Criminal Minds (2005–…): Season 4, Episode 25 - To Hell... And Back - full transcript

Hey, girl.

You want it, baby.

I know you like it, daddy.

This stays quiet.

Move forward, please.

Thank you.

Driver's license and government ID.

What's the nature of your visit?

Pleasure.

You transporting any firearms?

No, sir.



Fresh produce? Livestock?

Nope.

Has anyone given you anything

to bring across the border.

No, sir.

Welcome to Canada.

Sir, you have to move your car.

Sir, you have to go.

Sir, you can't stop here.

Go, keep moving!

Stop the car now!

Stop the car or we'll shoot!
Stop the car!

Get out of the car!

Get out of the car!



Get out of the vehicle!

Put your hands out in front of you.

Let's see your hands!
Palms toward me!

Get out of the car!

Get out of the car!
Get out of the car!

Keep your hands in the air!

Keep 'em up!

Move to the left. Keep your
hands high where I can see them.

All right, stop. Stop.

Put your hands on your head.

Get down on your knees.

Slowly put your hands
down on the pavement

and lie on your stomach.

Don't move!

You're gonna want to call the FBI.

I've killed 10 people
in the last month.

What are you talking about?

Look in the car.

Get him up.

Get him up. Get him on his feet.

Uhh! Ohh... Oh...

Are you telling me you
killed all these people?

Make the call.

His name's William Hightower.

He claims over the past month

he's picked 10 people off
the streets of Detroit,

Killed them, dumped their bodies
across the border in Canada.

Has he given up the dump site?

He said he'll only talk to the FBI.

Do we have confirmation these
people are even missing?

Two were reported missing
by family months ago,

but they all appear
to be transients.

We're having a hard time finding
any information on them.

Garcia?

Like a bloodhound, sir.

So what do we know about this guy?

Until 2 months ago,
he was a Sergeant in the US Army.

He did 2 tours in Iraq.

Lost his left leg in
a roadside ambush.

He was discharged
with a Purple Heart

and a Commendation for Valor.

And the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police are requesting our help?

They don't have a lot of choice.

He manages to get
away with 10 murders,

why crash the guard post?

Could be an attempted suicide.

And maybe he was trying to take as
many people with him as he could.

It may also be a case of
post-traumatic stress disorder.

I don't know.

Do we think he's legit?

I think it's too many
bodies to take chances.

Flannery O'Connor said,

"If there were no hell,
we would be like the animals.

No hell, no dignity."

He documented them all in detail.

Names, photos, dates,

and locations where he took them.

Military background.
He's bound to be organized.

He definitely doesn't have a type.

The only consistency is that they
were all abducted in the same area.

Yeah, what do we know about that?

It's called the Cass Corridor.
It's right here.

It has an extremely
high concentration

of drug trafficking, prostitution,
and homeless people.

All high-risk behavior.

So, for this guy, maybe it's more
about opportunity than victimology.

Morgan and Prentiss, when we land,
I want you to head

straight to Detroit.

See if you hear anything
in the whisper stream.

I want to make sure we have a crime
before we get too deeply into this.

I hear Detroit is
beautiful in the Spring.

The rest of us will meet
with the legal attache

before we hit the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police.

Actually, sir,
the Officer In Charge

said that his team was part
of a fellowship the BAU gave

to train police
forces in profiling.

Hmm.

That was the first one we ever did.

Jeff Bedwell.

Yeah. You know him?

Is he any good?

He better be. I trained him.

Dave.

Jeff, how you been?

You mean besides
having serial killers

trying to take out
our border agents?

Jeff Bedwell,
agents Aaron Hotchner,

Spencer Reid, Jennifer Jareau.

Thanks for being here.

I've got a victim
board and timelines

set up on monitors in
the conference room.

Anything you need,
you've got the run of the place.

We appreciate it.

Don't thank me. Thank the unsub.

He's the one that put
you all in charge.

I see you paid attention in class.

I need to go talk to Garcia,

see if she had any luck
locating the family members.

And check records for
multiple border crosses,

see if we get any hits for the
days the victims went missing.

Got it.

You believe that he
killed all these people?

Fits the profile.

How so?

