- 7 weeks ago
Truth is stranger than fiction, and these episodes prove it. Join us as we count down the most chilling real-life crimes that inspired episodes of "Criminal Minds"! From notorious serial killers to terrifying abductions, the BAU's most unforgettable cases hit closer to home than you'd think. Did you know these were based on real crimes?
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00:00Dahmer, Lakeneng, Dibartleben, Berdella, and others.
00:05At the core of these criminals is a need for control.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:09And today, we're counting down our picks for the top 30 real-world crimes
00:13that inspired episodes of Criminal Minds.
00:16Why do you think the suspect in 2001 stopped sending the letters?
00:18I have no idea, but if he hadn't, it would have been much worse.
00:22Worst part was not knowing when it was going to be over.
00:24Feeling safe opening mail again.
00:28Number 30. LDSK
00:30We're looking for a 30- to 40-year-old male veteran
00:32driving a car large enough to shoot from, but not so large it was noticed.
00:36Like the Beltway shooter, it's probably a sedan
00:38customized to conceal the shooter, his weapon, and the sound of his shot.
00:42This tense episode from the very first season
00:44introduces us to the concept of a long-distance serial killer.
00:47The unknown subject, Philip Dowd, is a sniper
00:50shooting innocent people in broad daylight throughout Desplaines, Illinois.
00:53This terrifying premise closely mirrors the real-world horrors
00:57of the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks,
00:59which were carried out by John Alan Mohamed and Lee Boyd Malvo.
01:03Like the real-life perpetrators,
01:04the episode's unsub shot his victims from an enormous distance,
01:08directly contradicting the usual serial killer M.O.
01:10and spreading widespread panic across a terrified city.
01:13It was a terrifying situation for thousands of people.
01:16Gunmen in the neighborhood killing individuals in a methodical way.
01:20When the news got on the radio and the television,
01:22people were too frightened to go outside.
01:24It happened again and again and again.
01:27Number 29. Open Season
01:29You've got to challenge yourself, Johnny.
01:31That's the only way you're ever going to get better.
01:34Okay, so you aim straight for the heart,
01:36try to avoid the shoulder blades,
01:38and it shouldn't be a quick, clean kill.
01:41Taking the team to the remote wilderness of Idaho,
01:43this episode revolves around two unsubs who abduct victims,
01:47release them into the dense forest,
01:49and hunt them down for sport with bows and arrows.
01:51It sounds like an extravagant concept made solely for TV, but it's not.
01:55While the episode features a duo,
01:57the chilling concept of hunting human beings in the wilderness
02:00was heavily inspired by Robert Hansen,
02:03notoriously known as the Butcher Baker.
02:05Operating in Alaska between 1971 and 1983,
02:09Hansen abducted multiple women,
02:11flew them out to the secluded Alaskan bush in his private plane,
02:14and hunted them with a rifle.
02:16The dense and rugged Alaskan wilderness
02:18provided the perfect cover for a fierce and sadistic killer.
02:24Number 28. Catching Out
02:26He doesn't take their cars.
02:27So how does he get there?
02:28No witness reports of strange cars on the street.
02:31No prints, no gun, no noise, no car, no witnesses.
02:34This all adds up to prior experience.
02:36There's a record on him somewhere.
02:38And until we find it, he's moved on to another town.
02:40The BAU is called in to track down a killer
02:42who's hopping freight trains across the country,
02:44using the railway system to target victims who live close to the tracks.
02:48The perp, Armando Salinas,
02:50slips into homes, murders the occupants,
02:52and even stays afterward to eat their food.
02:54This modus operandi is a direct parallel to Angel Maturino Resendiz,
02:59infamously known as the Railroad Killer.
03:01In the late 1990s,
03:03Resendiz rode the rails across the United States and Mexico,
03:07committing a series of brutal home invasions and murders near railroad tracks
03:10before disappearing back onto the freight cars.
03:13Then he changes direction, heads south to Sacramento at the end of September.
03:18These crime scenes are spread out over 400 miles.
03:21I mean, how many serial killers move around like that?
03:23Not many.
03:24Number 27.
03:24The Eyes Have It.
03:26The typical inucleator gouges the eyes out,
03:28but he doesn't normally take them with him.
03:29This guy did?
03:30We need to figure out why.
03:32In this gruesome episode from season 5,
03:34the BAU travels to Oklahoma to profile a killer
03:37who is surgically removing the eyes of his victims.
03:39The unsub, Earl Bulford, keeps the severed eyes as trophies,
03:44driven by his own warped psychological needs.
03:46This deeply disturbing signature is based on the real-life crimes of Charles Albright,
03:51a Texas killer dubbed, unsurprisingly, the Eyeball Killer.
