Kenia Monge Murder: Travis Forbes Case Analysis in Forensic Psychology

[00:00:00]hello this is Dr Grande today's question is can I analyze the case of Kenya monhei and Travis Forbes just a reminder I'm not diagnosing about this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon I will put the link to patreon in the description for this video first I'll look at the background of this case move to the timeline of the crime then offer my analysis Kenya monhei was born on January 26 1992 she lived in Denver Colorado in 2011 Kenya was studying broadcasting at a local College Travis Forbes was born on October 4 1979 and lived in Denver he accumulated an extensive criminal history throughout his life including charges for a burglary assault and harassment eventually he started a sandwich and granola bar business which he operated from a bakery on South Trenton way in Denver now moving to the timeline of the crime on March 31 2011 nineteen-year-old Kenya and two of her female friends went out for a night of partying Kenya had fake identification which he used to enter the 24K bar on Market Street just after 11 pm she became extremely intoxicated and disruptive Kenya was kicked out of the bar by a bouncer at around 1am now on April 1 2011. she was with a young man who was also escorted out Kenya left her cell phone purse and car keys on a table in the bar later on April 1 Kenya's family members noticed that she was missing the friends gave her property including her cell phone to her stepfather he reported Kenya missing to the police at about 9 40 pm here's what the police found during their investigation the police tracked Kenya's movements after she was kicked out of the bar using Video available from surveillance cameras in the area they saw her enter an apartment building on 15th street she was with a young man at about 1 15 am she was seen coming out of the elevator on the fifth floor as she was walking down the hallway behind the young man it was clear that Kenya was intoxicated few minutes later she returned to the elevator and exited the building the police spoke to the young man he said that Kenya was in his apartment for a few minutes and then left his story was supported by the video at 204 am Kenya was captured on camera walking alone in a hotel about a block away the police believe that she was there to use the restroom cameras did not capture her leaving the hotel but she was no longer there this appeared to be a dead end in the investigation but fortunately the police had another important lead after Kenya's friends dropped off her phone at her residence her stepfather examined it he saw that she had received a text message at 6 56 pm the message read quote hey this is Travis the guy who gave you a ride last night white creepy van did you get home okay unquote it didn't take long for the police to realize that the message came from Travis Forbes they caught up with Travis and one of his friends on April 3 at a gas station Travis and his friend said that they observed Kenya talking to a transient man in the area of 15th Street and California Street this was at about 2 am she appeared to be very intoxicated therefore they offered to take her to Club lavish which is where she said her car was parked the three individuals were unable to locate the vehicle therefore Travis offered to take Kenya home in his white cargo van he dropped his friend off and continued with Kenya in the van so at this point only Travis and Kenya were in his vehicle when they were on Speer Boulevard Kenya requested a cigarette Travis pulled into a Conoco gas station but it was closed Kenya exited the van and approached a man on the street who was smoking she asked him for a cigarette and he gave her one Travis said that the man went by the name Dan Kenya and Dan talked in Spanish for a while as they smoked when they were done smoking Kenya and Dan walked off together Travis asked Kenya if she was okay but she did not respond at this point Travis drove to his girlfriend's house the police looked at the inside of the white cargo van and noticed that it was exceptionally clean in the cargo area but dirty in the front of the vehicle the van smelled like bleach and the carpet in the cargo area was new on April 5 the police conducted a formal interview of Travis at Denver Police Headquarters he repeated the same story he gave Kenya a ride they stopped and she walked off with a guy named Dan Travis went to his girlfriend's residence arriving between 3 and 3 30 a.m he left for work at about 8 30 A.M his girlfriend's name was Carrie Humphrey the police spoke to Carrie she confirmed The Alibi that Travis had supplied despite this Alibi being corroborated the police were still suspicious of Travis Forbes the gas station Travis referred to was obviously closed at the time when Travis claimed to stop there looking for cigarettes like the station was completely dark nobody would have pulled in there believing it could have been open also the bakery where Travis worked had supplied surveillance video to the police on April 1 cameras at that business captured Travis engaging in suspicious activity for example he was seen rolling a cooler into a freezer carrying a roll of carpet from his van and handling a bottle of bleach Travis was spotted in an office wearing yellow gloves and he disabled the camera system on April 6 investigators examined data from Travis's cell phone and discovered that it was not anywhere near Carrie Humphrey's home on April 1 between 3 and 8 am on April 26th the police spoke to Kerry again she told them the same story they told Kerry that they knew she was lying she changed her story and said that Travis asked her to lie and say that he was at her home she never asked him why he made this request but Travis offered an explanation he said that he was sleeping in his van and it would look bad for him not to have an alibi when a woman went missing in the area later he said that he was on a marijuana run during the time when the victim disappeared the police were fairly confident that Travis was the killer they arrested him on May 4 in Austin Texas on suspicion of auto theft he was interviewed again and continued to deny any involvement in Kenya's death Travis was released after the victim in the auto theft case refused to press charges this turned out to be a catastrophic mistake on July 5 2011 Travis viciously attacked a woman named Lydia Tillman and set her apartment on fire she survived but was severely injured she spent five weeks in a medically induced coma investigators found DNA on the victim and sent it to a lab to be analyzed as they were waiting for the results they were getting pretty nervous about what Travis was up to on July 10 they stopped Travis as he was walking on a street and asked him questions he told the police his name was Travis Kennedy one could argue that Kennedy is probably not the best choice for an alias when suspected of killing a young woman but this is what Travis selected the police let Travis go but then saw him following an intoxicated woman through a poorly lit neighborhood they were concerned he was going to attack someone else if they didn't just before Travis was about to make bail the DNA recovered in the