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Some criminals are born from unimaginable pain. Join us as we count down our picks for the "Criminal Minds" unsubs whose tragic backstories made them impossible to forget — and sometimes even hard not to sympathize with. Our list includes Tobias Hankel, Shelley Chamberlain, Paul Westin, Jonny McHale, and more. Which unsub did you sympathize with the most? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00Janine Bergen, Natalie Gallo, Randy Slade.
00:06Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the unknown subjects on Criminal Minds who have
00:12the saddest origins.
00:13Since some of these backstories reveal key plot points, a spoiler warning is now in effect for the first 18
00:18seasons of Criminal Minds, including Criminal Minds Evolution.
00:22Your mother and I would both love you. Don't you ever forget that.
00:28Number 20. Norman Hill
00:30When the BAU travels to California to stop an unsub known as the Road Warrior, they discover that he is
00:36a seemingly ordinary man named Norman Hill.
00:38Six months prior, his youngest daughter Jenny was hit by a car while he was changing a tire on the
00:43side of the road.
00:44He blames himself for her death, and thinks his wife and two older daughters also hold him responsible.
00:49Move on!
00:50I don't know how you could. How you could keep looking at those same walls.
00:54It's the same. Same pictures.
00:57Norman, what are you talking about?
00:59It's my job to make everything right again.
01:02A psychotic break sends Norman on a killing spree, shooting women who resembled his wife on the highway.
01:08But all the hostile interactions that we saw with his family were not real.
01:11When he's finally caught, he has the heart-wrenching realization that he already murdered them.
01:16It was your fault!
01:19I'm sorry.
01:20You let my baby girl die!
01:23Number 19. Rodney Harris
01:25In Season 2, we learned about Derek Morgan's traumatic childhood, having suffered years of abuse from local community center leader
01:32and football coach Carl Buford.
01:33And you have everything to do with making me who I am.
01:39Because of you, I'm somebody who gets to spend the rest of his life making sure guys like you go
01:43down.
01:43Later, in Season 8, the team heads back to Chicago to solve a string of murders.
01:48They find that their unsub is Rodney Harris, another of Buford's victims.
01:52He first killed the swim coach who abused his son Tyler, but the three others were innocent men whom he
01:57thought had harmed young boys.
01:59Morgan is able to talk him down before he takes another life, revealing to Rodney that he's not alone.
02:04I'm in these streets.
02:06Hell, I'm already dead.
02:08No.
02:09No, that's what Carl Buford always wanted you to believe. Don't you see that?
02:12That's how he controlled you.
02:13By the end of the episode, Buford's real crimes are exposed, and he's killed in prison.
02:18But the pain he caused so many remains.
02:21It can make you fight back.
02:29And it can make you want to spend the rest of your life protecting others.
02:32Number 18. Luke Dolan
02:34After sustaining a head injury in a car accident, former U.S. Navy SEAL Luke Dolan goes on a killing
02:40spree,
02:40beginning with his commanding officer and an office full of employees.
02:44The team theorizes he has PTSD.
02:46Luke Dolan is a Navy veteran we believe is suffering from PTSD.
02:51A recent trauma may have triggered this.
02:52He's experiencing pathological disassociation, and he may believe he's in a combat situation.
02:58They saw a similar case with Roy Woodridge, a former U.S. Army soldier traumatized by a mission in Somalia.
03:04You should be out here.
03:05It isn't safe.
03:12It isn't safe.
03:13When Luke Dolan murders his parents, Reed suggests he may have Capgras Syndrome,
03:17a condition causing him to view his family and friends as impostors.
03:21Both veterans were haunted by situations where they were forced to dispatch adolescents.
03:25And sadly, their illnesses caused them to take more lives.
03:37Number 17.
03:38Sarah Jean Mason
03:39In one of the saddest episodes of the series, the team interviews two inmates on death row,
03:45serial killer Jacob Dawes and his guilt-ridden wife Sarah Jean Mason.
03:48While she wasn't involved in any of the murders, she admitted to killing their young son Riley,
03:53as Jacob ordered her to do.
