Peter Strahm

## Biography

### The Jigsaw Case

Peter Strahm was a special agent working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Thereby, he worked together with his partner, Special Agent Lindsey Perez, for five years. 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.

### 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 accidentally 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.

### Final Warning

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 reported missing two weeks earlier. 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 two blocks away. 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. (*Saw IV*)

### Lindsey Perez' 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 accidentally 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.

### Test

Upon his return, he called Perez' mother to tell her what happened to her daughter. His anger caused him to riot in the office but calmed down when he found a newspaper article about the Urban Renewal Group, a group founded by John Kramer and Art Blank. Meanwhile Jill waited in the room alone and her nervousness increased greatly. When Agent Strahm eventually returned, he was furious because of what had happened to Perez. Therefore, he showed Jill an official bill of indictment with her name on it to further put her under pressure. He angrily yelled at her and asked her about the puppet, the tricycle and about John's partner before his transformation to Jigsaw. He had also found out that her lawyer, Art Blank, had been John's partner despite Jill's claim that he never had one. When she refused to answer, he drove her into a corner and showed her Perez' blood on his shirt, stating that more people could die within the next 15 minutes. Frightened by him, Jill eventually gave in and told him about a dispute between Art and John, John's emotional detachment from her after Gideon's death, his cancer diagnosis and his attempted suicide. Upon Strahm's question whether she had tried to contact John afterwards, she affirmed this and eventually told him about a conversation between her and John during which he had revealed to her that Cecil Adams had become his first victim. However, as he was still unsatisfied with this information, Strahm eventually left the room angrily. Thereby he took another look at the headline of the newspaper article about John and Art, "Four walls build a home", and saw the abandoned Gideon Meatpacking Plant, John's very first building, thereby realizing the connection between the building and John's son. Therefore, he returned to Jill once more. When he urged her to tell him where the building was, she finally gave him the address at 11235 Blake Drive.

Shortly afterwards, he arrived at the building and called the police for reinforcements. However, as they needed some more time to get to the building, he decided to go in alone and entered the plant through the delivery entrance. There he found a small empty box, which was in fact a part of Rigg's game. As he went on and progressed through a storage area, he found a key with a photo attached to it. Unknown to him, this photo showed the Denlon family, the family of Dr. Lynn Denlon who had been reported missing earlier that day. When he went on, loud noises suddenly attracted his attention. Upon following them, he reached a large hall which contained the new makeshift workshop of John Kramer. Thereby, he heard voices coming from the next room, followed by gunshots and eventually the sound of a buzzsaw. When he approached the door to the room, it suddenly slammed shut. He carefully examined it and looked for any hidden traps connected to the door. As he didn't find anything dangerous, he attempted to open the door, albeit unsuccessfully. However, he still had the key in his pocket which had been sent to him by Detective Kerry. Thereby, he realized the true meaning of the words "Open the door and you will find me." With the key, he was finally able to open the door and therefore entered the room. Upon doing so, he found Jeff Denlon, who had been forced to play one of Jigsaw's games on his own, and told him to show him his hands. Jeff however aimed the gun at him and demanded to tell him where his daughter was, as she had been abducted as well, which caused Strahm to shoot him in self-defense. After Jeff's death, he went further into the room and was horrified when he found the corpses of John Kramer, Amanda Young and Lynn Denlon. (*Saw IV*)

As he was too distracted, he didn't notice how Detective Hoffman, who was in fact the real, yet unknown accomplice of Jigsaw, entered the workshop only moments later and locked him up inside the room along with the corpses. Seconds later, the lights in the room were turned off. Strahm attempted to open the door. However this attempt remained a failure. Therefore he tried to call the police, but this attempt failed as well as he had no signal. While looking for another way out, he eventually noticed the outlines of a hidden door as they glowed green due to a special fluorescent color. Upon opening it, he discovered a hallway and a tape recorder hanging from the ceiling. The tape, recorded by John Kramer, told him to stay where he was until the police arrived. However, Strahm refused to do so, and entered the secret hallway behind the door, leaving the dead bodies behind him. Eventually, he reached a room at the end of the hallway. However, only moments after he went in, he was attacked by a disguised Hoffman, who had been waiting for him and injected him with an anesthetic. Moments later, Strahm passed out. Afterwards, Hoffman put him in another trap in the same room, which was designed to kill him by drowning him without giving him any chance to survive. Hoffman then took everything that Strahm had in his pockets and placed it on a barrel before him. However, upon doing so, he forgot to remove a single pen from his pockets. Not noticing his mistake, Hoffman left the room, expecting Strahm to die shortly afterwards. (*Saw IV*, *V*)

When Strahm woke up again, he immediately panicked when he realized that his head was trapped in a glass cube. Frightened by the situation, he screamed for help and tried to free himself. While looking around, he noticed two tubes inserted through the top of the cube, which were connected to two water tanks. Moments later, after searching his pockets for anything useful, he saw all of his possessions on a barrel before him. Therefore, he tried to escape the cube by brute force, when suddenly, the cube began to fill with water. Realizing the dangerousness of the situation, Strahm further panicked as the water level increased quickly. After a matter of seconds, the cube was filled entirely. However, at this moment, Strahm finally found his pen in his pocket. In a last desperate attempt to survive, he rammed the pen into his windpipe and removed the ball pen refill, successfully performing a tracheotomy on himself which enabled him to breath. Minutes later, he was found by the police and a team of paramedics, who saved him from the trap and took him to the same hospital as Lindsey Perez. (*Saw V*)

## Personality

Strahm was a generally rude individual, tending to speak down on both suspects and members of the police. The only people he seemed to respect to some degree were his colleagues at the FBI. Perez described him as "a bit of a hothead", as he often reacted in a loud, aggressive way when things didn't work the way he wanted and got angry rather quick.

Despite this, he was a dedicated agent, eager to bring justice to criminals. Therefore, he was generally wary of the people around him. To convict criminals, he went to great lengths and thereby sometimes acted rather reckless, as seen when he entered the Gideon Plant without waiting for the reinforcements to arrive. He was also very intelligent, as he was the only person who had been able to find out about Hoffman's identity even without any help of his colleagues.

While most of the time he acted in a harsh and sometimes intimidating way, he tended not to show his emotions. However, he was still capable of showing empathy as seen when he called Perez' mother or mourned Perez' death. Due to his general personality, he often covered up his grief with outburst of rage and anger.