Top 20 Criminal Minds Unsubs with the Most Tragic Backstories

[00:00:00]Janine Bergen, Natalie Gallow, [music] Randy Slate.

[00:00:06]>> Welcome to Miz Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the unknown subjects on Criminal Minds who have the saddest [music] origins. Since some of these backstories reveal key plot points, a spoiler warning is now in effect for the first 18 seasons of Criminal Minds, including Criminal Minds: Evolution.

[00:00:22]>> If your mother and I both love you, don't you ever forget that.

[00:00:28]Number 20, Norman Hill. When the BAU travels to California to stop an unsub known as the Road Warrior, they discover that he is a seemingly ordinary man named Norman Hill. 6 months prior, his youngest daughter Jenny was hit by a car while he was changing a tire on the side of the road. He blames himself for her death and thinks his wife and two older daughters also hold him responsible.

[00:00:49]>> Move on.

[00:00:50]>> I don't know how you could how you could you could keep looking at those same walls, same pictures. Norman, what are you talking about?

[00:00:59]>> It's my job to make everything right again.

[00:01:02]>> A psychotic break sends Norman on a killing spree, shooting women who resembled his wife on the highway. But all the hostile interactions that we saw with his family were not real. When he's finally caught, he has the heart-wrenching realization that he already murdered them.

[00:01:17]>> It was your fault.

[00:01:21]>> You let my baby girl die.

[00:01:23]>> Number 19, Rodney Harris. In season two, we learned about Derek Morgan's traumatic childhood, having suffered years of abuse from local community center leader and football coach Carl Buford.

[00:01:34]>> And you have everything to do with making me who I am.

[00:01:39]Because of you, I'm somebody who gets to spend the rest of his life making sure guys like you go down.

[00:01:44]>> Later in season 8, the team heads back to Chicago to solve a string of murders.

[00:01:48]They find that their unsub is Rodney Harris, another of Buford's victims. He first killed the swim coach who abused his son Tyler, but the three others were innocent men whom he thought had harmed young boys. Morgan is able to talk him down before he takes another life, revealing to Rodney that he's not alone.

[00:02:04]>> I'm in these streets.

[00:02:06]>> Hell, I'm already dead.

[00:02:08]>> No. No. That's what Carl Buford always wanted you to believe. Don't you see that? That's how he controlled you.

[00:02:13]>> By the end of the episode, Buford's real crimes are exposed and he's killed in prison. But the pain he caused so many remains. It can make you fight back and it can make you want to spend the rest of your life protecting others.

[00:02:32]>> Number 18, Luke Dolan. After sustaining a head injury in a car accident, former US Navy Seal Luke Dolan goes on a killing spree, beginning with his commanding officer and an office full of employees. The team theorizes he has PTSD.

[00:02:46]>> Luke Dolan is a Navy veteran we believe is suffering from PTSD. a recent trauma may have triggered this. [music] He's experiencing pathological disassociation and he may believe he's in a combat situation.

[00:02:58]>> They saw a similar case with Roy Woodridge, a former US Army soldier traumatized by a mission in Somalia.

[00:03:04]>> You shouldn't be out here. It isn't safe.

[00:03:12]Isn't safe. When Luke Dolan murders his parents, Reed suggests he may have Capgrass syndrome, a condition causing him to view his family and friends as imposters. Both veterans were haunted by situations where they were forced to dispatch adolescence. And sadly, their illnesses caused them to take more lives. Daddy go.

[00:03:37]>> Number 17, Sarah Jean Mason. In one of the saddest episodes of the series, the team interviews two inmates on death row. Serial killer Jacob Daws and his guilt-ridden wife Sarah Gene Mason.

[00:03:48]While she wasn't involved in any of the murders, she admitted to killing their young son, Riley, as Jacob ordered her to do.

[00:03:55]>> I think you're innocent.