03:54Active in the early 1990s,
03:57Albright is suspected of murdering four women in Dallas
03:59and surgically removing their eyes with astonishing precision,
04:02a bizarre and terrifying hallmark that the writers effectively adapted for the screen.
04:07That when the eyelids were shut, there were no scars,
04:11there was no bleeding, no sign of any bleeding.
04:13It was surgically precise.
04:16Number 26.
04:17Haunted.
04:18May 1st, 1975, a six-year-old Darren Cole
04:21was found roaming in the middle of nowhere.
04:22He was picked up and was in state care for the first few months.
04:25Did you tell the cops what happened?
04:27No, because he didn't talk, not for over a year.
04:30And once he started talking, he only knows life as Darren Cole.
04:32It's awful.
04:33This highly emotional episode takes a dive into the repressed memories of a killer named Darren Cole.
04:38As the BAU unravels his traumatic past,
04:41they discover that he was a victim of a horrific child kidnapping ring run by his own father.
04:46The grim backdrop of missing children being held captive and murdered on a secluded property
04:51draws significant inspiration from the infamous Wineville Chicken Coop murders.
04:55In the 1920s, Gordon Stewart Northcott abducted and killed multiple young boys
04:59on his rural California poultry ranch, creating a tragic and haunting piece of history
05:04that echoes loudly throughout the episode.
05:06You, you kept them in cages and burnt their clothes.
05:11And when you finish, you'd bury them and you made him help.
05:15Number 25.
05:16Empty Planet.
05:17Get my message out.
05:18Message?
05:19What message?
05:21That this is only the beginning.
05:23Until it is brought back under control, people will die.
05:30When a serial bomber begins targeting institutions and individuals in Seattle,
05:34the BAU has to crack the manifesto of a suspect writing under a pseudonym.
05:38The unsub uses his sophisticated explosives to wage a one-man war against modern technology
05:43and automated machines.
05:45We'll give you three guesses as to who this was inspired by.
05:48Yes, if that sounds incredibly familiar, it's because the character and his anti-technology
05:53manifesto are heavily based on Ted Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber.
05:58Kaczynski terrorized the nation for nearly two decades with his mail bombs,
06:01driven by a similar militant rejection of the industrialized world.
06:05It was a spree of mayhem that killed three and wounded over two dozen.
06:10In the largest and most expensive investigation in FBI history,
06:14agents spent 17 years hunting for the elusive terrorist known as the Unabomber.
06:21Number 24, 25 to life.
06:24Do your friends here know that you're a closet psychopath?
06:28Excuse me?
06:30Don Sanderson does.
06:31Do you remember him?
06:33I'm sure you do.
06:35He murdered his entire family and got him put away for 25 years.
06:39In season six, the team reinvestigates the case of Donald Sanderson,
06:43a man who spent 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife and young daughter.
06:47Sanderson has always maintained his innocence,
06:50claiming that a group of intruders broke in and slaughtered his family while he was asleep.
06:54This setup is a direct nod to the highly controversial case of Jeffrey McDonald,
06:58an army surgeon convicted of killing his pregnant wife and two daughters in 1970.
07:03Like Sanderson, McDonald blamed the attack on a group of drug-crazed hippies,
07:07an alibi that the real-life jury ultimately rejected.
07:10He was sentenced to life in prison.
07:12Jeffrey McDonald is among the most well-known convicted killers in North Carolina history.
07:17McDonald has been in prison for more than 50 years
07:19since a jury decided he was guilty of killing his family and their Fort Bragg home.
07:23Number 23, Mosley Lane.
07:25We need to look at every local abduction or attempted one in the past year,
07:28see if there's any overlap.
07:29Good news is that we're barely into the second hour.
07:31Yeah, well, odds are we've only got 22 hours left to find Damien alive, so let's do this.
07:34In one of the show's most heartbreaking episodes,
07:37the BAU hunts down a married couple who have been abducting children for years
07:41and raising them in a secret crematorium.
07:43Creepy.
07:44And unfortunately, based on a real story.
07:47Several, in fact.
07:48The long-term captivity, and the fact that a couple worked together
07:52to sustain this twisted secret life,
07:54parallels several real abductions,
07:56most notably the case of J.C. Dugard.
07:58Dugard was famously kidnapped in 1991 by Philip and Nancy Garrido,
08:02and held captive in a hidden compound behind their California home for 18 years
08:07before she was finally rescued.
08:08The man driving is Philip Garrido,
08:11a convicted sex offender sentenced to 50 years in prison,
08:14but released after just 11.
08:16In the car with him is wife, Nancy.
08:19Prosecutors will say she helped scout the little girl as his prize.
08:23Number 22, Legacy.
08:24It's probable that he isn't currently working after this many victims
08:29and the devolution that it brings.
08:30A job just wouldn't leave him time to practice his true calling.
08:34Which is a predator.
08:38A killing machine.
