07x19 - Heathridge Manor

[bunniefuu]

[Rain, wind blowing]

Woman: "And so, the white night opened the door "and saw more gold and jewels than he could ever imagine.

"The wizard said, 'give me the princess "and you shall have all the riches in the world.

"The White Knight gazed upon the wizard and saw it was the devil, who had already banished the villagers' wives."

"'I said, give me the princess''.

'Never, he cried, '

and slayed the devil with his spear."

[Knock on door]

[Door opens]

Look after your sister.

[Humming]

No!

No!

No! No!

No! No!

No! No! Help!

Aah! Help me!

Help!

No! [Sobbing]

I don't know about this.

Mike, will you stop being a wimp.

Woman: They say there's no escape.

The demons will always find you.

[Creaking, door closes]

Mike.

Mike?

[Gasps]

Holy crap.

Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry for the delay.

The system was down.

We overwork her.

And I had to go into the belly of the beast, who I affectionately nickname Persephone, and do some machine whispering--thank you-- which is good, because this one is a doozy.

Emma Baker.

38, math teacher from Medford, Oregon.

She went missing 17 days ago, and her body was found yesterday afternoon at St. Baldwin's.

Which is 230 miles away from Medford, and we've been called in for the bizarre nature of the case.

Observe the photos.

Wow. Look at that dress.

Was she going to a Renaissance fair?

Not with her feet bound.

And missing persons report says that she was in jeans and a T-shirt.

But look at how she's laid out.

It's almost like it's a ceremony and she's the sacrifice.

There's obvious staging going on.

Could it be a ritualistic k*lling?

And cause of death is still unclear.

The M. E. report shows no sign of sexual as*ault or mutilation except m*nled and missing fingernails.

You know, there were rumors of satanic rites being performed at Byberry Hospital in Pennsylvania, which is also an abandoned asylum.

You know, judging by all the graffiti, this place isn't exactly locked down.

Uh, yeah. The local P. D.

Said that vandals and vagrants have been breaking in.

Which means she could have been k*lled elsewhere and placed here.

She had limestone under her fingernails, but limestone wouldn't have been used when this asylum was built, so she was obviously held somewhere else.

Well, the bottom line is, the unsub transported her hundreds of miles from her hometown for a reason.

We just need to find out what that reasons.

Wheels up in 30.

Please!

Tell me what you want!

[Sobbing]

[Footsteps approaching]

[Gasping] Oh!

I'll do anything!

[Gasping] No, no.

Aah!

[Gasping]

Let me out of here!

No! Aah! No!

Let me out of here!

Aah!

Aah!

♪ Criminal Minds 7x19 ♪

Heathridge Manor
Original air date on April 4, 2012

♪

Prentiss: "We are each our own devil, and we make this world our own hell."

Oscar Wilde.

Emma Baker was a divorced math teacher.

No children.

She has a boyfriend, though, who's a drummer in a Goth band.

Her Facebook has pictures of them at the Bram Stoker Vampire festival and Slayerama, which is a celebration of all things Gothic.

Hmm. Teacher by day, Elvira by night.

Clearly this is a woman with two different sides to her personality.

Yeah, the boyfriend's band pours fake blood all over themselves on stage.

Ok, so if these two were Satanists, it wouldn't be a stretch.

Garcia, has the boyfriend been questioned by local P. D.?

He has by phone.

He's got an airtight alibi.

Him and his band have been on tour to Asia for the last month.

Well, if it's not the boyfriend, the unsub could be someone in their circle.

Emily, you asked earlier if she was going to a Renaissance fair.

There's something to that.

Based on the dress, there could be more of a connection to history than the occult.

Renaissance fairs typically replicate 16th Century England.

They've surged in popularity since they began in the 1960s.

And it's not just a bunch of nerds in costumes eating turkey legs, you guys.

A different time is somehow very important to this unsub.

Agent Hotchner?

Detective Gassner.

Yes, sir.

Of course.

Thanks for coming out.

This is Agent Rossi.

Hi.

