Ryan D — Kalmor Institute

Case study: Ryan Daigler.

Introduction.

Ryan Daigler has a social media following based on claims he is the sad, abused victim of 2 psychopath parents who tried to kill him, and a psychopath brother who terrorised him.

Ryan Daigler has forged an intense and public campaign of misinformation about Dr Mitchell on social media and in private communications based on a concern she was going to ‘expose him’ as being fraudulent. Dark personalities HATE exposure and will destroy those who ‘see through them’ using dangerous and underhanded methods. Exposure though is the only way to decrease harm.
Dr Mitchell, concerned at the viciousness, relentlesness and misrepresentative nature of Daigler’s attacks, employed a retired senior FBI agent and profiler, the current CEO of a US-based executive security consultancy, to do an extensive investigation into Daigler, his background and his family members, on behalf of the Kalmor Institute.
The results were shocking.
Dr Mitchell, on advice, took a hiatus of 2 months away from social media in an attempt to divert Daigler’s pathological focus away from her. Daigler’s attacks and approaches from others on DAigler’s behalf based on Daigler’s campaign, escalated, however.
The same former senior FBI agent and profiler who performed the in-depth investigation into Daigler provided written advice:
‘I completely appreciate your desire to expose Daigler in an effort to protect others. That is admirable and I respect it. However, I think you ought to give careful consideration to not doing that…..He is obviously a sick individual and might be getting worse living in isolation.’
At a later date, as Daigler continued with his public campaign of abuse, and Dr Mitchell sought protection, the former senior FBI agent and profiler wrote:
“I would point out to anyone I contacted on your behalf that they have to be careful because Daigler is a violent psychopath….’

Dr Mitchell has made the decision to proceed with publishing this case study for 5 reasons:

To prevent harm to others.
It is unlikely Daigler will desist. It is important to put a stake in the ground where an individual engages in stalking (fixated threat) with the intensity and dishonesty that Daigler is. Publication of circumstances is important so as others understand context and so as to reduce risk. This posting is a form of protection.
To ‘right the record’ of misinformation Daigler has spewed out.
To educate about the red flags for dark personalities.
To show those who have not been targeted by a dark personality how a public persona can be so different to the ‘reality’ in a dark personality.

The former senior FBI agent and profiler whose company performed the in-depth investigation into Daigler has asked the report is not included here due to the danger Daigler presents (they live in the same state). Anyone wishing to do the research will find the same information.

Background on Dark Personalities in Advocacy, Charities, and Support Roles.

A substantial proportion (estimated over 50%) of high profile ‘victims’, ‘experts’ and ‘advocates’ in the coercive control, narcissism, psychopathy and domestic violence space are dark personalities.
Human predators hijack these platforms and professions because:

it gives them instant fame without needing qualifications (although many have qualifications);
they can manipulate the narrative and mislead people about their kind so they are harder to ‘see’ and hold to account;
they see ‘victims’ and those who genuinely protect them as a market niche. There is alot of money to be made from victims;
it gives them smug satisfaction to know they are ‘duping’ or fooling people;
they can build a following which might lead them to other opportunities;
they love the power and control it gives them;
it is a subject they know a lot about so they can ‘suck people in’ more readily; and
they may have a lot of time and energy they can commit.

Sadly, those who have been harmed by dark personalities are usually hungry for their experiences to be understood. They tend to flock to those who seem to know what they are talking about and trust others who purport to be victims who they believe to be ‘on their side’.

Dark personalities play the victim convincingly because they ARE experts on their own kind.

It is crucial to study the PROOF in terms of behavioural patterns. It is easy to be wooed by a convincing persona and an emotive appeal because one WANTS to believe.

It is important to warn others of a dangerous person. When EVIDENCE, including patterns of behaviour, clearly reveals someone is a dark personality, we need to speak out. Dark personalities ‘speak out’ but they do this to elicit broad support for themselves and against their victims. They often use OPINION as evidence from those they have groomed to support them or from DARK PERSONALITIES who are invested in destroying anyone who ‘sees’ them.

Dark personalities gather data on their targets so they can compromise and harm their targets. This is NOT OK. Victims of dark personalities gather data after they have been attacked by dark personalities to try and make sense of the situation and also to monitor for danger. This IS OK. We need to get to the place where people collect data when they see some red flags and before they are hurt.

It is easy to get manipulated by people claiming experiences that resonate. Loads of dangerous people are taking advantage of good people for their own ends and put enormous time into saying what victims need to hear to ‘feel gotten’ in the interests of power, control, exploitation, money.

All dark personalities have something positive to offer. The more they learn, the more proficient they become at their profession or platform too. They are all dangerous regardless.

If you support a dark personality when you know they are a dark personality; you are complicit in harm they cause.

