- 13 hours ago
“Criminal Minds” never shied away from gut-wrenching losses, but some deaths hit harder than others. Join us as we revisit the most unexpected, brutal, and heartbreaking moments from the long-running BAU drama, featuring shocking losses involving profilers, victims, and unsubs alike. From terrifying murders to devastating off-screen twists, these are the deaths fans still can’t forget.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:0017 out of 25 dead.
00:02This strain is duplicating every 30 to 45 minutes.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:07And today, we're counting down our picks for the most unexpected,
00:10elaborate, and heartbreaking losses on the long-running hit procedural Criminal Minds.
00:14We're including both on- and off-screen deaths,
00:17victims, profilers, and unsubs alike.
00:20Spoilers ahead for all 18 seasons of Criminal Minds,
00:23including Criminal Minds Evolution.
00:26Will you stay with me?
00:27Yes.
00:28Promise.
00:31Number 20. Matthew Benton.
00:33When SSA Emily Prentice reunites with an old childhood friend, John Cooley,
00:38he delivers the awful news that their mutual friend, Matthew Benton, has recently died.
00:42His parents said that he had a heart attack.
00:47I'm sorry.
00:49Had you seen him?
00:50Yeah, a couple of times.
00:53Emily and the team connect his death to two others
00:55who died in their homes from what presents as natural causes,
00:58including dehydration and an aneurysm.
01:01All three deaths were a result of exorcisms performed by Father Paul Silvano,
01:06approved by families who thought their loved ones were possessed by a demon.
01:09Matthew's parents saw his erratic behavior as a sign of demonic possession,
01:13which they still believe even after he experienced a fatal stress-induced heart attack during Silvano's exorcism.
01:19The BAU has seen religion-driven unsubs before,
01:22but dying painful, terrifying deaths via exorcisms?
01:26That's a new one.
01:27Step away from him!
01:28Step away from him!
01:30Step away from him!
01:31We call in the neighborhood!
01:33Step away!
01:33You have no right to be!
01:34This is my friend's house!
01:36This is my friend's house!
01:37Murder!
01:38Number 19, Kate Joyner.
01:40After multiple people are shot and killed in New York City,
01:43SSA Kate Joyner calls in Hotch and his team to help find the unsubs involved.
01:47So you're thinking if the dominant unsub has a similar MO?
01:51We get Garcia to study the footage and see if the same person keeps returning to the crime scene
01:55in the days following the shootings.
01:57All we've been looking at right now are the immediate aftermath of the crimes.
01:59As each agent gets into a black SUV, a bomb goes off in one of them,
02:03and the episode ends on a cliffhanger.
02:05Who was in the bombed vehicle?
02:07The season 4 premiere shows us that the blast came from an IED placed underneath Hotch and Kate's SUV,
02:13the latter of whom is severely wounded and likely paralyzed.
02:16I have to get up.
02:16No, no, no, no. Lie down. Lie still. You need to lie still.
02:20I'm going to move on my legs.
02:22What?
02:22The explosion is shocking enough,
02:24but seeing Kate suffering in the street is a painful watch.
02:27Eventually, she's rushed to the hospital, where she dies from her extensive injuries.
02:32That's all that we could.
02:36I'm so sorry.
02:37Number 18. Rebecca Bryant
02:39Rebecca Bryant first appeared in the season 1 finale,
02:42when she was abducted and held prisoner for two years,
02:45unaware that her captor was actually her biological father.
02:48I just got a DNA hit on the lock of hair.
02:50Rebecca Bryant.
02:51She's been missing out of Boston for two years.
02:54Two years?
02:55The team rescues Rebecca in the season 2 premiere,
02:57but by the finale, she's in trouble again.
02:59Serial killer Frank Breitkopf returns and goes after victims that the BAU saved.
03:05After killing Gideon's old friend Sarah Jacobs,
03:07Frank poses as Gideon, whom Rebecca had never met,
03:10to gain entry into her apartment, where he murders her.
03:13His goal is to reunite with his, quote,
03:15love interest Jane Hanratty, who left him.
03:18In the end, Frank convinces Jane to be with him again,
03:21and the two jump in front of a train.
03:23Didn't we have fun?
03:24Jane.
03:25So much.
03:27Come with me now.
03:29It doesn't have to end here.
