F.B.I Headquarters

## Layout and Structure

The FBI Headquarters were a local base of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It housed numerous offices as well as a research lab and an archive for the storage of case files and other important documents. Due to the massive amount of work the FBI had to deal with every day, all incoming calls for any of the agents were answered and administered by the headquarters' switchboard. Besides the labs, offices and conference rooms, the building had an own parking garage reserved only for employees and visitors. (*Saw V*

## History

### The Jigsaw Case

At one point, two of the agents, Peter Strahm and Lindsey Perez, got involved in the case of serial killer John Kramer, better known as the Jigsaw Killer. During their investigation, both John and his accomplice, Amanda Young, died at the hands of Jeff Denlon, one of their victims. However, John had previously targeted both of the agents as well, resulting in both of them being severely injured. While Perez went into hiding and thereby faked her own death with the assistance of their supervisor, Special Agent Dan Erickson, Strahm got discharged from the case due to his reckless actions throughout his investigation which had nearly resulted in his own death. (*Saw IV*, *V*)

### False Trail

Despite his discharge, Strahm continued the investigation on his own. Knowing that the agent suspected him, Detective Mark Hoffman, Jigsaw's secret accomplice and eventual successor, planned to throw suspicion on Strahm in order to protect his own identity. After setting up another game, Hoffman drove to the parking lot of the FBI headquarters, from where he tried to call Agent Strahm in his office. As he wasn't there, Hoffman was only able to talk to Special Agent Cowan, who offered to connect him to Strahm's supervisor, Erickson, to which Hoffman agreed. Erickson however wasn't available either. Therefore, Hoffman left a message on his mailbox.

Shortly afterwards, Strahm went to the headquarters after releasing himself from the Saint Eustace Hospital. Unnoticed by Erickson, he entered the research lab and used one of the computers to search for Hoffman in the international criminal database. However, this remained unsuccessful as there were no criminal records of him. After that, Strahm went to the room where the FBI's files were kept and examined the files of potential Jigsaw victims. Thereby, he noticed that Detective Hoffman had participated in every investigation related to Jigsaw after a man named Seth Baxter had been found dead. Strahm returned to the computer and locked up Seth Baxter. Upon doing so, he found out that he had killed his girlfriend, Angelina Acomb, who was in fact Hoffman's sister, during a domestic dispute. However, due to a technicality he was released from prison after five years, despite having been sentenced to life in prison, before he was found dead in a trap the next month. With this new information, Strahm took Seth's file, left the lab and thereby crossed Erickson's path. When the latter asked him what he was doing here, Strahm claimed that he followed Erickson's orders to take some time off and only wanted to get some things from his office. Despite his suspicious behavior, Erickson let him go.

Shortly afterwards, Hoffman contacted John Kramer's ex-wife, Jill Tuck, and told her to go to Erickson in order to further fuel his suspicion. When she went to the building, she was taken to Erickson's office by Special Agent Cowan. Once they were alone, Jill told Erickson that she believed to be observed by someone from the FBI. When Erickson wanted to know who she suspected, she told him that it was the agent who interrogated her earlier. Realizing that she was talking about Strahm, he asked her if she had told anyone else about this, which Jill denied. After their conversation, Jill left the headquarters.

Only minutes later, Erickson finally finished work and went to his car. Unknown to him, he was observed by Hoffman who still sat in his own car on the other side of the parking lot. He used Strahm's mobile from the evidence room to call Erickson, but immediately hung up when Erickson answered it. Confused by this, Erickson immediately tried to call him back. Hoffman then rejected the call and turned off the phone. Therefore, Erickson became even more suspicious and ordered Agent Cowan to put a trace on Strahm's phone. Eventually, the phone was turned on again, enabling Cowan to find its location in an underground catacomb area at 1293 Sandburst Drive. Therefore, she immediately informed Erickson about the address. Shortly afterwards, Erickson called her again and ordered her to put out an APB on Special Agent Peter Strahm. (*Saw V*)