Lake Gaston North Carolina
On one beautiful evening at Lake Gaston in North Carolina, the sun was almost gone and the Cutler family was starting a fire.
"Dad, when can we eat?" the young boy asked.
"We can eat these delicious hot dogs once mom gets back." his dad said.
"Where's mom?" the kid asked.
"At the store Zack, why don't you go skip rocks with your sister while we wait?" he said.
"Okay!" Zack said. He loved to skip rocks and he loved trying to teach his sister how to skip them. "Come on Alyssa!"
"Rocks!" she said. Zack grabbed a good size rock and threw it across the lake, He laughed at his three year old sister who was just chucking rocks into the lake. Zack looked around for more rocks and saw something floating by the boat dock.
"Score!" he whispered. He thought he saw a duck, so he grabbed a rock and quietly walked over to it. When the duck was in his vision, he took action. "Ahh!" he yelled and threw the rock so hard that he lost balance and fell in the water. "Oops." he said.
"Can I swim too?" Alyssa asked.
"Alyssa, I'm not swimming." Zack said. He looked up and didn't see the duck anymore, but he did see something floating by the jet ski. He swam over to see what it was.
"What's that?" Alyssa asked.
"I don't know." Zack said. It startled him when he saw a foot in the water. "Whoa! Dad!" he yelled.
"What's wrong?" Alyssa asked.
"Go get dad now!" Zack said. He started to cry when she left. "Mom?" He wasn't sure, but it looked like his mom.
FBI Headquarters Quantico, Virginia
About a week later, Penelope Garcia was presenting a new case to the Behavioral Analysis unit.
"Last week the body of Sarah Cutler was found tied to a jet ski. The same thing happened to four other families over the span of six months." she said.
"Was anyone ever reported missing?" Reid asked.
"Only the first two victims. Gretchen Mueller and Kendra Barrett were both reported missing after they didn't come back from the store." Garcia said. "There was also someone reported missing in the area about an hour ago."
"The sheriff is getting worried about this. The last victim was found by her eight year old son." SSA Jennifer Jareau said. "Everyone wants this guy caught."
"Which means we have no time to waste. Wheels up in thirty." SSA Aaron Hotchner said.
Everyone left and got all items necessary and boarded the jet. Reid got a drink and sat down next down to JJ.
"The sheriff is thinking of enforcing a curfew." JJ said.
"They sound pretty desperate." Rossi said. Garcia popped up on the screen.
"Greetings from your friendly neighborhood tech analyst." she said.
"Hey girl." Morgan said.
"Garcia, what do you know about the person who went missing?" Hotch asked.
"I know that his name is John Malesky, and that's about it." she said.
"Wait if the unsub is taking men now, he just changed his M/O." SSA Emily Prentiss said.
"Well if he just killed someone, this could be the start of a spree." Morgan said.
"This routine seems too consistent for him to deviate off of. The unsub probably experimented with his first few victims and found the perfect routine." Reid said.
"Alright, Reid and Dave go talk to the ME, Morgan and JJ go to the last crime scene, Prentiss and I will work victimology." Hotch said.