My specialty focuses almost entirely on abuse dynamics, which includes family at times, but it would be outside of my scope right now to pontificate too much. We (the public) really don’t have any meaty documentation of them to analyze - no interviews, no social media statements to pick through, nothing. Brian was easy to analyze because we had an hour long traffic stop with visual and audio + insight from Gabby’s friend Rose + lots of subtle indicators in his own social media. The parents are a lot less accessible. I have my own theories there, but I regretfully can’t provide a whole lot more insight than anyone else on their behavior because we don’t have really ANY context or deeper information about them. I’m personally in line with what most people are assuming - they’re covering their own butts as well as their son’s - but they’ve been so elusive I wouldn’t feel comfortable or confident saying anything is true beyond the shadow of doubt as I do with Brian. As a social scientist, I’m definitely intrigued, for lack of a better term, to see what eventually rolls out about them.

The best I can offer without stepping outside of my own scope and lane is that people with all the flagship markers of abuser like Brian generally learn the nuances of that behavior in their own home. It’s very likely his parents are also involved in a DV relationship. There may even be some element here where his mom might want to say more but his dad won’t let her. That’s speculation on my part but wouldn’t surprise me if it were true. I’d be almost shocked if that weren’t the case, honestly. At the same time - a LOT of abusive men are inappropriately close to their mothers (emphasis on the inappropriate bit - meaning, they have “enmeshed” style relationships with their parent instead of healthy, emotionally functional ones) - I do see signs of that in this situation- and often those relationships are formed because the mother IS experiencing abuse and instead of distancing herself from it (for any number of valid reasons), she will channel her emotional energy into an unhealthy relationship dynamic with her son - often coddling them and viewing them as different than the abusive partner and trying to attach themselves (this is all subconscious) to caring for their child beyond what would be appropriate or healthy in adulthood as a way to grow/maintain some type of mutually loving bond (because her primary romantic relationship is lacking that).

If you’re interested in that, there’s a lot of information available about enmeshed family relationships. I don’t wanna gab your ear off lol