03:30Number 17. Sarah Jean Mason
03:33When people confess to crimes they didn't commit,
03:35they're usually seeking attention.
03:37But that's not the case with Sarah Jean Mason.
03:39Before she was a prisoner on death row,
03:41Sarah Jean was married to ruthless serial killer Jacob Dawes.
03:45Do you ever smile?
03:47I mean, it's hard to trust a guy who never smiles.
03:50Are there more bodies?
03:52If I told you that,
03:54what would I have left for myself?
03:57Together, they had a son named Riley,
03:59but Jacob thought he was just a liability
04:01and instructed his wife to kill their child.
04:03Sarah Jean secretly gave him away to a loving family,
04:06but still confessed to murdering him.
04:08All that matters is that he's safe.
04:11Where is he?
04:12He's in a better place.
04:13Gideon discovers that Riley is indeed still alive,
04:16which would prove her innocence,
04:18but rather than reveal the truth,
04:19Sarah Jean accepts her death sentence,
04:21wishing to protect her son.
04:24I am standing here because of choices I made.
04:30Don't let my son be Jacob's last victim.
04:36Let me go.
04:38Let us both go.
04:40Surprisingly, Gideon agrees to drop it,
04:42allowing her to die for a crime she didn't commit.
04:45Number 16.
04:46Carolyn Baker Rossi
04:48David Rossi experienced many tragic losses in his life,
04:51including the death of his son with his first wife, Carolyn.
04:54When we were married,
04:55you were always warning me about clogged arteries.
04:57And you would always say to me,
05:00nobody lives forever.
05:02When the former couple catches up in season seven,
05:04she tells him she's been diagnosed with ALS.
05:07Last year I was diagnosed with ALS,
05:10Lou Gehrig's disease.
05:12Carolyn.
05:13Like you always said, nobody lives forever.
05:16She asks for his assistance in a premature death,
05:19but he can't bring himself to do it.
05:20When it's time, will you help me end my life?
05:25The next time he sees Carolyn,
05:27she's already taken the steps to end her life.
05:30And we're just as shocked as poor Rossi.
05:32Sadly, this wouldn't be the only time he watches a spouse die.
05:35What have you done?
05:36Oh, oh, shh.
05:38Just come sit.
05:41It won't be long now.
05:43No, but...
05:44In season 13,
05:46Rossi rekindled a romance with ex-wife number three,
05:49Crystal Richards.
05:50By season 14,
05:51they were remarried.
05:52But in Criminal Minds Evolution,
05:54we find out she died of an unspecified illness,
05:56leaving Rossi devastated once again.
06:00Couldn't watch them close her up like that.
06:10Do you think she'll forgive me?
06:12Number 15,
06:13Roger Song's Victims.
06:15What is that?
06:16What is all this?
06:19Why her?
06:20What?
06:22Why did you do this to her?
06:24This season 17 episode opens with Craig Park,
06:27a man trapped in a glass cage.
06:29After being interrogated by the unsub,
06:31he's doused in a sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide mixture until he dies.
06:36He's the third victim of Roger Song,
06:38a traumatized man who has already killed Alan George and Tony Moon,
06:42two of the men he believes assaulted his wife.
06:44We have three disappearances,
06:46Alan George, Tony Moon, and Craig Park.
06:48Disappearances?
06:49No bodies?
06:50No, but three men of the same race and the same zip code,
06:53Bethesda isn't taking any chances.
06:55But they're actually just sperm donors,
06:57along with his last victim, Jeremy Moy.
06:59This piranha solution isn't used just to get rid of human remains.
07:03It's also how they're killed.
07:04It goes without saying that being liquefied is a truly horrific death.
07:08The episode ends with another shock.
07:10Song's family has been dead the whole time.
07:13Help my wife.
07:17Tell her I love her.
07:19Tell her the baby is hungry.
07:21Number 14,
07:22Mr. Scratch Victims.
07:23In this Matthew Gray Goobler-directed episode,
07:26three seemingly unrelated people have been arrested for murder.
07:29Daniel Karras killed his mother,
07:31and Christine McNeil and Larry Marin killed their romantic partners.
07:34But all three claim a shadow monster they call Mr. Scratch attacked them.
07:39While they physically committed the crimes,
07:41the BAU discovers someone manipulated their minds with hallucinogens.