Lydia Tillman case was matched to Travis Travis was given an upgrade in his charges to attempted murder and arson the police once again questioned him about the murder of Kenya monhei he told them that he would confess if he was given a deal he did not want to face the death penalty Travis was granted His Wish he told the police that on April 1 he picked up Kenya drove her to a park and strangled her he showed the police where he buried Kenya's body under a cottonwood tree in Weld County about 40 miles away from Denver on September 26 2011 Travis Forbes pleaded guilty to first-degree murder almost a month later he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole now moving to my analysis here are my thoughts on a few areas that stood out to me in this case item number one Travis Forbes was always looking for his next victim he knew that he was a suspect in Kenya's murder yet he attacked another woman and he was seen following yet a third potential victim when he was arrested five days later Travis appeared to have an obsession which no number of compulsions could satisfy no matter how many times he offended he always wanted more item number two Travis could have escaped responsibility for murdering Kenya he carefully cleaned his van destroyed other evidence and disposed of Kenya's body in a place where the police would have probably never found it they had searched extensively without success Travis had managed to Target a victim who was alone intoxicated and not carrying a cell phone Kenya was in an extremely vulnerable position the key mistake that Travis made was sending the text message to Kenya's phone a after he killed her it's almost like his anxiety pushed him into making a bad decision he didn't know if anyone had seen him with Kenya or if surveillance cameras had captured them together if he became a suspect he knew the police could track his movements by looking at his cell phone data Travis decided to be proactive and introduce himself into the investigation he wanted to find out how much the police knew about his connection to Kenya if Travis had simply done nothing he probably never would have been arrested for the murder if the police didn't know who he was they could not have examined his cell phone data when Travis placed himself with Kenya right before she went missing he created a series of problems for himself including with his alibi this brings me to item number three Travis convinced his girlfriend Carrie Humphrey to lie for him by supplying him an alibi she did not know what Travis had been doing but she still thought it was a good idea to lie to the police to protect him Kerry pleaded guilty to attempt to influence a public servant false reporting to authorities and perjury in the second degree she was sentenced to 60 days in jail two thousand hours of community service and she must seek mental health counseling Kerry talked to the media about her relationship with Travis she said that they met through mutual friends Travis came very highly recommended by all of them there was an instant attraction Travis had a tendency to draw people into conversations he could find a way to relate to what you've been through Kerry said that she felt understood let her guard down and trusted him Travis was generous and displayed random acts of kindness for example one time when they were walking down the street in the snow they passed an older woman who appeared to be down on her luck Travis took off his scarf and gave it to her Carrie thought to herself wow this guy seems like a very good guy item number four Carrie wasn't the only one who was manipulated by Travis He gave several interviews to the media he would cry and demonstrate dramatic facial expressions consistent with sadness and regret many people were convinced that he was being genuine the police spoke to several women that he dated who found him charming and harmless some of the women he dated however had a different opinion they said that he transformed into a different person during sexual role-playing the look on his face indicated he enjoyed inflicting pain there is this sense that his sadism would take over like he could not resist giving in to his desires item number five the owner of the bakery where Travis worked talked about her interactions with Travis he told her several lies the owner confronted Travis and he admitted that he lied he said I need to have people think highly of me have a high estimation of me all my problems have stemmed from my wanting people to be proud of me the owner also said that Travis had a violent temper for example he once sent her a text message containing obscenities because one of his employees did not bake muffins properly Travis's Mighty meltdown to miserably mishandled muffin making was not the only manifestation of his mounting and Monumental Mayhem one time he went into a half hour rage and punched his van after one of the coolers was stolen he was probably thinking oh great what am I going to do with the bodies now moving to the last item number six what personality characteristics may have been at work in the case of Travis Forbes this is just a theory my opinion Travis appeared to have several characteristics consistent with psychopathy narcissism and sadism from Factor one psychopathy Travis was grandiose a pathological liar manipulative and possessed superficial charm from factor to psychopathy he was sensation seeking impulsive irresponsible and demonstrated criminal versatility as far as narcissism Travis was selfish and had a sense of entitlement his sadistic characteristics are evident with his sexual behavior he wanted to inflict pain he was probably on his way to being a sexual domination serial killer what made Travis particularly dangerous was his style of manipulation he was much more sophisticated than most aspiring serial killers when interacting with people he allowed them to talk Travis appeared to be empathic he was a good listener he used his cognitive empathy but did not have affective empathy so he could understand how people felt but he could not feel how other people felt this is like trying to understand the texture of an object without physically touching it he was trying to behave like someone who could feel what others feel without having those feelings himself another ailment that increased the danger potential with Travis was how his manipulation strategy did not involve putting people down or turning them against each other other people really believe that Travis was genuine and altruistic Travis had a level of neuroticism low enough to be cold in calculating but high enough to be impulsive anxious and angry it was almost like he was designed to be a killing machine he could win the trust of victims attack them and then be calm enough to destroy evidence the problem for Travis was his anxiety it was a double-edged sword the anxiety probably helped him to appear more genuine but it also led to self-incrimination those are my thoughts on the case of Kenya monhei and Travis Forbes please put any opinions and thoughts in the comments section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always I hope you found my analysis of this topic to be informative thanks for watching