He got a recent physical trauma.

Could be a stressor.

Wide disparity of victims.

No bodies. Possible border cross.

Two entirely different terrains.

To pull that off,
you'd have to be smart,

you'd have to be organized,
mobile, physical.

Military background
gives you all that.

Exactly.

It appears as though
he clusters his victims

into men, then women,

and then back to men again.

What does that tell you?

At the moment, nothing.

Has he contacted family?

Refuses a lawyer, too.

He's in interrogation?

Waiting for us.

This guy's US Army.

He demanded to talk to the FBI.

He's not gonna want to talk
to anyone but the person

he thinks is in charge.

Of course.

I'll take you to him.

Has he been agitated?

Hasn't flinched.

He knows we're here?

We told him.

Good.

You're not gonna interrogate him?

If I go in now,

he's in charge.

If I wait and gather information...

it's my interview.

So you let him sweat.

Let's see what we
turn up in Detroit.

I don't think the bailout's
gonna cover all this.

Anything seem strange to you?

Yeah, they've set up camps.

I don't see a single person

who's isolated themselves
from the others.

People on the street don't usually
care about safety in numbers.

Unless something scared them
into changing their behavior.

Look at this. Drug deals
are out in the open.

Prostitutes seem to
be working in groups.

I mean, if this guy
did kill 10 people,

I don't see how he could have
done it without witnesses.

So, how do you want to work this?

I think we start with the
most recent victim first,

see if we even have a crime here.

Why don't you start
with the junkies

and I'll take the working girls.

Keep dreaming.

Ladies, you seen these two guys?

Anybody look like that?

What's up, my man?

You seen a brother look like that?

Huh? No?

My man, you mind if I
ask you a few questions?

Depends what you're asking.

You know him?

That's Charles.

Don't know his last name.

You ever see him get into any
kind of beef with anyone?

Charles was a junkie.

Junkies want peace.

You just said he was a junkie.

You know something I don't?

Just that he's gone.

2 days now.

Is that weird,

for him to disappear
for 2 days like that?

A lot of people have been
disappearing these days.

And when they do,
they don't come back.

That's gotta happen out
here all the time, no?

Not like this, man.

One day a girl's on the street,

the next, she's gone.

We've been trying
to stick together,

but once a John rolls up,
you're on your own.

What makes you think these
people aren't just leaving?

It's not that easy to
get away from this life.

Trust me.

Do you recognize this man?

He's out here all the time.

Has anyone ever tried
to hassle with him?

Brother's got a gun.

No one messes with him.

But he messes with
all of you, right?

Not exactly.

I need to know everything
this brother does.

How he talks, how he moves.

Every bit of his behavior.
Can you do that for me?

Yeah, OK. Got it.

Morgan?

We're ready.

I'm Aaron Hotchner. I'm the Behavioral
Analysis Unit Chief, from the FBI.

You're here to analyze me.

No, I'm here to
take your confession

and find out where you
dumped your victims.

Or are you wasting my time?

I gave you names. I gave you dates.

You didn't give me a dump site.

You were a Sergeant.

You led troops, probably lost men.

A few.

How would their parents
feel if the didn't know

whether their sons
were dead or alive?

Don't lecture me on
notifying families.

I've been on those doorsteps.

No one cares about those people.

Why should I?

Here we go.

What do you mean?

An interrogation
doesn't really start

until you get the first lie.

See, that's just the thing,
William.

We talked to the
people on the street.

You were out there every night.

You took their photographs.

You checked off their
names in a notebook.

So?

Your behavior was
more like a protector,

like someone in the
Army doing a bed check.

You've gone to a lot of trouble to
confess to a crime you didn't commit.

The folks on the street...

did they tell you
people were missing?

If my team is here, then there
are cases we are not working on.

You are wasting our time.

10 people dead, huh?

It's not enough for you.

I've watched the tape of you at the
border cross over and over again.

You wait until every guard is out of
the booth before you drive into it.

If you wanted to kill people,
you had your chance.

Are you investigating
these murders or not?!

So that's what this is all about?

Making sure we investigate?

If you thought people
were being killed,

you should have gone to
the police in Detroit.

I did.

