to ignore that and focus on the third and last test administered. I'll be honest, if I already took a lie detector test twice and passed, especially if I was innocent and being accused of murdering my own son, but that wasn't the result my interrogator had in mind...I'd probably be agitated by the third test as well. Nicholas's mom isn't James Bond, trained to fool a polygraph test. She's a blue collar worker, for crying out loud! I just felt the way the FBI agent conducted herself was totally inappropriate. Maybe she was embarrassed she fell for Frederic's act, just like everyone else, and launching a murder investigation was her way of saving face. She needs to find a way to deal with failure and embarrassment that doesn't inflict emotional turmoil on a grieving mother. The FBI agent's ego was out of control. It honestly reminded me a bit of Making a Murderer. A documentary on Netflix about a man named Steven Avery.