All Of The Wrong Reasons

Chapter Two: Another Victim

"So what are we looking at here?" Hotch asked as soon as the team was settled on the jet.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Prentiss spoke up. "The UNSUB is all over the place; victims of different ages, races, genders, and socioeconomic classes. They were grabbed from different locations. Dumped in different locations. The only consistency is the cause of death."

"What's the first thing we look at when working a case?" Hotch asked.

Spencer looked up from the case file and answered, "Victimology: why this victim, why this day, why this crime."

"But, like Prentiss said, the UNSUB is all over the place with his victims," Morgan stated.

"What's the second thing we look at?"

"Methodology: how the UNSUB kills, what's his signature, and what does that say about him."

"So what does his method say about him?"

"He guts them like animals and then discards them like trash. A lot of anger, but very little respect for the victims."

"Perhaps he actually sees them as animals or trash or just anything less than human."

"He sees them as less than human and thus they don't deserve to live?"

"Or reproduce. There's no signs of sexual assault other than the removal and sealing of obvious erogenous zones."

"Maybe he's impotent. This could be his way of expressing his displeasure at his own impotency."

"So we have an impotent UNSUB, who views his victims as less than human, seemingly targeting at random?"

"What about the time between killings? After killing Sparx, he waited three weeks before killings Miles, and then over a month before going after Rodriguez. What was he doing in the meantime?"

"Maybe he was hunting? Maybe he was trying to find victims that suited his taste."

"But what are his tastes? We have victims spanning the ages of ten to twenty-two, both genders, Caucasian, African American, and of Hispanic decent, one from lower middle-class background, one just straight middle-class, and another upper middle-class. There's no particular type."

"Maybe the victims each represent someone different in his life. The Cottonwood Grove Killer, Jeffery Daniels, was severely abused both physically and sexually as a child. More than once, he reached out for help but was ignored. When he started killing, he chose victims that resembled those who hadn't helped him as a child, but each victim reminded him of how they were when they denied him help instead of how they are now. His first victim was a twelve year old girl that reminded him of his childhood friend who had called him a liar when he admitted his abuse to her. His second victim was man who he thought resembled the pastor who hadn't asked questions when he'd come to church with bruises. His third victim was a sixteen year old boy that he associated with the older brother that had run away from home and left him behind."

"That's a valid point, but it seems unlikely. Let's not count out other connections just yet."

Spencer frowned. He'd been intently studying the crime scene photos and the case file during the discussion and something wasn't adding up. "Uh... guys," he said realizing what it was that was off, "I wouldn't exactly say he discards them like trash. Sparx 's body was found in a lightly wooded area within two days of her disappearance. She was right off a well-traveled hiking path. The UNSUB had taken the time to cover her body with a sheet after laying her down carefully. Miles was found the day after he disappeared, in an alley behind some commercial buildings not far from the door where one of the buildings received its weekly supply deliveries, on the day said delivery was to arrive. Once more, he'd taken the time to cover the victim after laying him down. Rodriguez's body was found the same night he disappeared, on the side of a well-traveled road, again covered in a sheet after being dumped."