3 times.

They told me the kind of people

I was looking for disappeared.

They said that's the way
life on the street works.

Do you believe the people
I showed you are missing?

I believe it's possible.

Don't give me a political answer.

Tell me what happened the
night before the border cross.

I did a head count.

Every night for the last month,
like we do in Baghdad.

That night,
I saw a boy named Charles

wasn't where he
usually camped down,

so I made another pass.

He didn't turn up?

By the morning, I knew he was gone.

William...

people don't do what
you did out of honor.

They do it out of love.

Who were you looking for
on the streets every night?

I got home from Iraq.

First thing my mother told me

was that my baby sister
Lee was on the streets.

She asked me to find her.

But you couldn't?

I managed once.

Brought her home.

We got her fed.

She even wore my dog tags...

for good luck.

Two weeks later,

she slipped back onto the streets.

That was it.

William, you've got
so much information

about the other potential victims.
Why not Lee?

I hid it in a spare tire...

in my car.

I needed to wait
until I was sure...

that you were on board.

William, are you there?

Something bad is happening.
It's dark.

I don't know where he's taking me.

After that, the signal cuts out.

This is the same night
she left her mom's house?

Hightower called in an Army favor.

They triangulated the call
to a cell tower in Canada,

just over the border in Port Huron.

It explains why he crossed
into your jurisdiction.

It's also a surefire way
to get the FBI involved.

He knew we'd investigate
an American citizen

being held on multiple
murder charges.

And you believe him?

I do.

Go ahead, Garcia.

Good news and bad news.

I've got IDs on
multiple border crosses

for the dates in question.

Trouble is, I've got hundreds,

and as far as I can tell,
if your license doesn't ping

for any prior felonies,
you're pretty much gonna pass go

and collect 200 Canadian dollars.

She's right.

Busiest cross in North America.

Lot of commercial traffic,
trucks mostly.

Stop and searches would
cause too many delays.

So he's got virtually free passage.

And once he crosses, there's nothing
but woods to hide whatever he's doing.

I don't understand why we
need to talk in private.

We want you to release
William Hightower

into our custody.

I can't do that.

He's documented a potential
victim pool in Detroit.

He's our best eyes on the street.

He tried to murder 5 border agents.

You can't personalize this, Jeff.

Isn't that what you're doing to me,

trading on our relationship

to get me to release a prisoner?

I respect what you've taught me,

but when you leave,
I still have to be able

to look my men in the eye.

Then do whatever you
can to catch the unsub.

It's not that simple.

You getting pressure from above?

They're not gonna let me turn
William Hightower into a hero.

This unsub kills in
2 and 3-day cycles.

Which means he's about to
go back out there, hunting.

Release him into FBI custody

while he's in Detroit.
When the case is closed,

he'll be back under
your jurisdiction.

Your shop, your call.

Well...

they can fire me if they want.

Hey, uh, they say
you get used to it.

Right now, it just hurts like hell.

We'd like you with us
in the Cass Corridor.

Doing what?

The same thing you've been doing.

We'll conduct nightly checks.

You have a rapport out there.

If something is happening,

we'll react more quickly and
we'll have more manpower.

Is the Detroit Police
Department on board?

We're talking to them now about it.

William Hightower.
Yeah, I remember him.

He was sincere. I felt for him.

But you didn't look into it.

Families don't want
to see what we do.

They'd rather believe someone
is dead than admit she's off

turning tricks in
Chicago or Toronto.

We believe William
Hightower might be right.

You might have a serial killer.

We'd like you to
open up your records.

Let our analysts take a look at
reports from the past few months

and see if there's been a
change in the crime pattern...

Disturbances or assaults
that may be connected.

I can do that.

We'd also like to give your
colleagues the working profile

once we have it,
to see if anything sparks.

Fair enough.

So, how did he convince
the FBI to look into this?

He drove his car
into the guard post

at the Port Huron border

and then confessed to
murdering 10 people.

Seriously?

Yes.

How many victims did he say?

Potentially 11,
including his sister.

Yes, ma'am, right now we
just consider them missing.

The second I get more information,

I'll be in contact with you.

OK.

How's it going?