08:40By now it's become all he thinks about.
08:42When a detective calls the BAU to Kansas City
08:45regarding a series of disappearances,
08:47the team discovers an unsub who abducts victims
08:49and forces them to navigate a terrifying slaughterhouse
08:52filled with deadly traps.
08:53The concept of a custom-built murder castle
08:56designed specifically to disorient and kill victims
08:59is famously attributed to H.H. Holmes,
09:01one of America's first documented serial killers.
09:04Holmes famously constructed a hotel in Chicago
09:06during the 1893 World's Fair featuring secret passages,
09:10windowless rooms, and staircases to nowhere.
09:13But despite the recurring myth,
09:15he did not do so to kill people.
09:17It was partly because he was too cheap to pay contractors
09:20and partly because he wanted to hide stolen furniture from creditors.
09:23He'd call this turreted three-story edifice his castle
09:27and fill it with the latest inventions, such as gas lighting.
09:31The gadgets would be put to work in his new profession.
09:36Herman Mudgett was reborn as a homicidal entrepreneur, H.H. Holmes.
09:40Number 21, Amplification.
09:43It's now just past 7 a.m. the next day.
09:46We have 12 dead.
09:47Lung failure and black lesions.
09:50Anthrax?
09:51Anthrax doesn't kill this fast.
09:52This strain does.
09:53The BAU faces a race against time
09:55when a terrorist releases a weaponized strain of anthrax
09:58in a public park in Annapolis.
10:00The unsub, Chad Brown,
10:01wishes to showcase the vulnerability of the country
10:04to biochemical warfare.
10:05This terrifying plotline is deeply rooted in the 2001 anthrax attacks,
10:10where letters laced with anthrax spores
10:12were mailed to newsrooms and politicians.
10:14The attacks killed 5 people and infected 17 others.
10:18The FBI's real-life investigation
10:20ultimately zeroed in on Bruce Edwards Ivins,
10:23a government biodefense researcher,
10:25echoing the highly specialized scientific background
10:27required by the unsub in the episode.
10:29In Boca Raton, Florida today,
10:31a memorial service for Bob Stevens.
10:33He is almost certainly the first American
10:36to be killed in a deliberate anthrax attack.
10:39Number 20.
10:40Blood hungry.
10:40The unknown perpetrator in this season 1 episode
10:43is Eddie Mays,
10:44a young man in his 20s suffering from psychotic delusions
10:48and consuming the blood and organs of his victims.
10:51Reed mentions Richard Chase in the episode,
10:53a.k.a. the vampire killer or the vampire of Sacramento.
10:57For Richard Trenton Chase, the vampire killer,
10:59he drank his victims' blood
11:00because he believed that aliens had invaded his body
11:03and were slowly drinking his blood.
11:05Mays was likely based on Chase
11:06as they were both institutionalized,
11:09suffered from delusions,
11:10and were heavily into drugs.
11:12In January 1978,
11:14Chase killed 5 men, women, and children,
11:164 of which were in the same house he broke into.
11:19We have a sick son of a bitch.
11:21We have to catch this guy.
11:23Even experienced police officers
11:25had never seen anything like it.
11:27He similarly drank the blood of his victims,
11:30though his weapon of choice
11:31wasn't a knife like Mays,
11:33but rather a handgun.
11:34Chase was charged and sentenced to death in 1979,
11:38but took his own life a year later.
11:40He actually decided to take his own life.
11:42So for me, this is somebody
11:43who always wants to be in control,
11:45and he was very much in control until the end.
11:51A recent abduction takes the team to Montana,
11:53where their unsub Francis Goring
11:55has already taken his own life.
11:57In searching for his last victim,
11:59they discover he had a partner,
12:01Henry Frost.
12:01Francis Goring abducted three women.
12:04We're looking for a fourth.
12:07He took her while her husband and son were in a store.
12:10They find a collection of explicit tapes
12:12showing Goring assaulting women.
12:14Goring and Frost appear to have been loosely based
12:17on Leonard Lake and Charles Ng,
12:19former Marines who kidnapped, tortured, and murdered
12:22between 11 and 25 people in the 1980s.
12:25Lake and Ng are a dominant and subservient pair
12:29of lust killers.
12:31One having the lust fantasy,
12:33the other going along with the lust fantasy.
12:36When arrested, Lake swallowed a cyanide pill,
12:39dying four days later.
12:40At his property in Wilseyville, California,
12:43police found detailed journals and graphic videos
12:45of the crimes, as well as human remains.
12:48Many of these crimes were referred to in code.
12:53He would codename a different planned killings
12:56or crimes with names.
12:58While Frost was killed in the episode,
13:00Charles Ng was found guilty of 11 murders
13:03and sentenced to death.
13:05Number 18.
