deep end, cm [ 1 ]

063. tabula rasa

"It's remarkable. Something like this makes you question everything you thought you knew." Spencer says, holding the photo. Penelope is sitting on his desk and Jessica is leaning against the back of his chair.

"Freaky." Jessica mutters.

"Yeah. It's like the Monolith in 2001." Penelope says.

"So there was actually a time when something like this was socially acceptable?" Spencer asks.

"That's gotta be frowned upon or something." Jessica says.

"Oh... you're both young. The '80s left a lot of people confused." Penelope says. "This is, uh, especially sad, though."

"All right, very funny, you guys. Very funny." Emily remarks as the three laugh. Emily takes her yearbook photo from Penelope. "What'd you do to it?"

"Do?" Penelope asks.

"Well, you obviously altered it in photoshop or something. That hair?" Emily questions.

"Oh, no, pussycat. That's all you." Penelope states and Jessica quietly laughs. "Garfield High, class of '89."

"You really didn't change anything?" Emily asks, now looking at the photo with regret and sadness instead of annoyance.

"I hacked it, as is. You're seriously trying to tell me you don't remember rocking that look?" Penelope asks. Emily shakes her head.

"It's so bad she blocked it out. Oof." Jessica winces.

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

"It's so weird. It's like some other life." Emily says. She looks up when she notices Hotch and puts the picture face down. "What was that about?"

"Brian Matloff." Hotch states.

"Who?" Penelope asks.

"Uh, AKA the Blue Ridge Strangler." Spencer says.

"Oh, right. That was, like, four years ago." Penelope says.

"Three victims in the Blue Ridge parkway." Emily recalls.

"Allegedly, he was never convicted. He slipped into a coma before he could be tried." Spencer says.

"Looks like they're finally gonna get their chance. He just woke up." Hotch informs.

+++

"After the raid on Matloff's apartment, we discovered he had another area of interest. Native American mythology." Derek says. "We realized our profile wasn't complete."

"There's a Native American belief that says burying a body facedown traps the soul and prevents it from haunting the killer." Spencer says.

"That's why he buried them like this?" Jessica asks.

"That was the theory." Spencer says.

"Three women in shallow graves. I don't see any progression. There's no learning curve." Emily says.

"Do you think there could've been more, earlier victims when he was honing his skills?" JJ asks.

"We considered it a possibility. It turned out Matloff worked in Blue Ridge Parkway for the forest service." Derek says. "He had free reign over the entire park."

"It says here he was raised Polish Catholic. Any idea what led him to identify with Native American culture?" JJ asks.

"We didn't get that far." Derek says.