Uh... Welcome to St. Baldwin's.

Creepy, isn't it?

They shut it down in '98 after a fire b*rned down the East wing.

Any idea what part of the hospital we're in now?

This is the female ward.

The old day room to be exact.

Hotch, take a look at this.

The victim was laid out here, but the bed wasn't here originally.

It was dragged across the floor from in there.

Those are the old patient rooms.

These beds are heavy. This unsub went to a lot of trouble to make sure that the victim was placed right here in the middle of the room.

That is significant.

The unsub knows this place.

Could be a former patient.

I'll have Garcia pull up a list.

We, uh, photographed all the walls, and we're running a paint analysis to find the most recent graffiti.

Maybe a tagger saw something...

Or the unsub left his mark.

[Woman humming]

My son.

You've been so brave.

I have no fear.

You will.

The wives will be stronger.

It's an honor to be chosen defender.

An honor and a curse for this family.

Regardless, it is our sacred duty.

Be vigilant.

Never let your guard down.

Send a warning.

Show them our strength.

Be ruthless and destroy them before they destroy us.

I will.

I promise.

The cause of death was nicotine poisoning.

Was it something in the white-face makeup?

No. No, the makeup's harmless.

And it was applied postmortem.

But the gown that she was wearing was soaked in a nicotine-based pesticide, so it was absorbed through her skin.

Was that a quick death?

At high doses, people can die immediately, but based on the levels in her bloodstream, she probably d*ed in about an hour.

Within minutes she was probably sweating and then experiencing shortness of breath and possibly seizures.

So she didn't have the wherewithal to remove the dress.

Well, even if she did, she couldn't.

That corset was laced so tightly, it left lividity marks on her chest.

Plus, someone sewed the dress shut over the closure.

I'm guessing she wasn't sewn in by choice.

Take look over here.

Prentiss: Is that more nicotine bruising?

Well, you'd think so. But the clothing wasn't tight on her skin here.

See, the epidermis is thickened and has signs of abscess formations.

She was submerged in water for some time before she was k*lled.

So we were right. He held her and tortured her first.

The question is, why?

The unsub's not the first to do this.

Poisoned garments actually have an incredibly long history, going all the way back to the shirt of Nessus, which k*lled Hercules.

Ok, so, I double-checked, and this fabric is not manufactured for commercial sale.

Is it possibly something from the past that was maybe discontinued?

No. I can tell you one thing, though.

The fabric is a double-layer brocade.

It was probably custom-made for someone, and it's very pricy.

Ok, now what about the dress?

Did anything stand out?

Well, it's homemade, for one.

Ok, how do you know that?

Well, the seams are uneven.

Whoever the seamstress is, she isn't very skilled.

What makes you so sure it's a woman?

Well, there's some detail work in here that would require small hands.

Oh, and this is interesting.

See, now, the stitching on this hem, it's narrow in some places and wider in others.

Small hands, easily distracted.

Let me ask you this. How old do you think someone could be and still effectively sew this?

Well...a pattern of this complexity, they'd have to be a teenager.

Ok, thanks.

Based on the size of the victim's body, I think only an adult male would be able to lift her and move a hospital bed, so...

What, are we looking at a team here?

Or an unsub with a young accomplice who's being coerced.

I didn't know if you'd want breakfast or lunch, so I made both.

French toast and spaghetti.

You're spoiling me.

You saw mother again.

Yes.

James, when can I go back to school?

Now I see why I'm getting the royal treatment.

If I fall too far behind, I'll never catch up.

Lara...

I promise I'll be careful.

You can drop me off and pick me up.

Look, we're different from other people.

I never should have put you out in the world to subject you to ridicule.

Ridicule?

Your birth defect is the first thing that people see.

And people can be so cruel.

But they're not.

I have friends at school, James.

Good friends.

Then there's pity.

Pity is worse than ridicule.

These people think that they're doing you a favor by being nice to you, but they have no idea how special you truly are.

If you let me go, I'll call you between every class.

I said no.

Well, at least let me have a computer.

Not in this house.

