Yahoo News: Body language experts reveal Borce Ristevski lied about killing wife
If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you might remember I wrote: What the Media Missed in the Karen Ristevski Case: The Single Nonverbal Cue that Points Towards the Truth. This was around the time Karen Ristevski had gone missing, back in 2016.
A few months ago, Yahoo News asked me to analyse footage of Borce Ristevski who had just been sentenced for killing Karen. It turned out to be the same footage I’d already analysed.
Yahoo News and the Daily Mail published my analysis alongside Allan Pease’s review. You can read it here, Body language experts reveal subtle details that showed Borce Ristevski lied about killing his wife, or keep reading to discover my key findings.
Borce Ristevski Body Language experts reveal subtle details that showed he lied about killing his wife. Borce Ristevski is currently serving a nine years sentence for killing his wife.
Eyelid Flutter
The eyelid flutter mentioned in my previous article is the most significant behaviour. It’s a dead giveaway, due to the significance of the words spoken at the same time. Nonverbal responses are accurate indicators of emotion as they happen within the moment of the stimulus.
An eyelid flutter indicates a high emotional or cognitive load as if the brain is maxing out. It’s always a significant behaviour, but put Borce Ristevski’s eyelid flutter into context, alongside the statement it relates to—Patricia’s statement—and it becomes a jaw-dropping moment.
Borce Ristevski’s Eyelid Flutter within Context
“Patrice, do you know anyone who might have wanted to harm Karen?”
“No I don’t. There is absolutely nobody. And if that was the case, we would have already know something about that...”
Distancing Behaviour
Distancing behaviours are innate reactive responses, driven by emotion. They stem from our limbic brain, which is designed to keep us safe and ensure our survival. They include stepping back, leaning back, turning away, looking away and at the most extreme–walking or running away. Put anyone in an awkward situation and you’ll observe a distancing behaviour.
While there is no real threat to Borce's survival at that point in the interview, there is certainly a perceived threat since he is being accused of killing his wife. Our bodies respond to perceived threats in the same way they have responded to threats for many thousands of years. The threats may have changed over time, but the body's response hasn't.
Borce Ristevski’s Distancing Behaviour within Context
Borce turns away on cue…
“Boris, did you kill Karen”
Immediately after Borce turns away, there's also an eyelid flutter. Moments later, he walks away, a more blatant distancing behaviour.
We can't assume distancing behaviours are deception indicators, but they are accurate indicators of emotional state. Borce doesn't like what he just heard, reacting automatically and within the moment. It's the timing and the significance of the words spoken which raises the red flag–especially when asked, "Did you kill Karen".
Facial Expressions of Emotion
Expression of Anger and the Absence of Sadness
At the same point in the clip, we see Borce express the emotion of anger, seen in tension in the muscles around the eyes and a furrowed brow. There’s also a complete absence of the expression of sadness—one expression we’d expect to see. Conversely, Sarah Ristevski (Borce’s daughter), expresses genuine sadness very noticeably. We see this in the inner corners of her eyebrows pulled inwards and upwards, and her eyes and brow drooped downwards at the outer corners.