07:44Before he could harm his son,
07:46Bill took his own life,
07:47as did Dr. Susanna Reagan.
07:49Who was responsible for many of the investigations during the day,
07:51she was a member of the Believe the Children movement,
07:53which encouraged cops to believe anything the kids said about the SRA,
07:57and that the kiddos didn't have anything to say,
07:59she'd tell the cops to twist their arms until they did.
08:01The revenge-fueled unsub,
08:03Peter Lewis,
08:04targeted these four former foster kids decades after law enforcement,
08:07and Dr. Reagan coerced them into saying his dad abused them in the Lewis's group home.
08:11Having a loved one perish is traumatic,
08:13but being manipulated into killing them is a nightmare in and of itself.
08:17I win.
08:19I don't think so.
08:22You have no idea what I did to him.
08:25I win.
08:26Number 13, Kelly Seymour.
08:28Seeking revenge on his former football teammates,
08:31Marcus Younger kidnaps three of their daughters,
08:33North Mammon High School girls soccer players Polly, Brooke, and Kelly.
08:37Two of you will leave this room alive.
08:41One of you will die.
08:42He locks the trio in a cellar without water or food,
08:45telling them one will die, but they have to choose who.
08:48With Brooke's cough becoming exceedingly worse, Kelly decides it should be her.
08:52We missed her!
08:55We made our choice!
08:57But before she uses one of the weapons Younger provided them, Brooke kills Kelly.
09:01It's like those soccer players who crashed in the Andes.
09:04They were starving.
09:05They had no food, nothing to eat except for their friends who had died.
09:08They were good people, but they didn't have a choice.
09:10They did what they had to do.
09:14The situation itself is unimaginable, but with her being ill and Kelly determined to get free,
09:20we didn't expect Brooke to be the one who would survive.
09:23Of course, we hoped they'd be rescued before anyone had to die.
09:27I didn't have any choice.
09:31They'd already decided to get...
09:33Number 12.
09:35Stephen Shepard
09:36For years, Roger and Anita Royce would have abducted kids from public places,
09:40holding them captive in their house of horrors.
09:42When they take Amy Lynch, we see her new siblings, Charlie, May, and Stephen.
09:47It's okay.
09:49I'm not gonna hurt you.
09:50Come here.
09:53Come on, come here.
09:57What's your name?
09:59You gotta tell them your name before they give you a new one.
10:02What are you doing?
10:03All three try to keep her out of harm's way,
10:06but Stephen is dispatched and cremated after standing up to Anita.
10:09In one of the most heartbreaking moments in the series,
10:11Charlie tells Mr. and Mrs. Shepard that their son gave his life trying to protect the Roycewoods' last victim.
10:16It's painful to know that his parents were so close to reuniting with him
10:20after he'd been missing for seven years.
10:22How old was Stephen when he died?
10:28He died protecting that little girl.
10:37He was alive yesterday.
10:39Number 11.
10:40Clubgoers and wine drinkers
10:42When Anna Johnson has what appears to be an extreme overdose at a New York City nightclub,
10:46bartender Sean Hotchner calls his older brother for help.
10:49She was bleeding out of everything.
10:53My manager wouldn't let me call 911 until we got her outside by that time she was already dead.
10:58The BAU finds that Anna and the previous victims unknowingly consumed a mixture of illegal substances,
11:04making them bleed from their eyes, nose, and mouth.
11:07The mixture, aka Dr. Death, also kills at least six partygoers at a rave.
11:11Then Bernard and Catherine Hatchett meet the same fate after drinking dosed wine.
11:16Sean's boss, Thane Parks, admits to spiking the bottles, quote,
11:19for a laugh, thinking it was one substance.
11:21But the main unsub is actually Larry Ferretich,
11:24a grieving father poisoning random people in a misguided attempt to avenge his daughter.
11:28The fatal reaction to the substances is pure nightmare fuel.
11:32Larry Ferretich, you're under arrest for the murder.
11:34He killed my daughter!
11:35He killed Megan!
11:37No, he didn't.
11:37A drug killed your daughter.
11:39Number 10.
11:40Detective Matt Spicer.
11:41Seasons 5 and 6 saw one of the show's scariest unsubs,
11:45Billy Flynn, dubbed the Prince of Darkness.
