The Reaper (Criminal Minds)

Kevin Baskin

Miles Holden

William Parker

Derek Morgan

Peter Rhea

Victor Collins

Freelance computer specialist (formerly)

Evasion

Fighting skills

### Goals

Become a famous serial killer (overall succeeded).Assassinate FBI Agent Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner and his family (failed; succeeded only with his ex-wife).

### Crimes

Serial murderParricide

Burglary

Assault

Stalking

Identity fraud

Kidnapping

Sexual assault

Torture

Conspiracy

Mutilation

Jailbreak

“ You should have made the deal. „ ~ Foyet, a.k.a. The Reaper, before shooting Hotchner.

“ After I finish you, I'm gonna find that little bastard son of yours, and I'm gonna show him both of his dead parents, and I'm gonna tell him it was all your fault. „ ~ The Reaper to Hotchner.

**George Foyet**, also known as **The Boston Reaper** or simply as **The Reaper**, is the secondary antagonist of the CBS TV series *Criminal Minds*.

He is one of the few recurring serial killers and one of the major enemies of the BAU unit, specifically being the archenemy of Aaron Hotchner. He appears as the main antagonist of both Seasons 4 and 5, and the overarching antagonist of both the Season 9 episode "Route 66" and the series finale "And in the End".

He was portrayed by C. Thomas Howell, who also played Will Magnus in *Justice League: Gods and Monsters* and Professor Zoom in the DC Animated Movie Universe.

## Personality

George Foyet has no conscience or remorse, and has a pathological need to inflict pain and suffering; he particularly hates couples and other people who have meaningful relationships, and often chooses such people as his victims. This stems from his abusive childhood, in which his father beat him while his mother did nothing to protect him.

He is highly intelligent, resourceful, and manipulative, and knows how to cover his tracks and avoid capture. The best example would be when he stabbed himself several times and stole the identity of one of his victims. He is also an ephebophile, and takes special pleasure in torturing and murdering teenage girls.

He harbors an obsessive hatred of Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) Supervisory Agent Aaron Hotchner, and enjoys playing psychological cat-and-mouse games with him. Due to his hatred of him, Foyet did change his M.O while dealing with him. Rather than shooting him like he did with his other male victims, George planned on making him suffer by shooting his ex-wife Haley. This contradicts his previous method of killing his victims as he usually prolonged the suffering of his female victims.

## Biography

### Past

Foyet was born in 1968 to an abusive father and a submissive mother who did nothing to protect her son from her husband's frequent outbursts of violent rage. Foyet hated his father for hurting him and his mother for failing to protect him, and developed a hatred of couples in general. He ultimately murdered both his parents, and became a serial killer who preyed on couples, nicknamed "The Reaper" in the press.

Ten years before the events of Season 4 episode "Omnivore", Aaron Hotchner and a detective named Shaughnessy were tracking down the Reaper. However, once Shaughnessy finally found the killer, Foyet made him a deal: he would stop killing as long as Shaughnessy stopped looking for him. Knowing that his case against Foyet was weak and would likely be thrown out of court, Shaugnessy reluctantly agreed. Foyet then goes underground for the next 10 years.

### Modus Operandi

The Reaper usually assaults and murders couples on highways. However, as the BAU tracks him down more and more, his methods become more and more brutal, targeting several people at once, until he finally sets his sights on Hotchner's ex-wife and son.

### *Criminal Minds*

#### Tracking down the Reaper

Hotchner and his team return to Boston to find out that Shaughnessy is dying, which will void the Reaper's deal. Sure enough, after Shaughnessy dies, the Reaper starts killing again, leaving a single survivor behind, revealed to be George Foyet himself. The team offers him protection from the killer, but he refuses to leave Boston. Hours later, Hotchner receives a call from the Reaper, who proposes the same deal he made before, but the agent refuses. Angered, the Reaper steps into a coach bus and kills everyone on board, leaving Foyet's three addresses written in blood on the windows. Agent Derek Morgan goes to the latest address to try and stop Foyet, who knocks him unconscious and leaves a bullet at the crime scene to taunt the team.

#### Rivalry with Aaron Hotchner

BAU technical analyst Penelope Garcia cross-references Foyet with the Reaper, which connects the two and finally allows the team to declare them as the same person. In the meantime, a true crime reporter interviews Foyet, who holds him a gunpoint once he says the Reaper was found dead. The BAU traces the reporter's cell phone to Foyet's apartment and manages to arrest him, only for him to escape prison by faking a blood loss and getting to the infirmary, escaping through there.