How many times do I have to say it?

Look, if you need to use a computer, I can take you to the library, ok?

But you know that this is for your own protection.

Right? You know that.

Maybe mother's wrong.

Don't you ever say that.

Mother's plagued with visions that she'd rather not see, but for our sake, I'm glad she does.

You're hurting me.

Is that the next wife?

Yes.

When will you hunt her down?

When we're finished with the one that we have now.

[Gasping]

[Choking]

[Gasping]

Ohh! Ohh!

Ohh! Ohh!

[Choking]

[Ring]

Fount of wisdom.

Penelope, how many patients were in the female ward of the asylum?

Uh, 32.

6 d*ed in the fire that broke out in the kitchen next to the ward.

The rest were transferred out of the facility when the hospital shut down.

Anyone recently released?

The last female patient that got out was 5 years ago when she was 80.

It was a compassionate release.

Thanks, Garcia.

Hey, guys.

What do you think about this?

Rossi: Batty.

That's kind of on the nose.

No, not that. Rick, can you zoom in right here?

Emma's the name of the victim.

It could also be completely unrelated to the case.

What do the numbers mean?

My guess--patient I. D.s.

Has the paint analysis come back yet?

Uh, this particular sample was written no more than a week ago.

Check these names against missing women in Oregon.

Well, if this is a list of victims, it means there are more he hasn't chosen yet.

[Gasping]

[Gasping and choking]

Is she...

[Gasps]

She's one of them.

An innocent will die before the wise, but a devil's wife will surely rise.

[Gasps]

[Crying]

Alice Pritchard was 22.

A senior at Portland College.

She went missing from campus 5 days ago.

A realtor found her body here this morning.

I don't see any physical similarities to our first victim.

She's a lot smaller than Emma.

Different coloring, different age.

So these women aren't surrogates for anyone.

But he did lay her out in the same way.

She's displayed in the center of the room just like the other victim at the asylum.

It's as if she's being presented.

There is so much attention paid to detail.

This is also satisfying some internal desire of the unsub.

So, why leave bodies in an empty storefront and the asylum?

Good question.

There should be a connection between the two.

Or maybe it's not about this storefront at all.

A theater company performing Shakespeare.

The dress, the white makeup.

This victim could literally be wearing a costume.

What if this was the closest to the theater that the unsub could get...

Without being caught?

Alice's sorority sisters say she wanted to be a nurse and she was active in a Christian youth group.

If she was into anything dark, her best friends sure didn't know about it.

Morgan: She was in Portland collecting donations for an orphanage when she disappeared. The unsub could have approached her on the street.

[Cell phone rings]

Hey, baby girl, you're on speaker.

Give me the lowdown.

Chocolate thunder, you can have the whole kit and caboodle.

Just say the word.

Oh, and I cross-referenced the names you found on the wall with missing women in Oregon and I came up with some matches.

Christine Torres.

She is a 40-year-old homemaker from Eugene, Oregon.

She went missing over a month ago after she dropped her kids off at school.

Any other women named Emma missing?

Uh-uh. Just the one whose body we found. Same thing with Alice.

Hey, Garcia, what was the exact date Christine was reported missing?

February 28th. Emma went missing on March 19th, Alice on the 22nd.

Guys, I think these numbers are dates.

If you reverse them and chop off the 11 at the beginning and end...

That's two days after each woman went missing.

It's more than that, though. Look.

March first is Saint Eichatadt day.

March 21st is the spring equinox, and the 24th is the feast of the beast.

All important holidays in the Satanic calendar for sacrifices.

What about the 11 on the end?

To many occultists 11 is symbolic of Lucifer.

Ok, I thought we were moving away from the satanic killings.

Apparently we need to reconsider.

There's gotta be some sort of connection to the devil here.

Reid, what other upcoming dates are significant to satanists?

Good Friday, then Easter Eve.

Then preparations begin in mid-April for the most important holiday of all--

Walpurgis Night on April 30th.

Good Friday's in two days.

That means he's hunting for his next victim today.