The majority of the
people on the street

aren't even from Detroit.

We don't have last
names on most of them.

No hometowns.

Unless there's a
missing persons report

on file somewhere,
it's almost impossible.

Most of these people's families

probably gave up on
seeing them long ago.

A mother would never give up.

Can you hand me William
Hightower's arrest report?

Yeah, Garcia.

Sherlock, it's Watson.

I think I've got something.

What do you have?

I checked Detroit crime
reports over the last month

because Derek and Emily
astutely thought there might be

some sorts of assaults
or disturbances

having to do with our unsub.

And?

Well, it's tres weird,

but on 5 of the abduction nights,

Detroit PD reports a
break-in or a robbery

at some type of medical facility.

What type of medical facility?

We got a hospital, blood bank,

medical supply company,
the Red Cross...

What is he doing,
stealing narcotics?

That's just it.
He isn't some drugstore cowboy.

The stuff he took is,
like, anesthesia

and sterilizing
equipment and syringes.

Negative on the narcota.

Garcia, where were
these places located?

Putnam Street, St. Antoine,
East Hancock,

Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Those are all in the Cass Corridor.

Do you have a list of
what else he stole?

Uh, IV tubing, infusion pump,

units of O-negative blood,

chest tubes, 0-silk sutures,

elastoplast.

Garcia, thanks a lot.

You don't just randomly
know how to hook a line up

to an infusion pump.

Or that O-neg is the
only safe blood type

for any victim.

I'll tell Hotch we think we
know what he's doing with them.

We believe the man
we're looking for

is a sexual sadist.

What this means is that for him,

the torture becomes a
substitute for the sex act.

The fact that he's
stealing medical equipment

like sterilizing
agents and anesthesia

tells us he may be
performing experiments

or surgeries on his victims.

We believe this unsub
gets gratification

from his ability to
keep his victims alive

in order to endure more torture.

The choice of items stolen
is extremely specific,

which makes us believe he's
got a medical background.

Check disciplinary
files at hospitals,

med schools, and community
health organizations.

People would have
noticed his behavior.

This is someone who would
volunteer to perform

painful procedures.

And he would spend extra time probing,
say, a broken hand

or a distended abdomen.

And after a long day, when everyone
else is emotionally drained

from multiple traumas
and mangled bodies,

he'd be the one
pushing his coworkers

to go out for a drink and
talk about their day.

And we know what you're thinking...

A profile is fine,

but, yes, our best shot
at stopping this guy

is still to catch him in the act.

This unsub is extremely smart

and obviously organized. He's managed
to abduct very different victims

with very different abilities,

all with no witnesses.

Now, we're coordinating
with the police

and our agents on the
ground in Detroit.

We've also asked Sergeant Hightower

to act as a guide on
the streets in Detroit

while he's in our custody.

That's it.

Any questions, you find
me or one of the agents.

What's she doing here?

Well, we've notified all the
family members we can locate.

You have no right.

It's her daughter.

No, it's one thing to...

to believe Lee is
lost on the streets.

I don't want her to know that
there's a killer out there.

We know how this is gonna end.

No, we don't.

Look, everything I have done

is to find the truth
so I can spare her.

I don't want her living off hope.

There are worse things.

You're wrong.

Bad news stops us for a while,

but then you move on.

Hope is paralyzing.

You did a stupid thing.

Yes, ma'am.

Come here.

All these people are missing?

We believe so.

You have any suspects?

No.

But we have a strategy
to try to catch him.

And William is helping.

My daughter...

there's a chance she...

she might still be alive?

It's possible.

Do you know what
he's doing to them?

It's difficult to say.

Thanks for believing me.

William, I want you to understand
that even if we catch him,

you're probably gonna end up
doing some time in Canada.

I can live with that.

Detective Tay Benning,
this is SSA Aaron Hotchner.

How do you do?
This is William Hightower.

He's gonna help us on the ground.

These are agents Prentiss and Morgan,
Detective Benning.

We've met.

I'm sorry I didn't look into
your sister's disappearance.

We should split up and cover male
and female potential victims.

We'll take the men.

I'll make the
introductions for you.

