I disagree. In the very beginning of the video Tyler brags about how good he is at manipulating people. I'm sure the camera staff hated him for micro managing any shot that he was in. I had to laugh at him playing piano and looking at the water while resting his chin on the rail. He's a flaming asshole, but that's not why I think he did it.

I think Tyler was a sort of sexual predator. He would gain trust of an individual, and slowly introduce sexual rubbing, or hand jobs, or twice there were blow jobs to quote him. This has been confirmed in his circle. This is exactly how predators work towards family members or friends.

Keep in mind this is not including people outside of the circle he may have been trying to convert and bring in. These sexual cases may have been higher but out of shame, guilt, and fear we'll never know how many to be exact.

He orchestrated a type of holistic ecstasy orgy parties. There is nothing wrong with wanting to make people feel good. Tyler; however, convinced people that this feeling was from god, all the while knowing how to manipulate basic human chemistry. That level of manipulation in anyone, murderer or not is frighting.

Micah was Amish. The Amish community unfortunately has a high amount of inbreeding to "keep the family pure". This can lead to all kinds of mental disorders which I believe he was suffering from. I see a lot of anger in his eyes. They're very ... lifeless. I also have a hunch that Micah was studying law at the college where they all met.

I think Micah had a lot of sins in his past, and he engaged in the most sexual contact with Tyler. Tyler, being the self proclaimed apostle he is, took Micah under his wing to "help" him. Now Tyler was grooming Micah. Not just for sex. For information. I believe they exchanged not just information about music, and faith, but information about the law.

I'm not sure exactly how Tyler convinced Micah to do this, but this is what I believed happened:

Micah was hiding in the back of the van. Tyler was with her when she died. He somehow convinced her that they needed to meet in the van and sit and talk. Micah took the bag over her face from behind. Tyler strangled her from the front.

Tyler was going to blackmail Church IHOP, they cornered Micah. The whole plan fell into place. Now a poor girl has been murdered, both men are free, and the church has whipped it's hands clean.

Also, FUCK her parents. It wasn't like she was being held in a South American jungle. They could have easily have seen her if they were that concerned and missed her so much. Why didn't they request an autopsy?! Her father? Weak man that would rather live in denial than confront reality.

So I'm watching this again and his body language alone makes me suspicious. Through the entire interview he speaks very confidently about everything that has happened, but he keeps curling more and more into himself. Very defensive stance. Skim through and you'll see.

at 2:29 he is asked by the interviewer if he thinks his group was a cult. His eye shifting while he counter products the question with a condescending fact. again at 29:46.

I don't think he actually studied hypnotism, but a lot of hypnotism is hand movements. I think he learned unconsciously while observing and studying people at his IHOP church.

That is some wild speculation you have there, Species.

Seriously, species, what the fuck.

It was sort of off-putting to see Tyler talk about being charismatic, but other people said the same thing about him, and in the end it didn't seem like bragging so much as addressing what it was about him that got him into trouble.

I think the "cult" is the IHOP, which is behaving the way cults behave
in these situations, ducking all responsibility, digging in and circling the wagons. In that context, Tyler fell into the role of leader of his small, tragically idealistic group, but a real cult hangs onto its power. Tyler's group of friends blew apart very quickly.

Because of harmful religious doctrines, Tyler was in denial about being gay, and now he's not. That's huge. Many struggle for a lifetime. I don't think of sexual predators as being capable of that kind of introspection and growth. I think of sexual predators as acting out a pattern over and over again, but Tyler has made a break, and he's taking responsibility for his share of what went wrong, but all he really did was deal with being gay the way he was taught.