[00:03:58]>> We're all guilty of something, but it's it's our children that suffer for our sins, isn't it? However, as Gideon comes to discover, Sarah Gene lied. Riley is alive and living with the loving family she chose to take care of him. Gideon desperately tries to stop her execution, not wanting her to die for a crime she didn't commit. Yet, Sarah Jeene wants Riley to be free of his birth parents legacy, making the ultimate sacrifice to keep him safe. You have the chance to save my son's life.

[00:04:31]>> I choose to save yours, too.

[00:04:34]My life ended the day I met Jacob.

[00:04:37]>> Number 16, Lucas Turner. In this two-part season 4 finale, a series of disappearances in Detroit, Michigan, leads the team to a pig farm in rural Canada, where they find evidence of over 80 victims. Resident Mason Turner, who is confined to a bed, immediately blames his younger brother, Lucas, who has autism.

[00:04:54]>> Anything to suggest a violent nature?

[00:04:56]>> Nothing in the drawings. They do suggest someone's been watching him. He's very childlike. I think that when we find him, he's going to be scared and probably confused.

[00:05:06]>> Mason is the true unsub. He tasked Lucas with abducting transients to bring back to the farm where they undergo twisted experiments. When [music] they find Lucas, he's unarmed and surrendering.

[00:05:16]>> I pushed him. [laughter] I pushed him.

[00:05:22]>> I I pushed him on the bar. It was me. I did it.

[00:05:26]>> However, the police still shoot him as soon as he moves. The BAU has seen a few people with disabilities who are manipulated into being accompllices or in some cases accidentally harm others due to their size, like Joe in season 3's Damaged.

[00:05:40]>> Daddy.

[00:05:42]>> Let's go. Let's go.

[00:05:44]>> Get out.

[00:05:48]Help me. Daddy, >> don't fight.

[00:05:51]>> STAY DOWN. I NEED YOUR HELP.

[00:05:55]Stay down. Don't move. Don't you hurt him. He won't fight you. Number 15, Sarah Danlin. When Tulain University medical student Sarah Danlin was out with her friends during Mardigra, she met a guy in a New Orleans bar. There, he and one of his friends assaulted her.

[00:06:08]Despite Sarah wanting to press charges, no witnesses came forward, and the asalants avoided any kind of punishment.

[00:06:14]Only one detective ever believed her, but he couldn't make things right.

[00:06:18]>> By now, I have rid the world of one more. So many men, so little time. I hope you don't mind the mess. They make it so easy. I just can't help myself.

[00:06:28]Yours truly.

[00:06:30]>> Sarah soon dropped out of school and years later, she began emulating Jack the Ripper's MMO, killing men out partying in the French Quarter. While developing the profile, the team theorized that the Unsub was also likely abused long before the attack. After years of being violated and seeing no justice, it's not surprising that she eventually snapped.

[00:06:49]>> Now you're questioning whether or not you're strong enough to be here.

[00:06:53]>> Yeah.

[00:06:54]>> Number 14. Sheila Harrison is one of the most sympathetic unsubs in Criminal Minds history. After her mother died, she became the guardian of her younger sister, Lauren Anne. One night, Sheila let her attend a frat party, and the next day, she found her unconscious in front of their house. Lauren Anne had been assaulted and forced to drink an excessive amount to cloud her memory.

[00:07:15][music] I'm so sorry I failed you. A year later, Sheila abducts and tortures the friend who brought and then left her at the party, two of the guys who assaulted her and the men who helped cover it up.

[00:07:29]While murder is obviously never the answer, this is a very rare case where the audience actually rooted for the unsub.

[00:07:35]>> I'm so sorry.

[00:07:38]>> You're sorry? Well, I am too. And here we are.

[00:07:42]Sorry doesn't change a damn thing.

[00:07:44]>> Number 13, Adam Jackson. After his mother died when he was young, Adam Jackson suffered years of abuse by his stepfather. To cope, he developed dissociative identity disorder, and his alternate personality, Amanda, would endure the cruelty.

[00:07:59]>> What if our unsub couple isn't a couple at all?

[00:08:02]>> Dissociative identity disorder.

[00:08:04]>> You think Adam is a multiple personality?

