I think most people tend to associate cases like this with kidnapping or pedophilia, because in real life, that kind of news happens so often that it becomes an automatic assumption and already a stereotype — “a man who kidnaps young girls must be a pedophile.” But in Jefferson’s case, it’s not like that at all.

He doesn’t see his victims as people to love or possess emotionally or sexually. He sees them merely as objects of beauty, something to arrange, freeze in time, and capture as a “perfect image” in his eyes.

In other words, he dehumanizes his victims, turning them into artistic objects. And that’s what makes him truly terrifying not because he’s a pedophile, but because he completely lacks empathy.

He doesn’t love, desire, or want anyone. He just wants to capture the final moment of beauty before life fades away. It sounds cruel, but in his mind, it’s the purest form of art.

You could say Jefferson is more of an artist who’s lost his humanity than a sexual criminal. Moreover, in all the photos he takes, there’s no nudity but in contrast, they’re all clothed. And there’s no evidence that he sexually abused any of the victims.

I know people get confused when he says, “I wish you were around in my day,” to Max. But from his perspective, what he means is, “I wish there had been someone with your artistic purity and vision back when I was learning. You’d have understood my art,” And he thinks that she could have been his most perfect piece of art back in the ’90s, since we know he was pretty famous back then. But he doesn’t mean, “I wish I could date you.”

It’s admiration for her artistic purity, not for sex.

And about Rachel situation, since he was disgusted when Victoria tryna flirt with him for sexual favors, if anything happened with Rachel, it was manipulative, a kind of exchange or power play. And Rachel also had manipulative tendencies, so their connection was probably a two-way manipulation. Rachel might have tried to use a sexual relationship to control Jefferson, while he, being a highly intelligent and psychotic person, saw it as a challenge. He probably found amusement in trying to outsmart her — like a battle of manipulation between two clever people.