We need to give the profile soon.

[Doorbell rings]

Hi!

Hi yourself.

How are you feeling?

Better.

Thanks for asking.

Are you contagious?

Gosh, no, not at all.

Cool.

So, remember how you sponsored me for the spring walk-a-thon, $5.00 a mile.

You owe me 50 bucks.

Oh, right.

Let me get it.

Is everyone still going Saturday?

I know you like Henry, but you can forget about him, because he's taking Stacy to the prom.

Really?

Yeah.

Is this your mom?

I thought you were sleeping.

This is my friend Chloe from school.

This is my brother James.

Hi. It's nice to meet you.

I've heard so much about--

It's time for you to go.

James--

But I was hoping that Lara could come out on Saturday because that's when the prom is--

[door slams]

Why did you do that?

Did you invite her?

No, she came on her own.

She's not your friend.

Yes, she is. She wanted to see how I was doing.

If I was still going to prom on Saturday.

I don't have a date or anything.

A bunch of us are going as a group.

So can I go?

Absolutely not.

I only get one prom in my life, and you're gonna deprive me of it?

Please?

I love you, James.

You're the best brother in the whole world.

Your love is a mere shadow compared to mine.

And I would die for you.

Is that what you want?

No.

Then don't invite unnecessary danger?

I can't stay in this prison forever.

You speak like a green girl, unsifted in such perilous circumstances.

All right, let's do it again.

It's right this way.

The gowns in the photos look familiar.

Let's see here.

Oh, here.

From "The Merry Wives of Windsor."

This fabric is the same.

Oh, and here's the other one from the same play.

They're practically identical.

Are any costumes missing?

Oh, no. I just did an inventory on Monday, and we don't have duplicates of these gowns.

When was the last time the theater performed "The Merry Wives of Windsor"?

Well, let's see here.

Oh, last fall.

And they haven't been used for anything else or it would be marked on the label.

Maybe somebody in the audience saw it and made copies of the gowns.

But the level of detail suggests someone up close and personal.

We'll need a list of everyone involved in the production.

Lara is beginning to question our mission.

I can't control her anymore.

She's 16, which means she's at a vulnerable stage.

The devil will take notice of her now.

What do I do?

My poor noble James.

You'll have to strike first if you want to save those you love.

Based on the dresses and makeup the victims were found in, we're looking for an unsub who is living in an elaborate fantasy world.

He believes he is special, perhaps acting on behalf of the devil.

This unsub tortured his victims by submerging them in water for days before k*lling them.

Which means he's deliberate and patient.

Morgan: This guy has a vivid imagination.

The costumes and makeup suggest that he's a history buff, or he may be a fan of Shakespeare.

Reid: Using nicotine as a poison is highly unusual, so he's either very well-read or under the guidance of another.

His interests and delusions have caused him to become isolated socially.

He can appear normal to his potential targets, and his crimes are not driven by sex or greed, but instead by his delusional belief system.

Although the bodies of only two victims have been recovered, there's likely a third, specifically Christine Torres, who disappeared in February.

Morgan: This unsub's exact age is difficult to determine, but he's probably in his 20s to 30s.

JJ: The fact that he travels so far to abduct his victims indicates that he has a very specific selection criteria.

Reid: This unsub has a female or underage accomplice to sew the dresses the victims were found in, but she may not be a partner in the traditional sense.

It's quite possible she was coerced into helping and may actually be a victim herself.

Most importantly, this unsub is working according to a specific timetable that corresponds with the satanic calendar, and he has plans to kidnap another victim before the end of today.

Thank you.

Ok. Thanks.

So, Garcia checked out everyone associated with that theater production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor."

They're all in the clear.

Well, the gowns have to be connected to the theater somehow.

It can't just be a coincidence.

There's something else that's been bothering me.

Why is he putting white face makeup on his victims after they're dead?

Isn't that what they wore in the Elizabethan era?

Yes, but only upper-class women wore white face makeup.

It was a symbol of virginity and purity.