13:06Unfinished Business
13:07This episode revolves around the Keystone Killer,
13:10later revealed to be Walter Kern,
13:12who murdered seven women in the 1980s,
13:15then abruptly stopped.
13:16He sent out written communication
13:18identifying himself as the Keystone Killer.
13:22These letters,
13:24all of which were accompanied by a word search puzzle,
13:28were part of his game.
13:29Like the son of Sam, he taunted the police.
13:3218 years later, the killer begins again
13:35and sends a letter with a crossword puzzle
13:37to former FBI profiler Max Ryan,
13:39the man who couldn't catch him.
13:41Kern shares a lot of similarities with Dennis Rader,
13:44aka the BTK killer,
13:46including his proclivity for taunting letters
13:48and crossword puzzles.
13:49His evil is a different evil,
13:51mainly because he thinks that he's entitled to it.
13:54His name was Dennis Rader,
13:57but he would go on to create a murderous alter ego
14:00for himself,
14:01a brand of his own.
14:03Both men also had very similar MOs,
14:05served in the Air Force,
14:07and worked as alarm installers
14:09along with other jobs
14:10that allowed them access to people's homes.
14:12Like BTK,
14:13the Keystone Killer had a cooling-off period
14:16before sending more letters
14:18and finally getting caught.
14:19Finally, the infamous BTK
14:22was off the streets
14:23and in custody.
14:25Number 17,
14:26The Tall Man.
14:27This JJ-centric episode
14:29takes the team to her hometown
14:30of East Allegheny, Pennsylvania,
14:32where two teenage girls have gone missing.
14:35A third girl, Allie,
14:36stumbles out of the woods in bad shape,
14:38saying she saw the Tall Man hurting her friends.
14:41According to her,
14:42the Tall Man held them
14:43and cut them repeatedly.
14:45Now, that is consistent with the legend.
14:47So The Tall Man is your classic
14:50don't-go-into-the-woods dare.
14:51While the actual crime is different,
14:54the local urban legend
14:55is reminiscent of the viral sensation Slender Man,
14:58which inspired two girls
14:59to stab their friend in 2014.
15:02Anissa Weyer and Morgan Geyser,
15:04both 12 years old at the time,
15:06attacked their friend Peyton Lightner
15:07to show their worthiness
15:08to the fictional character.
15:10So did you guys talk about doing this before him?
15:13Anissa told me we had to.
15:26Morgan was also diagnosed with schizophrenia,
15:29just like Allie.
15:30Fortunately, Peyton survived her wounds.
15:33Anissa and Morgan were apprehended
15:35and charged as adults for attempted murder.
15:37The girls were very clear with police
15:39that they were trying to kill the victim.
15:42They wanted to do it as a sacrifice to Slender Man.
15:46Number 16, The Tribe.
15:48The BAU is called to New Mexico
15:51after a group of college freshmen
15:52are found murdered in an empty house.
15:54It is a grisly scene
15:56showing evidence of ritualistic methods of violence,
15:58which they trace back to a cult
16:00led by Jackson Calley,
16:02a.k.a. the Grandfather.
16:03Like Manson,
16:04Calley's been forced to become
16:05an expert profiler of sorts.
16:06He reads the people around him,
16:08he finds a way in,
16:09and then he brainwashes them to serve his name.
16:11Like infamous real-life cult leader Charles Manson,
16:14Calley ordered his followers
16:15to carry out multiple murders.
16:17Both wanted to start a race war
16:19between white people and a minority group.
16:21Manson's ambitions turned increasingly violent,
16:25believing a race war was coming,
16:26and that the Beatles were sending him secret directives.
16:29For Manson, it was African Americans,
16:32and for Calley,
16:33he instructed his followers
16:35to make the killings appear
16:36to be committed by Native Americans.
16:38Calley also had a similar past as Manson,
16:40and both men were skilled
16:42at finding the most impressionable people
16:44to join their families.
16:45He created the Manson family cult,
16:48attracting a group of devoted young followers,
16:51some of whom would ultimately kill for him.
16:54Number 15, True Genius.
16:56While investigating Zodiac Killer copycat murders
16:59in San Francisco,
17:00the team comes across Caleb Rossmoor
17:02and Harvey Murrell Jr.,
17:04former child prodigies
17:05who bonded over shared interests
17:07in chess and true crime.
17:08Check.
17:13When they were teenagers,
17:15the best friends killed a local kid in their town,
17:17Robbie Shaw,
17:18and got away with it.
17:20Murrell and Rossmoor are likely based
17:21on the murderous duo from Chicago,
17:23Nathan Freudenthal Nate Leopold Jr.,
17:26and Richard Albert Loeb.
17:27Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb,
17:30wealthy, well-educated teenagers
17:32who had done it, they said,
17:35for the sheer thrill.