03:55I think you're innocent.
03:57We're all guilty of something.
04:02But it's...
04:04It's our children that suffer as far as it ends.
04:07However, as Gideon comes to discover, Sarah Jean lied.
04:10Riley is alive and living with the loving family she chose to take care of him.
04:14Gideon desperately tries to stop her execution, not wanting her to die for a crime she didn't commit.
04:19Yet, Sarah Jean wants Riley to be free of his birth parents' legacy, making the ultimate sacrifice to keep him
04:25safe.
04:26You have the chance to save my son's life.
04:30I chose to save yours, too.
04:34My life ended the day I met Jacob.
04:37Number 16.
04:38Lucas Turner
04:38In this two-part season four finale, a series of disappearances in Detroit, Michigan, leads the team to a pig
04:44farm in rural Canada,
04:46where they find evidence of over 80 victims.
04:48Resident Mason Turner, who is confined to a bed, immediately blames his younger brother Lucas, who has autism.
04:54Anything to suggest a violent nature?
04:56Nothing in the drawings.
04:57They do suggest someone's been watching him.
05:00He's very childlike.
05:01I think that when we find him, he's going to be scared and probably confused.
05:06Mason is the true unsub.
05:08He tasked Lucas with abducting transients to bring back to the farm, where they undergo twisted experiments.
05:13When they find Lucas, he's unarmed and surrendering.
05:16I pushed him!
05:20I pushed him!
05:22I pushed him on the bar!
05:24It was me!
05:25I did it!
05:26However, the police still shoot him as soon as he moves.
05:29The BAU has seen a few people with disabilities who are manipulated into being accomplices,
05:34or in some cases, accidentally harm others due to their size, like Joe in season three's Damaged.
05:39Daddy!
05:41Daddy!
05:42Let's go.
05:43Let's go.
05:44Get out!
05:45Daddy!
05:46Daddy!
05:47Help me, Daddy!
05:49Help me, Daddy!
05:49Help me, Daddy!
05:49Don't fight you!
05:50Daddy!
05:51Stay down!
05:52I need you to go.
05:53I need you to go.
05:53I love you.
05:55Stay down.
05:55Don't move.
05:56Don't you hurt me.
05:56He won't bite you.
05:57Number 15.
05:58Sarah Danlin
05:59When Tulane University medical student Sarah Danlin was out with her friends during Mardi
06:03Gras, she met a guy in a New Orleans bar.
06:05There, he and one of his friends assaulted her.
06:08Despite Sarah wanting to press charges, no witnesses came forward, and the assailants
06:12avoided any kind of punishment.
06:14Only one detective ever believed her, but he couldn't make things right.
06:17By now, I have rid the world of one more.
06:20So many men, so little time.
06:23I hope you don't mind the mess.
06:25They make it so easy, I just can't help myself.
06:29Yours truly.
06:30Sarah soon dropped out of school, and years later, she began emulating Jack the Ripper's
06:34M.O., killing men out partying in the French Quarter.
06:37While developing the profile, the team theorized that the unsub was also likely abused long before
06:43the attack.
06:43After years of being violated and seeing no justice, it's not surprising that she eventually
06:48snapped.
06:49Now you're questioning whether or not you're strong enough to be here?
06:53Yeah.
06:54Number 14.
06:55Sheila Harrison is one of the most sympathetic unsubs in Criminal Minds history.
06:59After her mother died, she became the guardian of her younger sister Lauren Ann.
07:03One night, Sheila let her attend a frat party, and the next day, she found her unconscious
07:08in front of their house.
07:09Lauren Ann had been assaulted and forced to drink an excessive amount to cloud her memory.
07:19I'm so sorry I failed you.
07:21A year later, Sheila abducts and tortures the friend who brought and then left her at
07:25the party, two of the guys who assaulted her, and the man who helped cover it up.
07:29While murder is obviously never the answer, this is a very rare case where the audience
07:33actually rooted for the unsub.
07:35I'm so sorry.
07:38You're sorry?