Ryan Daigler – The Convincing but False Facade

Daigler claims on multiple social media platforms that he is the sad, abused victim of 2 psychopath parents who tried to kill him, and a psychopath brother who terrorised him. (He also refers to his family members as malignant narcissists, narc/sociopaths, covert narc/sociopaths, NPD, ASPD and other terms.)
Daigler posts multiple times daily on social media platforms and appears to treat his social media presence as somewhat of a calling. He is a self-appointed saviour of victims of narcissists with a profile that reads: ‘Helping Others Identify And Escape Narcissistic Abuse’ and ‘Exposing Narcissistic Abuse 🚩🚩’.
On X alone @Ryan_Daigler has posted around 55,000 times since account commencement (Jan 2020), a relentless 25 posts per day average, every day for 6 years. Daigler has other public accounts on X too, as well as public accounts on BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and Quora and other postings in public spaces.
When Daigler first started his negative public campaign about his family in 2020, he posted about how tough it is to be the alleged (scapegoat) child of 2 psychopaths, slamming his mother, his father and his brother in multiple posts. He bitterly recounts many experiences of alleged abuse.
Daigler speaks of how difficult it is to be the only one in the family who is ‘caring’, ‘an empath’, ‘healthy’, ‘compassionate’ as he claims he is. He says things like ‘imagine being the one normal person (compassionate, honest, loving) in a family with three psychopaths’ and ‘I was never the bad guy, I was the only honest, decent human being in that household.’
There is limited information in the academic and public domain about the impact of being raised by a dark personality parent, an upbringing which can be extraordinarily harmful, confusing and distressing. Many who follow Daigler and who have unfortunately suffered this experience, see Daigler as somewhat of a hero.
Around Feb 2025 Daigler suddenly changed the direction of his public posting from being singularly about his own alleged experiences as a scapegoat child of allegedly psychopath parents, to positioning himself as an expert on all things narcissist and psychopath. His style of writing became substantially more sophisticated; he started using terminology and concepts that were evidently borrowed from others to more effectively position himself as an expert and he began making overtures about writing books and increasing his appeal to others to support him in creating a Netflix series or similar.
In essence, there is nothing wrong with any of this. If that were indeed the truth. It is not.

Ryan Daigler– The Reality

Daigler was imprisoned (WASCO state prison) for trying to kill his father (through stabbing) and separately for assault.
Ryan Daigler’s father successfully applied for and was granted several restraining orders against his son, one for a period of five years, such was the court’s belief that Ryan Daigler presented a serious risk to his father’s life. Ryan Daigler’s father was not interested in harming Daigler - Ryan Daigler’s father was fearful of him.
Ryan Daigler has previously been convicted of and imprisoned for a range of felonies including (but not limited to):
Ryan Daigler was arrested by the Californian police for a trespassing charge on the 18th April 2012. Daigler posted bail and was released but then failed to appear in court. Ryan Daigler’s bail was finally forfeited as recently as December 2nd, 2024.
Daigler moved away from California to an out-of-the-way place in the deep south, not to distance himself from his family as he constantly claims in social media posts, but to evade police.
Daigler claims to have had a nervous breakdown because of his parents’ abuse and says or implies he was put in a mental institution by his parents, likening himself to Britney Spears. Daigler was court ordered to be in a state mental health institution as part of his ongoing interface with the prison system.
Daigler’s parents and brother have no criminal record.
Ryan Daigler tries to claim his actions are ‘reactive abuse’, that he was abused so much by his parents that he acted in the way he did. The evidence does not support this. Daigler is a very dangerous human being.

“Research shows dark personalities don’t change. They move, they reinvent themselves, they change jobs, they change focus, but they remain dangerous.”

Ryan Daigler – Persistent Predatory Personality or PPP (subsuming malignant narcissism, coercive control, psychopathy and dark triad) Attributes, Tactics and Red Flags

Below are a selection of dark personality red flags observable in Ryan Daigler’s behaviours based on the attributes and tactics of Dr Mitchell’s Persistent Predatory Personality model.

Dr Mitchell always stresses the requirement of identifying a number of red flags, a pattern of behaviours. One red flag alone is never enough to have concerns that someone is a dark personality but once you see a few red flags it is advisable to be defensive and start doing some research.

Research is key to be able to identify the two sides of the dark personality – the façade they project which is very convincing and their true self, which is deeply duplicitous, manipulative, harmful and exploitative. Then you have to be prepared to believe what you find and embrace it. To continue to give any dark personality support, even if you might not be harmed yourself, gives them a platform to hurt others.

Red Flag 1: Prolific Lying and Misleading

To dark personalities lying is like breathing. They create false narratives, they change small details in stories that completely change the meaning, they exaggerate, they misrepresent. It is difficult to accept the extent that dark personalities lie.

Here are just a few of the many inaccuracies and inconsistencies in Daigler’s posts.

Daigler initially says his parents are abusive. He later changes his story to a more extreme position of saying that they tried to kill him (‘Survivor of Attempted Filicide’). This is an insidious change with a completely different implication.

The truth is that Daigler has had a number of serious criminal charges including for stabbing his father and a separate charge of assaulting his father. His father was so scared of Daigler than he sought and was granted restraining orders against him.

Daigler says he went to a ‘state hospital’ because he was unfit to stand trial. ‘I went to jail again and from there was sent to the state hospital for being unfit to stand trial (I was asking to speak to someone from the CIA and talking about conspiracies. I was going through it). Daigler was admitted to a state psychiatric hospital by court order of a California court based on violent criminal behaviours.

Another area which Daigler makes conflicting claims about, of the many, relates to his mother. In one post here she is a full-time actor, in another she is a nurse at a hospital. How did Daigler know his mother was stealing antibiotics? The anomalies are plentiful.

Ryan Daigler lies and grossly misleads in posts about Dr Mitchell. For example:

‘The worst of them will go out and get a PhD from an online business school and use ChatGPT to write up their thesis to convince people to listen to them and then they use that PhD to smear campaign the people they target.’
‘She’s not subject to ethics, and I think that is why she got a PhD in philosophy.’
‘She got a degree in philosophy because it is the easiest for her to achieve and there is no ethical insight.’
‘She has a PhD in philosophy. Everything that she’s claiming is based on her opinion.’

