John Barnett

John Irvin Barnett was a notorious bank robber active in Washington, D.C.. He was apprehended by the in an operation involving under the supervision of Reggie Purdue in 1989. Five years after his supposed death in prison, however, Barnett, mysteriously young again, resurfaced, this time to exact his revenge on Mulder.
== History ==
=== 1989 ===
Originally from New Hampshire, John Barnett was a remorseless killer and clinical psychopath, who murdered 7 people in separate robberies to taunt the authorities. He was caught in a sting operation, after Mulder, then a 28-year old newcomer to the FBI, suggested that he had a contact in the armored car company, who tipped Barnett off about large transports to the banks. The bureau forged waybills and manifests, and although he initially avoided the first traps set up, one eventually sent him to a warehouse, where an armed unit was to apprehend Barnett, but he unexpectedly used his own accomplice, the driver of the transporter, as a hostage. Mulder had a clear shot on Barnett, but chose not to fire, as it would’ve been against regulations. The stand-off ended with Barnett shooting his partner, then killing Agent Steve Wallenberg before the rest of the agents could arrest him. At his trial, Mulder testified as a witness, where he opined that Barnett should get the death pentalty. Barnett in turn taunted Mulder for failing to prevent the deaths of the hostage and Wallenberg. He narrowly avoided the death penalty on account of a technicality and instead was sentenced to 340 years in prison with no chance of parole.
Officially, he died of cardiac arrest in Tashmoo Federal Correction Facility in Pennsylvania on September 16th, 1989, with his death certificate signed by the correctional facility's physician, Dr. Joe Ridley. In secret, however, Doctor Ridley had found a way to reverse the aging process during his research on progeria - illegally using inmates as his test subjects. Barnett was the only surviving participant, which Ridley attributes to his unique treatment measure reacting positvely to the middle-aged Barnett's increased myelin production, successfully de-aging him approximately 15 years. Only his eyes did not respond to the gene therapy, turning them pupilless and a noticeably glazed, light shade of blue. Additionally, his right hand, which had been shot by Mulder during his arrest, was amputated following infection, leading to Ridley regrowing it using salamander tissue, giving him a grotesquely amphibian, yet fully functional new hand. Ridley, who had also used the treatment on himself, would go on to die of cerebral vascular disease as an unintended side-effect and though resenting him as a loathsome creature, he considered Barnett his crowning achievement. Ridley was forced to fake Barnett's death after another inmate, his best friend Joe Crandall, found him operating on his patient, but Barnett ended up escaping, taking the doctor's research with him and hiding it in an unmarked train station locker. 
=== 1994 murders ===
In 1994, Barnett committed another robbery, killing a sales clerk and leaving a note addressed to Mulder at the scene. First suspecting a copycat, questioning of Joe Crandall and a dying Dr. Ridley soon revealed the truth, leading Mulder and Scully to rush to catch the now unrecognisable youthful Barnett before he carries out his threat of killing all of Mulder's loved ones. Barnett continued to stalk Mulder and his friends, succeeding in killing Reggie Purdue and almost breaking into Scully's apartment, all the while continuing his charade of mocking the agent in notes and phone calls. During his attempt on Scully's life, Mulder was forced into the same predicament as 5 years ago when Barnett took Scully's friend hostage, this time choosing to take action and gun him down, critically wounding Barnett. The FBI tried, in vain, to save his life, knowing that he was the last person to know about the location of Ridley's precious research documents on reverse aging, but died while being interrogated by the Cigarette Smoking Man during his emergency operation, willingly taking the secret to his grave in a final act of contempt. ( "Young at Heart")
:John Barnett was portrayed by Alan Boyce (young) and David Petersen (old)
Barnett, John
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Monster of the Week
Category:The X-Files characters
Category:Mutants