University of New Haven Forensic Psychiatrist Says ‘It’s Never a Surprise’

After a shocking murder, a long line of neighbors, friends, family members, and former classmates often express variations of the same sentiment: He was the nicest guy you’d ever meet. He volunteered at church, and always smiled at everyone. He was quiet, kept to himself, and never caused any trouble.

Forensic psychiatrist and University of New Haven professor Charles Morgan, M.D., would not be one of those befuddled folks. He knows better. Because of his rare combination of clinical skill, field experience, and scientific training, Dr. Morgan is adept at identifying traits such as manipulativeness, lack of empathy, and emotional detachment.

Dr. Morgan has been featured applying his expertise as part of the TV series Signs of a Psychopath, a true-crime documentary that investigates real-life killers using archive footage and interviews to identify those telltale signs of psychopathy.

“There's some cases where the murderers kept a journal, and you find out that when they were 11 they were cutting heads off cats and storing them in the refrigerator,” Dr. Morgan said. “And their parents made them a deal and said if you promise not to do this, we won't make you go see a doctor.

“Then three years later, mom finds a human head in the pizza box,” Dr. Morgan added. “In psych we always say that it's never a surprise—they've done something before.”

Dr. Morgan became connected with Signs of a Psychopath during the pandemic when executive producer Stephen Dost contacted him out of the blue, saying he was producing a show on psychopathy and wanted him to be one of the doctors who analyzed the cases they would be featuring.

Because New York City was under lockdown at the time, Dost sent a limo to pick Dr. Morgan up and take him to a location in Brooklyn that had a large green screen. Dr. Morgan would be at one end, and the producers would be at the other; in the middle was a table with an iPad, which Dr. Morgan would use to review the materials for the episodes.

“I would watch clips from the case that I'd reviewed, and they’d ask me my thoughts on the case,” Dr. Morgan said. “I've consulted on a number of different shows before, and they usually just want to give you lines to read, but Stephen said they wanted to know my thinking and reasoning. And it evolved from there.”

The materials Dr. Morgan reviewed included the police interview videos with the suspected killer, along with the related transcripts, the forensic evidence from the crime scene, and all the news blurbs of what reporters were saying about the case.

Dr. Morgan said he would spend five or six hours reviewing the material—for two or three cases at a time—and then get whisked down to the Brooklyn green-screen room to discuss his evaluation.

“Because of my training, I’d be running through the diagnostic categories of psychopathy in the latest version of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” Dr. Morgan said. “Are they having delusions? Do they look and sound depressed? Is there any evidence of alterations in sleep, appetite, or self care, or something like that.”

Dr. Morgan would also evaluate the personality features that seem to be on display, which includes not only the style of their thinking—is it abstract or concrete—but whether there is any evidence that they made plans for a murder ahead of time, or whether it was more of an impulsive act.

“So, I'm paying attention to all that, trying to integrate the pieces of information to determine what the most plausible differential diagnosis is,” Dr. Morgan said. “Because it's really possible that someone who is behaving criminally and who has psychopathy may also have some formal illness as well.”

What Dr. Morgan appreciates most about the show is that it focuses on educating the viewer rather than sensationalizing what are tragic and horrific murders.

For a clinical practitioner such as Dr. Morgan, who is also an educator, the real merit in studying a series of murder cases is the possibility of preventing events such as these in the future by identifying ahead of time the many signs of psychopathy that were already there in the would-be killer.

“It's been a really interesting project to be involved in,” Dr. Morgan said. “And they're thinking the show might get renewed for another season. Who knew serial killers were so popular?”