Dr Mitchell has completed the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of people who actively violate social norms and harm and disadvantage others by conscious choice. Her PhD was a five-year, full-time exploration of all key existing research on dark personalities. She examined all key academic literature on psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, dark triad, dark tetrad, sadism, cults, child sex abuse in religion, black swan events in medicine, toxic leadership in business and politics, coercive control in intimate partner violence, terrorism, human trafficking and child prostitution and others. She used unique study approaches to gather data from expert populations never before canvassed for data to understand the gaps and issues of contention in the field. Her PPP model is a breakthrough step forward in identifying dark personalities or human predators.

A Doctor of Philosophy does not mean that someone studied philosophy. It is merely the name of the qualification.

Dr Mitchell’s PhD was from a ‘top 50’ university (Swinburne).

It is impossible to do the kind of research Dr Mitchell did using AI.

Ethics accreditation is required for all PhD’s and Dr Mitchell’s certificate of ethics is included in the appendices of her PhD, a link to which is included in the media section of this website.

Dr Mitchell’s first degree is in applied science, her second degree is in business, her master’s degree is in commerce, and her PhD was from a university department of business, law, and entrepreneurship. There are many types of PhD’s and they usually relate to the previous qualification as Dr Mitchell’s does. This is quite normal.

Daigler says Dr Mitchell started stalking him six months ago in one post and he said she started stalking him two years ago in another which he posted within days of each other. Notwithstanding, she has never stalked him, nor has Daigler provided evidence of this. Stalking is a common claim that dark personalities make against people who expose them.

Red Flag 2: Reverse Attribution or Projection (Also referred to as DARVO)

Reverse attribution or projection is a favourite tactic of dark personalities and is extraordinarily difficult for their targets to endure and move on from. The human predator accuses their victim of the nefarious and harmful deeds they themselves have committed while posing as the victim of the behaviours they have inflicted on that victim. As the true victim legitimately insists on and fights for their innocence, onlookers remain confused. This tactic creates a smokescreen, leaving others uncertain about what is happening, so the dark personality is not held to account. At worst, onlookers perceive the predator as the innocent party, while the true victim is tarnished as cruel or ‘bad’. At best, onlookers eventually grow bored with the prolonged battle, which seems to involve two warring parties, each with opposing perspectives, while the victim is forever labelled as ‘the one who was part of that feud’. Either way, the dark personality avoids culpability, leaving the victim’s reputation shattered and their world torn apart as the false accusations are usually very damaging.

One example of Daigler using reverse attribution is his claim that his parents tried to kill him when in reality, Daigler was imprisoned for stabbing his father and separately for assaulting his father causing serious harm.

A second example of reverse attribution is Daigler’s accusations about his father’s driving: ‘He used to drive drunk all the time, probably still does. I was once afraid that he was going to kill the both of us driving crazy angry fast through a mountain side’. He has posted several posts in the same vein.

The facts are that Daigler is the one that has been charged in Ventura County, California with Driving Without a License in violation of California Vehicle Code Section 12500, driving on a Suspended or Revoked License in violation of California Vehicle Code Section 14601.2, speeding in violation of California Vehicle Code Section 22350. Daigler’s father only has several minor traffic infringements.

A third example of reverse attribution is Daigler’s claims Dr Mitchell stalked and ‘love-bombed’ him, versus the reality which is the opposite.

One of Daigler’s (many) posts accusing Dr Mitchell of stalking and love-bombing.

Evidence that Daigler was the one doing the love-bombing. His stalking behaviours are exhibited further on.

This post below (posted 4th Nov 25) is a fourth example of Daigler reversely attributing his own behaviours to Dr Mitchell.

Daigler is clearly referring to Dr Mitchell (‘vicious covert narcissist’) as his social media feed has relentlessly referenced Dr Mitchell in this manner for months.

Dr Mitchell has been actively travelling, peer-review publishing, recording podcasts for others in different countries, presenting at conferences in other parts of the world, starting her second book and engaged in other activities. She has not been on social media for several of the last few months (I know because I manage the social media platforms).

When Daigler rapidly posted a series of inaccurate and powerfully undermining posts about Dr Mitchell in April, she reached out to others for support for a couple of weeks as the misrepresentation was so substantial and so sudden and so acutely harmful. That was in April. It is now November.

Evidence clearly indicates Daigler is the one driving a coordinated attack (see Red Flag 4).

(We monitor Daigler because he is dangerous and poses a threat to Dr Mitchell.)

Red Flag 3: Seething Resentment Rather than Pain or Anger

Dark personalities often exhibit understated ferocity in response to circumstances or people trying to expose them, as well as towards those they falsely claim have abused them. There is a subtle sense of menace in the way a dark personality communicates regarding them. True victims of dark personalities may feel angry, distressed, deeply saddened, frustrated, but dark personalities have a different timbre. Dark personalities ‘subtly seethe’.

Some of Daigler’s posts reflect more of ‘a chip on his shoulder’, a ‘seething resentment’, unlike the heartbreak, distress or anger of a true victim of dark personality. Some of the language is not what a true victim would use either.

Red flag 4: Unrelenting Attention to Personal Purpose.