07:39Well, I am too, and here we are.
07:42Sorry doesn't change a damn thing.
07:44Number 13.
07:46Adam Jackson.
07:47After his mother died when he was young, Adam Jackson suffered years of abuse by his stepfather.
07:52To cope, he developed dissociative identity disorder, and his alternate personality, Amanda,
07:57would endure the cruelty.
07:58What if our unsub couple isn't a couple at all?
08:02Dissociative identity disorder.
08:04You think Adam's a multiple personality?
08:06Now an adult, Adam works as a maintenance man at a hotel on South Padre Island that draws
08:11in a lot of spring breakers.
08:13When he finds a corpse in one of the rooms, the BAU is called in to investigate.
08:18What Adam doesn't know is that Amanda had been killing men whom she believed were like the
08:22violent stepfather.
08:23By the end of the episode, Amanda has taken full control, vowing to keep Adam safe forever.
08:29So you're trying to wear me down and release him?
08:33No.
08:34I'm just waiting for you to do the right thing.
08:40Well, I'm afraid you'll be waiting for a very long time.
08:43Number 12.
08:44The Gold Star Killers.
08:45In season 17, the BAU discovers that research conducted by Rossi and Gideon inspired a secret
08:51program that turned at-risk youth into serial killers.
08:54Cult leader Frank Church brainwashed them to believe that the government was behind Stewart
08:57House, the facility where they were severely physically and mentally abused for years.
09:02What they did to you, you had it so much worse than any of us.
09:15Sometimes I think I see his face, but I know it's a lie because the face I see is Mr.
09:23Church.
09:23To cover his tracks, Church sent the Gold Stars, Damian Booth, Aidan Keller, Pete Bailey,
09:28Dana Howe, and Jade Waters, to kill former staff members.
09:32Pete and Jade are the only two to survive, eventually realizing Church lied to them and
09:37saving the rest of his victims.
09:38It's heartbreaking to think that if they weren't tortured and groomed into being killers,
09:42they could have had a chance at a regular life.
09:44It was a lie.
09:48All.
09:50All of it.
09:55Yes.
09:56Number 11.
09:57Darlene Beckett.
09:58Before she became one half of a vigilante duo, Darlene Beckett's daughter Kelly was assaulted
10:02and went missing.
10:03Darlene later joined an online support group and connected with Ellen Russell, a woman whose
10:08nephew died in a car accident caused by a driver under the influence.
10:11And together, they planned to kill the people who took their loved ones and destroyed their
10:16lives.
10:16I can't do this again!
10:18Yes, yes, yes, Darlene, you can.
10:21I don't know.
10:23Darlene, if we don't do this, who else will?
10:27Their last victim is Jason Nelson, Kelly's killer.
10:30He puts Darlene through even more pain by detailing Kelly's attack and subsequent death,
10:35driving her to kill him.
10:36In the end, Ellen was apprehended, but Darlene managed to escape.
10:40Where's Darlene?
10:43She's long gone.
10:46Personally, I have mixed feelings about that one.
10:51But we'll get her too.
10:53Number 10.
10:53William Taylor.
10:54Fresh off a double shift, Salvage Yard owner William Taylor picked up his five-year-old daughter
10:59Tatiana after a dance recital and drove home.
11:01You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.
11:09Please don't take my sunshine away.
11:13Because he was so sleep-deprived from working long hours, he pulled over for a quick nap.
11:18But he underestimated his exhaustion and ended up sleeping for hours instead of minutes.
11:24When he awoke, Tatiana was gone.
11:35He later recalled a mysterious man approaching him that night.
11:38But people thought he had imagined the encounter due to his sleep-deprived state.
11:42When her body was discovered a week later, William began abducting men,
11:47torturing them for days before ultimately killing them.
11:49Losing a child and not knowing what happened would make anyone snap.
11:54Unfortunately, the result of this was only more horrific tragedy.
11:57I mean, up until the very end, he was adamant that a guy with a skull tattoo abducted his daughter.
12:02Well, the answer with the ghost in his mind is always dangerous.