Stay close to your phones.
If anyone's out of place,

Detective Benning can get
a name and description

to our patrol cars as
quickly as possible.

You really believe he's about
to abduct someone again?

It's coming soon... tonight,
tomorrow.

We know he sticks to a tight cycle.

The question is, why alternate
victims in clusters of men and women?

Why take the men at all?

What do you mean?

We said he sees these
people as disposable.

It doesn't matter if
they're male or female.

For a sexual sadist,
male or female isn't important.

The torture itself is the sex.

But wouldn't it be much easier

to approach a prostitute?

She's right. A prostitute will
get into a car with an unsub.

It's a victim he can isolate
easily with no witnesses.

Is Hightower's mother still here?

She's resting in my office.

JJ, see if she's
willing to talk to us.

I want to know everything
I can about her daughter.

In the meantime,
we need to figure out

how he's separating his
male victims from the pack.

And hope that Hightower gives
us an edge on the street.

This group is gonna stay
close to Cass Avenue.

They're usually on the corners.
They don't stray.

It's like I said the first
time I was out here...

It is not easy for
someone to be isolated.

Everything is out in the open.

OK. That's Walter Patterson.

He helped show me
the lay of the land.

Yo, Walter!

This is Detective Benning

and Agent Morgan.

They need your smarts.

You know he lost his
baby sister, right?

Yes, we do.

Spread the word.

They're not here to hassle anyone.

Be safe.

So... what do you want to know?

What would make you separate
from everyone else out here?

There's nothin'.

There's gotta be something.

You go to the bathroom?
Grab some food? Drugs? Women?

Everybody's extra
careful right now.

People gotta have secrets,
even on the street, Walter.

The only thing I keep
secret out here is money.

Hey, we have 3 unaccounted for.

These are their photos?

Did you see any of these
girls leave with customers?

I saw Monica and Sasha.
I don't know about Kelly.

Do you know where they would go?

There's a parking lot
down at Cass Park.

The girls have their
johns park there.

Detective Benning, can you
call any units at Cass Park.

I'll hold on the line.

What about Kelly? Is there a reason

why you wouldn't
have seen her leave?

I don't know. I could
have been distracted.

So she was here before.

Yeah.

Was there any reason
she would sneak off?

I don't know what she does.
She's fresh meat out here.

OK. Detroit PD confirmed
two prostitutes with johns

in the parking lot at Cass Park.

So we're short one girl.

You knew William's sister Lee?

You gonna hook me up?

Tell them if you knew my sister.

Yeah, I knew her.

Is there anyplace that she
would have taken clients?

Maybe somewhere the
other girls wouldn't go.

She didn't do it regular.

She'd try to get a real job,

but then she'd slip.

Then about a month and a half ago

she said she was leaving.

That's when I took her to my mom's.

I ain't seen her since.

Lee disappeared,
I begged William to find her,

but it wasn't fair to him.

I'm sure he wanted to find
her as much as you did.

He'd just gotten home.
He lost his leg,

and he was going to
physical therapy.

He hadn't even processed
what happened to him yet.

But he found her.

First time.
She came home for 2 weeks

and I had her going to meetings.

I even got her onto Welfare.

So what happened?

The day after the first check came,

she disappeared.

Wait, what was that date?

The 2nd?

What if that's it?

What?

Lee Hightower was
abducted on the 2nd,

the day after she
cashed a Welfare check.

So?

Look at the dates of
the other abductions.

All the men are abducted around the
first and the 15th of the month.

When Welfare checks are issued.

What if he's not intentionally
clustering them male/female?

What if this is how he
best isolates his victims?

You think he has a
way to get them alone

based on how they
cash their checks?

And then the rest of the month he
resorts to picking up prostitutes.

It would explain the pattern.

We need to find out

where these men cash their checks.

We don't have last names.
There's no way to find them.

Morgan, figure out how
people on the streets

are cashing their Welfare checks.

- Garcia.
- Sir.

I need you to find
out if Lee Hightower

ever cashed a Welfare check.

OK. I'm typing my fastest.

Walter!

Listen, when someone
out here's on Welfare,

where do they go when
they get their check?

It depends what they want.

What do you mean?

Those checks have strings.

You gotta either spend
it on food or lodging.

