Lead the Way - Chapter 007 - Studying
Hope you guys had nice weekend and Santa brought you all the gifts you wanted. No matter, today is Monday, which means I post a new chapter.
Lead the Way - 007 - Studying
“Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me,” JJ said, her mind still showing her images of Claudia Prentiss in Emily’s living room. Closing her office door behind her, she shook her head and sat down to research as much as she could about the local media in Tyler, Texas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’d better get Garcia to get that file for us, familiarize ourselves with the case.”
“Good point. I need to brush up on those autopsy reports.” Just as Emily got up to ask the quirky technical analyst for her help she was almost run over by her.
“Watch it, missy.”
“Sorry.” Emily apologized, catching the box just in time.
“The Cooper file, I take it?” Reid interjected.
“Indeed, genius; about 10% of it.”
“You’re kidding!” Emily sighed.
“Afraid not. Set it up in the briefing room, I’ll bring you the rest of the boxes in a minute.”
“You’re an Angel.”
“Goddess is more like it.” She winked at the brunette.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hours later Reid and Prentiss started to realize why the Cooper file barely fit into ten Evidence cases. Gerald Cooper had not only been killing for almost 11 years; before he was finally caught he had amassed a grand total of 43 victims and shown great restraint and discipline.
Fall 1986, a brunette, age 17, walked into the PD in Tyler claiming that she had dreamt the murder of her baby sister who was now missing. Despite her statement that the 12 year old was dead, local law enforcement searched for her for almost two weeks. No evidence as to her whereabouts was found, no body, no witnesses.
Questioning the sister again hadn’t turned up any leads as she could not remember anything else than what she had already said. The investigating detective had made a note, suggesting that the sister was somehow involved in the disappearance.
The case was filed November 1986.
Similar cases had been filed in no less than six towns around Tyler: 1987 and 1989 in New Harmony, 1987 in Chandler, 1988 in Noonday, 1989 in Whitehouse, 1990 in Bascom, and 1988 and 1990 in Owentown. Each time the detectives had searched for the missing person, suspecting the witnesses sooner or later in their investigations. None of the abductees were ever found, no one was ever convicted of abducting them.
Leslie Kirkwood from Chandler and Addison Pierson from Owentown had committed suicide shortly after filing the missing person’s reports.
It was only in June 1991 that the investigation took a leap forward. Barbara Saunders, 22, member of the TPD since October that year before, knew her grandfather had died. She refused to call her memory a dream which only earned her the mockery of her co-workers. Barbara stuck to her story and started an investigation of her own. Every minute she spent at the department she spent researching similar cases. It was Saunders who made the connection between the cases.
However, no one believed her until 1994. By then, no less than 16 people had gone missing, accompanied by 16 brunettes “dreaming” of their deaths.
In 1994, an agent by the name of Jason Gideon had grown restless. He had been with the BAU for nine years but so far his accomplishments had gone unnoticed. He was overshadowed by Alex Ryan’s growing obsession with the Key-Stone-Killer and the office gossip tended to focus on David Rossi’s numerous girlfriends.
Eager to prove himself capable of building a profile on his own, he sunk his teeth into the Tyler case. After weeks of research and reading he finally sent his profile to Barbara Saunders, who was still with the TPD.
Even with the profile it was impossible to narrow the suspect pool as long as they couldn’t figure out how the women knew about the abductions.
1996 they finally caught a break. One early morning as Barbara was getting ready to end her shift, a young woman, brunette, 27, staggered into the station, slurring heavily about her daughter. Detective Saunders made the connection to the perp she had been chasing for years and she lost no time. She called Quantico the second Shirley was in an ambulance. Gideon had the opportunity to interview her himself.
Blood work later revealed that she had been dosed with high amounts of Ketamine, LSD and Propofol: a cocktail meant to subdue the victim, cause amnesia and hallucinations. Their memories were fuzzy on all the important details. All that remained were feelings. The brunettes remembered everything they felt, yet none was able to give a description of the Unsub or the crime scene.
Gideon determined that the Unsub most likely had a medical or chemical background. None of the drugs were hard to get their hands on or even uncommon, but the exact dosage required a more profound understanding of the matter.
Gideon’s profile had the Unsub in his late twenties to early thirties, living alone or owning a secluded location to torture his victims and dispose of the bodies. He was most likely good looking, charming and well liked by his co-workers.
Given the six month gaps between each abduction, the profiler determined that the Unsub was in control of his pathology and showed great discipline in both his work and his crimes. Letting Shirley Stowers escape was his first mistake in 11 years. The Unsub was self-confident enough not to inject himself in the investigation.
The profile was shown to local law enforcement, hospitals, clinics and all facilities coming in contact with any one of the drugs used on the abductees. When the police came to arrest Gerald Cooper, a med-school drop-out on his farm off Road 488 south of Federal Lake they found 23 unmarked graves.
20 of the bodies were matched later to the 20 people reported missing over the last eleven years. Two shallow graves had become the new home of Gerald Cooper’s parents and the last body was identified as Karen McPherson. The ME determined that she had been 16 at the time of her death, which was approximately some 12 years ago.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Don’t tell me you haven’t left the briefing room since I brought you the boxes!” Garcia’s voice tore the profilers from the reports.
“What time is it?” Reid asked while rubbing his eyes.
“Five p.m. Time to go.”
“Already?” yawned Prentiss.
“Kitten, you’ve spend the entire day in here. But if you leave right now, you can still grab a bite at the airport.” It wasn’t until Garcia mentioned food that the agents noticed how hungry they were. They had skipped lunch and it was almost time for dinner.
