Lindsey Perez

## Biography

### The Fire

Lindsey Perez was a special agent working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Thereby, she worked together with her partner, Special Agent Peter Strahm, for five years. At one point they investigated a severe case of arson. After having been hired by a drug dealer, an addict named Mallick Scott had burned down an apartment building and thereby killed eight people. While investigating the case, Strahm and Perez didn't only suspect Mallick, but four other people who were in some way involved in the fire: Brit Stevenson, vice president of the Marshford Group, a real estate company, who had hired the drug dealer who in return hired Mallick, Luba Gibbs, a city planner who approved Brit's application for planning consent on the property of the burned house, Ashley Kazon, a fire inspector who faked a report and made the fire seem like an accident and finally Charles Salomon, an investigative journalist who had gained knowledge of the arson but refused to publish the truth as he was bribed. Strahm and Perez planned to bring a charge against all five of them. However, when the only witness, who was in fact the drug dealer, suddenly vanished, the investigation was ceased.

### The Jigsaw Case

Some time later, the agents got involved in the serial killer case of John Kramer, better known as the Jigsaw Killer. While not directly investigating the case in attendance, they were regularly supplied with information by Detective Allison Kerry, their informant in the Metropolitan Police Department, which investigated the murders. At one point, Strahm and Perez received a key and a message, which they believed to be from Kerry. The message said "Open the door and you will find me." Additionally, they were warned that two officers might be in danger. This was their last message from her as Kerry was abducted and killed shortly afterwards by one of Jigsaw's traps. When she was found by her colleagues four days later, Strahm and Perez went to the crime scene in a basement area, where they were greeted by Detective Mark Hoffman, the leading investigator. They told him that Kerry was their informant and asked him if he knew something about the meaning of the words "Open the door and you will find me." However, Hoffman denied this. After that, he led the agents to the corpse of Detective Kerry. Upon doing so, Detective Fisk, who had arrived at the crime scene as well, informed him about a bullet shell clamped between the device and the body which Hoffman ordered to be examined for fingerprints. When Agent Perez found the open lock of the trap she quickly came to the conclusion that this wasn't a Jigsaw trap. However when Hoffman said it was probably a trap by Amanda Young, John Kramer's apprentice, Agent Strahm negated this as Kerry weighed approximately 130 pounds while Amanda Young weighed only 107 pounds according to her arrest report and therefore couldn't have placed Kerry in the trap on her own, leading to the conclusion that a third yet unknown person assisted her and John Kramer.

After the discovery of the crime scene, the agents went to the police station along with Hoffman, where they interrupted Officer Daniel Rigg, the leader of the SWAT team which had found Kerry. He was watching the old recordings of the interrogation of Jill Tuck, John Kramer's ex-wife, by Detective Hoffman, as he was sure that she knew something about John and therefore maybe also about the whereabouts of Detective Eric Matthews, who had been abducted six months earlier. Rigg tried to convince Hoffman to let him continue his work, but Hoffman ordered him to go home once more and take some time off, stating that it was unlikely to find Eric alive after he had been missing for six months. Albeit Rigg initially refused to do so, he ultimately gave in and left the office. When the agents asked him what his problem was, Hoffman replied that everyone connected to Rigg seemed to die, which was the reason for his obsession with finding Eric.

When they were alone, Strahm and Perez discussed the current situation and debated on whether they should tell Hoffman about Detective Kerry's last message, according to which two officers might be in danger. At this moment, Hoffman interrupted them and asked for their progress. On this occasion, Fisk came to him and informed him about the disappearance of a doctor, Lynn Denlon, from the Angel of Mercy Hospital. Upon hearing this, Hoffman told Fisk that he would take care of it. When Perez saw a cuddly toy in his arm, she asked him if it was for a girl or a boy. Hoffman said it was for a girl, leading Perez to the assumption he was married. However, he denied this and left the station.

