Posting because this is driving me up the wall

Now, we all know about the prosecutions accusation that the brothers plagiarised their stories from "when a child kills" by Paul Mones, the parricide expert who worked with the defence. According to Dominick Dunne, Aunt Terry told him that both of the brothers had read this book in jail. I take much of what he says with a pinch of salt, and that alone means nothing to me. (Look, I've read many books on eating disorders and addiction, I could relate to something on every page- that doesn't mean I made anything up!)

I guess what is confusing me is the fact that some of what the brothers, mostly Erik relayed seems to be almost paraphrased from it. For example, knees, rough sex, vaseline, sharp objects, confusion over ones sexuality due to the SA no longer hurting, feeling awkward talking to girls and about sex with friends, objects being used to SA, massages. I will admit that Dr Burgesses drawings with Erik also made me a tad suspicious, because they seemed to mirror exactly what one would expect of a CSA victim- but it's like occams razor- perhaps they fit 'too perfectly' because they are genuine!

BUT...there is corroboration for much of this stuff. An article from 1990 mentioning Jose giving Erik a massage after matches, the vaseline being photographed in the house (to play devil's advocate, it could've been used in innocent ways), Dr Vicarys notes indicating Erik having had experimented sexually, and his ex-gf saying that they never could have full sex, and the phone call made to Kirsten Smith. plus I find the back story for Jose's use of sharp objects and Erik's self-harm using them very plausible. And escalation very often does occur in abuse situations as the victim gets older and bigger.

. Plus, much of this stuff is VERY common for victims. And even more to the point, for me, the naked photos and the fact that there are other victims, not to mention letters and essays and a slew of symptoms show that something absolutely must've happened to them.

It's like I come to a conclusion, then wait! But I'm more inclined to believe overall that Erik really did identify with a lot of those things because he himself had experienced them, yet he ended up wording those things in a similar way to the book, leading to that suspicion, if that makes sense.

Another thing I can't ignore is the Oziel tape, which seems to covertly narrate the situation that led to Jose and Kitty's deaths. And the fact that Lyle works with other CSA victims in prison is really just a confirmation to me that they are indeed, victims.

It's the one little irritating thing for me that casts any doubt whatsoever into my mind. I'm curious what y'all think!