Aeipathy

CHAPTER 14.

TW: typical case briefing, mentions of missing person, a stalker, significant injury, blood, gore and murder / death. Case based on 5x22.

Idaho. That's where the next case was based and just as you were scanning over one of the many case files compiled by JJ and Garcia, the stern voice of your unit chief grabs your attention, calling for the briefing to start. "What do we have on victimology so far?" he demands, voice stern and commanding.

"All the women were in their late twenties or early thirties, all but two were single and in committed relationships and they all lived in normal suburban homes" JJ starts, but is cut off by Reid.

"Actually the differences between the victims is actually more striking than the similarities; different hair colour, body shapes. Maybe this unsub doesn't have a preference for the appearances of his victims".

Nodding along in agreement, Morgan furthers the discussion. "The abduction sites are pristine; no DNA other than the victims, but that's to be expected and there's no sign whatsoever of a struggle or forced entry" he concludes, looking over to Rossi for him to continue.

Seeing Morgan's gesture, Rossi continues with a similar train of thought. "These victims aren't reported missing until two or three days after the abduction which doesn't make sense because

women like this don't just vanish without somebody noticing. Each of them had a huge online presence, they posted nearly everything about their lives in extreme detail."

"You make an excellent point and I will further it's excellence" Garcia pipes up from over the phone and much like usual, her chirpy voice causes you to smile as she further expands on Rossi's point. "Your killer found them online; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you name it and they had it, but most interestingly enough each of their last posts all said very similar things. What are those things you may ask? Well either that they would be out of town on a business trip, a family matter, a vacation, you get the idea, but here's the real squeeze. The time and date stamp show they were posted the morning after they went missing" she finishes in a flourish in a way that only Penelope Garcia could.

"So the unsub hacked in and posted them. Social networks are an easy way to target his victims, especially if these women were making posts about their lives in such detail. He's scouting out his victims online and then using that as a cover once he's taken them so clearly he's well acquainted with computers and technology in general". Prentiss voices, working with the information Garcia had just relayed to you all which in turn sparks a thought of your own.

"This profiles our unsub to be patient and organised. He's obsessive enough to remove all the forensic details and patient enough to wait two months before abductions because he knows the risk will pay off and it's the only way he can get his three days with his victims" you voice, looking around at the rest of the team who are all nodding along in agreement with your statement.

"The detective in charge, Detective Fordam said that everybody on the victims social media sites checks out, so we have no way of finding him through that" JJ informs you all, but it came as no surprise, with an unsub with such high levels of diligence it was only to be expected.

"Why do people post all of this stuff anyway? What's the appeal? I mean really 'Eating sushi, yumm' and 'Grr my boss is making me work late again'. Rossi exclaims and everybody apart from Hotch shares a small laugh.

"We've established how he finds his victims, but not how he gets into their homes. That needs to be our focus now" Hotch states, already driving you all back toward the case and away from anything other than the briefing.

Reid is the first to interject. "I think he must have a copy of their keys. Look at this, Doris Archer had surveillance cameras in place, but the code was entered during the early hours of the morning and he found a way to deal with her German Shepard, it went missing the day before she disappeared" he concludes, looking up at you all with raised eyebrows.