Wed, Oct 4, 2017
Following the final incident with Scratch, the team has been taking a mandatory break to decompress. In addition, Reid has gone through his reinstatement evaluation, he who has been conditionally reinstated without the possibility of negotiation on that condition. In their time off, there has been a backlog of cases. However, they depart to Naples, Florida on a case of some currency, as a female has just been discovered murdered, her body stuffed into an old suitcase and placed in a public location. She is the second victim, the first as of yet an unidentifiable Jane Doe whose body had decomposed beyond a state of visual identification. By the time the team lands in Naples, a third victim is discovered. Beyond the suitcase in a public locale, the other similarities between the two identified victims is gender, that they were strangled, and that the same old fashioned shade of lipstick had been smeared on their mouth area. The lipstick and the suitcases indicate that there is some vintage aspect to the unsub's psyche, and that a probable stressor is being abandoned by a female, probably the unsub's mother when he was a child. They also discover that both women were in the process of a romantic evening, friends who can attest that they were careful women not prone to reckless dating. JJ surmises that the unsub is able to lure his victims unwittingly using a Florence Nightingale complex, in that they are attracted to some "broken" aspect to his personality. It isn't until the first victim is identified that a tie between all three victims is discovered. By that time, the team believes that the unsub probably has an ultimate victim in mind, who they have to discover before she becomes an actual victim. In the process of the case, Reid will demonstrate, at least in this case, if the evaluation committee was correct in their concerns about him.
Wed, Oct 11, 2017
The BAU team members head to Detroit, Michigan where two men in two weeks have been discovered dead. Both were married, Caucasian, mildly successful professionals. Both were found in very public places hanging by a meat hook, naked and their private parts cut off pre-mortem. The authorities eventually receive a snuff movie of the second victim, Curtis Wyler, including the entire time it took him to bleed out to death. The team analyzes the video in order to find any clues as to the unsub's whereabouts. Garcia discovers that both men had been systematically withdrawing large sums of money from their bank accounts, small enough not to be questioned by the banks. In questioning the Wyler's wife, the team believes that both men were probably using the money for the services of an escort. What Garcia finds is that it is not an escort service, but rather an online dating site, Blue Siren, where members arrange their own meetings. Both victims had been involved with the same member, a woman with the online handle Dasha, who had recently discontinued her membership. The team is able to locate Dasha, who admits to her involvement with the victims, but does not know why anyone would want to kill them. She is concerned that the unsub may be after her. The unsub is after her, but not in the way that she anticipates.