But he's dressing them like characters out of "The Merry Wives of Windsor, " which is one of Shakespeare's rare plays about the middle class.

So it's inconsistent.

The makeup could mean that he believes death is purifying them.

What if this is like the Salem witch trials, where they test the girls by trying to drown them?

If they d*ed, it meant they were obviously innocent.

If they somehow survived, they were considered witches and therefore hanged.

Wonderful.

A lose-lose situation.

But the unsub didn't submerge the victims in water to t*rture them.

It was some sort of a test?

With death being the only possible outcome.

If he believes he's k*lling witches, he probably thinks that he's a vigilante or a protector against evil of some sort.

Laying the victims out the way he did could be a message to the devil.

A symbol of victory and a warning, like putting a head on a spike.

He's not worshiping the devil.

He's trying to fight him.

[Music playing]

Can I get a Heineken?

Only the finest wine should pass your lips.

So what is that, your best line?

I've been watching you for the last hour.

And you are the most ravishing creature that I have ever seen.

[Whimpering and gasping]

The missing woman is Sarah Gammon, 27-year-old graphic artist.

Her father drove to her apartment this morning to pick her up for their weekly breakfast together.

She wasn't there.

Where was she last seen?

At a night club in Portland, the, uh, Mirage Room.

She went with a girlfriend who had to leave early.

Morgan and I will check it out.

[Cell phone rings]

Ok, I did some varsity-level sleuthing, and it turns out the costumes were donated to the theater by a young actress named Cate Harris.

She was in their production of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" 16 years ago, which was the only other time that play was produced there.

Where is she now?

Oh, I was hoping you would ask, because I have the answer.

She d*ed in 1998 in the fire at St. Baldwin's Psychiatric Hospital.

Was she a patient there?

Oh, most definitely. And some say that she set that fire.

Garcia, can you get her medical records?

Yeah, I tried to do that, but it turns out the new director of St. Baldwin's was a technophobe hyper-luddite like our Dr. Reid, and he only wanted the psych records to be on paper to protect confidentiality.

Ok. Detective, we need you to get a copy of those records.

You got it.

[Music playing]

♪ They asked me how I knew ♪
♪ my true love was true ♪
♪ oh... ♪

What is this?

♪ Something here inside... ♪

Your prom.

I didn't want you to miss it.

I spoke to mother again.

She said that the end is near.

She did?

You see, there's only...

One more of the devil's brides left and we have her.

When she's dead, we'll be safe.

I can go to school again?

The family will be free, and--and mother and I can finally--finally rest, so...

♪ Smoke gets in your eyes ♪

I love this song.

I know.

I... I remember.

♪ Who think they could doubt my love ♪

Dance with me.

♪ Yet today ♪
♪ my love has gone away ♪
♪ I am without my love ♪
♪ without my love ♪
♪ now laughing friends deride ♪
♪ tears I cannot hide ♪
♪ oh oh ♪
♪ so I smile and say ♪
♪ when the lovely flame dies ♪
♪ smoke gets in your eyes ♪
♪ in your eyes ♪
♪ smoke gets in your ♪
♪ eyes ♪

So, did she like this guy that was hitting on her?

Oh, yeah.

No offense to her, but she wouldn't normally get that sort of attention.

I mean, this was a handsome, rich dude.

He could have had his pick of the lot, but he was fixated on her.

How so?

I saw him.

A couple of knockouts tried talking to him, but he blew them off.

Here, take a look.

She's the blonde.

And that's him.

Morgan: He's following her.

How long before he talked to her?

[Cell phone rings]

I think it was about an hour.

Excuse me.

Hey, what's up?

Well, there's no doubt she's the one he wanted.

I agree. His choice wasn't random.

It's like he knew she was gonna be there and he went there looking for her.

But why these particular women?

They have nothing in common.

What if each victim has to look a certain way?

He'd want to find a real-life match, and he'd be willing to travel to get to her.

[Grate creaking]

Lara: Why isn't she moving?

Is she dead?

No. No, no, no.

She can't be.

Oh, my God, she was innocent.