Dark personalities have a relentlessness regarding fulfilling their goal that is pathologically uncompromising. I refer to this as ‘unrelenting attention to personal purpose’. They just keep going and going and going, long after most of us mere mortals would move on or cave in. It is far more than just high energy levels or drivenness. There is a precision focus, an intensity, a cannonball nature to it. I’ve spent decades working with executives and have encountered many dark personalities who have huge jobs. I’m stunned by the amount of time even very senior dark personalities invest in destroying just one person who might try to expose them, whether in their personal or professional life.

Daigler’s posts about Dr Mitchell have an ‘unrelenting attention to personal purpose’ vibe about them:

‘Karen Mitchell is a horrible abusive narcissist.’
‘She achieved that PhD as a weapon and a tool of manipulation.’
‘She’s a stalker.’
‘She’s abusive.’
‘She’s not subject to the of ethics and I think that is why she got a PhD in philosophy.’
‘This is the pattern of the covert narcissist. They are social predators. The worst of them will go out and get a PhD.’
‘I don’t want to defend myself from wild psychopaths like Karen but here we are still dealing with these goddamn narcissists.’
‘She’s a fraud and a quack.’
‘They never change. They never grow up. I know one who got a PhD and only pursued a PhD for the manipulation prowess that it gives her.’
‘She attacks and retraumatizes actual victims of narcissistic abuse.’
‘She is a horrible monster of a person.’
‘Encounters like hers don’t happen that often. She is one of the worst I have ever encountered.’
‘The worst of them will go out and get a PhD from an online business school and use ChatGPT to write up their thesis to convince people to listen to them and then they use that PhD to smear campaign the people they target.’ [My PhD was from a top 50 university and took 5 years full-time to complete. I never used AI]
‘She got a degree in philosophy because it is the easiest for her to achieve and there is no ethical insight.’
‘I don’t have the energy to pursue legal action just yet. She’s a stalker. And she’s abusive. I haven’t even taken my abusive parents to court and they belong in prison.’
‘I just want to raise awareness, I don’t want to have to defend myself around psychopaths like Karen.’
‘I don’t know why she has this obsession with me but she reminds me of my covert narcissist mother.’
‘She’s a scary one. She has a PhD in philosophy which she used the title of to manipulate people and she’s one of the more aggressively motivated covert narcissists.’
‘Yes! Exactly has happened to me in just that way. By a very covert narcissist with a PhD (in philosophy) ugh. A very nasty one.’
‘She pretends to have the same abuse trauma that real victims have to get them to trust her and then she gets as much personal information from them then she shames them publicly or attacks them or discredits them.’
‘She’s a horrible abusive narcissist.’
‘She’s horribly abusive and manipulative.’
‘She made it clear she was blatantly attacking me for no reason.’
‘Some of the worst narcissists chase PhDs and advanced degrees not out of passion for knowledge but for power. A title gives them instant credibility, authority and the ability to control how others are perceived.’
‘So when someone has a PhD in philosophy but uses it to speak authoritatively about psychology, or mental health or narcissistic abuse, it can be misleading at best and manipulative at worst – especially if they are: weaponising the title to shut down descent – “I’m a doctor, I know better”; projecting or twisting psychological concepts (like narcissistic abuse) to control the narrative; drawing attention away from their own behaviors by pathologising others…’
‘People like this do not get a PhD because they want to learn something and help the community, they get it because they want the manipulative power of that degree’.
‘Just imagine trying to expose a covertly abusive narcissist with a PhD or any kind of degree, it’s your word against theirs. MANY people see a PhD and blindly trust it.’
‘She’s a scary person. She’s extremely manipulative and dishonest. She doesn’t have a degree in psychology or psychiatry. She’s using her philosophy doctorate to manipulate people into listening to her and she’s making enemies in the psychiatric community in Australia smear campaigning people who she disagrees with. She’s considered a fraud by many professionals and a narcissist.’
‘…Karen is a covert narcissist. She got a degree in philosophy as there is no ethical oversight with a degree in philosophy as there is in the psychiatric community with a degree in psychiatry which she does not have. She is manipulative and she has abused survivors of abuse to gain people’s trust. She has issues. Please be careful. She is manipulative and abusive. She has me fooled for a while. I actually stuck with her when everybody else tried to tell me she was a narcissist and it took me a couple months to realise that I was being warned accurately about her.’
‘This post I made from April 2024, a year prior to this pattern we’re seeing here from Karen perfectly explains and predicts what she’s doing….Sociopathic narcissists thrive on attention. Particularly that of being a victim or a hero….’
‘When a malignant narcissist has a PhD – especially in psychology – it makes their behaviour far more sinister. They fully understand the emotional and psychological impact of their actions, yet they choose to inflict harm anyway…. Their education arms them with precise tools. This is one of the most dangerous types of narcissists – because they’re not just abusive they’re strategic and calculating about it. They hurt people on purpose, and with expertise.’
‘A narcissist has to be ‘right’ even when they’re wrong. Some will go as far as to earn a PhD just so their opining can be ‘right’ even when they’re wrong. It’s that important to them. The damage these people do to society in general is immeasurable.’
‘When a malignant narcissist pursues a PhD a malignant narcissist doesn’t seek higher education for altruistic reasons. When they pursue a PhD without strict ethical oversight, such as philosophy or certain areas of the humanities – they’re not doing it to contribute to human knowledge or to help others They’re doing it to acquire a tool. For them a PhD is not a mark of dedication or scholarship, it is a weapon.’
‘Possibly the most dangerous and covertly abusive type of person in the world is the covert narcissist with a PhD. They don’t just hide behind a mask – they weaponise it. Armed with superficial authority, psychological insight and the appearance of credibility, they infiltrate trust-based spaces like mental health, education and trauma recovery.’
‘A covert narcissist with a PhD who positions themselves as a thought leader on narcissism and psychopathy doesn’t just attract victims – they attract other narcissists, especially covert ones….this large following of covert narcissists become flying monkeys for the lead narcissist further reinforcing the façade and manipulative/abusive capabilities of the lead narcissist.’
‘They don’t earn their PhD to serve others. They earn their PhD to serve ego. The title gives them automatic trust, authority, and admiration – exactly what a narcissist craves.’
‘….I know one who has a PhD and only pursued a PhD for the manipulation prowess that it gives her.
‘She’s a scary one. She has a PhD in philosophy which she used the title of to manipulate people and she’s one of the more aggressively motivated covert narcissists.’
‘She’s one of the narcissistic types who feels an incredible motivation to control public perception in a dangerous way.’
‘Psychopaths can and do get PhD’s. It is important to look deeper than that.’
‘She is a manipulator and a covert abuser. I’m sorry I can’t stay silent about her…She is dishonest and abusive. A true covert narcissist. She is a fraud.’
‘….She is horrible.’
‘She didn’t identify that there are different brain structures, the scientific community has known this for years. She’s trying to take credit for things that have already been discovered….’