Lead the Way - 007 - Studying
“Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me,” JJ said, her mind still showing her images of Claudia Prentiss in Emily’s living room. Closing her office door behind her, she shook her head and sat down to research as much as she could about the local media in Tyler, Texas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I’d better get Garcia to get that file for us, familiarize ourselves with the case.”
“Good point. I need to brush up on those autopsy reports.” Just as Emily got up to ask the quirky technical analyst for her help she was almost run over by her.
“Watch it, missy.”
“Sorry.” Emily apologized, catching the box just in time.
“The Cooper file, I take it?” Reid interjected.
“Indeed, genius; about 10% of it.”
“You’re kidding!” Emily sighed.
“Afraid not. Set it up in the briefing room, I’ll bring you the rest of the boxes in a minute.”
“You’re an Angel.”
“Goddess is more like it.” She winked at the brunette.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hours later Reid and Prentiss started to realize why the Cooper file barely fit into ten Evidence cases. Gerald Cooper had not only been killing for almost 11 years; before he was finally caught he had amassed a grand total of 43 victims and shown great restraint and discipline.
Fall 1986, a brunette, age 17, walked into the PD in Tyler claiming that she had dreamt the murder of her baby sister who was now missing. Despite her statement that the 12 year old was dead, local law enforcement searched for her for almost two weeks. No evidence as to her whereabouts was found, no body, no witnesses.
Questioning the sister again hadn’t turned up any leads as she could not remember anything else than what she had already said. The investigating detective had made a note, suggesting that the sister was somehow involved in the disappearance.
The case was filed November 1986.
Similar cases had been filed in no less than six towns around Tyler: 1987 and 1989 in New Harmony, 1987 in Chandler, 1988 in Noonday, 1989 in Whitehouse, 1990 in Bascom, and 1988 and 1990 in Owentown. Each time the detectives had searched for the missing person, suspecting the witnesses sooner or later in their investigations. None of the abductees were ever found, no one was ever convicted of abducting them.
Leslie Kirkwood from Chandler and Addison Pierson from Owentown had committed suicide shortly after filing the missing person’s reports.
It was only in June 1991 that the investigation took a leap forward. Barbara Saunders, 22, member of the TPD since October that year before, knew her grandfather had died. She refused to call her memory a dream which only earned her the mockery of her co-workers. Barbara stuck to her story and started an investigation of her own. Every minute she spent at the department she spent researching similar cases. It was Saunders who made the connection between the cases.
However, no one believed her until 1994. By then, no less than 16 people had gone missing, accompanied by 16 brunettes “dreaming” of their deaths.
In 1994, an agent by the name of Jason Gideon had grown restless. He had been with the BAU for nine years but so far his accomplishments had gone unnoticed. He was overshadowed by Alex Ryan’s growing obsession with the Key-Stone-Killer and the office gossip tended to focus on David Rossi’s numerous girlfriends.
Eager to prove himself capable of building a profile on his own, he sunk his teeth into the Tyler case. After weeks of research and reading he finally sent his profile to Barbara Saunders, who was still with the TPD.
Even with the profile it was impossible to narrow the suspect pool as long as they couldn’t figure out how the women knew about the abductions.
1996 they finally caught a break. One early morning as Barbara was getting ready to end her shift, a young woman, brunette, 27, staggered into the station, slurring heavily about her daughter. Detective Saunders made the connection to the perp she had been chasing for years and she lost no time. She called Quantico the second Shirley was in an ambulance. Gideon had the opportunity to interview her himself.
Blood work later revealed that she had been dosed with high amounts of Ketamine, LSD and Propofol: a cocktail meant to subdue the victim, cause amnesia and hallucinations. Their memories were fuzzy on all the important details. All that remained were feelings. The brunettes remembered everything they felt, yet none was able to give a description of the Unsub or the crime scene.
Gideon determined that the Unsub most likely had a medical or chemical background. None of the drugs were hard to get their hands on or even uncommon, but the exact dosage required a more profound understanding of the matter.
Gideon’s profile had the Unsub in his late twenties to early thirties, living alone or owning a secluded location to torture his victims and dispose of the bodies. He was most likely good looking, charming and well liked by his co-workers.
Given the six month gaps between each abduction, the profiler determined that the Unsub was in control of his pathology and showed great discipline in both his work and his crimes. Letting Shirley Stowers escape was his first mistake in 11 years. The Unsub was self-confident enough not to inject himself in the investigation.
The profile was shown to local law enforcement, hospitals, clinics and all facilities coming in contact with any one of the drugs used on the abductees. When the police came to arrest Gerald Cooper, a med-school drop-out on his farm off Road 488 south of Federal Lake they found 23 unmarked graves.
20 of the bodies were matched later to the 20 people reported missing over the last eleven years. Two shallow graves had become the new home of Gerald Cooper’s parents and the last body was identified as Karen McPherson. The ME determined that she had been 16 at the time of her death, which was approximately some 12 years ago.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Don’t tell me you haven’t left the briefing room since I brought you the boxes!” Garcia’s voice tore the profilers from the reports.
“What time is it?” Reid asked while rubbing his eyes.
“Five p.m. Time to go.”
“Already?” yawned Prentiss.
“Kitten, you’ve spend the entire day in here. But if you leave right now, you can still grab a bite at the airport.” It wasn’t until Garcia mentioned food that the agents noticed how hungry they were. They had skipped lunch and it was almost time for dinner.