Criminal Minds

Sandra, a 16-year-old black girl, is sneaking out her bedroom window. She waits on a park bench, all dressed up, and sees a car slowly approaching without any headlights. Her ex-boyfriend, Ken, gets out of the car and asks her what she's doing. She tells him to go home. A black sedan drives up and Ken approaches the driver's side. The driver shoots him and Sandra runs into the park. The driver follows her and attacks her.

At the BAU headquarters, Morgan asks Prentiss about her weekend. She is uncomfortable talking to him until she admits that she doesn't really know anyone on the team very well and feels funny talking about personal stuff. Finally she lets him in and they find a common interest in Kurt Vonnegut novels.

In the conference room, the team discusses the murders of three black teen-aged girls in suburban New York City. The girls, including Sandra, were found having been strangled, beaten and stabbed. The other two girls had black swastikas painted on their faces, while Sandra's white boyfriend had a swastika painted on his car. As he looks at the crime scene photos, Reid flashes back to his ordeal at the hands of Tobias Hankel, and is completely quiet during the discussion. The mostly white community, Groton, Connecticut, is in an uproar, calling the crimes hate crimes. A local community leader, Rev. Williams, has taken on these crimes to point out the problems of racial hate in the suburbs. A video clip of his impassioned speech shows him confronting the police about their progress. Apparently his speech has incited the beating of a black boy in Groton for which a Neo-Nazi group has claimed responsibility. The Mayor of Groton has asked the BAU for help. When a nervous Reid looks down at a crime scene photo of Sandra dead in a pile of leaves, he experiences another flashback.

As the jet flies over New York City, Gideon's voice is heard. "From the deepest desires often comes the deadliest hate. – Socrates."

On the jet, the team continues to discuss the case. Prentiss notes that there were traces of the date-rape drug GHB in the first two victims, but no signs of sexual assault. This triggers another flashback for Reid, to Tobias injecting him with drugs. He mentions that the victims might have been drugged to weaken them. There were no drugs in the victims in the double homicide. JJ advises the team of a threatening letter Sandra had found at her door a few weeks before her murder. Sandra had showed it to the police, but they never found out who wrote it. Reid analyzes the writing and word choices at length and concludes that an adolescent girl wrote the note.

In Westchester County, New York, Mayor Hughes introduces the lead detective on the case, Det. Rick Ware. Det. Ware, a black state policeman, isn't convinced this is a hate crime. When he is told about the adolescent girl and the note, Det. Ware tells Morgan they had questioned a young girl about it, but were sure she hadn't written it. Tanya Mathis was an ex-girlfriend of Ken's who was jealous of new girlfriend, Sandra. Morgan and Prentiss play off of each other in the interrogation and get Tanya to admit she wrote the note. After Sandra sang in a local talent contest, everyone was paying attention to her, and Tanya was jealous.

Gideon and Hotchner examine Ken's car and ask a local police officer about why the kids would be in that area. He explains it was a local hook-up spot when he was a kid. Hotchner tells the policeman that based on their different types of clothes, they weren't on a date. They determine that the killer shot Ken to get him out of the way, then made Sandra's killing more personal. Gideon notes, "Sandra didn't have a date with Ken, she had a date with the unsub."

Reid hurries into the bathroom and checks to make sure no one else is in there before locking the door. Standing in front of the mirror he stares at himself, then reaches into his messenger bag and pulls out the vials of drugs he had taken from Tobias Hankel. He seems nervous, shaky, and he flashes back to a time Tobias injected him with the drugs. The sound of Hotchner's voice calling for him pulls him out of the flashback and, fumbling to put the drugs back in his bag, he hurries out to give Hotchner the coroner's report. The report shows that Sandra had been stabbed post-mortem, which indicates a sexual aspect to the crime. There was also a measure of overkill to the murder, and that means the killer "didn't get what he wanted from Sandra." The crime scene photos send Reid into another flashback of his torture at the hands of Hankel, as Morgan explains that sexual offenders kill for sexual release. Since there was no evidence of sex, this is probably a fetish killer who takes something from the victims and uses it later for sexual release. This is the work of a serial killer, not an instance of hate crime.

Another young girl, Naomi, waits on a park bench for the driver of the black sedan. She thanks him for picking her up.

The team watches a recording of Rev. Williams stirring up the community as they explain to Det. Ware that the swastikas on the bodies are a distraction. The killer used them to keep law enforcement from realizing he is a serial killer. He has a certain type of girl he targets, and he's from this county. In order to confirm that the three crimes are related, the team speaks with the families. Gideon and Prentiss interview Sandra's parents and sister. Sandra was a good girl, with good grades who liked to sing. Her sister said she had only ever sneaked out the window that one time. All three of the girls were good students who stayed out of trouble and liked to sing.

The team gets word that Naomi is missing, and they hope a quick profile to law enforcement may help them get to her before it's too late.

In a recording studio, a man is listening to CDs of young girls introducing themselves and singing, and then the sounds change to screams as the girls are murdered.

"The suspect we are looking for is a black male; statistically he is between the ages of 20 and 35." The team gives the profile of the unsub to the local police. Sexually motivated killers almost always kill within their own race. He is a smooth talker, intelligent, and gains their confidence.