12:06Unless it wasn't all in his mind.
12:08Number 9.
12:09Johnny McHale.
12:10He made me watch.
12:12It can help you.
12:14If we can tell the court that you told us where Glen Hill is.
12:17He made me watch.
12:18This season 3 episode follows the BAU as they investigate a case of vigilante justice in Los Angeles.
12:24It ultimately leads them to Johnny McHale,
12:27a local comic book artist suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder,
12:31who blacks out during his vengeful killing spree.
12:33Six months prior, one of the best nights of his life turned into the worst.
12:37Mickey?
12:40Johnny.
12:42Answer him, baby.
12:44The man asked you a question.
12:46We don't want each other, guys.
12:47It's so much matter what you want.
12:49A gang attacked him and his pregnant fiancée, Vicky, who he had just proposed to minutes before.
12:54Johnny was forced to witness the torturous death and barely survived the incident himself.
12:59Even the team acknowledges that he's one of the rare unsubs that only became a killer due to an awful,
13:04traumatic experience.
13:06He's the first unsub I've worked who wasn't a bad guy, you know?
13:10Six months ago, Johnny McHale was just a regular person.
13:15Number 8.
13:16Desi Gutierrez.
13:17Growing up, Desi Gutierrez endured emotional and psychological abuse, as well as severe neglect from her young mother, Lara.
13:24She would cruelly tell her daughter that she was ugly and unwanted, locking her in a small shed full of
13:29snakes for hours on end.
13:31When Desi was 10, a changed Lara had her sister, Tina, who, unlike Desi, was loved and cared for.
13:38Lara talks about her rise to the top and how proud she is of her daughter, Tina.
13:43Desi is not mentioned in the article at all.
13:45As an adult, Desi became obsessed with snake-like body modification, even going as far as to split her tongue.
13:52She inflicts similar mods on unwitting women after they're bitten by one of her venomous snakes.
14:07In the end, Desi kidnaps her sister and mother, the true objects of her hate.
14:12She dies before enacting her full revenge, but we'd say she made her point.
14:17They think she's perfect, the perfect woman, the perfect mother.
14:22They don't know what she's capable of.
14:25Number 7. Vincent Rowlings.
14:27After witnessing and videotaping his mother die at the hands of his father, young Vincent Rowlings grew up to be
14:33a killer himself.
14:33I saw my mom die, too.
14:39And like my father, I did some bad things.
14:41He stayed with his mom for almost a day and grew up re-watching the footage of her murder over
14:46and over, which was only bound to cause severe psychological distress.
14:50Vincent also has obsessive-compulsive disorder, so he can't keep himself from acting on the compulsion to kill.
14:56He sent us this film as his way of reaching out.
14:59He may be ambivalent, but his OCD won't let him stop.
15:01If he sees a heavy police presence and he's not done, he'll run.
15:05He shows remorse by sending messages to the police at the crime scenes, wanting someone to finally stop him.
15:11When he unintentionally kills one of his victims in front of her young son, Vincent feels a connection to him,
15:17since they now share a rare thing in common.
15:19You're gonna hear bad things about me.
15:23But you can never, ever wish to die, Stan.
15:30Because you're special.
15:32Number 6. Tobias Henkel
15:34Season 2 introduced one of Criminal Mind's most memorable unsubs.
15:38We may have one unsub, suffering from a delusion that he's actually an archangel.
15:43Maybe that first phone call was not two people, but one.
15:46After his mother left, Tobias Henkel was raised by his father, who had become violent and used religion as a
15:52means of abuse.
15:53As Tobias got older, he became reliant on Dilaudid to cope.
15:57Things only worsened when his father got sick, and in order to put a merciful end to his suffering, he
16:02had his son assist him in dying.
16:04Tobias then developed a dissociative identity disorder with two alternate personalities, his father and an archangel named Raphael.
16:12I tried to warn everyone. Just relax, Mr. Henkel, all right?
16:15Shoot him!
16:16I don't want to.
16:19I said, shoot him, you weakling. He's a Satan.
