- The team tracks down a highly obsessive-compulsive killer who targets blonde women and leaves messages to the police asking them to stop him.
- Michelle Watson, a Buffalo, New York based real estate agent, is found murdered inside a house at which she was showing. A week later, the Buffalo Police Department receive an audio-less and edited video recording from the murderer's viewpoint of the lead-up to the killing, including shots within the murderer's home, as well as the actual murder itself. From the video, it looks as if it was taken by a hidden camera located somewhere on the upper half of the murderer's body. From the actions on the video, the BAU can also tell that the murderer suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Reviewing past cases in the Buffalo area within the past ten years and another video visible in the background of the video sent makes them suspect that this murder was done by a serial killer. Two other key pieces of information on the video are the number "29", circled by the murderer on Michelle's day planner, and the murderer scrawling the words "HELP ME". The BAU have a race for time as they believe "29" refers to the date and the 29th of the month is the next day - the date they believe the next murder will occur.—Huggo
- A middle-aged man meticulously makes his bed, smoothes out the wrinkles in his clothes and heads for the kitchen. He opens and shuts the refrigerator door twice before removing a perfectly cut sandwich. Obsess much? The man then gets in the car and drives to a suburban home, passing several potential witnesses along the way. Inside the house is a woman. "Robert, right?" asks the woman, a realtor. The man pulls a knife. "My name is not Robert," he says. Not-Robert stabs the poor woman and watches her bleed out. Creepy.
Cut to BAU headquarters. Jennifer explains that the realtor was killed in Buffalo. Also: the killer apparently taped the whole thing with a hidden camera. He then sent the video to the police. "Maybe it's a taunt," Emily says. Or is it? At the conclusion of the video, the man scrawls "Help me" on a wall in red marker. Garcia does a little research and discovers that 22 women in Buffalo and surrounding areas have been stabbed in the past 10 years. Detective Lynne Henderson of the Buffalo PD seems shocked by this number. "Can I expect more films?" Henderson asks. Oh, yes, Rossi assures her. "We'll find more many more," he says.
Spencer, in the meantime, takes a look at the most recent victim's day planner. He notes that the woman was clearly left handed -- and yet someone who is right handed has written "29" in the planner and circled the number twice. And who do we know who is right handed? The unsub. "Tomorrow is the 29th!" Garcia gasps.
Derek, Emily and Hotch case the crime scene while watching the killer's video on a handheld device. Derek notes that the perspective on the video indicates that the camera must be hidden in the man's glasses. Jennifer suggests passing out a sketch of the unsub to local camera shops. "If he hunts within a comfort zone, then whichever of these camera shops he visits the most, that's the one he'll live closest to," Rossi observes.
Spencer pins photos of all the known victims to the board and, examining the reported times of death, discovers that the killer strikes almost exactly every 12 months. Emily, Derek and Hotch, in the meantime, have moved out to the sidewalk. They continue to watch the video, noticing that the killer steps over all the cracks. Emily correctly concludes that the unsub is obsessive compulsive.
Speaking of the unsub, he sits in his immaculate apartment when someone knocks on the door. "Vincent?" asks a female voice. She seems friendly, but the unsub is obviously unnerved. He opens the door and lets the woman, Alice, inside. The two apparently used to work together. Alice clearly has a crush on Vincent. And Vincent clearly doesn't want anything to do with her. Just then, the sketch of the killer appears on the TV. Alice makes the connection and looks terrified. It's too late. Vincent slams shut the door.
The next day, the team gathers around Alice's dead body, which has been dumped in an alley. "Unlike the others, he brought her body here and dumped it," Hotch says. He also notices that the victim has been laid down rather gently. The unsub likely knew this victim better than the others. "He probably didn't target or even mean to kill her," Hotch finishes. We, of course, already knew that. Henderson, meanwhile, has a lead: a camera-shop owner recognizes the police sketch. So now they know -- vaguely anyway -- where to look.
