Dr. Tristin Engels

Prison gave her structure.

It gave her an audience and access to medical manuals.

It gave her time to rehearse new identities, test out caregiving personas, and study the vulnerabilities of others.

Most offenders escalate impulsively.

Dorothea escalated strategically.

And a lot of offenders in fairness that we cover do learn how to refine their tactics or even become more versatile when they are incarcerated because they learn from other incarcerated individuals.

But for Dorothea, prison served as dedicated practice time for her, which is markedly different and truly scary to think about.

And this is exactly what I mean.

Instead of using prison as a period of reflection, she treated it as an opportunity, another way of refining her methods.

Dorothea's manipulation of Everson is a textbook example of how a seasoned offender exploits loneliness, vulnerability, and unmet emotional needs.

As a grieving widower, Everson was isolated and emotionally primed to idealize anyone who offered him nurturance, which is what she is skilled at performing.

Dorothea understood this immediately.

She wasn't interested in him as a partner, only as a resource.

And the moment she stepped out of prison, she went straight into control mode.

Like you said, she opened a joint bank account, accessing his pension and securing housing with his money.

But she hid her intentions in the language of compassion.

She offered him a role that made him feel important, like he was also helping people rebuild their life in some way.

And in doing so, she's concealing the reality that he was being financially sort of gutted and psychologically isolated by someone who viewed empathy as a tool.

To impersonate a deceased partner so convincingly like this and live with their body in the next room...

That requires emotional coldness, detachment, and a complete absence of empathy.