17:36In May 1924,
17:38Leopold and Loeb carried out their plan
17:40to commit the perfect crime,
17:42killing 14-year-old Robert Bobby Franks
17:45and using acid to obscure his identity.
17:47Like Murrell and Rossmoor,
17:49their motivation was simply for the thrill of it.
17:52They were the last people who had any reason
17:54to commit a kidnapping, much less a murder.
17:57Number 14, A Shade of Grey.
18:00What begins as a missing child case
18:02ends in tragedy when Kyle Murphy's body
18:04is found in the woods.
18:06At first, the crime was blamed on Hugh Rollins,
18:09a registered sex offender
18:10and suspected killer in the area.
18:12Life in Trenton might as well be a death sentence.
18:16Are you sure?
18:17Do you don't want to tell me we're caught?
18:20However, Kyle's older brother Danny,
18:22who has anger issues and shows signs of sociopathy,
18:26admitted to Emily Prentiss
18:27that he was the one who fatally hurt Kyle.
18:29After you did that to Kyle,
18:32how did you feel?
18:35Like I'd get in trouble?
18:36This is a case inspired by the unsolved murder
18:39of six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in 1996.
18:42Among the many theories in the case
18:44is that her older brother Burke
18:45could have killed her accidentally
18:47and was protected by his parents.
18:49Two competing theories lingered for years.
18:52Did an intruder break in and kill?
18:54Or were the Ramseys themselves somehow responsible?
18:58Another detail in the episode
18:59is that the Murphy crime scene was contaminated,
19:02just like Ramsey's.
19:04Number 13, Lucky.
19:06Season 3's memorable unsub Floyd Phelan Farrell
19:09has aspects of several serial killers,
19:11but the most prominent is likely Jeffrey Dahmer.
19:14I never in my wildest nightmares
19:16thought that it would become a reality.
19:19The obvious connection here
19:21is that they both ate their victims,
19:23although Dahmer didn't do this
19:24with all of his victims.
19:26Farrell was institutionalized when he was young
19:28and developed a strong interest in Satanism.
19:31You hear voices, Floyd?
19:35I'm not smart.
19:37Well, I have a smart friend who tells me things.
19:41What's your smart friend's name?
19:43He wants me to tell you something.
19:45Dahmer dabbled in the occult,
19:47but mainly followed and struggled with his Christian faith.
19:49While their victimology is different,
19:51their preferred disposal and preservation methods are similar.
19:55Farrell's appearance is very Dahmer-like.
19:58Glasses and all.
19:59And both were pulled over with evidence of their murders,
20:02but managed to evade capture.
20:05Copy.
20:05Slow down, buddy.
20:09Number 12, Hostage.
20:11Gina Bryant escapes from the home in Missouri
20:13where she'd been held captive since she was eight.
20:15Last night, this girl, Gina Bryant,
20:18flagged down a police car in St. Louis.
20:20She was wearing nothing but a dirty nightgown.
20:23She was barefoot,
20:24and she told them she had been kidnapped when she was eight.
20:27Michael Clark Thompson,
20:28the man who abducted her and two others,
20:31gets caught trying to go on the run
20:32with the oldest victim, Amelia.
20:34Rossi references Ariel Castro,
20:36the man who kidnapped Michelle Knight,
20:38Amanda Berry, and Georgina Gina DeJesus,
20:41imprisoning them in his Cleveland home
20:43for nearly 10 years.
20:44Amanda told the police,
20:47I ain't just the only ones.
20:48It's some more girls up in that house.
20:50Like Amelia, Amanda gave birth while in captivity.
20:53In 2013, Amanda was able to escape with her daughter
20:57and get help.
20:58In both cases,
20:59the girls suffered severe mistreatment and miscarriages.
21:02But Thompson is shot by the mother of Sheila Woods,
21:05his third victim,
21:06whereas Castro took his own life
21:08after serving one month of his life sentence.
21:11I see you with me.
21:22One of the BAU's most memorable unsubs is George Foyette,
21:27a.k.a. the Boston Reaper,
21:28who killed 20 people from 1995 to 1998.
21:32The case went cold because he suddenly stopped killing.
21:3510 years later,
21:36he returns to pick up where he left off
21:38and goes on a spree.
21:40He essentially is a predator who will kill anyone.
21:43Why is he so democratic?
21:44Because his kills aren't just about his victims.
21:46He needs recognition.
21:47He needs us to know.
21:48He's been likened to the unknown Zodiac Killer
21:51due to their similar methods,
21:53victimology,
21:53and penchant for taunting law enforcement.
21:55Reaper seems to see himself
21:57as the personification of fate.
21:59However,
22:00Foyette may be an amalgamation of a few killers,
22:02like the equally prolific and elusive Phantom Killer
22:05behind the 1946 Texarkana Moonlight Murders.