11:47Did you shut the window?
11:49What?
11:51Oh my god!
11:53The BAU establishes the connection between the prolific serial killer and Detective Matt Spicer,
11:57the grown-up son of a couple he murdered 26 years ago.
12:00Throughout the episode, Morgan observes signs that the detective has unknowingly suppressed
12:04a traumatic childhood memory.
12:06You seem to have some insight as if you witnessed it.
12:09Maybe because I pictured it a thousand times.
12:11After decades of killing across the country,
12:14Flynn returns to California and torments Spicer by murdering people in the area,
12:18and ultimately kidnapping his sister and daughter.
12:20You first, you first.
12:22Drop the gun!
12:23Please daddy, listen to me.
12:25Despite surrendering, the detective is mercilessly killed in front of them.
12:29All of Flynn's crimes are horrific,
12:31but taking the life of a father simply to show just how truly sadistic he is,
12:35is on another level.
12:37I love you, Ellie.
12:43No!
12:44No, Spicer!
12:45What is wrong with you?
12:46Number 9.
12:47Tate Andrews.
12:49Arachnophobes beware.
12:50This episode involves a lot of spiders.
12:53Season 16 introduced Elias Voight,
12:55aka the Sicarius Killer,
12:57and his serial killer network.
12:58Each member has their own disturbing kill methods,
13:01and are instructed to take their own lives if they get caught.
13:04The network must have gotten to him,
13:05so he took himself off the table.
13:07That leaves two suspects for us to worry about.
13:10In season 18,
13:11they work together at the behest of the network's new leader.
13:14Unfortunately for Tate Andrews,
13:16he's the victim of Trevor Wollner,
13:18aka Huntsman,
13:19who force-fed him 26 balloons filled with small IEDs and Sicarius spiders.
13:24Garcia tries to jam the signals
13:26and unintentionally detonates the internal explosives,
13:29releasing the spiders inside of Andrews,
13:31who dies a terrible death.
13:33Even if you're not normally scared of spiders,
13:35this will make your skin crawl long after the credits roll.
13:38The cause of death is venom from hundreds of internal spider bites.
13:42They were literally trying to eat their way out of the victim.
13:45Number 8. Teen Victims
13:47In an especially somber episode of Criminal Minds,
13:50the BAU tries to establish if multiple high school students,
13:53including Sean Eubanks, Trish Leak, and Ryan Krause,
13:56intentionally ended their lives,
13:58or if there's foul play involved.
14:00Not exactly true.
14:01Sometimes we do what's called an equivocal death investigation
14:04to try to figure out the manner of death.
14:07It may turn out that...
14:08Our investigation will try and sort it all out for you.
14:10The team discovers they were all trying to win an online game,
14:13along with other classmates in nearby towns.
14:16While they begin profiling the unsub as young and tech-savvy,
14:19they quickly realize the culprit is a parent.
14:22An EMT named Will Summers,
14:24who has Munchausen Syndrome by proxy,
14:26orchestrated everything,
14:27encouraging over 30 students to play,
14:29and then tried to revive them.
14:31It's heartbreaking to think of all of the young,
14:33innocent lives lost just because of this unsub sick game.
14:37So the father poses as a classmate
14:38and invites local kids to join the game.
14:40Bumps up the stakes and encourages them to use the riskiest methods.
14:43He works on Friday nights.
14:44Which means he gets called out to do the rescues.
14:46He's not just collecting videotapes.
14:47His Munchausen has evolved.
14:49Number 7.
14:50Stephen Walker
14:51Shortly after Hotch officially went into witness protection in Season 12,
14:55Stephen Walker joined the team.
14:56I thought I'd check out where we keep the paperclips around here.
14:59You gotta be.
15:00The agent had established relationships with Prentice and Rossi
15:03and quickly became a beloved member of the BAU fam.
15:06So when the Season 13 premiere came around,
15:08fans were shocked to learn that Walker was a casualty
15:11in a crash caused by Peter Lewis,
15:13aka Mr. Scratch,
15:14a multi-season enemy of the team.
15:20Since Prentice recruited Walker to come work for the BAU,
15:23she feels guilty.
15:24I can't leave him alone like this.
15:28Luke!
