Desiderium: longing for something that has been lost

chapter 6

an idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all. -- oscar wilde

O.o.O.o.O.O.o

Las Vegas Police Department

February 16, 2008

8:30 a.m.

O.o.O.o.O.O.o

"Our Unsub has two layers to him." Hotch was starting the profile briefing. The attentive police officers watched him and his team and he prayed that the words he was giving them would help bring the bastard down. "One layer is developed in the family murders twenty years ago. He was a justice-based killer. He believed the lower-income families deserved to be put to rest, rather than continue on and struggle in an uncertain lifestyle. The second layer comes with the recent murders. He has changed from a justice-oriented murderer to mission-oriented. That being said, he may start to devolve, families are not his concern any more. Finishing his mission is. We may see an increase in bodies, but not they may not be necessarily family-oriented."

Rossi picked up on the trail. "Given his interest in low-economic backgrounds, the Unsub came from a low-income family himself. He has a job that is low-income. A janitor, a cafeteria worker at the local elementary school, where the kids were going to. He is also between the age of 40 to 50. He would have been 20 to 30 at the outbreak of the murders. Our Unsub also has a record, something that kept him occupied for twenty years. Try looking into staff at the local schools that went away for something that involved a minor." 

Morgan pushed himself off the table. "We believe the reason he brutalized the parents so aggressively was because of some sort of child abuse in his past, he could be taking out his aggression on the parents as a extra retribution of sorts. He makes the parents suffer, but he gives the children a relatively quick death. This man is an organized killer, he brings his supplies with him, rope, zip ties and cleans up the evidence. All he leaves behind is the bloodbath. That means he's intelligent, he's lasted a long time without slipping up. He knows how to work the system.  He's been in and out of the system enough times to know how to slip through it. There's a good chance he was interviewed initially when this first started." 

Prentiss was next. "As we've said, our Unsub has devolved into a mission-based killer. He has carved the number 17 into the chests of his new victims. The 17th victim had survived, a fact he is trying to remedy. In his mind, he can't rest until he finds the last victim and finishes the job he started. Once he has started to fully devolve, the likelihood that he will mess up, or leave more forensic evidence becomes higher. He has developed a fantasy in which the families he's killed are finally safe from their environment and the one piece missing from his perfect fantasy is the surviving victim." 

Hotch looked down at his team and re-focused his attention at the police officers. "Remember it is very likely, that he could be caught in a delusion. This makes him extremely dangerous. Do not approach him without backup." He paused for a moment hoping his words had sunk in. "Thank you." 

As the officers left the room, Garcia gave a wave to him across the room. Her usual bright appearance seemed muted today, Hotch noticed. He picked his way over to her. 

"Anything on our survivor?" 

She nodded. "Spencer Reid, born October 9th 1981 to Diana and William Reid. As we already know, Diana was a paranoid schizophrenic and William was an attorney. Now here's where Spencer's life gets more interesting." She pulled up a record on her laptop and spun it around to face Hotch. 

He bent down to look at the screen. "At the time of the murders, he was starting middle school?" 

"I know. Turns out he's got a brain and a half. Parents never got him tested though, so we don't have a quantitative number for that IQ of his." She pressed a few more keys. "Now after the murder of his poor parents, it gets a little harder to track down boy genius, but never fear, because there has never been anyone that Penelope Garcia has not yet traced down."