Criminal Minds (2005–…): Season 6, Episode 11 - 25 to Life - full transcript
Morgan regrets his decision that a prisoner is ready for parole when the man murders someone days after being released.
I understand, Hotch.
Take all the time you need.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll be fine.
Okay. You, too.
Hi.
I was hoping I could get a minute.
Agent Seaver has requested her
remedial training be here.
She was only cleared for one case.
That didn't end the way she had hoped.
I'd say.
She made a mistake.
But she remained
calm under pressure.
She just wants to prove herself.
Hotch isn't here to supervise her.
I'll do it. I'll be
her training agent.
He signed off?
Via email. But I know you
have a history with her.
Don't make me regret this.
Thank you.
Ma'am.
Agent.
Have you heard from Aaron?
He sounds like he hadn't slept.
Do you think he's all right?
Jack's having some problems.
Well, it's been a year since...
Well, I'm glad he's finally
taking some time off.
This is the only
thing that's pending.
Donald Sanderson?
That was 20 years ago.
25, actually. He's up for parole.
They've asked us to do a risk assessment.
Well, I can't do it, not with Aaron gone.
Well, who can?
Morgan, can you come in here?
Well, he's he's got
to meet him today.
The parole board
hearing is tomorrow.
Now, what was his story?
Junkies randomly
attacked his family?
Yes, that's what he claimed.
He and his son survived.
Frankly, I don't understand
how parole is even a consideration.
Well, he's eligible.
They're overcrowded.
Yes, but the physical evidence was shocking.
Who could possibly believe
he would be innocent?
That's not our job.
All we need to see is how 25
years has changed his life.
Ma'am.
Is everything all right?
I need you to take a trip.
Who's this?
Don Sanderson.
He's been in Petersburg
half his life
and he's up for parole.
It appears he's become a model prisoner.
You don't sound convinced.
I don't know how someone who
kills his wife and daughter
can be rehabilitated.
Open 7.
On the gate.
SSA Derek Morgan.
BAU.
You analyze behavior.
Close it.
Nobody's ever believed that I'm innocent.
Why would you?
- May I?
- Yeah.
I don't rely solely
on physical evidence.
It says here that you were
two years into your residency
when all this happened.
What did you want to specialize in?
Pediatrics.
You haven't requested
parole in over 18 years.
The system put me in here.
They're gonna keep me in here.
Time's gone by a little
faster since I accepted that.
Has the heroin helped you pass the time?
They found it in your
cell two years ago.
New regime had to assert power.
You're saying someone planted it.
Oh.
It is what it is.
You hadn't been in solitary
since you got here.
Gave me a lot of time to think about my son.
Your son's name is Joshua?
I'm sorry. I still don't
understand how... how you're...
gonna ignore all that evidence.
The prosecution said that I had
an acute psychological break,
that I was a psychopath.
Is that what you see?
Psychopaths are masters at
hiding what's inside of them.
Is that what you think I've done?
Agent, do you have any idea what it's like
to be accused of something
that you didn't do?
You went to the infirmary 16 times,
and not once did you ever try to fight back.
No.
The last time they beat me, they...
well...
I... I almost had it.
I mean, I didn't think
that I was gonna make it.
And I was okay with that.
But I was lying there...
and I had this, uh...
vision.
See, Joshua was,
uh... was grown up.
The sun was shining on us.
I... I don't know where we were.
But I got to tell him
that I didn't hurt our family.
And that's what's kept you going?
I thought just didn't want
to feel sorry for myself.
I wanted... I wanted to...
to live my life in here
the way that I would have lived it out there
and do things that I got cheated out of
with Joshua.
Is that why you've taught men how to read?
Why you started a mentor program?
You've helped...
41 inmates get their GED.
Mr. Sanderson, this is the
type of evidence I consider.
If you were to gain your freedom,
what would you do with it?
I can't even think about
something like that.
But what would you do?
I would try and find my son.
And I'd tell him the truth.
Based on physical evidence,
Don Sanderson has been prosecuted
to the full extent of the law.
But the way in which he has
spent the last 25 years...
it throws doubt on that conviction.
Now, I know that is not the
question at hand here today.
I have learned that
behavior does not lie.
You all want to know whether or
not this man has been reformed.
I believe that he has.
He's lost everything,
yet somehow he has still
managed to better himself.
More importantly,
the people around him.
He's held on to the only good
thing left in his life...
his son.
It's what defines him.
At this point,
he's simply looking ahead.
Therefore,
it is my belief that Don Sanderson
is not a danger to
himself or to society.
Goodbye, now.
I, uh, noticed you all
drink double shots.
Oh, thanks. You do, too?
This is a first.
I wanted to thank you for having my back.