16:23When the BAU catches up with him, he's a serial killer who finds his victims through hacking, choosing people he
16:29deems sinners.
16:30What Tobias does to Reed is unforgivable, but we can't help sympathizing with him after knowing his past.
16:36Tobias.
16:37There he is!
16:41Do you think I get to see my mom again?
16:45I'm sorry.
16:46Number 5. Paul Weston.
16:48Tell her she's beautiful.
16:51I am, aren't I?
16:52You're an abomination!
16:54I'm a great teacher.
16:56You're doing it wrong!
16:57I'm gonna make you a real man.
16:59Paul Weston realized he was attracted to boys at a young age, and when he came out to his father,
17:04John, he was sent to a conversion camp.
17:06In addition to the camp's deplorable techniques, John hired a female sex worker in a deranged attempt to force his
17:13son to try to change his sexual orientation.
17:16Who is suffering from an identity crisis.
17:18This man can't accept his same-sex desires, but he can't fight them either.
17:23He's most likely been repressing all sexual urges for quite some time.
17:27Years later, he's still haunted by what was done to him and the religious rhetoric condemning gayness.
17:32He kills the men he sleeps with because he's ashamed, and he kills the women he tries to be attracted
17:38to who remind him of the sex worker.
17:40Given his trauma and deep-seated self-hate, it's hard not to feel sorry for Paul, as well as the
17:45other young victims of the camp.
17:47He's the one that got us into that camp.
17:49Committed your parents to let that woman do this to us.
17:52They want to make him pay.
17:53Number 4.
17:54James and Marcus Wells
17:56I have no idea who James is.
17:58He raised us.
18:00He worked two jobs just to put time through school.
18:04You don't know him.
18:06You don't know me.
18:07James and Marcus Wells go on a killing spree in Washington, D.C.,
18:11murdering random people with machetes every 27 minutes.
18:15This series of attacks begins a day after the funeral of their younger brother, Tom,
18:19who was shot and killed outside of a nightclub.
18:22Three victims into the spree, Marcus is caught by the team,
18:25and they discover what happened to trigger their violent rage.
18:28Oh, jeez, this is awful.
18:30They called 911 nine times, and for whatever reason, it took the ambulance 27 minutes to get there.
18:37Tom was pronounced dead at the scene.
18:38After Tom was shot, James and Marcus called 911 several times,
18:42but by the time the ambulance arrived 27 minutes later, he had already passed away.
18:48Tom had a bright future ahead of him.
18:50His untimely death is heartbreaking, and we sympathize with the Wells brothers.
18:54We waited 27 minutes, and no one came.
18:59No one.
19:00Do you know what that's like?
19:02Huh?
19:03To be powerless?
19:05But causing more senseless deaths is unjustifiable.
19:09Number three.
19:10Charles Johnson.
19:11What did they do to you that night?
19:13After a drainage pipe explosion unearths skeletal remains in a backyard,
19:18the BAU interviews the homeowners, an African-American family of three.
19:22As Rossi interrogates the Johnson family patriarch,
19:25he uncovers a dark history rooted in racism.
19:28When he was in high school, Charles was attacked and castrated by a group of teenage clan members.
19:32One of their sisters falsely accused him of sexual assault,
19:36and didn't reveal the truth until decades later.
19:39Audrey Collins changed.
19:41Dear Charles, this is Audrey Collins.
19:44Years ago, I told a lie and destroyed you.
19:48Considering the extensive physical and mental damage that was done,
19:51Charles didn't accept her deathbed confession,
19:54and eventually killed some of the men who attacked him, or their relatives.
19:57For revenge?
19:59I killed out of hate.
20:02Hate grew in me that night.
20:05And hate vowed to pay them all back.
20:08The lie scarred Charles in every way imaginable,
20:12taking away his dreams of leading a healthy life with a big family.
20:15Have you told Lyle that he's not your biological son?
20:19No.
20:20You better not.
20:24Please.
20:25Number two.
20:26Shelley Chamberlain.
