Text messages reveal killer's mindset in Charlie Kirk assassination case

Prosecutors on Tuesday released the text messages between Tyler Robinson and his live-in partner, Lance Twiggs, as part of the investigation into the Sept. 10 killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem. Robinson has been charged with premeditated murder in Kirk's death, which occurred as thousands gathered to hear him speak on the campus.

Dr. Lillian Glass, a renowned communications and body-language expert, dissected the line-by-line exchanges and told the Daily Mail that Robinson's messages reveal more than a casual confession. Glass said the texts show a person who was not simply remorseful but deeply focused on his father’s possible reaction and on the belief that he could get away with the act. She described Robinson as displaying a remorseless mindset with what she called serious daddy issues, noting that his biggest fear appeared to be his father’s wrath.

Glass told the Daily Mail that Robinson "revealed himself" in messages that also suggested a controlling dynamic in his relationship with Twiggs. She observed that the accused individual appeared to direct Twiggs to delete their messages, to stay quiet, and to obtain legal counsel, painting a portrait of someone who sought to manage the fallout and shield himself from accountability. While Robinson occasionally used terms of endearment such as "my love" toward Twiggs, Glass emphasized that this phrasing did not redeem the conduct or the context, given that the words were spoken after a fatal act.

The text exchange begins with an instruction to Twiggs to check under a keyboard, leading to a note prosecutors say contained a confession: "I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I'm going to take it." Twiggs reportedly replied, "What??????????????" as the conversation unfolded. Robinson allegedly said he was "still ok my love, but am stuck in orem for a little while longer yet. Shouldn't be long until I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still." He also purportedly warned that if he could retrieve the rifle unseen, he would have left no evidence.

As the dialogue continued, Robinson addressed the practicalities of his plan. He reportedly wrote that his return home would hinge on whether he could secure the rifle and how to explain its loss to his father. He mentioned a high-end rifle with a $2,000 scope and imagined carrying out a retrieval that would avoid drawing attention from investigators. The messages also show him discussing his emotions, or lack thereof, in the wake of the shooting and contemplating the potential media coverage, including the possibility that a report on Fox News might reference engraved bullets with anti-fascist and pro-trans ideologies.

The communications also reveal a character study of a young man fixated on his father’s potential reaction. Robinson’s messages frequently return to the fear of his father turning him in, and to a sense that he needed to manage his father’s perceptions as much as the police inquiry. Glass noted that the father’s politics figure prominently in the exchanges, with Robinson mentioning that since his father aligned with MAGA after Trump’s rise to office, the father had become a hardline supporter. In one line, Robinson even suggested he would prefer to surrender to a neighbor who was a sheriff’s deputy, underscoring the fear and the perceived options for accountability.

Glass, who has testified in numerous criminal cases, argued that the texts show a controlling trait in Robinson’s communications with Twiggs. She said the dynamic depicted in the messages points to the controlling figure being Robinson, who sought to direct Twiggs and shape the response to the crime. Glass also stressed that the tone and content of the messages do not indicate remorse; rather, they show preoccupation with consequences for himself, particularly the fate of the grandfather’s rifle and how to explain its disappearance.

"We are seeing there's a lot of control and that the controlling figure in the relationship is Robinson, who's telling him what to do," Glass said. "He also shows a controlling nature in the way he takes charge of the situation, realizing his father would probably turn him in and saying he's going to turn himself in. In essence, it's an appeasing act to his father, whom he fears. His messages are not laden with a lot of hate. They're laden with a lot of fear toward his father." Glass also rejected speculation that the text exchange could have been contrived to mislead investigators. "It's too detailed to be contrived," she said, and she noted that the messages certainly do not help Robinson's defense.

The crime occurred during a campus event at Utah Valley University in Orem, where Kirk was shot in the neck and bled out in front of thousands of spectators. The shooting stunned attendees and sparked a broader debate about safety at political events hosted by prominent figures and organizations.

During a virtual appearance Tuesday, Robinson appeared dazed as he sat in the Utah County Jail in Spanish Fork, Utah, as prosecutors filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. The case has drawn national attention because of Kirk’s high-profile role as founder of Turning Point USA and the larger national discourse around political rhetoric, campus security, and the risks facing public speakers on college campuses. While the probe continues, the court filings and the newly released texts offer prosecutors a narrative of premeditation and an unsettling portrait of a defendant who, according to Glass, positioned himself at the center of a dangerous mindset and a fraught family dynamic.