07x06 - Epilogue

[bunniefuu]

Prentiss: Previously on "Criminal Minds"...

It would be nice if we saw each other more than once every 3 or 4 years.

So, give me the updates.

Anybody serious in your life?

No, there isn't.

I think she's putting some feelers out to see if that old spark is still there.

Is it?

I'm crazy, right?

We don't always get second chances in life, Rossi.

Hey, what's going on with you?

Last year I was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease.

It won't be long now.

I came to ask you, when it's time, will you help me end my life?

Cool night, still water, just the way the fish like it.

Mm-hmm.

You could at least act like you're having fun.

Mom told me never to lie.

No one likes a smart-ass.

You haven't caught anything either.

Can we go in now?

Not until we hook our dinner.

I thought you were drinking yours tonight.

What did you say?

You got a real attitude problem, you know that?

Take your shirt off.

Sorry.

Sir, it won't happen again.

Take your shirt off.

You're never gonna grow up to be a man if you don't learn respect.

Uhh! Uhh!

No wonder your mother left.

She couldn't face having a worthless...

[Gasps]

Arrogant...

Aah! Aah!

Aah! [Gasping]

Nick. Nick! Wake up.

We saw something going on across the lake, so we left to check it out.

What do you mean, you guys left?

Listen, bro, we tried to wake you.

Dude, you gotta get over here.

How?

You took the canoes.

There are police everywhere.

They found a body in the lake.

Look across.

Got another one.

Can you give me a hand?

[Indistinct radio communication, chatter]

Hold it.

They've-- there's another body.

I can't see anything.

Come back and get me.

Ok. Sam is heading your way now.

She'll be there in a couple of minutes.

Who's that with you?

What? No one.

I'm alone.

Nick, look out!

Nick! Nick, are you there?

Nick!

Nick! What the hell is going on?!

I so don't miss that face.

No matter how many cases we solve, there's always more.

Insert Dr. Reid's statistic about active serial K*llers at any given time here.

Reid?

[Whistles]

Spencer...

There's something wrong.

Why do you say that?

He's been reading the same page for 16 minutes and 24 seconds.

Maybe it's a really good article.

It's never taken him longer than 11 minutes, 17 seconds to turn a page.

You time how long it...

What's your theory?

I'm extrapolating probabilities as we speak.

Oh, hey. Rossi, you think you could help me with a consult for Wildwood PD?

Uh, sure.

Now, that I noticed.

Is something going on?

How did it go the other night?

What happened the other night?

You Ok?

Well, why wouldn't I be?

You seem distracted.

I'm considering a purchase.

Come on, now, Rossi, you know we're not buying that.

What's really going on?

[Sighs] Look, it was a late night with Ringo and not enough coffee.

I mean, the guy's a world-class drummer, but don't think I didn't wipe the floor with him in rock band.

All right, what do you think?

He could be telling the truth.

I only played him to the easy level.

I can't tell.

And you never will.

Let's get started.

Ok, this is Ridge Canyon Lake in California's Angeles National Forest.

It's a popular destination for water sport enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, some campers have discovered someone has chosen m*rder as their sport of choice.

3 victims, all male, all found early this morning.

He used an underwater disposal site?

Mm-hmm. He weighed them down with rocks and then he hid their bodies underneath shrubbery around the lake's edge.

That's pretty risky, keeping a graveyard at a popular lake.

This guy is showing confidence early.

Well, we should run priors in the area.

This might not be his first party.

All 3 victims were reported missing last week, and each of the bodies was discovered more than 30 miles from where they went missing.

Any indication of sexual as*ault?

No external signs, but time in the water might have destroyed evidence.

Autopsies are being conducted now.

And I'm gonna make matters worse.

This is Nick Skirvin and he was abducted early this morning.

Hotch: Witness reports indicate a blitz att*ck.

His friends were on the water and saw a figure strike Nick from behind just before they lost contact.

Could they give a description?

Probably white, definitely male.

Nothing more specific.

They said the unsub had dragged Nick into the woods by the time they reached the shore.

Fast and efficient, and he is unafraid of a heavy police presence.

If he's dumping the bodies in one location, it's a good bet the area means something to him.

He probably lives in or near the forest.

Unfortunately, Angeles National Forest 1, 016 square miles of terrain, ranging in elevation from 1, 200 to 10, 064 feet.

Which means that if the unsub is familiar with the area, Nick Skirvin could be anywhere.

[Grunting and gasping]

No!

♪ Criminal Minds 7x06 ♪

Epilogue
Original air date on November 2, 2011.

[shivering]

That's not why mom left.