OK.

A lot of people out here
don't want food or lodging.

This is one of those money
secrets you were talking about?

There's a motel on third.

Uh, Greyburn Lodge,

43608 Third Street.

Lee Hightower cashed her
check there on the 2nd.

They'll cash your check
for 30 cents on the dollar

providing you don't take the room.

So, you walk away with drug money,

but you're still on the street.

Dope fiends keep it quiet.
They don't want anyone

knowing they're holding
that much cash.

It explains why they're alone.

And they'd be looking to score.

If they thought
somebody was a dealer,

they'd walk right up to them.

Walter, thank you.

Thank you.

Don't spend it all in
one place, sweetie.

Whoo-hoo.

What's going on?

Police.

FBI. Have you seen
any of these men?

Uh...

maybe.

Not maybe. Yes or no.

Have you been giving them cash

in exchange for their
Welfare checks?

They need the cash and
I need the business,

and nobody gets hurt, folks.

Garcia, trace William's
sister to this location

on the night that she disappeared.

The others were here, too.

You seen this girl?

Yeah, she was here
maybe 15 minutes ago.

Did anybody approach
her when she left?

There was a dealer
across the street.

He just sits there
and then they signal.

Do you know his name?

No, I never seen his face.

Just the car.

They all use him.

That's it.

Get this photo to every agent,

every border cross.

Car's a dark-colored
American sedan.

I want full searches of anything

that even remotely
matches the description.

Thanks for putting your ass
on the line over Hightower.

Thanks for being right.

Anything?

No, sir.

No! No!

They should have tried to make
the cross at least an hour ago.

Any word from the off-road sites?

I have agents at every
known drug smuggling entry.

Nothing.

This unsub's smart.
Everything about his plan

is well researched.

I think his border crossings
would be consistent.

Are there former shipping lanes
somebody could have studied in advance?

Nothing marked.

Hunters might know the terrain,

but it's word of mouth.
Nothing documented.

What about the
underground railroad?

How so?

In the Civil War,

Detroit was the last
stop for a slave

before they escaped
to freedom in Canada.

They made the
crossing in this area.

He's right. But there aren't
any historical landmarks

that register the crossing points.

Well, if I remember right,
they built a series of Victorian homes

along the river to
signify safe passage.

Some of those homes
might still exist.

We know your sister's
cell phone registered

at a tower near Port Huron.

He had to be close by when
he crossed the border.

- Garcia.
- Present.

Is it possible to cross-reference

Civil War maps with Victorian homes

that still exist in
the Port Huron area?

Well, I'm gonna take that
question as rhetorical

and...

got one.

3 miles South of the
Blue Water Bridge.

Can you send me a GPS map?

Coming now.

Thanks. Prentiss,
you and William come with me.

The rest of you stay here.
We might need to be mobile in a hurry.

Garcia's sure this is the spot?

The house is inland.

Access from the
water would be here.

There's nothing here.

Let's split up.

The river's over here.

Over here!

Looks like he might have stashed
cars on either side of the river.

The license plate is missing.

Garcia, I need you
to run a VIN number.

379-November...

2-papa-44.

You got that?

Vehicle belongs to
one Mason Turner.

What do you know about him?

Age 39,

went to undergrad in Toronto,

graduated second in his class from
Michigan Medical Institute in 2000,

went on to work for a public
health organization in Detroit.

We got him. Do you have an address?

Yes. Uh...

Looks like a farm.

No! No!

Please... don't do this.

I won't tell anybody.
Just let me go.

I don't even know where we are.

Please don't do this. Please!

Who is that?!

Aah!

You 4 take the exterior.
We'll take the house.

Fought on other
people's turf before.

You don't walk into
this situation unarmed.

I can't give you a gun, William.

I got 10 years active duty.

The man we find might
have killed your sister.

I need answers.
If I shoot him, I get nothing.

I'm sorry.

Stay close. What we
find might not be easy.

I just need to know.

Prentiss. Check this out.

We're in the right place.

Sir, are you all right?

Who the hell are you?

Did someone do this to you?

Get the hell out of my house.

You're Mason Turner?

That's not your business.

He's our unsub?