[00:08:06]>> Now an adult, Adam works as a maintenance man at a hotel on South Padre Island that draws in a lot of spring breakers. When he finds a corpse in one of the rooms, the BAU is called in to investigate. What Adam doesn't know is that Amanda had been killing men whom she believed were like the violent stepfather. By the end of the episode, Amanda has taken full control, vowing to keep Adam safe forever.

[00:08:29]>> So, you're trying to wear me down and release [music] him?

[00:08:33]>> No. I'm just waiting for you to do the right thing.

[00:08:40]Well, I'm afraid you'll be waiting for a very long time.

[00:08:43]>> Number [clears throat] 12, the Gold Star Killers. In season 17, the BAU discovers that research conducted by Rossi and Gideon inspired a secret program that turned at risk youth into serial killers. Cult leader Frank Church brainwashed them to believe that the government was behind Steuart House, the facility where they were severely physically and mentally abused for years.

[00:09:02]>> What they did to you, you had it so much worse than any of us.

[00:09:13]Sometimes I think I see his face, but I know it's a lie because the face I see is Mr. Church.

[00:09:23]>> To cover his tracks, Church sent the Gold Stars, Damen Booth, Aiden Keller, Pete Bailey, Dana How, and Jade Waters to kill former staff members. Pete and Jade are the only two to survive, eventually realizing Church lied to them and saving the rest of his victims. It's heartbreaking to think that if they weren't tortured and groomed into being killers, they could have had a chance at a regular life.

[00:09:44]>> It was a lie.

[00:09:50]All of it.

[00:09:55]Yes.

[00:09:56]>> Number 11, Darlene Beckett. before she became one half of a vigilante duo.

[00:10:00]Darlene Beckett's daughter, Kelly, was assaulted and went missing. Darlene later joined an online support group and connected with Ellen Russell, a woman whose nephew died in a car accident caused by a driver under the influence.

[00:10:12]And together, [music] they planned to kill the people who took their loved ones and destroyed their lives.

[00:10:16]>> I can't do this again.

[00:10:18]>> Yes. [music] Yes, Darlene, you can.

[00:10:22]>> I don't know, >> Darlene. If we don't do this, who else will?

[00:10:27]>> Their last victim is Jason Nelson, Kelly's killer. He puts Darlene through even more pain by detailing Kelly's attack and subsequent death, driving her to kill him. In the end, Ellen was apprehended, but Darlene managed to escape.

[00:10:40]>> Where's Darlene?

[00:10:43]>> She's long gone.

[00:10:46]>> Personally, I have mixed feelings about that one, but we'll get her, too. Number 10, William Taylor. Fresh off a double shift, salvage yard owner William Taylor picked up his 5-year-old daughter Tatiana after a dance recital and drove home.

[00:11:14]>> Because he was so sleepdeprived from working long hours, he pulled over for a quick nap. But he underestimated his exhaustion and ended up sleeping for hours instead of minutes. When he awoke, Tatiana was gone.

[00:11:26]>> I can't imagine parents worst nightmare.

[00:11:29]There's your trigger.

[00:11:30]>> He's torturing them for answers about his daughter's abduction.

[00:11:33]>> In his mind, he believes his victims were involved.

[00:11:35]>> He later recalled a mysterious man approaching him that night, but people thought he had imagined the encounter due to his sleep-deprived state. When her body was discovered a week later, William began abducting men, torturing them for days before ultimately killing them. Losing a child and not knowing what happened would make anyone snap.

[00:11:53][music] Unfortunately, the result of this was only more horrific tragedy.

[00:11:57]>> I mean, up until the very end, he was adamant that a guy with a skull tattoo abducted his daughter.

[00:12:02]>> Well, the onset with the ghost in his mind is always dangerous.

[00:12:06]>> Unless it wasn't all in his mind.

[00:12:08]>> Number nine, Johnny McCale. He made me watch.

[00:12:12]>> It can help you if we can [laughter] tell the court that you told us where Glenn Hill is.

[00:12:17]>> He made me watch.