These are only a few of Daigler’s posts about Dr Mitchell. The ‘unrelenting attention to personal purpose’, the intensity, the ‘seething hatred’, is unmistakable. Even the most confident of people would feel somewhat decimated with this level of attack. That is the intention.

Red flag 5: Mobbing, ‘Flying Monkeys’, Grooming.

Dark personalities groom people all around them to see them as ‘genuine’. Grooming is a crucial means by which they can get away with destroying their targets mentally, emotionally, physically, sexually, reputationally, socially, financially and by which they can engage in unhindered exploitation. Dark personalities leverage relationships with those they have groomed to support them to help destroy their targets and maintain their façade of goodness.

Examples of comments Daigler’s supporters have made in relation to Dr Mitchell, and which are a direct result of Daigler’s grooming behaviours include:

• ‘Nah fuck that. Air the bitch out and enjoy every goddamn minute of it. Get as much of her shit out in the light with a big fucking smile on your face with receipts and dare the bitch to say something. Rince the bitch out.’

• What a sick bitch! I’m so glad you eventually sussed her.’

• ‘Bye Karen. You’re the dangerous one.’

• ‘I believe you….This confirmation that she is a fraud is important….’

• ‘Yep. They are a special kind of disgusting trash.’

• ‘It is great you speak up and expose her. Time to stand up and not let her silence you….we need to stand up to these people.’

• ‘We should have every right to call out persons who intentionally bully and harass. It escalates to assaults when no one cares.’

• ‘Woah you think the number one expert on narcissism in the world might be a narcissist? What clued you in? In all sincerity, I am deeply sorry you are going through this, it is hell.’

There is clearly an edge to these comments not based on evidence but based in each case on a comment from Daigler.

Red flag 6: Minimises, Denies, Blames, Justifies.

Dark personalities vigorously challenge accusations. They deny engaging in any actions or behaviours that are inappropriate or harmful to others. They blame, they trivialise, they make light of, they present a myriad of excuses, but they never take responsibility.

When you stand back and look at their rationalisations and justifications, they are often ‘off’, they don’t really have substance.

Dark personalities are masters at using emotive language that draws others in, so people don’t see the detail for what it is – lies. There are only rare circumstances in which a dark personality may take responsibility for any negative actions, even in the presence of evidence. Dark personalities will effectively dismiss or make light of the most dangerous or hurtful behaviours, implying that there is something wrong with anyone who might suggest that they could do anything remotely harmful.

Daigler’s account of stabbing his father does seem somewhat far-fetched when you consider the prison sentence. Note the use of emotive but completely false language (I felt raped) in the first sentence too when he has not been raped but it elicits emotive images.

‘I remember feeling so angry at him for all the things he did to me, like I felt raped. He had just bought me a large knife from an army surplus store for Xmas and I was waiving it around yelling at him, I had no intention of hurting him. He lunged towards me and reached out to grab the blade of the knife. It was weird bc he barely touched the knife, then he ran into the kitchen and a minute later said he was bleeding. I was very surprised at what had happened. Also, I should note, the knife that he bought me was an ornamental knife. The blade was blunted, not sharpened. I was so in shock that he said he was cut, it didn’t make any sense to me. But I was going through a nervous breakdown at the time, and I was too traumatized to stick up for myself or say anything.’

Could this story be true? Yes. Is it likely to be true? No. Based on Daigler’s background of being imprisoned several times, his range of criminal charges and the other red flags for dark personality (the observable patterns of behaviour), it is not likely to be true. The biggest giveaway here regarding a dark personality is that a true victim would generally OWN that they did something against the law and explain the context.

Daigler also attributes blame for stabbing his father to the circumstances.

‘I shouldn’t have been cooped up with my abuser like that but at the time I didn’t feel like I had a choice.’

Daigler also attributes blame for stabbing his father for something his father has not done.

‘Could you imagine living with the person that repeatedly raped you? Same feeling.’ Daigler’s father did not repeatedly rape him.

This quote below is a huge red flag for a dark personality.

