Criminal Minds Series Rewrite: Season Three

Tabula Rasa: Part One

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves. We must die to one life before we can enter another." - Anatole France

High school was such a weird era in most of the teams' lives. For Spencer, he was twelve, Pen looked too happy, JJ was the pretty popular jock, Derek wasn't half as muscular as he is now, you were too awkward, and Emily was growing into her goth phase.

Never have you been so excited to look at high school pictures than you are at this moment.

Penelope hacked the records from everyone's high school, with their permission, of course. Emily is sitting at her desk, listening to you, Spencer, and Penelope tease at the gothic look she sported in the 80s.

"It's remarkable. Something like this makes you question everything you thought you knew," Spencer says dramatically.

"Wait, there was a time when this was socially acceptable?" you giggle and snatch the picture away from Spencer.

"Oh, you two are young," Penelope says in a longing voice. "The eighties left a lot of people confused. This is especially sad, though."

"Alright, very funny," Emily rolls her eyes and snatches the picture from you. "What did you do to it? You obviously altered it in photoshop or something."

"Oh, no, pussycat. That's all you. Garfield High, class of '89," Penelope smirks.

"You really didn't change anything?" she mutters.

"Are you saying you don't remember looking like that?" you ask and lean back in your chair.

"Perhaps your lack of recognition stems from a dissociative fugue suffered in adolescence, say, at a Siouxsie and the Banshees concert?" Spencer grins.

Hotch comes out of his office with a distressed look on his face. He was on the phone the entire time, and you're worried about what he might have been talking about.

"What's going on?" you ask.

"Brian Matloff."

"Who is that?" you ask and look at Spencer since he remembers everyone.

"The Blue Ridge Strangler. There were three victims in the Blue Ridge Parkway four years ago. Allegedly, he killed them but he slipped into a coma before he could be tried."

"Looks like they're finally gonna get their chance. He just woke up. I'm going to the hospital."

Hotch hopes that this guy can remember what he did because four years is a long time to break from a case. You weren't part of this team four years ago, so you're not familiar with any of the details like some of your other coworkers.

You and Emily are the only ones in the dark about this.

However, when Hotch got to the hospital, he didn't receive good news. Brian Matloff may have woken up from a four-year-long coma, but he doesn't remember a thing. The doctor says he has focal retrograde amnesia. It's hard to recover your memories from that kind of amnesia, but you have no doubt that your team will try to get him to remember.

From what you read, Brian had a type: brunette, young, and physically fit women. All the victims were jogging alone in the early morning when he grabbed them... allegedly. The only key witness to place Brian at the scene of the crime is Marvin Leopold, but he died two years ago.

Marvin was able to place Brian at the park with Darci Corbett, the third victim. The warrant the police got and the indictment were made largely because of the witness. Everything else is circumstantial, so without a witness, then Brian could walk free.