[00:12:19]>> This season 3 episode follows the BAU as they investigate a case of vigilante justice in Los Angeles. It ultimately leads them to Johnny McCale, a local comic book artist suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, who blacks out during his vengeful killing spree. 6 months prior, one of the best nights of his life turned into the worst.

[00:12:40]Donnie, >> answer him. Baby, the man asked you a question.

[00:12:46]>> We don't want any trouble, guys. Don't much matter what you want.

[00:12:49]>> A gang attacked him and his pregnant fianceé, Vicki, who he had just proposed to minutes before. Johnny was forced to witness the torturous death and barely survived the incident himself. Even the team acknowledges that he's one of the rare unsubs that only became a killer due to an awful traumatic experience.

[00:13:06]He's the first unsub I've worked who wasn't a bad guy. You know, 6 months ago, Giant Male was just a regular person. Number eight, Desi Gutierrez. Growing up, Desi Gutierrez endured emotional and psychological abuse as well as severe neglect from her young mother, Laura. She would cruy tell her daughter that she was ugly and unwanted, locking her in a small shed full of snakes for hours on end.

[00:13:31]>> [music] >> When Desi was 10, a changed Laura had her sister Tina, who unlike Desi, was loved and cared for.

[00:13:38]>> Laura talks about her rise to the top and how proud she is of her daughter Tina, Desi is not mentioned in the article at all.

[00:13:45]>> As an adult, Desi became obsessed with snake- like body modification, even going as far as to split her tongue. She inflicts similar mods on unwitting women after they're bitten by one of her venomous snakes.

[00:13:57]>> You said you wish I was never born.

[00:13:59][screaming] and I [laughter] was an ugly little girl inside and out.

[00:14:07]>> In the end, Desi kidnaps her sister and mother, the true objects of her hate.

[00:14:12]She dies before enacting her full revenge, but we'd say she made her point.

[00:14:17]>> They think she's perfect, the perfect woman, the perfect mother.

[00:14:22]They don't know what she's capable of.

[00:14:25]>> Number seven, Vincent Rowlings. After witnessing and videotaping his mother die at the hands of his father, young Vincent Rowlings grew up to be a killer himself.

[00:14:34]>> I saw [music] my mom die, too.

[00:14:39]And like my father, I did some bad things.

[00:14:41]>> He stayed with his mom for almost a day and grew up re-watching the footage of her murder over and over, which was only bound to cause severe psychological distress. Vincent also has obsessivempulsive disorder, so he can't keep himself from acting on the compulsion to kill. He sent us this film as his [music] way of reaching out. He may be ambivalent, but his OCD won't let him stop. Now, if he sees a heavy police presence and he's not done, he'll run.

[00:15:05]>> He shows remorse by sending messages to the police at the crime scenes, wanting someone to finally stop him when he unintentionally kills one of his victims in front of her young son. Vincent feels a connection to him since they now share a rare thing in common. You're you're going to hear bad things about me, [snorts] but you can never ever wish to die, Stan, because you're special.

[00:15:33]>> Number six, Tobias Hankle. Season 2 introduced one of Criminal Mind's most memorable unsubs.

[00:15:38]>> We may have one unsub suffering from a delusion that he's actually an archangel. Maybe that first phone call was not two people, but one. After his mother left, Tobias Hankle was raised by his father who had become violent and used religion as a means of abuse. As Tobias got older, he became reliant on Delotted to cope. Things only worsened when his father got sick, and in order to put a merciful end to his suffering, he had his son assist him in dying.

[00:16:04]Tobias then developed a dissociative identity disorder with two alternate personalities, his father and an archangel named Raphael.

[00:16:12]>> I tried to warn everyone. Just relax, Mr. ankle. All right.

[00:16:15]>> Shoot him.

[00:16:17]>> I don't want to.

[00:16:19]>> I said shoot him, you weakling. He's a Satan.

[00:16:23]>> When the BAU catches up with him, he's a serial killer who finds his victims through hacking, choosing people he deems sinners. What Tobias does to Reed is unforgivable, but we can't help sympathizing with him after knowing his past. Tobias, >> there he is.