‘Anyone who is abused enough becomes violent’. This is not true. Daigler asserts this as a truism, a fact which is subtly manipulative. Also, ‘I’m not a violent person by nature, no more than anybody else.’ The insidiousness of this comment.

Daigler discusses reactive abuse to explain his behaviors too. He says ‘Reactive Abuse is a manipulation tactic malignant narcissists use against their victims; abusing their victims until they respond negatively or even violently then using that reaction to make the victim look like the perpetrator.’ It is true that sometimes dark personalities are so controlling, manipulative and provocative that the target can lash out in pure despair and frustration. Daigler’s situation is not reactive abuse, however, because he makes other choices that have the potential to harm people, because of his many other behaviours that are without scruples and because of the patterns of behaviours.

Red flag 7: Cynicism (Sometimes Verging on Paranoia) and False ‘Smear Campaigns’.

Dark personalities are highly cynical and in some cases paranoid about the motives of others. Their own motivation is so profoundly dark that they deeply question the motives of others. Regardless of the evidence or how convincingly a ‘normal’ person might profess to being well intentioned, the human predator remains cynical and untrusting of others and acts accordingly.

This is how dark personalities can hit out at their targets with such ferocity and with a well-honed, destructive strategy already in place. They are planning the attack from early on.

When dark personalities strike, you can expect to be reeling from the sheer underhandedness, breadth of false claims and power of the attack. This is exactly what happened to Dr Mitchell. Daigler bided his time and hit with a preprepared full campaign of lies. He used highly emotive language and triggering terms which assisted in having inconsistencies overlooked and aided in having false claims repeated.

Daigler acknowledges exactly this and posts about it alot.

Within minutes of Dr Mitchell posting a concern about Daigler’s post, a comment that put people at risk, Daigler had his already prepared campaign ready to unleash, and wow did he unleash it. He:

littered social media with emotionally provocative, false accusations about Dr Mitchell;
accused Dr Mitchell of stalking him;
talked about Dr Mitchell of ‘starting our relationship’ implying some kind of romantic situation;
said Dr Mitchell ‘went through the full love-bombing phase’;
said ‘She would get personal and ask for pictures of my home’;
claimed Dr Mitchell was ‘making wild outrageous compliments that were making me feel uncomfortable’;
said he ‘got weird manipulative vibes’ in relation to Dr Mitchell; and
said Dr Mitchell abused him.

Daigler posted no evidence for any of his assertions

Daigler posted screen shots of 2 direct mails which are innocuous. As one person commented “None of this makes her look bad nor does it confirm your assertions” and another “We have seen evidence of a woman reaching out for support but nothing to support this man’s allegations.”

The extreme and emotive nature of Daigler’s false claims made it difficult for people to ignore and difficult for the victim to pull back from. Daigler knew this would be the case.

Red Flag 8: Extreme Boundary Crossing that Potentially Puts Others at Risk and is ‘Off’.

By far the most reprehensible thing Daigler did was to publish an image of Dr Mitchell’s under-age daughter as part of his campaign of attack.

Red flag 9: Cruelty, Lack of Empathy.

Esther Haddad tragically lost her beautiful daughter to suicide when her daughter was 26. Esther was distressed by Dr Mitchell’s under-age daughter’s photo being on display in a dangerous space that was about psychopaths and narcissists.

Esther asked Daigler to remove Dr Mitchell’s daughter’s photo many times in public posts.

Daigler said to Esther “The fact you are trying to orchestrate this is really gross and uncalled for and baseless and incredibly manipulative. I’m offended and nauseated by your implication here”. In the same paragraph, Daigler says: I have shown immense empathy and compassion to people who have children who have died by suicide.”

We often see ‘blips’ like this in an otherwise ‘smooth’ dark personality. Lack of true understanding of human emotions and sensitivity in engaging with them are the ‘blips’ which are so telling.

Even where a dark personality might have become quite skilled in ‘emotional expression’ their true nature may be exposed when they experience a ‘pathological anger response’ based on entitlement or exposure, as in this situation. Daigler’s posts are in fact littered with ‘blips’ that show entitled rage (rather than a deep pain response or anger). For example:

‘…you sick twisted sociopath. Get a life and get some help.’ 17th Oct 2025

‘I’m totally getting abusive vibes from you. Calling me sick? Who the fuck do you think you are? You don’t know anything about me but I am definitely getting abusive vibes out of YOU.’ 19th Oct 2022

‘This is bullshit…This quote is full of victim blaming and is toxic as fuck.’ 20th Oct 2022

‘If you’re going to do drugs, stay the fuck home.’ 26th Dec 2021

‘I never wanted to curse at and get in someone’s face more than I wanna curse at and get in JL’s face right now. She’s a clinical psychopath and belongs in an institution.’ 14th Jan 2022

Red flag 10: Manipulation, Plays the Victim.

Dark personalities have what I refer to as ‘manipulative intelligence’. They instinctively know how to maneuver their targets into taking actions they may not have wanted or freely chosen to take. They do this by using a complex and extensive array of tactics. They use their manipulative intelligence to create a particular outcome that serves their interests, regardless of whether it aligns with anyone else’s interests.

In this example, Daigler plays on people’s emotions, plays the victim. Evidence indicates he is in fact those things he says he is not. There are hundreds of examples like this.

Red flag 11: Attacks Expert Credentials

Rather than responding to grounded points, human predators find fault with any process designed to hold them accountable and any professional who attempts to expose their nefariousness. They may completely sidestep the points being made about them and launch exceptionally vehement attacks on those who are trying to hold them to account.

