Reid

At the police station in Downeast Maine Reid studied the pictures of the bodies of the dead victims. Not for the first time, he wished he had the actual bodies to look at. The pictures showed a strange pattern, one that he was afraid to misinterpret. If he told the others his theory it could change the whole profile they'd been constructing. Rossi thumped into a chair across the table from him, and Morgan sat on his right.

"What are you thinking Reid?" asked Rossi. "You'll think better if you put it into words." Reid cleared his throat.

"I've noticed something strange about the wounds on the bodies, especially the fatal wrist wounds. Each wound is a mirror image of the one opposite it."

"What does that mean?" asked Morgan, obviously baffled. "That our unsub likes symmetry?" Reid fought the urge to chuckle. Prentiss joined them and sat on the edge of the table, listening.

"I don't think so," said Reid. "Some of the random wounds on the body were asymmetrical, deep, straight cuts, probably made with a knife. I believe those wounds were caused by the unsub. The rest were shallower, hesitant and done with a shaky hand. Each wound with this pattern has a sister wound on the opposite side of the body. These wounds are exactly the same, except they're mirror images. I think that these wounds were self-inflicted. I think they were forced to hurt themselves." Complete silence followed his statement. This was a section of brutality they hadn't really encountered before.

"What about these wounds?" asked Prentiss. She held up a picture of the fourth victim's back which looked like it was covered in hundreds of tiny ripped puncture wounds. Reid furrowed his brow and studied it. It wasn't a picture he'd looked at yet.

"It looks like the victim was punctured with nails," he said, his stomach tightening.

"How?" asked Rossi. "They are all in straight rows. Do you think he put the nails in her back one by one?"

"No," said Reid. "I think he put them through a board first and then used the board to injure her back. At first I thought he hit them with it, but now I can see that the wounds were caused by gradual pressure. I think they had to lay on it." Stunned silence followed his words again.

"What caused the tearing of wounds?" asked Rossi. "If you look at them, it looks like they were punctured, and then the skin was torn to create a rip in the skin."

"It looks like once they lay on the boards the unsub moved their bodies back and forth on the nails, increasing the wound size. But why would he do that?" asked Reid. Morgan took the picture from Prentiss and stared at it, his face becoming visibly paler.

"He raped them," said Morgan. "He would lay them down on boards of nails and then rape them." Reid's stomach flipped and clenched. "A sexual sadist," murmured Morgan. Reid suddenly thought of something.

"When was the first body found?" he asked.

"June 6th of this year," said Prentiss.

"When was she reported missing?" asked Reid.

"May fourteenth," she read. "But there was a delay in the report. She had told her family she was going on vacation with her friends so her family didn't realize she was missing for at least a week after her abduction."

"All the bodies were left in high traffic places where they would be found right away. So we can assume that they were disposed of very soon after death," said Reid, thinking out loud. "So the unsub kept his victims for at least a month. Some of the wounds on the bodies were partially healed. I think the unsub keeps his victims alive for the whole month. That means that if we work quickly we may find Paige Stewart alive."

"I'll talk to JJ," said Rossi. "We can't do a press conference about this one. If the killer thinks we're onto him then he may dispose of her quicker than we can find her." He strode away purposefully.

"I also noticed rope burns and shackle marks on the victims," added Reid. "That means he keeps them confined. This usually indicates that the unsub doesn't keep constant watch on his victim. He may leave them alone for periods of time. Based on the geographical profile the unsub probably lives in one of the surrounding towns, so he would need to keep her quiet somehow so his neighbors don't hear her. That indicates either drugs or extreme intimidation."

"Let me get this straight," said Morgan. "This guy is a sadist who rapes his victims repeatedly, at least once on a bed of nails. He forces his victims to cut themselves with a knife and eventually to slit their own wrists. We're dealing with a guy that can not only physically torture his victims, but emotionally torture them as well. As far as we know none of his victims have escaped, and he keeps his neighbors from hearing."

"What can we infer from that?" asked Prentiss.

"Statistically, lethal sexual sadists are diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder. This could be caused by anything like brain injury, schizophrenia or other mental disorders. The fantasies that these sadists enact are usually repressed desires the killer has had their entire lives and are now getting the chance to act them out. These killers probably started out small, such as accessing hardcore pornography on the internet or getting too rough with a consenting partner. We should talk to Garcia and see if there is a pattern of these behaviors in the area."

"I got it," said Morgan, flipping open his phone and striding away.

"Thanks Reid," said Prentiss. "I'll go talk to Rossi about constructing a definite profile."