This podcast is intended for mature audiences.

Listener discretion is advised. We recommend listening to this bonus content only after you've completed episodes 1 through 9 of 3 as there may be

some spoilers.

From Waveland this is 3 the Bonus episode.

When Justine and I went to Morgantown, West Virginia to interview Skyler's family, investigators, court officials, and others, we ended every interview with the same question.

Why?

Why would two such promising teenage girls

murder their best friend?

Everyone had a theory, but as reporters we knew we needed to pose the

question to experts. At 16, teenage brains are still developing. The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that sits right behind the

forehead, houses executive functions, those skills that help us focus, plan, self-regulate behavior and emotions. But that area of the brain doesn't fully

evolve until around age 24, which is why teenagers naturally test boundaries. Their impulse control is constantly challenged

by their sense of invincibility, their urge to live in the moment, and take risks

with sex, drugs, sneaking out. but the uptick of personality disorders,

which can manifest in depression, anxiety,

acts of self-harm or even violence,

raises serious questions. Is social media a contributing factor? How do we

determine where that line exists and most importantly how can we recognize these behaviors early enough to catch them?

Ten years ago, while writing the story for L magazine, I spoke with retired FBI Supervisory special agent and profiler Jim Clemente.

Now the co-host of two popular podcasts, Real Crime Profile, and best best case worst case. In the FBI, Clemente solved

high-profile cases. He has a gift for reverse engineering a crime that occurs,

back to the kind of person who committed it.

...