15:30And as if his death wasn't heartbreaking enough,
15:33we see his wife Monica at the hospital overwhelmed with grief.
15:36Number 6.
15:37Emily Prentice
15:38Told me everything but a name.
15:40Ian Doyle.
15:42Pleasure.
15:44In Season 6,
15:45Ian Doyle,
15:46an old foe of Emily's,
15:47comes back into her life,
15:48leading to a violent face-to-face confrontation
15:50that leaves her severely wounded.
16:01After the team hears that she didn't survive,
16:03we see the team mourn her unfathomable death at the hospital
16:06and attend her funeral.
16:07The episode ends with JJ delivering passports to a woman in Paris.
16:11Passports from three different countries
16:13and a bank account and each one to keep you comfortable.
16:15Later, we learn this was Emily about to go into hiding.
16:19Even though she ultimately survived,
16:20she did code on the way to the hospital.
16:23Emily Prentice returns in the first episode of Season 7,
16:25a double shock to everyone kept in the dark.
16:28You didn't deserve that.
16:30And I'm so sorry.
16:32While the team is relieved to have her back,
16:34some are still deeply hurt by the secrecy.
16:37Number 5.
16:38Jason Gideon.
16:39In the world of Criminal Minds,
16:40Jason Gideon is a co-founder of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit.
16:44After years of dealing with psychopaths
16:46and endless innocent victims,
16:48the respected profiler leaves the team he founded.
16:51I'm sorry the explanation couldn't be better, Spencer.
16:53And I'm sorry it doesn't make more sense.
16:56But I've already told you.
16:58I just don't understand any of it anymore.
17:00Gideon's abrupt exit at the beginning of Season 3
17:03left his colleagues shocked as well as the audience.
17:06Where are you headed?
17:08Nowhere in particular.
17:10How will you know when you get there?
17:12Despite actor Mandy Patinkin's decision to leave the series,
17:15fans still held out hope he'd make a return in some capacity.
17:18But in Season 10,
17:20the character was officially killed off by an unsub from a decades-old case.
17:23Are you sure?
17:26It's Gideon.
17:30While Gideon's murder was off-screen,
17:33it still made a significant impact
17:34since we had to mourn the loss a second time.
17:38I'm gonna step right out there.
17:41And when you're ready,
17:44let's go get this son of a bitch.
17:46Number 4.
17:47Will Lamontagne Jr.
17:48Season 2 introduced us to Will Lamontagne Jr.,
17:51a New Orleans detective who becomes J.J.'s love interest
17:54and eventual husband.
17:55Since then, he's had a few close calls in the series,
17:58from being shot and strapped to a bomb in Season 7,
18:01to a cancer scare and a bullet wound from Elias Voigt in Season 16.
18:05Are you okay?
18:05No, I'm good.
18:06Are you okay?
18:07I'm all ready to go.
18:08But after surviving all of that,
18:10Will is officially killed off in Season 18's second episode.
18:14He doesn't die in the line of duty or at the hands of an unsub.
18:17He's in the kitchen with J.J.
18:18when he collapses and dies of a rare thyroid aneurysm.
18:22My husband just collapsed.
18:25Will?
18:26Will, come on.
18:28Will, wake up.
18:29It's a sudden, devastating loss for J.J.
18:31and their kids, Henry and Michael.
18:33Number 3.
18:34Erin Strauss.
18:35Since her first appearance in Season 2,
18:37FBI Section Chief Director Erin Strauss
18:39has been one of the many enemies of the BAU.
18:42I'm exhausted.
18:42I'm gonna head back to the hotel and take a bath.
18:45Um, I could drive you.
18:48She tried to break up the team on more than one occasion
18:51and was seemingly unliked by everyone.
18:53Her character improved over the years,
18:55showing vulnerability and even empathy
18:57for the people she once antagonized.
18:59In Season 8, vengeful FBI agent John Curtis,
19:02a.k.a. The Replicator,
19:04kills Strauss while she and the team are in New York.
19:06You really think your team is going to save you?
19:10I know they would.
19:12Did you get everything you wanted?
19:13While she wasn't a main character,
19:15we still didn't anticipate her death.
19:17Or how sad it would be.
19:18Curtis' slow-acting killing method was torturous,
19:21drawing out her demise and leaving Hotch
19:23to witness her die up close.