What did you say?

I said, that's not why mom left.

Is that right?

Huh. She said 'cause your rod was broken.

And this whole time, I thought she was talking about fishing!

Uhh!

Rossi: "To die is poignantly bitter, "but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable."

Erich Fromm.

With no apparent evidence of physical v*olence or sexual as*ault, we could be looking at an unsub who gets off on the t*rture of drowning.

So what's the significance of the water burial?

Is he visiting the dump sites to relive his crimes, or is he using it as a forensic countermeasure?

Hotch: It could be both.

If the dump site's doubling as his trophy collection, he won't be happy it's been disturbed.

He'll want to make a new one quickly.

Uh, guys, I'm afraid that's just happened.

Nick Skirvin's body has been recovered, only it wasn't found in Ridge Canyon, it was found in Lake Banter, which is 20 miles away.

Visual aid to follow.

And postscript, you do not want to know how many hits you get if you Google this forest plus m*rder.

To say it should be called the Angeles National unsub dump site is an understatement.

How was the body recovered so quickly?

It wasn't way down.

Nick's body was just found at the edge of the lake by some campers.

Garcia, start compiling a list of missing persons and crimes in the area.

Faster than a Hotch rocket.

So the unsub knew that his burial site had been compromised, and he adapted by venturing outside his comfort zone.

And he changed his victimology.

Look at Nick Skirvin compared to the other 3 victims.

They were all dark-haired, well-built men, but Nick is an average blond.

He could be an impulsive k*ll, not thought out like the others.

Then why not submerge the body?

Allowing it to be uncovered so soon seems counterintuitive to the self-preservation instincts he's displayed so far.

The disturbance of his old disposal site could have thrown him off his game.

Or he's trying to shake us.

By using another lake, he just doubled the size of his k*lling field.

And our search area.

This is even more isolated than Ridge Canyon.

He's gotta be local.

Hey, did your team come this way?

All right, it looks like he dragged Nick up through here.

That path comes from the direction of the road.

There's no waterway connecting the two lakes.

It's 44 miles from the abduction site.

With the forest smack in between.

A truck or a camper would conceal his victims.

If he's dragging his victims, he's probably too weak to carry them.

He might have switched to a smaller target to help navigate his terrain.

He also he didn't weigh this body down.

Maybe he can't complete his ritual without the proper surrogate.

If that's the case, then k*lling Nick didn't get the unsub his release.

He's already looking for his next victim.

Ok. So, we all need life vests.

We can get them at the rental shack.

Whoo.

[Chatter in background]

I think it's right up here.

We were on the two-way...

And then he was gone.

I never should have left him.

You said you saw a man at the campsite?

We were too far away to help.

I paddled as hard as I could, but...

Phinny.

This wasn't your fault.

Try telling that to my parents.

You find the son of a bitch who k*lled my brother.

We will. But first I need to know, is it possible that Nick met someone at the lake that would have followed him?

We hung out with a lot of people last night.

There was a party on the beach.

Did Nick make any new friends?

Nick always makes friends.

Do you remember if anyone stuck out, looked like they didn't belong?

Ok, thank you, ma'am.

Bye.

Anything?

Unsub blends in with a younger crowd.

I'd say we're looking at mid-20s to early 30s. You?

Well, he's methodical.

Social, too. He's been able to isolate all of his victims.

The mother of Jake Shepherd, our first victim, said there were several members of their church at the lake that day.

But Jake was the only one with brown hair.

He matched the age preference of the unsub.

Nick's brother Phinny's a brunette, and he's a lot like these guys.

Why not go after him?

I don't know.

He chose Nick Skirvin for a reason.

We need to figure out why.

Aah! Ha ha ha!

[Engine won't start]

Damn it.

I'm out of gas!

All the victims were drowned, but the first victim, Jake Shepherd, was asphyxiated before being submerged.

Jake was the biggest. The unsub may have had to strangle him to render him unconscious for the drowning.

He wasn't just unconscious.

There was pretty intense damage to the trachea.

He was dead before going in the water.

But with Nick, he used a blow to the head to incapacitate him, so this unsub wants his victims alive when he drowns them.

This is the interesting part.

In all 4 victims, evidence of broken ribs and damage to the sternum indicate severe chest compression, yet there are no signs of external trauma.

So somebody attempted to perform CPR on these victims?

And was successful.

Inflammation to the lungs indicates matter expulsion prior to brain death.

He kills them, then resuscitates them. Why?

We've seen hero complexes before. Rodney Alcala k*lled and resuscitated his victims.

These unsubs get off on the power of bringing people back from the dead.