22:08It was after the second double murders
22:11they started using the name Phantom
22:13in the local newspaper.
22:14No one felt like he or she was safe.
22:17Foyette was also able to maintain
22:19a seemingly normal life,
22:21like the intelligent and charming Ted Bundy.
22:33This first season episode
22:35concerns a professional hitman
22:36by the name of Vincent Parada,
22:38who is often hired by mob bosses.
22:40After kidnapping his victims,
22:42Parada would inflict pain and suffering on them,
22:44and then dispose of their various body parts.
22:47This fictional hitman is inspired
22:49by Richard Kuklinski,
22:50who is perhaps better known as the Iceman.
22:53I have hurt
22:58people that mean
23:00everything to me.
23:02Like Parada,
23:03the Iceman allegedly worked as a hitman for the mob,
23:05preferred male victims,
23:07was tormented as a child,
23:08and had a personal vendetta against his father.
23:11He's learned to take the pain,
23:12and it's why he has no compassion for anyone else's.
23:14You gotta trust us.
23:16Unfortunately,
23:17the crimes of Kuklinski are hard to corroborate,
23:19as he is known to exaggerate.
23:21He was officially convicted of five murders,
23:24including the death of a police officer
23:26with connections to the mafia.
23:28Is that all you've got left, is hate?
23:30That's all I've got left.
23:32Everything that I ever cared for is gone.
23:36Number 9. Broken Wing.
23:38In season 14,
23:39a nurse by the name of Douglas Knight
23:41injected his victims with opioids,
23:44and masked their deaths as tragic overdoses.
23:47Don't leave.
23:50Don't leave me.
23:53Don't leave me.
23:55By doing so,
23:56he successfully evaded both suspicion and capture,
23:59at least for a little while.
24:01The character of Knight is heavily influenced by Donald Harvey,
24:04an angel of death from Ohio
24:06who worked as a hospital orderly.
24:08Unlike Knight,
24:09Harvey did not have a single modus operandi.
24:12Rather,
24:13he was known to harm his victims
24:14through a variety of methods,
24:15including cyanide poisoning,
24:17suffocation,
24:18shutting off ventilators,
24:20and injecting HIV into his victims' bodies
24:22through tainted fluids.
24:23He was quite bizarre,
24:26and on certain levels.
24:28Raised some doubts as to whether or not
24:30this guy was reciting some sort of fantasy.
24:34While Harvey was officially convicted of 37 deaths,
24:37the true number could be as high as 57.
24:40Number 8.
24:41The Company
24:41In this harrowing episode,
24:44Derek Morgan's cousin Cindy Burns
24:45is spotted for the first time in many years.
24:48Hey!
24:51Cindy?
24:53The behavioral analysis unit discovers
24:55that Cindy was forced to sign a slave contract,
24:58enduring years of physical torment
25:00at the hands of her stalker Malcolm Ford.
25:03What we have is a bond
25:04you know nothing about.
25:06But I'll tell you about it
25:10if you ask permission.
25:12She lived in fear of an organization
25:14called The Company
25:15that would go after her family
25:17if she didn't submit to him.
25:19This is identical to the real-life case
25:21of Colleen Stan,
25:22abducted by Cameron and Janice Hooker
25:24on May 19, 1977,
25:27forced to sign a slave contract
25:29and kept prisoner for seven years.
25:31After seven years
25:32and a dangerous escape,
25:34Colleen faces her next big challenge,
25:37how to heal.
25:39Stan's captors also threatened her
25:41with a fictional company
25:42that would supposedly harm her
25:43and her family
25:44if she tried to escape.
25:46Number 7.
25:47The Perfect Storm
25:48Honey, I need to know
25:50where...
25:55where the girl is.
26:02Don't you mean
26:04they need to know?
26:06Amber and Tony Canardo
26:07of season two's The Perfect Storm
26:09have many real-life precedents.
26:11One is Ian Brady
26:12and Myra Hindley,
26:13a couple responsible
26:14for five youth deaths
26:16around Manchester, England
26:17between 1963 and 1965.
26:19The couple have been
26:20front-page news ever since.
26:23Ian Brady wanted to commit
26:24the perfect murder
26:25to keep possession of his victims.
26:28Dark secrets and shallow graves
26:30on the moors above Manchester.
26:31Another influence
26:32is David and Catherine Burney,
26:34who abducted and murdered four
26:36in Western Australia in 1986.
26:38A fifth victim escaped
26:40and led authorities
26:41to their location.
26:42We go past the house.
26:43She actually became quite upset
26:45when she pointed the house out.
26:47And at that point,
26:48we realized everything she said,
26:50we were satisfied
26:51that everything she said
26:52was absolutely accurate.
26:54You know,
26:55we were convinced
26:56it just wasn't a made-up story.