[00:16:41]>> You think I get to see my mom again?

[00:16:45]I'm sorry.

[00:16:46]>> Number five, Paul Weston.

[00:16:48]>> Tell her she's beautiful.

[00:16:51]>> I am, aren't I?

[00:16:52]>> You're an abomination.

[00:16:54]>> I'm a great teacher.

[00:16:56]>> You're doing it wrong.

[00:16:57]>> I'm going to make you a real man.

[00:16:59]>> Paul Weston realized he was attracted to boys at a young age. And when he came out to his father, John, he was sent to a conversion camp. In addition to the camp's deplorable techniques, Jon hired a female sex worker in a deranged attempt to force his son to try to change his sexual orientation, >> who is suffering from an identity crisis.

[00:17:18]>> This man can't accept his samesex desires, but he can't fight them either.

[00:17:22][music] He's most likely been repressing all sexual urges for quite some time.

[00:17:27]>> Years later, he's still haunted by what was done to him and the religious rhetoric condemning gayness. He kills the men he sleeps with because he's ashamed. And he kills the women he tries to be attracted to who remind him of the sex worker. Given his trauma and deep-seated self-hate, it's hard not to feel sorry for Paul as well as the other young victims of the camp.

[00:17:47]>> He's the one that got us sent to that camp. Convinced your parents to let that woman do this to us. Now you want to make him pay.

[00:17:53]>> Number four, James and Marcus Wells.

[00:17:56]>> You have no idea who James is. He raised us.

[00:18:01]He worked [music] two jobs just to put Tom through school.

[00:18:04]You don't know him. You don't know me.

[00:18:08]>> James and Marcus Wells go on a killing spree in Washington DC, murdering random people with machetes every 27 minutes.

[00:18:15]This series of attacks begins a day after the funeral of their younger brother Tom, who was shot and killed outside of a nightclub. Three victims into the spree. Marcus is caught by the team and [music] they discover what happened to trigger their violent rage.

[00:18:28]>> Oh jeez, this is awful. Well, they called 911 nine times and for whatever reason, it took the ambulance 27 minutes to get there. Tom was pronounced dead at the scene. After Tom was shot, James and Marcus called 911 several times, but by the time the ambulance arrived 27 minutes later, he had already passed away. Tom had a bright future ahead of him. His untimely death is heartbreaking, and we sympathize with the Wells brothers.

[00:18:54]>> We [music] waited 27 minutes, and no one came.

[00:18:59]No one. Do you know what that's like?

[00:19:02]Huh? [snorts] To be powerless.

[00:19:05]>> But causing more senseless deaths is unjustifiable. Number three, Charles Johnson.

[00:19:11]>> What did they do to you that night?

[00:19:14]>> After a drainage pipe explosion unears skeletal remains in a backyard, the BAU interviews the homeowners, an African-Amean family of three. As Rossi interrogates the Johnson family patriarch, he uncovers a dark history rooted in racism. [music] When he was in high school, Charles was attacked and castrated by a group of teenage clan members. One of their sisters falsely accused him of sexual assault and didn't reveal the truth until decades later.

[00:19:39]>> Audrey Collins changed. Dear Charles, this is Audrey Collins. Years ago, I told a lie and destroyed you.

[00:19:47]Considering the extensive physical and mental damage that was done, Charles didn't accept her deathbed confession and eventually killed some of the men who attacked him or their relatives.

[00:19:57]>> For revenge, I killed out of hate.

[00:20:03]Hate grew in me that night, and hate vowed to bait them all back.

[00:20:09]>> The lie scarred Charles in every way imaginable, taking away his dreams of leading a healthy life with a big family. Have you told Lyall that he's not your biological son?

[00:20:19]>> No, you better not.

[00:20:25]>> Please.

[00:20:25]>> Number two, Shelley Chamberlain. On her son's sixth birthday, [music] Shelley Chamberlain was driving when fleeing robber Hanley Waters crashed into her vehicle.