Well, he's not a very good hero, is he?

His victims didn't survive.

Dr. carroll, is it possible to tell if any of these victims were resuscitated more than once?

The indicator is the inflammation of the lungs, combined with broken ribs.

Severe inflammation could theoretically point toward multiple resuscitations.

Ok, given that theory, how many of the 4?

All but the first victim, Jake Shepherd.

The guy might have tried, but with the damage to Jake's throat, he wouldn't have been able to expel the water from his lungs.

You need a hand?

Yeah.

Hi, I'm--I'm Chase.

Here.

Lacey.

Here, let me help you with that.

I thought I was never gonna get this thing out.

The damn thing ran out of gas.

Oh, no worries. I'll give you a lift back to the dock.

I should probably stay with the jet ski.

Are you kidding?

Didn't you hear what happened this morning?

The bodies?

Yeah, it's crazy, right?

Who knows where that guy is?

Better that thing be on its own than you.

You're right.

It looks like we're definitely looking at a sadist.

k*lling them once isn't enough.

He has to resuscitate his victims until he can't bring them back again.

So why the change from choking to multiple drowning?

With the damage to Jake's throat, the unsub wasn't able to successfully resuscitate him.

Resuscitating them makes him feel more powerful.

Which means he has no power in his everyday life.

But the change in victimology is interesting.

Nick Skirvin was the smallest, but he had the most defensive wounds on his body.

He fought back the most.

Maybe the unsub was injured in one of the att*cks.

He's targeting easier prey to complete his end game.

[Cell phone rings]

Excuse me.

There's something else.

The M. E. tested diatom levels in the bodies and it turns out the unsub drowns his victims at different locations every time, not just where he abducts them or where the bodies are later discovered.

Well, that's pretty risky, considering the community's on full alert.

This guy's intelligent, resourceful, and criminally sophisticated.

Why is transporting the bodies so important to him?

[No audio]

Come on, Lacey, please?

Wake up.

Wake up!

Wake up!

Come on!

Wake up!

Wake up! Wake up!

Chase, wake up!

Damn it, wake up!

Stop.

[Coughing]

[Coughing]

[Coughing]

He k*lled a woman this time.

This guy's all over the map.

Diatom readings indicate he did move the body after he drowned her.

Postmortem wounds--overkill consistent with rage.

Is he unraveling because we took away his underwater graveyard?

She lasted longer in the fight than Nick Skirvin.

This feels desperate.

Take a look at this.

There was blood on the body that didn't match type to the victim.

It shows a severely low white blood cell count.

I'm running tests to be more conclusive.

If this unsub is sick and getting weak, it would explain why he's no longer weighing his victims down.

The only consistency to his M. O.

Is the drowning and resuscitation.

That's what's most important to him.

If that's the case, I'd say he isn't too happy right now.

Why is that?

There's bruising consistent with CPR, but no inflammation of the lungs, no signs of expulsion.

She wasn't successfully revived.

The unsub, or unknown subject we're looking for is a white male in his mid- to late 20s.

He dumped Nick Skirvin's body in Banter Lake and then was compelled to circle back to Ridge Canyon.

We believe, therefore, that he's local to the area.

This unsub is a sadist with a God complex.

He gets off by k*lling his victims over and over again.

But it's vital that he's able to bring them back from the dead.

He went from choking and carrying fit men to their watery graves to drowning and dumping smaller victims unceremoniously.

Diatom levels indicate that he has now stopped moving his victims altogether.

I'm sorry, diatom levels?

Diatoms are algae in water that help us pinpoint time and location of drowning.

Because of the changes to his behavior, we believe he's most likely been injured or sick.

He's definitely experienced in CPR.

We need to look at doctors, lifeguards, anyone with training in resuscitation.

You should put younger cops on the lakes undercover, see if they can lure him out.

The smaller, less imposing ones you can find, the better.

We could grab a couple guys from the Academy.

Perfect.

But move quickly.

He's accelerated his att*ck schedule.

He won't wait long to strike again.

Damn it. Where's the spare?

I think that is the spare.

Of course there's no reception.

There was a gas station, about a mile back.

You want me to hoof it, see if they have any tires?

No, you stay with the car.

The walk will calm me down.

Mom.

What?

Are you kidding me?

I think after this I deserve one.

And I deserve a mother who lives to see me graduate.

You're a good son.

No matter what anyone else might say.

Funny.

I'll be back within an hour.

No getting a pack at the station either.

Love you.

[Knock on door]

I take it that wasn't Ringo inviting you to another party on the phone yesterday.

