In " A Thousand Suns" ( season 10, episode three) the team hunts down a mathematical genius that lives in the middle of nowhere and turns towards radical terrorism to protest society.Īriel Castro was sentenced in 2013 to life without parole plus one thousand years for abducting three women between 20 when they were between 14 and 21 years old. "Empty Planet" wasn't the only episode that seemed to allude to the Unabomber. Kaczynski eventually pleaded guilty in exchange for life without parole. The Unabomber sent multiple bombs and letters terrorizing victims who had survived his attacks. Kaczynski once outlined this hatred of technology and its destruction of the environment in a published 35,000-word manifesto. The real-life Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, constructed bombs from a small shed in the woods to be used in his "anti-technology" raids. The FBI agents later determine the unnamed man targets specific people in the academic world. In the episode, the fictional killer uses a pipe bomb to blow up a bus in Seattle, Washington.
#Serial killers on criminal minds intro serial#
The season two, episode eight "Criminal Minds" episode "Empty Planet" is about a serial bomber who hates technology. Ramirez was convicted in 1989 for 13 murders, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries and was sentenced to death, though he died of natural causes before his execution took place in 2013.Īmerican domestic terrorist, luddite, and mathematics teacher Ted Kaczynski in the Federal ADX Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, August 30, 1999. In one instance, he bound and raped a mother as her 12-year-old son was locked in a closet. The real-life Ramirez, who committed his crimes in California, murdered his victims during home invasions, typically during the very early morning hours. The episode was reminiscent of the "Night Stalker" serial killer, Ramirez.
In one particular instance, Flynn kills a woman but leaves her child alive. Flynn's method of committing crimes in the episode was to break into homes and attack his victims while the power was out and they were in total darkness. In this episode, the fictional Billy Flynn kills, rapes, and robs his way around the United States, though the episode focuses on his two California murders. The inspiration behind the fifth season's episode "Our Darkest Hour" seemed to be convicted California killer Richard Ramirez. He died while incarcerated at the age of 70 in 2006. In 1988, a jury found him guilty of four murders (he was later convicted of a fifth murder in 2003) and he was sentenced to consecutive life sentences at Trenton State prison. Kuklinski also said he would sometimes leave victims to get eaten alive by rats, according to The Inquirer. Throughout his career in organized crime, Richard claimed to have killed " up to 100 people," according to the New York Times. The real-life Kuklinski also came from an abusive background and went on to work with the Gambino crime family as an enforcer. Perotta may have been inspired by the mobster and serial killer Richard Kuklinski. The fictional Perotta was a gangster and hitman that came from an abusive background and used gruesome methods of killing his victims, including one unlucky victim that was eaten alive by rats. In season one, episode eight, the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) hunts down Vincent Perotta. Richard Kuklinski, known as "The Iceman," during his 1988 trial. According to the New York Times, he said he confessed "to live" and avoid the death penalty. Heirens eventually pleaded guilty to the three murders in 1946 in exchange for three consecutive life terms, but later recanted and maintained his innocence for the rest of his life. I cannot control myself" were written in lipstick on the wall. According to the New York Times, at the murder scene of Brown, the words " For heaven’s sake catch me before I kill more. He was later tied by authorities to two other murders that had happened six months prior, that of Josephine Ross and Frances Brown. After arresting Heirens on burglary charges, investigators said Heirens' fingerprints matched a ransom note left at the young girl's home. Heirens was initially tied to the murder of Suzanne Degnan, a 6-year-old girl, who was found to have been strangled, dismembered, and left in a basement nearby her home. The episode appears to have been inspired by the so-called "Lipstick Killer," William Heirens. In season four, episode 22, fictional suspect Vincent Rowlings stabbed women and left the message "help me" in red asking for someone to stop him from murdering more people.
William Heirens when he was a 17-year-old suspect in December of 1945.