LAS VEGAS (FOX5) -
FOX5 has received dozens of comments on a story first brought to you Wednesday night - a jailhouse interview with Connor Sherwin. The 18-year-old is accused of beating his stepdad and tying up his mom earlier this month.
"It was a little insanity mixed with revenge," said Connor Sherwin during an interview with FOX5's Matt DeLucia at the Clark County Detention Center.
Sherwin's mannerisms and remarks caught the attention of a local criminal psychologist.
"He had a little schizophrenic smile," said Dr. Louis Mortillaro, who has not diagnosed or treated Sherwin, but has experience in treating people serving time in jail and prison.
We showed him our interview with Sherwin - who right now stands accused of beating his stepdad with a baseball bat, tying him up and leaving him in an empty pool.
Sherwin told FOX5 that he then tied up his mom with computer cords and anything else he could find, but she managed to escape.
The interview, which aired on FOX5 Wednesday, showed the side of an attempted murder suspect that is rarely seen, but Mortillaro sees it all the time.
"He didn't care," Mortillaro said after hearing Sherwin's side of the story. "He treated these parents like they were not humans."
Sherwin said he was hungry, sunburned and homeless. He had just been released from a mental clinic days before, he said, and added that beating his stepdad felt good.
"I'll be honest it did. Since I was little, he kind of just mentally abused me."
Mortillaro advises every parent that if it gets to a point where you are ready to kick someone out of the home, which Sherwin said happened to him - it's often too late to fix the problems.
"This young man would need extensive treatment with the stepfather and the mother and himself in order to rectify his perceptions about what he considered to be - have been abused," Mortillaro said.
FOX5 has made multiple attempts to talk with Sherwin's family at the Stout Way home where police said the attack happened, but no one answered the door. Neighbors said off-camera that the family keeps to themselves.
"Can't really regret it because it wasn't premeditated," Sherwin said.
But, as far as what was going through Sherwin's mind at the time, he added, "They told me to do it."
He did not explain what that meant, saying only that it was "an inside joke."
Sherwin is charged with attempted murder with a deadly weapon, burglary, two counts of kidnapping, domestic violence, battery with substantial bodily harm and strangulation.
Copyright 2012 KVVU (KVVU Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.
Psychologist Louis Mortillaro frequently examines the behavior of patients in jail and prison
