Rivers' behavior has been very unpredictable
for a very long time.
Be driving down the road, he'll grab my steering wheel
and yank it, and get on his back
and try to kick the windshield out.
Rivers has broken my four year old's toy guitar
because he said it was a piece of crap.
Rivers throws temper tantrums.
When he was like 14 years old,
he actually got in his closet
and kicked around like a toddler.
Rivers has major impulse control problems.
Angie and Hunter say their son Rivers
controls the household with his unruly behavior,
but for some reason, he's polite to his aunt Cindy.
Now, she says his anger is always directed
at the same people.
Take a look.
Rivers has his parents living in fear.
Angie and Hunter let him rule the house.
He is definitely king.
Rivers doesn't go to school with zero consequences.
He wants friends over, they come over.
He wants something purchased, it's purchased.
His life is perfect.
(guitar music)
Angie and Hunter are desperate for proof
that Rivers still loves them.
They buy him what he wants.
They're trying to earn his affection.
Rivers knows how to manipulate them.
If I were Rivers' mother, there is no way this would happen.
He would not have the computer, the phone,
the musical equipment.
If there'd been discipline from the beginning,
they wouldn't be in the situation that they're in now.
They don't stick to their consequences.
I have five children of my own,
and I've never seen a child act like this.
Rivers is very much a chameleon.
He is sweet to me.
I ask him to do something, and he'll do it.
His anger and aggression is reserved for his parents.
I know that he's hurt my sister,
and I know that he's hurt his father.
As bad as things are now, things could get a lot worse.
It's terrifying.
I don't know what level he'll go to next.
I'm afraid that he could kill them.
Okay, Cindy, I'm glad you wrote in.
I'm glad you're here, and I'm glad to meet you.
Thank you.
Why write in now instead of a year ago,
or wait a year longer?
It had elevated, I felt like.
If he gets to 16, and he's given a car,
then all bets are off.
You're exactly right, by the way,
and let me say this.
You're teaching him how to treat you.
People do what works, and we teach them how to treat us.
So if they do A, and they get a reward,
then they're going to repeat A.
If they do B, and they don't get a reward,
then they're not going to repeat B.
You repeat those behaviors that you get a payoff for, right?
Yes sir, you're right.
I mean, I agree with that.
We're all so scared of him now
that we feel like nothing would work,
because we're too afraid of him.
The situations-
But you're rewarding bad behavior.
But I feel like, you know, no consequences
and all of that, I feel like we've also
kind of protected our family from how terrible
it really was.
You two are child abusers.
One of the definitions of abuse
is failing to protect children from abuse and danger.
You have two younger children in the home
that are subjected to this young man.
You are failing to protect them by allowing him
to be the way he is in that home.
That, by definition, is abuse.
He's actually violating those children,
particularly the 12 year old, correct?
Yes.
He's not as violent as he used to be,
but yes, he has attacked them in the past.
He's abusing those children.
You're allowing that to happen.
You can't do that.
He's never touched the four year old-
You cannot do that.
That has to stop today.
He loves his four year old, yeah.
I'm sure he loves his mother, too,
but he calls her bitch,
and you cannot subject him to that.
So we can agree that he's out of control.
Yes.
Can we also agree with this.
It is situation-specific.