19:25I don't want to die alone.
19:28I'm right here.
19:29It's okay.
19:30Number 2.
19:31Maeve Donovan.
19:32In Season 8 of Criminal Minds,
19:34our beloved boy wonder Spencer Reed
19:36finally got a romantic love interest.
19:38What's so funny?
19:40What? I didn't laugh.
19:42Something's amusing you.
19:43I can hear it.
19:44He and Maeve Donovan only knew each other briefly,
19:46and since she had a stalker,
19:48the two could only speak over the phone.
19:49That's when I said,
19:51this is a guy I need to get to know.
19:53However, through their shared love of literature and science,
19:56Reed and Maeve were a match made in nerdy heaven.
19:58When Maeve stalker Diane Turner abducts her,
20:01Reed enlists the team to help save her.
20:03She left you a present,
20:04and if you want to find it,
20:06it's easy as pie.
20:08What does that mean?
20:09But when he's finally face-to-face with his long-distance love,
20:12their time together is cut short by Diane,
20:14who simultaneously takes Maeve's life along with her own.
20:17Wait!
20:19We really wanted a happy ending for Reed.
20:22Instead, the episode ends in a shocking tragedy.
20:25Before we unveil our top pick,
20:26here are a few honorable mentions.
20:28Francesca Morales.
20:30JJ feels immense guilt for not saving a victim dying in a fire.
20:33Let's go!
20:34No! No! No!
20:37No! No!
20:38No! No! No!
20:39No! No!
20:40Phil Brooks.
20:41Luke's best friend is murdered by a revenge-fueled serial killer.
20:44Any last words?
20:46Go!
20:47To hell!
20:50Frank Clemonson.
20:51Experienced a fatal heart attack
20:53after seeing his daughter tortured on camera.
20:56Is that Laura?
20:59It can't be.
21:02Frank, what's happening?
21:05Oh, my God.
21:07Vicky Wright.
21:08Johnny McHale was forced to watch a gang torture and kill his pregnant fiancé.
21:12Look, I've got a little bit of money.
21:14It's not a lot.
21:14It's not a lot.
21:15It's not a lot.
21:15Yes, yes, I'll marry you.
21:17It's okay, Vicky.
21:17It's okay.
21:18It's okay.
21:18See, bro?
21:19You got more than you thought.
21:21You got a fiancé.
21:22FBI Deputy Director Doug Bailey.
21:24A quick and brutal end for a new character.
21:27The Attorney General has granted me full authority in this matter.
21:29Of course, because by my math, there's only two people who know about it.
21:33Only you and me.
21:40Before we continue, check out this single from Sound Mojo's album Balance.
21:44Classical music reimagined as rock, hard rock, and metal.
21:48Check out the full track and album below.
21:51Gold by silence, guilt by his prayer.
21:55I am the echo, you can't outrun the jokes on you.
22:00The blade's begun.
22:05Number 1.
22:07Hayley Hotchner.
22:08Several unsubs have targeted the BAU for one reason or another,
22:11but one of the worst was George Foyette, a.k.a. The Reaper.
22:14You're quite so quiet.
22:16You usually lash out when you're frustrated.
22:18I'm not frustrated.
22:19You're more predictable than you think.
22:21After his return to the city of Boston in Season 4,
22:24Foyette comes back to further taunt Hotch in Season 5
22:26by kidnapping his ex-wife Haley and their son Jack.
22:29When she calls Hotch and realizes she's with a cold-blooded killer,
22:33we can hear the fear in her voice.
22:35Haley?
22:36Show him no weakness.
22:38No fear.
22:40I know.
22:41Sam told me all about him.
22:43She spends her last moments on the phone with him while the team listens on in terror.
22:47It's shocking not only because of Haley's innocence, but because of how it all unfolded.
22:54Promise me that you will tell him how we met,
22:58and how you used to make me laugh.
23:00Haley?
23:01He needs to know that you weren't always so serious, Aaron.
23:04It's a personal tragedy for Hotch and Jack,
23:07but everyone collectively mourns Haley,
23:09someone we've known since the first episode of the series.
23:12I promise.
23:20Whose demise shocked you the most?
23:22Let us know in the comments.
23:25We'll see you next time.
23:26You
23:27You
23:29You
23:30You
Comments