### Daniel Rigg's Trial

Later that day, a fingerprint from Officer Rigg was found on the bullet shell from Kerry's crime scene. When Detective Fisk informed the agents about this, a young cop told him about a reported shooting at 23 Park Place, the location of Rigg's apartment. Shortly afterwards, the agents entered the apartment with the assistance of a SWAT team led by Officer Lamanna. Upon doing so, they found the humiliated corpse of Brenda, a pimp, in the living room, and thereby found out that another game had begun, which focused on Officer Rigg and his obsession with saving everyone around him. Numerous photos on the walls revealed to them, that Eric Matthews, who was still alive, and Mark Hoffman, who was seemingly abducted as well, were part of the game, leading the agents to the conclusion that they were the two officers who were in danger according to Kerry. While Perez suspected that everything in the apartment had been arranged to throw suspicion on Rigg, Strahm stated that Rigg himself could've set up the game to give himself an alibi. He took a black light from one of the CSI forensics and thereby revealed a message written on the wall with fluorescent color. This message said: "Four walls build a home." Assuming that this was a reference to the photos on the walls, which showed the victims of Rigg's game, Strahm found one that didn't fit the others as it showed Jigsaw's ex-wife, Jill Tuck. Therefore, they decided to talk to her immediately.

Minutes later, they went to the Homeward Bound Clinic, a recovery clinic ran by Jill, and took her to one of the interrogation rooms at the police station. Back at the station, Strahm ordered Perez to turn off the room's fresh air supply before they began their interrogation. When Perez told her that they wanted to talk about her rather than John, she became irritated and told her to come to the point instead of wasting their time. Perez then left the room and Strahm took over the interrogation. He asked her if she knew about the meaning behind the words "Four walls build a home." When Jill asked him for the reason of his questions, he showed her the photos of her found in Rigg's apartment. However she still refused to answer. Therefore, Strahm asked her about the words "Cherish your life". When she answered that this was John's motto, Strahm showed her a flyer of her clinic with the same motto. To provoke her, he mockingly asked her how she felt when John used the motto of her clinic, where she wanted to help the drug addicts, to justify his crimes. However, she merely responded that she had nothing to do with the dark side of her ex-husband. In an attempt to put her under pressure and make her talk, Strahm told her that they suspected her as the accomplice of her ex-husband and intended to charge her if she didn't help them. Therefore, she became nervous and eventually agreed to tell them about John's workshop. As she told Strahm about her marriage with John and her devotion to him, he asked her why she had separated, to which she responded that it was actually him who ended their marriage. Thereby, the conversation fell upon Gideon, her unborn son. Jill revealed that she had been pregnant and that John had meticulously planned their son's birth. However, she lost the child when one of her patients, Cecil Adams, robbed the clinic and thereby accidently slammed a doorknob in her stomach. Strahm initially didn't believe her story, but before he could go on and on, he was suddenly interrupted by Detective Fisk, who informed him that another crime scene had been found at the Alexander Motel. Therefore, Strahm went to the scene and ordered Fisk not to let Jill leave the police station.

When he and Perez arrived at the motel and entered room 261, they found the dismembered corpse of a man who had already been identified as Ivan Landsness, someone who had been acquitted of rape three times. Besides his corpse and the trap, which he could've only escaped by gouging out his own eyes, there were numerous photos of the battered victims of his sexual assaults. While investigating the scene, Officer Lamanna came in and informed them that the room had been rented by a lawyer named Art Blank, who had been who had been reported missing two weeks earlier. Therefore, Strahm ordered him to find out his address. While discussing the new situation with Perez, he stated that two of the victims from the photos in Rigg's apartment as well as every partner he ever worked with were dead. Furthermore, he pointed to a message written on the door which said "Feel as I feel" and reminded Perez of a similar message written on the wall of Rigg's apartment which said "See as I see". Thereby, he concluded that John Kramer tried to teach his lessons to Rigg and suspected that Rigg had been recruited by him. Moments later, Lamanna reentered the room and told them that Art Blank owned several properties, the last known address being only to blocks away. Therefore, they went to the address and entered the basement. After securing the area, they found two labelled files left for them on a table. Written on the first one was the message "Open the door and you will find me", while the second message warned them: "You are in danger of getting to close... step back." Additionally, a security camera was mounted to the wall and filmed them. Strahm removed it, realizing that he and Perez were in fact Jigsaw's targets.