You k*lled an innocent woman.

It's a trick.

She's dead, James.

You were wrong.

I'm calling the police.

No! No!

I'm sorry.

Ok?

I'm sorry, but we have to find the last of the devil's wives.

There's never gonna be a last one, is there?

This'll go on forever and ever.

Apparently the state would have to pay for a new storage facility if they moved the records.

Someone decided, why bother if the old place works?

Ladies.

No electricity, I take it.

You would be correct.

Hey. I think I found it.

Yeah. Oh. First of all, Cate Harris was a stage name for Catherine Heathridge, a textile heiress.

Her family kept the pseudonym for her medical admission to protect their privacy.

According to the intake report, Catherine was an aspiring actress who went off her psychiatric medications when she was pregnant with her daughter.

She had a minor part in "The Merry Wives of Windsor"

16 years ago when she became floridly psychotic.

She was convinced the other actresses were the devil's wives, so she stabbed one of them.

JJ: Is that when she was admitted here?

Not yet. It seems she had a son and a daughter.

After fleeing the theater, she chopped off the left arm of her infant daughter.

Gassman: Why would she do that?

To make the child less appealing to the devil.

She believed that k*lling the devil's wives was her mission on earth, which is what our unsub is doing now.

But she d*ed in the asylum fire.

Someone else must be carrying out her mission.

I m*rder*d an innocent.

Even white knights have their dark days.

You're a vanishing breed, James.

My son, a hero from a different time.

Only one wife remains.

I'm sure of it.

If you don't k*ll her, who will?

No one.

k*ll her.

k*ll her.

If someone's carrying on in Catherine's mission, then it's quite possible they both suffer from folie a deux, a shared psychotic disorder between two people who are extremely close, and that would mean it's most likely a family member.

Maybe one or both of her kids.

Garcia, I need you to find everything you can on the Heathridge family, specifically Catherine's son and daughter.

Ok, finding it as we speak.

Bingo. Catherine, a wealthy textile heiress, had a son James, now 26, and a daughter Lara, now 16.

Father d*ed in a speedboat accident right before Lara was born.

They were raised by their grandfather in a mansion outside Portland after mom was committed.

Is the grandfather still alive?

No. He d*ed last year.

That could have been the stressor.

Garcia, where are the kids living now?

James was kicked out of a seminary in Colorado 3 years ago, but that's still listed as his address.

Lara dropped out of school 6 weeks ago, coincidentally on her birthday.

And the family home is her listed address, and I'm sending you pictures right... Now.

That could be him.

The man at the night club who left with Sarah Gammon.

All right, contact the seminary.

Garcia, I'm gonna need an address.

What's wrong?

I swear I'm not one of them.

Please don't do this.

I'm going to save you.

I'll die, James.

You know I will.

Not if I m*rder the devil first.

Let's go.

[Siren]

He'll see you and he'll come for you.

And when he does, I'll strike.

What if you fail?

Then we'll die together.

Morgan, you and JJ take the back.

We'll take the front.

Did you see that?

There's a girl up in that window.

You check it out.

I'll look for James.

[Coughing]

[Coughing, labored breathing]

Damn.

It looks like we just found our first victim.

[Gasps]

[Door opens]

Ok.

Ok.

Ok, I'm gonna get this off you, ok? Hold on.

[Gasping]

Uh! Uhh!

[Grunting]

[Fabric tearing]

Ok. Ok.

Where is James?

Aah!

[Thud]

Hotch: "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."

Edgar Allan Poe.

So, Lara is gonna be ok.

She confirmed that the bodies were left out as messages to the devil.

Well, her brother's dead.

What happens to her now?

There's always foster care.

For an heiress?

I don't think so.

I'm sure guardians and trustees will be coming out of the woodwork.

So she'll end up back here, in a house that breeds delusions.

Hopefully not.

[Doorbell rings]

I'll get it.

I've waited so long for you, Lara.

It's time to come with me now.

["Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" plays]

♪ They asked me how I knew ♪
♪ my true love was true... ♪