26:58But the DVD commentary reveals
27:00that the biggest influence
27:01on the episode
27:01was the case of Paul Bernardo
27:03and Carla Homolka.
27:05This was a Canadian couple
27:06who kidnapped and murdered
27:07numerous people
27:08in the early 90s.
27:10Homolka didn't lift a finger
27:11to save her sister
27:12from Bernardo.
27:14Number 6.
27:15Ashes and Dust
27:16Another episode
27:18from Season 2,
27:19Ashes and Dust
27:20concerns serial arsonist
27:21Vincent Stiles.
27:22A pharmaceutical salesman
27:24by day,
27:25Stiles would sneak
27:25into the homes
27:26of wealthy businessmen,
27:28douse the place
27:28in kerosene,
27:29and set it on fire
27:30with a lighter.
27:31He would then
27:32watch the families burn
27:33while wearing
27:34protective equipment.
27:47This story is loosely
27:48based on the case
27:49of Paul Kenneth Keller,
27:51a serial arsonist
27:52from Washington
27:52who is directly mentioned
27:54in the episode itself.
27:55He was a serial arsonist
27:56up in Seattle,
27:57early 90s.
27:58Paul Kenneth Keller?
27:59Yeah.
28:00He used to drive around
28:01all day selling
28:01advertising for his dad's agency,
28:03picking out places to burn.
28:05Keller set over 100 fires
28:07and caused $30 million
28:09in damage
28:10between 1992 and 1993.
28:12In the fall of 92,
28:14Keller set fire
28:15to a Seattle retirement home,
28:16resulting in multiple
28:17senior deaths.
28:19He is currently serving
28:20107 years in prison.
28:22It's very hard
28:23to rationally explain
28:25why I did that,
28:26because there's
28:27no rational reason.
28:28I was not angry at Trinity,
28:29I was not,
28:30but I was very empty,
28:31and perhaps I thought
28:33that others needed
28:34to be as empty
28:35as I was.
28:36Number 5,
28:37The 13th Step.
28:39Ray,
28:42it's conforming.
28:43It's not conforming.
28:45Saying you own me.
28:47That's an old-fashioned
28:48way of looking at things.
28:49Ray Donovan
28:50and Sidney Manning
28:51were the subjects
28:52of the sixth season episode,
28:53The 13th Step.
28:55Hailing from North Dakota,
28:56these two terrorized
28:57the Northwestern United States.
29:00What do you want me to do?
29:02There's nothing you can do.
29:05You're sorry.
29:07Yeah, baby.
29:09The couple committed
29:10multiple mass shootings,
29:11causing numerous deaths
29:13at gas stations
29:14and an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
29:16While the duo
29:17shares some similarities
29:18with Charles Starkweather
29:19and Carol Ann Fugate,
29:20they were mostly influenced
29:22by the legendary
29:23crime spree
29:24of Bonnie and Clyde.
29:25Fueled by passionate love,
29:27the desire to escape poverty,
29:29and utter contempt
29:30for authority,
29:31Bonnie Parker
29:32and Clyde Barrow
29:33united.
29:34They too targeted
29:35rural gas stations
29:36and claimed upwards
29:38of 13 lives,
29:39including
29:40nine police officers.
29:42Number 4,
29:43Riding the Lightning.
29:45The BAU sets up
29:46interviews with inmates
29:47and former couple
29:48Jacob Dawes
29:48and Sarah Jean Mason,
29:50hoping to get some information
29:51on the possibility
29:52of more victims
29:53before their executions.
29:54Do you ever smile?
29:57I mean,
29:57it's hard to trust
29:58a guy who never smiles.
29:59Are there more bodies?
30:02If I told you that,
30:04what would I have left
30:05for myself?
30:06Like John Wayne Gacy,
30:08Dawes was physically
30:09mistreated as a child
30:10and grew up to be
30:12a prolific serial killer
30:13who buried victims' remains
30:14beneath his floor.
30:15But he and Sarah Jean
30:16are also likely inspired
30:18by English couple
30:19Fred and Rosemary West,
30:20who committed horrific crimes
30:22against young women,
30:23including their own children,
30:25from the 1960s to 80s.
30:26The great mystery
30:27of the whole thing
30:28is what drove them
30:30to do this.
30:31While Rose took
30:32an active role
30:32in the crimes,
30:33Sarah Jean did not.
30:35However,
30:35she felt immense guilt
30:37for not trying
30:37to stop her husband
30:38and goes through
30:39with the execution
30:40despite not actually
30:41being guilty.
30:42I am standing here
30:44because of choices
30:45I made.
30:49Don't let my son
30:50lead Jacob's last victim.
30:54Let me go.
30:57Let us both go.
30:59Number 3.
31:00To Hell and Back
31:01Serving as
31:02the two-part
31:03fourth season finale,
31:04To Hell and Back
31:05concerns murderous brothers
31:07Mason and Lucas Turner.