### Test

Later that night, they accompanied the SWAT team once more when they were called to an elementary school after someone had activated the fire alarm. When they entered the school, they soon found Morgan and Rex, who had been trapped there and whose bodies had been impaled by numerous metal spikes. While Rex had died from blood loss after Morgan had removed the spikes, his wife was still alive. Upon taking a look at his corpse and a chart saying "Your life is in her hands", Strahm concluded that Rex had no chance to begin with as all of his major arteries had been impaled. Even though Perez stated that Morgan had identified Rigg as her savior, Strahm still didn't believe that he was innocent. Perez then received a call and informed her partner that all victim's of Rigg's game had been represented by the same lawyer, Art Blank, who caused all of them to be acquitted despite the fact that they were guilty of their respective crimes. Furthermore, Art was the lawyer of Jill Tuck as well. Seconds later, one of the forensic investigators accidently activated a device which shot a spike in Perez' direction. Strahm managed to pull her away but instead the spike pierced the head of a police photographer, while Lamanna and the other officers watched in horror.

Following this incident, they left the room and discussed where they could possibly find the location where Rigg's game would end. Perez then informed Strahm that Jill Tuck was a co-proprietor of the school they were in, leading to the conclusion that there were still hints left for them to find. The agents separated to search the building and reunited shortly afterwards when they reached the principal's office. Upon entering the room, they discovered Jigsaw's mechanical ventriloquist puppet, sitting on a chair in a circle of candles with a tape recorder hanging from its neck. When Perez started the tape, it told her that her partner would soon take the life of an innocent man and warned her that her next move would be critical. However, instead of listening to the warning, Perez leaned forward to the puppet as it started whispering incomprehensibly.

A few seconds later, the puppet's face suddenly exploded, severely injuring her face and neck with shrapnel. As Strahm was taking her to safety, the puppet mockingly laughed at her before it gave up the ghost. Strahm yelled for help, causing the police forces to call an ambulance, which arrived shortly afterwards. While lying on gurney, Perez handed him the key, which had been sent to them by Detective Kerry, before she was finally taken to the Saint Eustace Hospital. Following this incident, Strahm left the school as well and returned to the police station.

### Faking Death

Later that night, both, John Kramer and Amanda Young died at the hands of Jeff Denlon, another one of their victims. However, as the secret accomplice was still unknown, Perez' supervisor, Special Agent Dan Erickson visited her at the hospital. Together, they decided to fake Perez' death for the sake of her safety until they knew who the remaining accomplice was. After receiving her instructions from Erickson, Perez went into hiding and the hospital reported her death to Strahm and Detective Hoffman.

### Return

Within the next days, Erickson found another game in an underground catacomb area at 1293 Sandburst Drive. The victims of these traps were in fact the five suspects in the case of arson that Strahm and Perez investigated earlier. This circumstance, as well as several other evidence, such as Strahm's phone which had been found at the crime scene, ultimately led to the conclusion that Peter Strahm was the new apprentice. Shortly afterwards, Eddie, the victim of another game, was found. Upon the investigation of the crime scene, fingerprints were found which were soon identified as those of Agent Strahm. Therefore, Erickson and Perez decided to let Hoffman in on Perez' staged death. When Hoffman arrived at the crime scene, Erickson informed him about the fingerprints, voicing his surprise and dismay of Strahm being the key suspect. However, he also stated that they had prepared a surprise for Strahm on their own and led Hoffman to the next room. Hoffman was shocked, when he saw Lindsey Perez standing before him. Erickson revealed that they had staged her death in order to guarantee her safety until they knew more about Jigsaw's unknown apprentice. During their conversation, Perez informed Hoffman that she and Strahm had worked on the arson case connected the five victims of the traps found by Erickson in the catacombs. However, the charges were dropped when the only witness unexpectedly disappeared. This led them to the conclusion that Strahm had chosen them in order to take revenge. As they now believed to know that Strahm was the secret accomplice of Jigsaw, they asked Hoffman to work together. Hoffman initially hesitated as the agents hadn't informed him about Perez' faked death earlier, but ultimately accepted the offer when Erickson promised him to inform him about all future information and FBI activities regarding the Jigsaw Case.