[00:20:34]>> No, honey. Honey, I'm driving. No, I'm not kidding. Damian, >> you're being mean, mama.

[00:20:39]>> I'm driving. Don't kick my seat when I'm driving. [screaming] She watched her son die in the back seat, assuring him in vain that help would come soon. [music] After his death, Shelley and her husband Don divorced, leaving her to grieve on her own. On the anniversary of the accident, the news mentions a police officer who also died that day. But Shel's son's death is forgotten.

[00:21:02]>> Explains why she went on her spree today. All the good and bad memories are hitting her at once.

[00:21:07]>> And to add salt to it all, the fallen policeman was the only one who got any attention. Damian was like a footnote.

[00:21:13]Her anger and pain lead her to steal a gun and go around the area killing and injuring anyone in her way. [music] This devastating episode ends with her and Dawn at their son's favorite restaurant, expressing their regrets and reliving the awful day that destroyed their lives.

[00:21:29]>> And it was it was the last thing he heard.

[00:21:34]>> That's your regret.

[00:21:36]It's not what he remembers.

[00:21:38]>> Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions. Nathan Harris, a teenager seeking help to stop his violent urges.

[00:21:46]>> I know I'm crazy.

[00:21:49]>> Did I say that?

[00:21:52]>> No, but what do you call pictures in your head that you can't make go away?

[00:21:58]>> Donnie Bidwell, life ruined after being wrongfully accused of murder.

[00:22:02]>> I was arrested for no reason.

[00:22:06]I was publicly humiliated. My face smeared all over the news. You treated me like garbage. I was behind bars for weeks. I was innocent.

[00:22:15]>> Adam Rain. A brain injury caused him to regress to the age when he witnessed his father's murder. [music] >> They only moved when he made them.

[00:22:25]>> You're lying. Adam, don't do to these people what the robber did to your father.

[00:22:31]>> Billy Flynn endured years of abuse from his mother's clients.

[00:22:34]>> Is that what you think you've been doing all these years, helping people?

[00:22:43]Well, no.

[00:22:44]>> Owen Savage, severely tormented by his father and classmates. The only reason you killed Rod Norris and Kyle Bordon was to protect Jordan. I know the harder you tried, the worse it got. And it felt like everybody just stood there watching you suffer. Not a single person even tried to help. They didn't.

[00:23:05]Before we continue, check out this single from current EDM Transform. Check out the full track and album below.

[00:23:13][music] Number one, Samantha Malcolm. Many Unsubs on Criminal Minds have suffered traumatic childhoods, and poor Samantha Malcolm is one of them.

[00:23:29]>> He's a good father. He loves me. I know [music] that he probably forced you to say those things and he punished you if you got it wrong. Sent you to the the room with the lightning.

[00:23:40]>> Yeah.

[00:23:41]>> Her mother died when she was young and her father, Dr. Arthur Malcolm, had her undergo electroshock therapy to treat her depression. However, the depression stemmed from the sexual abuse she was suffering at his hands. And the extreme treatment was to keep Samantha from telling anyone. He would apologize with gifts, including a set of special dolls.

[00:24:00]And as an adult, Samantha is devastated when he gives them away.

[00:24:04]>> You submitted her to electroshock treatment to make sure she stayed quiet.

[00:24:07]>> This is outrageous.

[00:24:08]>> And then out of guilt, you bought her toys, or more specifically, you bought her a line of dolls.

[00:24:13]>> She replaces the dolls with real life women who ultimately die under the horrific conditions she keeps them in.

[00:24:19]Experiencing trauma isn't an excuse for murder, but with the severe psychological effects of ECT and years of antiscychotic medication. Well, Garcia said it best. Okay, guys. I just got Samantha Malcolm's medical records and oh my god, she was doomed. Like Emily Bronte, doomed. Like Shakespeare doomed. Like redshirted [music] Enen in Star Trek doomed.

[00:24:40]>> Which unsub did you sympathize with the most? Let us know in the comments.