Disclaimer: Neither the characters of the show, nor actual people such as Ted Bundy or Julie Cunningham belong to me.
Tavern on the Gore was the most popular pub of the small Ski Resort City of Vail, Colorado. Most people that visited the tavern were tourists that came from far away who allowed themselves a weekend of relaxation and pleasure in the snowy mountains of Colorado. Julie Cunningham however was not one of them. She had lived her whole life in Vail and worked as a ski instructor at a local sporting goods store. Although she loved the sport with a passion, she often got annoyed by the many tourists that came to the city and filled her favorite pub. Especially tonight.
She should have known better though, after all it had happen way to many times. Rick Foley seemed like a great man, perfect husband material, the kind of guy you would love to introduce to your parents and she had fallen head over heals for him. He was tall, with a athletic build and a smile to die for and he told her he wanted to settle down, with her of all people. Looking back, Julie couldn't believe how naive she had been, but she wanted to trust Rick and thus payed a very expensive vacation to Sun Valley, Idaho for the two of them. On the last day he told her that he wasn't so certain about a real relationship after all. Julie couldn't tell if this breakup was more or less hurtful than the times the man she picked up told her, they'd call her the next day without the intention of ever doing it. Probably more. The other times she often knew it was just a lie, because she had heard these kind of excuses often enough to really see when people were being honest or not, in fact Julie considered herself to be quite a expert when it came to human nature due to her many failed relationships. And yet, she completely fell for Rick Foley and actually believed they had a long and happy future ahead of them. After finishing crying and yelling, Julie called her mother to let her anger out and inform her she'd be coming back home, but when her mother just teased her by saying 'I told you so' and blaming her for all her troubles, Julie decided she'd rather go to her favorite bar and drown her miserable self in alcohol for the rest of the night.
When Julie arrived at the tavern some people, who had known her from her childhood, greeted her with open arms, but when some asked why she was already back from Sun Valley and where Rick was, she went straight to an empty seat at the bar. The air smelled terribly because of the many people, the smoke from the cigarettes and the puke from the corners of the pub, but Julie couldn't care less about all that. She was just so sick of it. Of all the times she had cried because she was alone yet again, and the lies she had endured all her life and most of all, the men who had caused all her sorrow. Maybe she should just end it once and for all with men in her life. Who knew, maybe women were more her style anyway; they could relate to her and she could finally have someone she could talk to without any fears and she could have pleasure with them as well. Or maybe she should just adopt a cat. Yeah, a sweet little cat, she could name Daniel. No, not Daniel, Danielle. There, that's better.
Julie was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice as a young man slowly came up to her. Through the loud music she barley heard him talking to her. Only when he tapped her on the should, Julie turned towards the stranger. "Excuse me, what?"
The brown haired man smiled affably. "I asked if you might be able to help me with a little problem of mine."
Julie noticed how gentle his voice sounded as he talked. His somewhat wavy hair was neatly combed, he had thick eyebrows and a few beard stubble on his chin. Although Julie was barley 5'5, the handsome man in front of her was only slightly taller than her. His sharp features immediately attracted Julie him, but she caught herself quickly after reminding herself of her good resolutions.
"I'm sorry, I don't think I can help you right now." Julie responded and turned back to the glass of whiskey in her hands.
The man seemed a bit surprised that she rejected him, but he wasn't about to give up just yet. It had been to long since the last time. He chuckled lightly as he tried once more. "Oh? Are you sure? I'd really need help carrying these skis to my car. I stupidly injured myself while trying to learn how to ski."
Julie turned back to the handsome man next to her. Only now the saw the crutches beneath his arms and the skis he had leaned on the counter during their conversation. She wasn't really in the mood for something like this, she just wanted to be alone right now, but it seemed a bit unfair to her to let her anger out on this poor guy.
"Alright," Julie sighed as she got up from the stool and put some dollar bills on the bar to pay for her drinks, "I just hope you didn't park that far away."
Julie picked up the skis and went ahead of him towards the exit, as the man smiled slyly behind her back. "Don't worry, this won't take long. You have very nice hair by the way."