### Reopening the Seth Baxter Case

Soon afterwards, Dr. Adam Heffner, the police department's pathologist, called the agents and Hoffman to the morgue. Upon the obduction of Eddie, Heffner had discovered that a knife with a tined blade had been used to cut the jigsaw piece from Eddie's skin, while the pieces of most previous victims had been cut off with a plain scalpel. Upon comparing this case with other previous cases, the agents had found out that the tined blade had only been used once before, to cut the jigsaw piece from the body of Seth Baxter, the murderer of Hoffman's sister, Angelina Acomb. As a different knife had been used, Perez and Erickson had ordered to further analyze the video tape found at Seth's crime scene, thinking that it might have been recorded by someone else as well.

Later that day, Perez and Erickson received a laboratory report. According to this report, traces of Freon, more explicitly Dichlorodifluoromethane R-12, a chemical substance which wasn't produced anymore since 1994, had been found in Strahm's fingerprints. Furthermore, the uric acid levels and the eccrine gland residue of the fingerprints were inconsistent for an individual with an active epidural metabolism, leading to the conclusion that Strahm must've been dead already by the time his fingerprints were left at the crime scene. Therefore, Erickson called Hoffman to come to the FBI headquarters as soon as possible and thereby also informed him that the Seth Baxter tape had been found. Shortly after receiving the call, Hoffman arrived at the FBI headquarters, where he was greeted by Erickson and Perez, who informed him about the traces of Freon in Strahm's fingerprints.

In order to find out if the crime scene of the latest game was polluted or if Strahm's fingerprints were already contaminated with the substance before, Perez and Erickson planned to find out what was formerly produced in the building where Simone and Eddie's game had taken place. Erickson was then interrupted by a phone call from the FBI's technical lab. Hoffman asked Perez if there were any news about the Seth Baxter tape, which she confirmed. Despite the fact that the tape was in a bad state, they were able to authenticate that the voice on the tape wasn't John Kramer's voice. Therefore, they had sent the tape to the technical lab to rectify it so they could hear the original voice. When she told Hoffman about it, she realized that his stopwatch was running and asked if he was timing something, to which he responded that he did before receiving the call from Erickson. Moments later, Erickson told them that the original voice on the Seth Baxter tape was soon going to be decrypted and told Hoffman and Perez to accompany them to the external lab.

### Death

The group reached the lab soon afterwards. When they came in, FBI technician Sachi was still working on the tape. As they had to wait some more time, Hoffman took a cup of coffee from the machine in the room. Noticing Hoffman's increasing nervousness, Perez tried to put him under pressure and began to discuss Strahm's motivation for helping Jigsaw and stated that she had never suspected him to be mentally unstable during the five years she had worked with him. Erickson then talked about the possibility that Strahm had killed Seth Baxter to throw suspicion on Hoffman. However there was still some detail that didn't fit the picture and therefore he finally revealed to Hoffman, that Strahm, judging by the analysis of his fingerprints, must have already been dead by the time he left his prints at the crime scene of Simone and Eddie's game.

Seconds later, Sachi restored the tape, finally revealing the voice to be that of Mark Hoffman. However, before the agents could react, Hoffman quickly pulled out a knife from his pocket, slashed Erickson's jugular vein and threw his coffee in Perez's face. Then, he cut off the power and grabbed Sachi, who was shot in the back three times by Agent Perez as Hoffman used her as a human shield. Upon doing so, Hoffman was able to approach Perez and stabbed her multiple times in the abdomen with his knife. He then asked her who else knew about him, to which she responded with her dying breath that everyone knew about him. Calling it a lie, Hoffman stabbed her one final time, killing her in the process.

## Personality

Perez was a responsible and focused agent, eager to solve the Jigsaw Case and bring justice to criminals. Unlike her partner, Agent Strahm, she was a rather calm individual who hesitated to jump at conclusions without knowing the details about a situation. However, she was also reckless at times, as seen when she put Hoffman under pressure in the lab, which subsequently led to her death.