Luciano Galasso's  Instablog

The offender, now 17 and set to be sentenced tomorrow, is a very unusual killer. She comes from an intact, loving family, has no criminal history, excelled in school, babysits her 12-year-old brother and loves the family dog. In other words, she has none of the disadvantages of most juvenile offenders.

Instead her crime was motivated by lethal jealousy: She believed her boyfriend, D.B., liked Ms. Rengel, a beautiful, outgoing teen who had briefly “gone around” with him when she was 12.

In pages of coarse, rage-filled e-mails and text messages, M.T. commanded her boyfriend to kill Ms. Rengel. D.B. eventually went along with it: The 19-year-old pleaded guilty earlier this year to stabbing Ms. Rengel six times outside her Toronto home on New Year’s Day, 2008.

The question parents are left with at the end of this tragic tale is: How is it possible for a seemingly normal adolescent to present two such different personas – an obedient “goody-two-shoes” to her supportive parents who studied hard for tests and a heartless killer who spewed venom online against a wrongly perceived romantic rival whom she had never even met?

Identifying aggression, anti-social behaviour and even mental illness in teens can be difficult, experts say, because adolescents display such erratic emotions and do not have fully formed characters.

However, anyone reading M.T.’s e-mail would be alarmed by the level of violence it conveyed.

During the trial, the Crown entered into evidence more than 30,000 pages of instant-messaging transcripts between M.T. and her boyfriend, including many that revolved around the murder plan. In one chilling instant-message exchange in October, 2007, M.T. tells D.B. if he doesn’t kill Ms. Rengel, she will dump him.

Child psychologists say the anonymity of the Internet prompts many teenagers to call people “bitches and whores” and take on names such as “parking lot slut,” as they live out naughty fantasies and “try on” different personalities. They see social networking sites as “their” form of communication, beyond the realm of adults – and beyond the law.

However, having violent thoughts about their peers goes well beyond ordinary teenaged bravado.

“It’s hard to say where this kind of stuff comes from,” said David Wolfe, a psychologist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. “I see a lot of horrible names and stuff on the Internet. But saying ‘I want her killed’ is very unusual. This is definitely at the extreme end.”

A plan to carry out aggression on someone specific is not typical teenage stuff, agrees Ian Manion, executive director of the Provincial Centre for Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa. Online threats of violence should be investigated, he added.

Philip Klassen, a CAMH forensic psychiatrist, said in his report to the court that M.T. hasn’t shown remorse and sees herself as a victim. He described her three teenage relationships as intensely dysfunctional, marked by anger, rage and jealousy that point to an “escalating problem.”

M.T. is also bulimic, anxious and so insecure about her personal appearance that she wants plastic surgery for her nose and breasts.

He suggested she could have elements of borderline personality disorder, a condition characterized by unstable moods and chaotic personal relationships that is difficult to diagnose.

The defence’s psychiatric report concludes M.T. has no major mental illness, but is anxious, immature, volatile and obsessive. The report notes she made threats against other women, saying she wanted to “kill” her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriends with a knife or gun –statements she says she never meant.

Outwardly, however, M.T.’s life was striking for its normality: Her parents bought her clothing and a computer, and took her to the movies and to a cottage. They went bike riding together and played board games. She is close to her mother, a nurse, although apparently hid her violent thoughts from her.

Dr. Manion, who isn’t commenting on this case specifically, notes that some teenagers raised in loving families choose not to follow the same guidelines as the rest of society. “I’ve worked with families with very good parents, but the child has no sense of right and wrong and cannot empathize,” he said. “Some people are very driven by their own needs and desires and cannot appreciate wrong. They have no moral compass.”

At the same time, parents can be alert to potentially disturbing patterns of behaviour in teenagers, including: a sudden change in sleeping or eating patterns; a loss of interest in hobbies, school or friends; and unhealthy levels of attachment to one relationship.

“Parents need to be concerned about the child who suddenly becomes a stranger,” said Sara Dimerman, a Toronto family therapist.

To guard against the abuse of social networking sites, Dr. Wolfe says, parents should keep the computer in a public room, and monitor teens’ use. They should check to ensure their children are not doing anything illegal, including uttering threats or sending out nude photographs of ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends. “They need to know that what they send can come back and have a consequence for them,” said Dr. Wolfe, who specializes in prevention initiatives.

Crown prosecutor Robin Flumerfelt is seeking an adult sentence for M.T., with no parole for seven years. That means she would have a criminal record and would be monitored for life.