Young couple goes on van tour of US, boy comes back with van - no girl

Sorry but you're injecting a bit much IMHO. Out of the endless possibilities you chose one which makes him a monster and easy to hate. Truth is things are never that cut and dry.

I don't need to make him less than human. TBH I've seen otherwise we'll adjusted folks fall into chaos because life is unexpected at times.

He is a monster, it takes a good 3 to 5 minutes to strangle someone to death by your hands. Tons of experts, people with medical backgrounds have been interviewed over this case about how long it takes to strangle someone to death and its a long time, its not like the movies. There is ample time to come to your senses and stop choking them, where as he kept going for multiple minutes until she was dead. Also, it was stated by Gabby's stepfather on Dr.phil that where they found the body, there was evidence that a camp had taken place. There was a noticeable spot on the ground where you could tell a fire was and there was tent holes in the ground.

That is a brutal and personal way to kill someone via manual strangulation/throttling with having ample time to stop himself over the minutes of choking the life out of her. If you're choking someone for minutes until they're dead, that is killing with intent, not accidental, etc.