It was Carolyn.

She has ALS.

Rossi, I'm-- what do you need?

It's not what I need, Emily.

It's what she's asking me to do.

The disease is acting quickly.

Carolyn is already suffering, and she doesn't want to go out that way.

She wants to die on her own terms.

And when this case is over and we get back...

She asked if I would help her do it.

What are you gonna do?

I don't have a choice.

Oh, God.

Is everything Ok, ma'am?

Can you help me, please?

I got a flat just up the road and my son Evan is waiting on me.

Sure. Hop in.

I'll give you a lift.

Thanks.

That was Dr. Carroll.

Preliminary test results show the unsub has cancer of the blood. He's dying.

All right, wait a minute.

Witnesses said Jake Shepherd, the first victim, was out on the lake for a baptism, right?

He was with his congregation.

Well, those water burials can be seen as a form of baptism, too.

Especially dealing with an unsub who has a God complex.

What if there's a religious or spiritual motivation to why the unsub is doing this?

[Line ringing]

Speak and be heard.

Garcia, I need you to pull a list of patients in the area with any form of blood cancer.

I will make HIPAA my bitch, sir.

I also need information on Jake Shepherd.

Religious ties, spiritual background, anything.

Oh, all that information will make for a fast search.

Give me a mo...spiritual, something heaven sent, other than my angelic self.

Bam.

Whoa.

Jake Shepherd joined the church after a near-death experience changed his life.

What happened to him?

He was in an ATV accident, he coded for 4 minutes, he was life-flighted to L. A.

Where they managed to revive him, but clinically he did die.

Death and resuscitation.

That sounds a little too similar to our unsub's M. O. to be a coincidence.

All right, Garcia, dig deeper.

Jake Shepherd's death wasn't random.

It's on like Obi-Wan.

Garcia out.

So a terminally ill unsub targets a man who came back from the dead and then starts k*lling repeatedly.

I mean, am I crazy, or is this about a guy trying to come to terms with his own death?

Finding out you're gonna die isn't enough to make somebody a psychopath.

It does, however, explain why he stopped strangling his victims.

How do you find out about death?

You ask someone who d*ed.

Is he bringing these victims back so he can talk to them?

[Music playing]

Evan. Are you Evan?

Are you Evan?

Is--is your name Evan?

Is your mom Samantha?

Yeah, that's me.

What's going on?

You have to come quickly.

There's been an accident.

Your mom's been hurt.

What happened? Where is she?

Come with me.

[Man laughing]

Hello?

[Man laughing]

[Indistinct whispering]

Who's there?

[Whispering]

Chase... Chase... Chase...

Aah!

Chase!

Aah! Aah!

Aah... Aah... Aah!

[Gasps]

[Gasping and grunting]

[Gasping]

[Gasping, crying]

Come on.

Come on.

[Coughing]

[Gasps, chokes]

Did you see it?

In the darkness, the light.

Did you see?

Mom?

Don't look at him.

Look at me.

What did you see?

Jeepers, the more I dig, the more peculiar it gets.

Ok, the first victim, Jake Shepherd, had an interesting life, and I'm using interesting in place of the phrase, "He was a big hoodlum."

He had a history of truancy, petty theft, domestic disturbances, all of which landed him in the juvenile hall for some stints during high school, as you can imagine.

Was there trouble at home?

Not at all.

Jake just fell in with the wrong crowd.

What kind of crowd?

The drug and sexy parties kind.

But all of that changed after his accident 6 months ago.

After he... d*ed.

Oh...

He didn't just die.

He was saved.

Jake Shepherd saw the light, like literally.

He spoke of a gentle light and a silhouetted figure bathed in warmth who welcomed him but told him it wasn't his time.

He woke up a changed man.

He believed.

If this unsub is so obsessed with death, then Jake Shepherd was the perfect person to talk to.

He'd been there and back again.

But come on, guys.

Gentle lights, shadowy figures?

Those are the lights in the emergency room and the doctors hovering over the patients. We all know that.

No one actually sees the afterlife.

Reid: I did.

Before Tobias Hankel resuscitated me, I had that exact experience.

And I wasn't in an emergency room.

I was in a shed.

Reid, you never told me that.

I'm a man of science. I didn't know how to deal with it.

There's no quantifiable proof that God exists, and yet, in that moment I was faced with something that I couldn't explain.

I still can't.

What if this unsub has had a similar experience and this is his way of looking for answers?

If that's the case, why k*ll Jake Shepherd?

Why not just talk to him?

He wanted to see if he had the same experience as before.

Once isn't enough?