31:08What's that?
31:11Mason is the leader
31:12of the operation,
31:14manipulating his brother
31:15who is mentally disabled
31:16into committing
31:17dozens of crimes.
31:18You don't have to
31:19tie me up, Lucas.
31:24Mason says always.
31:26Mason doesn't want us
31:27to be friends, remember?
31:28Their horribly violent
31:29crime spree culminated
31:31in a staggering
31:32number of deaths.
31:32How many victims
31:34were there?
31:36A hundred?
31:38More?
31:40Do you even know
31:41for sure?
31:41They shared a lot
31:42in common with
31:43Robert Pickton.
31:44Both committed
31:45their crimes in Canada,
31:46both were pig farmers,
31:47and both used
31:49their barn animals
31:50to dispose of
31:50their victims' remains.
31:52Do I think
31:52he acted alone?
31:54I think he acted alone
31:55most of the time,
31:56but I don't think
31:57he acted alone
31:58all of the time.
31:58They also targeted
32:00lonely people
32:00like sex workers
32:01and those with
32:02substance use disorders
32:03to prevent
32:03high-profile attention.
32:05Number two,
32:06Minimal Loss.
32:07The fourth season episode,
32:09Minimal Loss,
32:10is a little different.
32:11Rather than focusing
32:12on one or two
32:13specific criminal minds,
32:15it concerns an entire cult
32:16and its eccentric leader.
32:18Acknowledge him
32:19in all things
32:20and he will guide your way.
32:22Drink to acknowledge him
32:23and I will guide our way.
32:30The cult is
32:31the Sepetarian sect,
32:32whose compound
32:33is located
32:33in rural Colorado.
32:35Its leader
32:36is predator
32:36Benjamin Cyrus.
32:38God will forgive me
32:39for what I must do.
32:42I don't know
32:43what you're talking about.
32:44Cyrus is mostly based
32:46on famous cult leader
32:47Jim Jones,
32:48who oversaw
32:49the People's Temple.
32:50Like Cyrus,
32:51Jones made his followers
32:52drink poison.
32:53And while Cyrus'
32:55poison scheme
32:56was a bluff,
32:57Jones' wasn't.
32:58And hundreds
32:59of People's Temple
33:00members died
33:01on November 18, 1978.
33:03I think the lessons
33:04of Jonestown
33:04is to really
33:05go within
33:06so you don't have
33:07to go without.
33:08It's better to live
33:09for a cause
33:09than die for it.
33:11The disastrous
33:12hostage crisis
33:12at the rural compound
33:14also shares
33:14many similarities
33:15with the deadly
33:16Waco siege in 1993,
33:18which resulted
33:19in the deaths
33:19of many Branch Davidians.
33:21Huge numbers
33:22of Americans
33:23watched this play out
33:24on their television sets,
33:26and the ending
33:27was incredibly horrifying.
33:29Number 1.
33:30Our Darkest Hour,
33:31The Longest Night.
33:32I'm not afraid of you.
33:37You really think
33:38that matters
33:39that much to me?
33:40Turning in
33:40his scariest performance
33:42since Pennywise
33:43in this two-parter,
33:44Tim Curry portrayed
33:45Billy Flynn,
33:46who is nicknamed
33:47the Prince of Darkness
33:48owing to his penchant
33:49for taking lives
33:50in the dark.
33:50He would usually
33:52strike during
33:52a rolling blackout,
33:54breaking into a house
33:55and murdering
33:55most of its occupants.
33:56Get up!
33:58You okay?
34:00You think
34:00they'll remember me now?
34:02The influences
34:03behind Flynn
34:04are many,
34:04but he is largely
34:05based on two
34:06specific people.
34:07The first
34:08is Gordon Cummins,
34:09who struck
34:10during wartime blackouts
34:11and claimed the lives
34:12of four women
34:13in 1942.
34:14The other
34:15is Richard Ramirez,
34:16a.k.a.
34:17The Night Stalker.
34:18Such is his reputation
34:19that extra security
34:20was set up
34:21outside the courtroom
34:22and many spectators
34:24crowded around
34:24for a glimpse
34:25of an accused
34:26serial killer.
34:27Both he and Flynn
34:28had horrible teeth,
34:29both broke into homes
34:30in the dead of night
34:31and both were accosted
34:33by a gang
34:34of angry civilians.
34:35He said something
34:36in Spanish about
34:38I'm lucky the cops
34:39are coming or something
34:39because he knew
34:41that everybody
34:42was going to finish.
34:43All the neighbors
34:43just hung together
34:45and got them.
34:45Did you know
34:46these were based
34:46on real crimes?
34:47Let us know
34:48in the comments.
34:51Let's do it.
34:52Good night.
34:52Let's do it.
34:54Let us know
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