JJ stood by the front of the room by the screen, and after everyone had sat down she started talking. Reid glanced around the table and saw that Amelia Greer was sitting on the other side of Prentiss, who was sitting next to him. He would have to look backwards to look at her. Now was not the time to try. He turned around to pay attention to what JJ was saying.
"In Denver, over the last six months, we have another case of women being kidnapped, raped, and then murdered and dumped. So far, there have been three known murders, and here are the pictures of the dump sites."
She clicked a button and the screen showed three pictures of bodies, in dumpsters. While they were partially buried in the trash, it was obvious no real effort had been made to hide them.
"He doesn't have much fear of being caught, does he?" Prentiss noted.
"The weird part of this case is that all three women had their tongues cut out," continued JJ.
"Was it pre or post-mortem?" asked Reid.
"Pre. Obviously he doesn't want his victims talking to him. The victims are Erica Salyer, age 30, Joanne Higgins, 25, and Heather Jennings, 33. They all lived alone, and were reported missing when they didn't show up to work. In all cases, it was a month between when they were reported missing, and when their bodies were found. Their autopsies all indicated that they were malnourished, and weight and muscle loss, coupled with the degree of healing of the stump of their tongues, showed that he cut their tongues off fairly soon after he took them. They all died of blunt force trauma to the head, but he might have decided to kill them when they became too weak."
Hotch spoke up, "They were all single, and had no family in the area. All of their cars were found in the parking lots of their apartments. Two of the cars had the victim's purse in it, and the third purse was found on the ground just underneath the driver's side door. All three victims worked jobs where they returned home late at night."
Morgan spoke up, "So he's taking low risk victims, late at night, when they're tired from working and getting out of their cars. He's organized, and has a vehicle big enough to transport a body. I say we get going, the sooner we get there, the sooner we can catch him."
Hotch smiled briefly at Morgan's enthusiasm. Then he looked at their trainee. "When we take a case, we usually just leave from here. But if you need some time to get some things together, we can wait."
She gave him a ironic smile. "Dale Southern warned me that a BAU team can be called on to leave very quickly. I have a suitcase ready in my car. I just wasn't expecting it to be on my first day," she said.
"Good. JJ, you're responsible to make sure she knows where to go and what to do," Hotch spoke over his shoulder as he quickly exited the room.
"You people move fast. I'll be going to my car to get my suitcase, then." Dr. Greer stood up and left the room.
"She's got the right idea, guys. Let's get moving," said Rossi as he also left the room.
Morgan and Reid looked at each other. "Guess we'd better go before we're left behind, huh?" laughed Morgan as he got up from the table.