Julie flushed slightly and combed unconsciously through her parted brown hair. It was already dark outside when Julie and the man exited the tavern and stomped through the snow. Julie walked a bit slower than usual, so that he could keep up with her and lead the way, after all he walked on crutches, even though he seemed to cope with it rather well. Although Julie told herself not to, she couldn't resist but be interested in the guy. He seemed like a nice guy, with an attractive face nonetheless.
"My car's right over there." the man said as he pointed to a small VW Beetle with one of his crutches. "I'll just open the back real quick."
While he opened the trunk, Julie looked back towards the tavern as she shivered because of the cold Colorado weather. "What's your name anyway?"
"My name," the man repeated, "is Ted." With that he hit the unsuspecting Julie in the back of her head with the tire iron he had produced from the Beetle's trunk.
As Julie was whimpering in pain. Her face was laying in the snow-covered ground while she thought to herself that she really should have known better.
"Pack your snowsuits, people, we're going to Colorado!" Penelope Garcia exclaimed excitingly as she walked into the conference room of the BAU with some manila folders tucked under her arm and a remote control in her other hand. Her blonde, curled hair was held in place by a pink hairband and many, many canes of hair spray. As usual she was dressed in a very colorful outfit, which stood in a heavy contrast to how her co-workers were dressed, but she couldn't care less about it, as she stood in front of the conference table and pushed a button on her remote.
A few pictures of a pretty woman showed up on the big screen in the room. Her dead body was dumped at a solitary forest area. Blood covered the entire back of her head and she lay stark naked with some visual bruises on her entire body. Jennifer Jareau looked away disgusted by the sight in front of her, whereas team chef Aaron Hotchner faced the pictured with out showing any kind of emotion.
"Julie Cunningham, 23-years-old, a Colorado native and would you believe it a ski instructor was found dead near her home town of Vail. She was last seen in a local Tavern the night of her death, but apparently no one notice when she went away and the next day she was found by an elderly couple during their stroll through the woods. The coroner confirmed that she was raped." Garcia explained their latest case. She couldn't even look at the pictures she was showing her team, so she just focused on her team members. She'd still have to look at some cute pictures of panda afterwards.
David Rossi looked up from the folder he was reading while stroking his goatee. "Before or after she was killed?"
"After." Garcia replied while she closed her eyes and acted as if she tried to suppress the urge to vomit.
"A necrophilia? The most common reasons for this kind of sexual preference is the fear of rejection. They chose partners that can under no circumstance resist them. Or the unsub is just trying to show his dominance over his victim." the youngest of the group, Dr. Spencer Reid, concluded.
Derek Morgan, who had been quiet so far, suddenly spoke up. " This certainly isn't nice, but why are we immediately called for?"
"The reason, my bald-headed beauty, why Colorado is asking for our help is that Julie is the fifth woman so far that, not only has been killed in this manner, but all the other women have a striking similarity with her." Garcia stated and again pushed a button on the remote she was holding. Four other pictures of women showed up on the screen all lined in a row. "Caryn Campbell, Denise Lynn Oliverson, Melanie Cooley, and Shelly Robertson"
Rossi viewed the displayed pictures a short time, before he spotted the similarity. "They all have long, brown hair..."
"That is parted in the middle." Reid completed, but didn't notice the look Rossi was shooting towards him for interrupting his observation.
Emily Prentiss tried to hid her smile at Rossi's look by ducking her head and squeezing her lips together. Although she was sometimes quite awkward when it come to interaction with people herself, she couldn't believe how oblivious Spencer could be at times. She straighten her jet black hair, she had combed into a ponytail, as she tried to concentrate on the pictures in front of her.
"The unsub was shown real anger towards his victims by adding all these bruises. This is a obvious sign. It's possible someone with the same looks caused our guy to lose control." suggested Morgan who had had his arms firmly crossed against his chest. For him it was an easy conclusion. All victims had similar appearances; that couldn't be a coincident. In fact it reminded Morgan of the case of John Myers, an almost deaf serial killer the BAU had caught, whose female victims all spotted similarities with his mother.
However, no matter how convinced Morgan of this, it didn't help identify the man who was behind this.
"I'd say we'll fly to Colorado and get a clear picture ourselves. Reid, JJ you go talk to Cunningham's family; Dave, Morgan you'll go to the last place she was seen and see what you can figure out and Prentiss and I will go to the morgue to examine the bodies." Hotch declared as he got up from his seat with one of the files tucked under his arm.