Often, human predators will make false and quite shocking claims about experts who present well-supported cases against them, shifting the focus of the accountability process from their harmful, exploitative, and illegal actions, or their nature as a human predator, to the legitimacy of the experienced and competent experts.

Dark personalities essentially take control of any attempts to hold them accountable, exploiting the emotions and motivations of observers to get themselves out of trouble. The absence of fear and shame enables dark personalities to concoct and convincingly deliver even the most far-fetched lies while in some instances commanding considerable gravitas.

Red flag 12: Left–right Facial Hemisphere Asymmetry

Dark personalities often have a particular type of left–right facial hemisphere asymmetry. Most people exhibit subtle forms of facial asymmetry, but this is specific. One side of the mouth raises slightly, while the other side remains unmoved. This difference in the mouth between both sides of the face may extend throughout the entire side, causing one side to rise slightly—with a raised mouth and wrinkled eyes—while the other side of the face appears ‘flat’, with a straight mouth and lifeless eye.

Dark personalities with left–right facial hemisphere are often aware of it. They might take steps to cover it, such as posing for photos with their face slightly turned to the side, pulling their hair across one side of their face, or using photos of their whole body, sometimes taken from a distance, making it more difficult to see the details of their face and identify the facial asymmetry.

Left–right facial hemisphere asymmetry can be subtle and may not always be apparent in every image of a dark personality; however, when it does appear, it is a red flag. When you recognise this feature, it becomes hard not to see it.

FBI profiler Joe Navarro, in his book ‘Dangerous Personalities: An FBI Profiler Shows You How to Identify and Protect Yourself from Harmful People’, discusses the concept of facial asymmetry in relation to dark personalities. For example, Navarro presents an image of Drew Peterson (see Figure X) who was arrested and later convicted for the disappearance of his ex-wife Kathleen Savio, his third wife. Navarro discusses an image of Peterson’s face as follows.

Figure X:

Navarro says: ‘When we cover up the left side of his face the right side displays what some people claim is contempt, a sneer, arrogance, or haughtiness. It may also be ‘narcissistic glee’—something I have seen many times from the pathologically narcissistic and psychopaths. When we cover the right side of his face, exposing the left side, we see something much different. Some describe it as a cold stare, a predatory look, or a look of hatred; I see reptilian indifference, the kind I have seen before from social predators that says, “You are nothing to me.” Others see suppressed anger.’

Left/right hemisphere asymmetry is very evident on Daigler. If you put your hand over one side of Daigler’s face as Joe Navarro suggests, and then over the other side, you see a smile on one side and a cold, hard almost menacing facial expression on the other. In the second photo Daigler has made the facial hemisphere asymmetry less noticeable by turning his head to the side.

It is important to keep in mind that some people have facial asymmetry which is not related to being a dark personality. This is just one (significant) red flag. It is where facial asymmetry is part of a pattern of behaviours that this phenomenon is important.

Red flag 13: See Themselves as Special, Entitled.

People sometimes comment that it must be sad for dark personalities not to experience love or other feelings. Dark personalities have brain differences, particularly of the pre-frontal cortex and amygdala and as a result they do not emote (other than pathological anger when their intentions are thwarted). Nothing could be further from the truth. Dark personalities believe they are superior to others because of their lack of emotions, including fear. There are several implications of this. One is that they may speak of themselves as spiritually special, a superhero or some kind of saviour.

While it could be interpreted as kind or caring, Daigler’s comment, “I hate to leave everyone in silence for 3 days’ assumes an irreplaceability, that he is pivotal to people’s worlds. This is a small issue but never-the-less it is part of a pattern.

What Motivates Daigler?

Daigler’s father and Dr Mitchell are unfortunately both the subject of what is referred to as ‘pathological envy’ or ‘narcissistic envy’. Daigler posts excessively about ‘envy’, ‘hatred’, ‘jealousy’, ‘killing’, ‘obsessing’.

Daigler speaks about himself, in relation to his own pathological envy in these posts:

‘I think its important to point out the driving motivation behind this desire to destroy a life like this and in these cases it is almost exclusively based on envy or jealousy. They feel this hatred and a desire to “kill” a person because that person is pathologically healthy.’

‘A very disturbing trait of narcissists, particularly those with strong envy and psychopathic tendencies, is their ability to mimic the people they envy/hate while simultaneously trying to destroy them.’

‘A goal of the smear campaign being to “erase your role as the model they are copying”’.

‘They are stalkers, they obsess over the people they envy’.

‘Malignant narcissists often envy the traits, talents or even social presence of someone else and rather than admiring or learning from that person in a healthy way, they mimic them in a predatory, parasitic fashion. Once they have copied enough - speach, style, ideas, behaviours - they try to erase the original source of their mimicry through smear campaigns, gas lighting, or social sabotage.’

‘What makes a psychopath truly frightening is how they handle anger, envy, or a perceived threat….Their goals is harm; deliberate, calculated, and often hidden. They want to inflict as much pain or destruction as they can without getting caught.’

‘It’s like a psychological version of identity theft combined with character assassination. They want to be you but they also want you to be gone so no one can compare them to the authentic version. Because deep down they know they are not the real deal - and that awareness breeds rage and resentment.’