Not if Jake didn't see the same thing the unsub did.

He wants to know if the experience can change.

I can relate to that.

But... Reid felt a warmth and saw a light.

When I coded in the ambulance, all I felt was cold and darkness.

And I would like to think that there's a different future waiting for me.

You actually d*ed?

All right, but resuscitation is hit or miss.

He can't guarantee that he can actually bring anyone back, let alone that anyone will remember what happened in their moment so-called death.

Reid, what's the best way to make sure his victims had an experience?

Keep them dead longer.

[Panting]

I think your mom needs a break.

Let's see how you do.

Aah!

All right, thanks.

An SUV's just been found abandoned near Ridge Canyon Lake.

The car belongs to a Samantha Braun.

Park log shows that she was there with her son Evan.

Let's go.

[Gasping]

Hotch: He's abducted two at once.

He needs a spot on the lake where he can control them.

Somewhere isolated that gives him the time he needs for his resuscitation ritual.

How would he keep them dead longer, Reid?

There's a saying in the medical community that you're not dead until you're warm and dead.

Colder water temperatures could lead to hypothermia, which would offer the best chance for successful reanimation.

Prentiss: Conferencing Garcia.

Give it to me, baby.

Morgan: Garcia, our unsub's got two more victims and he's most likely taking them to the coldest part of Ridge Canyon Lake.

We need to intercept him.

What have you got?

Ok, checking water temperatures.

Now we have several cold spots.

[Ping ping]

What's with the pinging, Penelope?

The colder spots just matched the most recent victims' diatom levels.

The unsub's been getting colder and colder the whole time.

Cross-reference water temperatures with your list of prior deaths in the area.

This lake means something to him other than cold water.

If he d*ed once before, there should be a report about it or another trauma that keeps him rooted here.

We both thought that he could be a first responder or knows the area well, so cross with your list of local law enforcement and park officials.

Oh, God.

Daniel Whitaker was m*rder*d 15 years ago. He was a park attendant.

His dock was in the coldest part of Ridge Canyon Lake.

Who k*lled him, Garcia?

His son, Chase.

Daniel physically assaulted his son and then buried him alive when he was 16.

There was no mom in the picture.

Chase got off light.

He got out at 18.

Garcia, check his medical history.

Um...

Oh. Oh, Chase was diagnosed with lymphoma when he was 10.

It went into remission when he was 12, but a few months ago he was diagnosed with stage 4 and he's been given 3 months to live.

The idea of having to face death again must be what sent him over the edge.

The guy's been haunted his whole life by whatever he experienced that night.

Hotch: Send us the address, Garcia.

[Coughing]

Uhh!

[Coughing]

[Coughing]

Come and get me, you son of a bitch!

Help!

[Coughing]

On the dock!

I need a medic!

Help!

Ohh! Uhh!

Help!

Let go of me!

Chase Whitaker! FBI!

Stay back.

Let him go.

I can't.

You hurt him, you won't be alive long enough to know what he has to say.

I need answers.

There are no answers, Chase.

Nobody gets to know what happens when we die.

That's why people have faith.

Faith in what? My life has been one nightmare after another.

What happened to you as a boy wasn't fair.

But neither is this.

Let him go.

Chase...[Echoing]

Chase... Chase... Chase...

Chase... Chase... Chase...

Aah!

Hello, Dad.

It's not your time, Chase.

Prentiss: It's not your time, Chase.

Aah!

It's not your time, Chase.

You're under arrest.

No.

No.

Mom?

Rossi: "The timing of death, like the ending of a story, gives a changed meaning to what preceded it."

Mary Catherine Bateson.

[Knock on door]

Mm.

You look like hell.

You want to talk about it?

Not really.

You can't save everyone, David.

You know that.

I lost you once.

I don't want to lose you again.

You have to let me go.

I can't.

Life is worth fighting for.

Fight how?

Fighting for what?

For what?

Look at me.

Pretty soon I'm not even gonna be able to walk.

I want to go out as I am, as I've lived, not who I'm going to become.

I can't help you.

What you're asking, I can't.

I know.

I knew you never could.

You spout all that profiling talk, but, really, the best way to get to know someone is to marry them.

You are the best man I've ever known.

That's why I wanted you to be with me tonight.

What have you done?

Ohh. Oh, shh.

Just come sit.

[Pats bed]

It won't be long now.

No. Don't.

They won't get here in time. Please.

I have to try.

No, don't!

Don't.

Don't let me die in a hospital.

David...

Please.

It's fast. It's fast.

I'm already tired.

Do you th-- do you think he'll be there?

I know he will.

Oh.