Reid gives the example of Jeffrey Dahmer, who was once pulled over for a traffic violation with body parts in garbage bags in the backseat of his car. He was able to talk the officers out of being curious, and then went on to kill 15 more people. Hotchner mentions Victor Paleologus who approached women at shopping malls and told them he could get them into James Bond movies. Because the girls are singers, the unsub may be connected to the recording industry. His vehicle isn't flashy, but is big enough to hide a body – a dark sedan. The team hopes that, by releasing this profile to the media, a girl who was approached but didn't fall for it will come forward to give evidence.

The fetish – taking something from the victim – is the key. The unsub didn't finish with Sandra and wasn't able to take anything from her, so he may go back to her home to look for something. They send the police out into the community to look for him. The Mayor tells Det. Ware not to release the profile to the media – "What do you think is going to happen if I go to the press and tell them that the killer is black?" "I've never even heard of a black serial killer." He's concerned about a race riot in the area. Det. Ware himself is unsure – he doesn't want to make every black man in the area a target. As JJ tells them about the mass of reporters waiting, they are told they have located Naomi's body. Morgan challenges Det. Ware to make the right decision. He releases the profile.

Morgan and Det. Ware head out into the field to help with surveillance as Prentiss goes to interview other singers from the talent show. Gideon and Reid stand at the board holding the crime scene photos as JJ tells them the tip line has been no help. Reid is still bothered by the photos as he remembers his own ordeal. Local police identify a suspicious car – a black Lincoln Town Car.

Morgan and Det. Ware sit in a car near Sandra's home, discussing the situation. "Did you ever wish it didn't matter? Color?" Det. Ware asks why it has to be part of the equation in order to catch a killer. Everyone seems so focused on race they can't do their jobs. "It's exhausting sometimes." Morgan describes the two of them as the "foot soldiers in the streets getting the job done." A black Town Car pulls past them and they follow. Parking, they continue to follow a suspect on foot around the back of a house, their weapons drawn. They split up to cover the area, looking around fences, in outbuildings. Morgan finds it to be a car service and tells Det. Ware it is a false alarm. As he opens a gate to leave, Det. Ware is confronted by a small white man who shoots him, point-blank. The man saw a black man with a gun and thought he was the killer everyone was looking for. Morgan disarms him and gets him to call 9-1-1. Desperately trying to keep Det. Ware focused Morgan talks to him about his children as the detective slips away. Hotchner arrives to make sure Morgan is all right and gets a call that another girl, Allie, has gone missing.

A witness comes forward who was approached by a black man who claimed to be an executive with a record company. His business card only had his name and a phone number, and she thought it looked fake. She recognized him from playing in a band at the school – Terence Wakeland. Garcia finds he worked for A&L Studios in NYC, and still works there as a security guard. All police units respond to A&L Studios, led by Hotchner and Morgan.

Allie sings "Papa May Have" in the recording studio, and Wakeland flatters her. He gives her a bottle of water as they talk in the studio about her terrific voice. She begins to feel dizzy, as he tells her the music "Takes hold of him, and, once it's there there's just no letting it go." He attacks her, and she kicks him between the legs and runs out of the studio. She struggles with her dizziness on the city street, calling weakly for help.

Morgan and Hotchner search the studio and find signs of a struggle, but no killer and no girl. Morgan finds CDs marked with the dead girls' names. These are the fetish items Wakeland was collecting.

Outside, Allie finds a policeman and asks for help. Wakeland walks up and gives the policeman a story about Allie being his cousin who has taken drugs. The policeman begins to be convinced by his story and Wakeland starts to leave with Allie when Morgan and Hotchner and the police pull up. All the policemen, black and white, are pointing their weapons at Wakeland. Wakeland talks to them about the murders almost as if he is daring them to shoot him – a black man. Morgan convinces the other officers to lower their weapons and he takes Wakeland into custody safely.

Bagpipes are playing at Det. Ware's funeral, and Morgan stands removed from the scene, watching his wife and two small children at the graveside. Prentiss approaches him and asks if he's okay. Morgan knows what its like to grow up without a father. Prentiss remarks, "Their father died a hero." Morgan replies, "So did mine. It doesn't make it any easier."

"The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living – Cicero."

On the BAU jet, Morgan is attempting to play cards with Reid who is preoccupied. Prentiss drops a copy of Mother Night, their favorite Vonnegut book, on the table in front of Morgan. As Prentiss moves off to read, Morgan has to try a few times to get Reid's attention. He asks him if he's all right. Reid is touchy about the subject, looking around to see if anyone can hear them. Morgan asks him to talk in confidence, but Reid denies having anything to tell him. "What you went through out there, nobody expects you to rebound…" Reid interrupts, telling Morgan he can still do his job. Reid reluctantly admits that the crime scene photos are affecting him as they never have before. "For the first time, I know. I look at them and I know what they were thinking and I know what they were feeling right before…" He's concerned that he won't be able to do his job - that he can't focus. Morgan tells him to use the experience – to be a better profiler and a better person. Reid seems to like the idea of being a better person.

[Recap written by highway and phf3947]