20:27On her son's sixth birthday, Shelley Chamberlain was driving when fleeing robber Hanley Waters crashed into her vehicle.
20:34No, honey, honey, I'm driving.
20:36No, I'm not kidding, Damien.
20:38You're being mean, mama.
20:39I'm driving.
20:40Don't take my seat when I'm driving.
20:45She watched her son die in the backseat,
20:48assuring him in vain that help would come soon.
20:50After his death, Shelley and her husband Don divorced, leaving her to grieve on her own.
20:55On the anniversary of the accident, the news mentions a police officer who also died that day.
21:00But Shelley's son's death is forgotten.
21:02Explains why she went on her spree today.
21:04All the good and bad memories are hitting her at once.
21:07And to add salt to it all, the fallen policeman was the only one who got any attention.
21:12Damien was like a footnote.
21:13Her anger and pain lead her to steal a gun and go around the area killing and injuring anyone in
21:19her way.
21:19This devastating episode ends with her and Don at their son's favorite restaurant,
21:24expressing their regrets and reliving the awful day that destroyed their lives.
21:29And it was, it was the last thing he heard.
21:34That's your regret.
21:36That's not what he remembers.
21:37Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions.
21:42Nathan Harris, a teenager seeking help to stop his violent urges.
21:46I know I'm crazy.
21:49Did I say that?
21:52No, but what do you call pictures in your head that you can't make go away?
21:58Donnie Bidwell, life ruined after being wrongfully accused of murder.
22:02I was arrested for no reason.
22:06I was publicly humiliated.
22:08My face smeared all over the news.
22:10You're treating me like garbage.
22:12I was behind bars for weeks.
22:14I was innocent.
22:15Adam Rain.
22:16A brain injury caused him to regress to the age when he witnessed his father's murder.
22:20They only moved when he made them.
22:25You're lying.
22:27Adam, don't do to these people what the robber did to your father.
22:31Billy Flynn, endured years of abuse from his mother's clients.
22:34Is that what you think you've been doing all these years?
22:37Helping people?
22:43Well, no.
22:44Owen Savage, severely tormented by his father and classmates.
22:48The only reason you killed Rod Norris and Kyle Borden was to protect Jordan.
22:52I know the harder you tried, the worse it got.
22:55And it felt like everybody just stood there watching you suffer.
22:57Not a single person even tried to help.
22:59They didn't.
23:04Before we continue, check out this single from Current, EDM Transformed.
23:10Check out the full track and album below.
23:21Number one, Samantha Malcolm.
23:23Many unsubs on Criminal Minds have suffered traumatic childhoods.
23:27And poor Samantha Malcolm is one of them.
23:29He's a good father.
23:30He loves me.
23:31I know that he probably forced you to say those things.
23:35And he punished you if you got it wrong.
23:37Sent you to the room with the lightning.
23:41Her mother died when she was young.
23:43And her father, Dr. Arthur Malcolm, had her undergo electroshock therapy to treat her depression.
23:48However, the depression stemmed from the sexual abuse she was suffering at his hands.
23:53And the extreme treatment was to keep Samantha from telling anyone.
23:56He would apologize with gifts, including a set of special dolls.
24:00And, as an adult, Samantha is devastated when he gives them away.
24:04You submitted her to electroshock treatment to make sure she stayed quiet.
24:07This is outrageous.
24:08And then, out of guilt, you bought her toys.
24:10More specifically, you bought her a line of dolls.
24:13She replaces the dolls with real-life women who ultimately die under the horrific conditions she keeps them in.
24:19Experiencing trauma isn't an excuse for murder.
24:22But with the severe psychological effects of ECT and years of anti-psychotic medication, well, Garcia said it best.
24:29Okay, guys, I just got Samantha Malcolm's medical records.
24:32And, oh my God, she was doomed.
24:34Like, Emily Bronte doomed.
24:37Like, Shakespeare doomed.
24:38Like, red-shirted ensign in Star Trek doomed.
24:40Which unsub did you sympathize with the most?
24:43Let us know in the comments.
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