At the Season 4 episode "...And Back", the Reaper surprises Hotchner at his house and shoots him off-screen. In Season 5, Hotchner is rushed to the hospital, although under Morgan's name, an attempt by the Reaper to legally declare Hotchner dead. Flashbacks reveal that the Reaper actually shot the wall next to Hotchner and beat him up and stabbing him nine times. The BAU immediately places Hotchner's ex-wife Haley and his son Jack under US Marshal Service protection.

#### Final attack and death

The final clash with the Reaper occurs in Season 5's episode "100". The team traces down one of the Reaper's aliases, Peter Rhea, and find his apartment empty, although loaded with empty gun briefcases. They go to the home of the Marshal in charge of Haley's protection, but find him on the floor, mortally wounded. As Hotchner follows him in an ambulance, the marshal tells him that Foyet took his cell phone and called Haley, posing as a Marshal to trick her into meeting him, telling her that Hotchner was killed and they need to relocate, tricking her into going to her own house with her son. Hotchner rushes there while Foyet forces Haley to call him at gunpoint. Garcia hacks into the frequency so the others can also hear it. Hotchner tells his son, in code, to hide in a hope chest until he gets home, and says a tearful goodbye to Haley as Foyet shoots her dead.

Finally getting to his home, Hotchner finds Haley's body on her bedroom, and Foyet behind a curtain, immediately firing at him. However, after Hotchner falls, Foyet sees he is wearing a bulletproof vest. Foyet counterattacks, and a fight ensues between the two. Foyet threatens to kill Hotchner's son, but Hotchner manages to get the upper hand and pin Foyet down. Foyet begs for mercy, but an enraged Hotchner beats him to death.

## Victims

### 1977

1. Mr. Foyet
2. Mrs. Foyet

### 1995-1998

1. Amanda Bertram
2. Henry Alan Ward
3. Renata Joyce
4. Keira Calder
5. Unknown Victim
6. Unknown Victim
7. Unknown Victim
8. Unknown Victim
9. Unknown Victim
10. Unknown Victim
11. Unknown Victim
12. Unknown Victim
13. Unknown Victim
14. Unknown Victim
15. Unknown Victim
16. Unknown Victim
17. Unknown Victim
18. Unknown Victim
19. Unknown Victim
20. Unknown Victim
21. Unknown Victim

### 2008

1. Nina Hale
2. Evan Harvey
3. Arthur Lanessa
4. Diana Lanessa
5. Unnamed Male Bus Driver
6. Unnamed Male Bus Rider
7. Unnamed Male Bus Rider
8. Unnamed Male Bus Rider
9. Unnamed Female Bus Rider
10. Unnamed Female Bus Rider
11. Unnamed Female Bus Rider
12. Sergeant Michael O'Mara
13. Sam Kassmeyer
14. Haley Brooks

### Overall

* Total - 37 People
	+ 17 Victims of Unknown Gender
	+ 11 Women
	+ 9 Men

## Trivia

* Foyet is inspired by multiple real-life and fictional criminals:
	+ The Zodiac Killer, Foyet's primary inspiration, an American unidentified serial killer responsible for murdering at least seven victims and leaving at least two alive, usually in full costume and killing or attempting to kill them all with guns and knives. The Zodiac also taunted the press and authorities with signature symbols, wanted attention, and wanted to target a bus full of victims, though only Foyet actually executed such a massacre.
	+ Charles Davis, a.k.a. "Scorpio", the main antagonist of *Dirty Harry*, a serial sniper demanding attention and a ransom to stop his murders, also executing an attack on a bus, where he took hostages, and was similarly killed by the film's protagonist. Scorpio, coincidentally, was also primarily inspired by the Zodiac Killer.
	+ Ronnie Lee Gardner, an American spree killer and prison escapee who similarly faked medical problems before fleeing and going on a murderous rampage.
* He is one of the few recurring killers in the series, as well as one of the most personal enemies in Hotchner's life.
* Foyet, along with Peter Lewis, is one of the most brutal and dangerous villains to be featured on the show as he has killed over 30 people.
* Foyet appeared in Hotchner's hallucination in the Season nine episode "Route 66" and then later to BAU Agent Spencer Reid in the series finale "And in the End..*.*".
* Foyet is the second villain in the series to temporarily escape the BAU, the first being Frank Breitkopf.
	+ Foyet is also the first villain to escape the BAU more than once, after he tortured Hotchner and left him at the hospital in the season five episode "Nameless, Faceless" after shooting him in the season four finale.
* Foyet is the second villain in the series to be murdered by a member the BAU out of vengeance and not brought to justice or be killed in self defense. The first one was William Lee, whom Elle Greenaway killed in a fit of rage.