Daigler says: ‘My plan in high school was to get a job as a PA, a production assistant, and ideally go to UCLA and take some film classes and then just start from the bottom on movie sets and work my way up and see what happens….’

Daigler’s father was a highly successful Producer for MGM studios, one of the world’s leading entertainment agencies. He has 37 credits as a Second Unit or Assistant Director, 13 credits as a Production Manager and 10 credits as a Producer on major film, TV movies (eg On Golden Pond), and a hit TV show that went from 1972 to 2003. This does not say anything about his nature or his behaviours but it does give us information.

It is likely Daigler held his father’s accomplishments in high esteem. In the case of a dark personality though this esteem may turn into blinding hatred, severe envy. Daigler’s life obsession has been eradicating his father, if not physically then reputationally on social media as well as becoming his father regarding TV and media work. Daigler’s acknowledged objective in creating a profile for himself in the narcissist/psychopath space is to make a Netflix series and other media programs (like his father) while he continues to try and eradicate his father.

Daigler is doing the same with Dr Mitchell as with his father.

In a recent interview Dr Mitchell said it was as though Daigler was trying to become her and destroy her at the same time.

Daigler posted about ‘scapegoat child’ issues and generally his own experiences for five years.

Around 8 months after Dr Mitchell hit social media with her PhD work and after her work received worldwide attention including substantial podcasting and documentary invitations (which is what Daigler covets), Daigler suddenly shifted tack. He started speaking as an expert on all things dark personality.

His style of writing changed dramatically to one similar to Dr Mitchell’s, more conversational and educational, speaking from a position of expertise as well as experience. His writing style was previously far less sophisticated.

He introduced terminology, concepts and words from Dr Mitchell’s extensive PhD research. He produced posts that were changed using AI, but clearly styled on Dr Mitchell’s posts and approaches to subject matter and to people.

He started responding to people differently, being more ‘noble’ in his responses. In previous years there are many examples of Daigler responding rudely to people in the public space. He would always block anyone who challenged him immediately too but he started making justifications for blocking people who ‘saw through him’ by saying things like ‘I block all narcissists immediately’ which now made it difficult to challenge him.

Daigler started following and commenting on posts from the three key profiles on social media that Dr Mitchell commented on.

He started writing a book as Dr Mitchell was.

Dr Mitchell talks about two types of people, predators and prey. Daigler published an essay on two types of people. So it goes on.

It is of course great that people emulate ideas, grow knowledge and Daigler’s posts are scattered with a range of other material. Plus, people learn and grow.

This situation with Daigler is vastly different though. It is the seething, deep and intense way that Daigler maligns and relentlessly undermines Dr Mitchell, the hatred that drips off every line of his posts about her, the extraordinary lengths he has gone to create false narrative in order to destroy her reputation IN ADDITION to the countless mimics of her work and style that represets pathological envy, ‘narcissistic envy’. This is precisely the behavioural pattern of a human predator or dark personality.

Daigler says ‘when they finally attack you openly, when they release their unbridled hatred for you, they have gaslighted everyone else into thinking there was probably cause for their attack.’ That is exactly what Daigler has done to Dr Mitchell, unleashed his unbridled hatred, confident he had gaslighted people into believing him.

Below are an assortment of Daigler’s posts related to pathological narcissistic envy.

The post below of Daigler’s is particularly telling. His comment in Point 3: “Destruction becomes a substitute for achievement” is often the mindset of dark personalities who are not as accomplished, but whose strong sense of entitlement and superiority drives them to believe they SHOULD have been recognized for their brilliance. The pathological envy and seething hatred they have for those who do excel is deeply routed and darkly dangerous.

On a personal note….

As a profiler and a professional who has worked with people on human behavioural issues internationally for decades, I am generally able to see red flags in human predators rapidly.

My humanity though does enter the picture at times. On less than a handful of occasions, I have overlooked red flags where the issue has been personal to me, or I have some kind of personal stake. This has come at a huge cost on each occasion.

Daigler is a case in hand. I am the scapegoat child of a highly sadistic, dark personality mother. I write about this extensively in my upcoming book. The dearth of information about the impact on children raised by a dark personality parent is staggering and yet the harm dark personality parents cause is phenomenally high. Daigler was the first person I saw writing about this concept. I was grateful and valued his work. We interacted collegiately for two years.

The red flags I ignored included: high level cynicism or paranoia, a deep ‘seething’ hatred rather than anger or hurt re supposed abusers, aggressive blocking of others in their early interactions with him, feedback from professionals I trusted that Daigler was a dark personality and comments that reflected pathological envy of his supposed abusers.

Daigler, as dark personalities do so well, studied me. He learned my vulnerabilities, my work, my ideas, my approach. He posted several posts that were not accurate and put victims at risk. I struggle to ignore misleading information that might hurt people. I spoke up, respectfully. Daigler knew I would and had a campaign of misrepresentation about me ready to roll. He expertly and rapidly spun it out onto social media. I went off social media for two months, on advice, as the danger of Daigler’s personality, was now evident. I enjoy my rapport with people on social media and was saddened to be advised to take this action.

I do want to acknowledge how difficult it will be for some people to embrace this information about Daigler. For those of us who have genuinely been abused by a dark personality, being deceived yet again is a hard blow to take. Supporting a dark personality though does give dark personalities a platform to harm and they will always harm. They are wired to. My model is titled Persistent Predatory Personality because they persist in their ways. Studies show they are not able to be cured or rehabilitated. If they are forced to move on, they just repackage themselves.