Back at headquarters, Emily and Spencer have noticed a pretty big difference between the realtor's murder and those that preceded it. For starters, the realtor was stabbed only once while the other victims were stabbed up to 30 times. "What's missing from the Michelle Watson murder is any sign of rage or overkill," Emily says. Spencer, reading a case file, notes that one of the victim's sons witnessed his mother's horrific death.
The unsub, in the meantime, approaches a young blind boy, who seems to know the killer quite well. "Tonight," the unsub says. "It's here tonight." The boy seems excited. He agrees to wait for Vincent's arrival later that night. What in the name of creep-factor five is going on here?
Garcia quickly finds out for us. The witness to the earlier murder IS the blind boy. Derek and Rossi pay the boy, Stanley, a visit. "Is it about my mom?" Stanley asks. Smart kid. We also learn that Stanley uses echo-location to get around with the aid of a walking stick. The child appears eager to help, although recounting his mother's death is obviously painful. In a FLASHBACK, we see the boy listening to his mother crying. Stanley then walks outside -- and senses the killer standing nearby watching him. Stanley's foster mother than steps in to stop the questioning. It's too much on the poor lad.
Vincent, meanwhile, finds himself in a bad neighborhood being trailed by two young punks. One of the punks approaches the killer, pulls a gun and demands his wallet. Vincent calmly pulls a knife and stabs the would-be thief, who gets off a single shot. The other punk gets a good look at the unsub before fleeing.
Cut to Vincent's apartment. The killer has been shot in the side. He performs a bit of home surgery, plugging the entry and exit wounds with balled-up pieces of bread (huh?) and then pulling sandwich wrap around his waist. Behind him, a video plays. The recording is clearly many years old. In it, a woman screams at an older man, who then stabs her in the stomach before fleeing. Someone is filming from a nearby closet. "Mom?" asks the suddenly revealed videographer. Vincent, it turns out, watched and recorded his mother being murdered.
Hotch and Derek question the surviving punk, who explains that the unsub was using echo location tactics. "Today's that kid's birthday," says Rossi. "He's the event!" The team hurries back to Stanley's house to find his foster mother in a full-blown panic. The boy has disappeared from his bedroom! Cut to Vincent driving Stanley to parts unknown. Stanley, who clearly doesn't suspect Vincent of killing his mother, talks about the FBI paying him a visit. Stanley then says that he wishes that whoever killed his mom would have killed him too. Vincent seems taken aback. Is he heartbroken for the boy with whom he so clearly identifies?
Rossi questions the foster mother, who says Stanley was once mentored by a man named Vincent. "He was a registered helper in a mentoring program," the foster mom cries. But which program? Garcia has a better idea. She has gone back into the files and discovered a long-ago murder case in which the surviving son was named Vincent! "He was found sitting with the body of his murdered mother," Spencer notes. Garcia then produces a nearby address for one Vince Rowlings. Hotch and company storm the apartment and find the video of Vincent's mother being murdered playing on a loop. The serial killer, however, is nowhere to be found.
Back in Stanley's room, Derek and Rossi furiously search for clues. Foster mom mentions that Vincent used to help Stanley construct toys. One of those toys is a Ferris wheel. "Garcia, check Buffalo and the surrounding area for any theme parks permanent of visiting," Derek barks. Bingo! The BAU team races to a nearby theme park while Hotch stays behind to search through Vincent's vast and disturbing series of videos.
Cut to a Ferris wheel, where Vincent and Stanley have stopped at the top. "Remember you said you wished he killed you?" asks Vincent, doubled over in pain from his gunshot wound. "Never wish for that ... you're special because you helped me to see ... forgive me. Vincent keels over and dies. At that moment, the Ferris wheel starts up again. Derek meets the blind boy and the dead killer at the bottom. He carries Stanley to his foster mother. Cries Stanley: "I think that he killed my mom." Like we said: smart kid. And case closed.
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