I hope you have mine.
Front page news, huh?
Morgan must not think he did it.
Or believes he won't do it again.
Is Agent Morgan in?
What do you need, Erin?
Metro P.D. Sent this an hour ago.
And they want us to take a look?
No, they want you to take a look.
Who's this?
The man Don Sanderson
just murdered.
There is no such thing
as part freedom.
Nelson Mandela.
Why didn't Sanderson just run?
Maybe he wanted to
go back to prison.
There are plenty of ways to violate
your parole other than homicide.
- Is Morgan okay?
- He just vouched for a man
that turned around and killed someone.
So he's the one who let him out?
Come on, Bill, you know
it's never that simple.
Oh, you see this all
the time, Rossi.
Guy's out for a couple of days,
he's gotta get back inside.
They why did he claim self-defense?
Why call the paramedics?
Why attempt CPR to keep him breathing?
Why not just flee the scene?
He wanted something else.
Like what?
I don't know yet.
Well, he's predictable,
if you ask me.
He broke into this guy's
basement and stabbed him,
same way he did his wife.
Rossi, he's coming with us.
Get out of the car.
Let's go, move.
You're welcome to join us.
After I clean up here.
This is not a random
act of violence.
There has to be a reason.
Anything could have been a weapon.
So he chose to stab him,
just like he did before.
Hello, Tommy.
Aah!
So he dialed 911,
then he performed CPR.
Why go through this big fight
and then try and save him?
So the gun wasn't loaded,
but he broke in, took it,
and waited for Wittman to get home? Why?
I don't know, love,
but I do know that your victim
legally purchased that.38
in '94, licensed to him.
Other than that, no weapons,
wives, or children.
The guy was pretty much a loner.
So there's gotta be some sort of connection.
There isn't any yet. I'm sorry.
All right. Thank you, Garcia.
Yeah, hey, how is my boy?
Uh, fine.
Really?
No.
Oh.
The bullets were in the other room,
but the gun is right here.
Maybe killing him was an accident?
Does any of this strike
you as hard to believe?
Neighbors confirmed hearing
sounds of a confrontation.
Yeah, but Sanderson was out
of prison for what, Reid?
At the time of the murder,
51 hours.
He's free for two days and change?
What's the big hurry
to find this guy?
You woke up a free man and
decided to kill Tom Wittman.
You gotta help us out here.
It doesn't look good for you.
It wasn't supposed to be like that.
He came at me.
I get it that you don't
trust anyone right now,
but this man is the reason that you're free.
Did you find your son?
No.
Did you even look?
Drive.
How is he?
Clearing his head.
Strauss is waiting for
you guys to come back.
Great. That's all he needs.
We still don't know
how Tom Wittman is
connected to Don Sanderson.
All we know about him is
everything Morgan went over,
what he was accused of.
And that he killed Tom Whitman this morning.
The guy's not talking.
He doesn't trust anybody.
If he doesn't tell us who Tom Wittman is,
how are we going to help Derek?
The answer's in there somewhere.
We just have to find it.
All right, March 10, 1985,
2:23 a.m.
Don Sanderson was
asleep on his couch
because of an argument he had with his wife.
He woke up to her screams.
He ran to the bedroom to
find one man stabbing her.
Another man struck him from behind,
knocking him unconscious.
His wounds were superficial in comparison,
so it was easy for the prosecution to claim
that Sanderson's wounds were self-inflicted.
And he had just finished his
second year of residency
at Georgetown, indicating he had
the skills to do it to himself.
And his fingerprints
were all over the weapon.
So Sanderson comes to.
His wife and daughter are dead.
Almost dead. He called for help.
Sounds familiar.
He said that two men
killed his wife,
but when officers arrived,
he changed his story.
He added a woman.
Let me guess. They never found her.
No one ever looked.
So wait, three people commit
a brutal double homicide,
then never act on it again?
I don't know, it seems unlikely.
But nothing like that ever happened
after Sanderson went to prison.
The question is,
how does Tom Wittman play into this?
He was a teenager at the time.
Strauss.
I want everything from
Tom Wittman's apartment.
It's on its way.
Do you think Wittman was there that night?
- That depends.
- On what?
If you believe Sanderson's story.
My office will handle
the press from here on.
That's unnecessary.
You don't need any
more distractions.
He looks genuinely distraught.
He's very convincing.
I can see why you fell for it.
I don't need to remind you
that your reputation's on the line here.
That's not what matters to me right now.
It should.
You played me.
I know how this looks.
Oh, do you?
Oh, well, please, enlighten me.
How does this look?
I didn't do it.
Yes, you did!
And now that's on me.
I bought in to your
holier-than-thou garbage!
I put a psychotic killer
back out on the street,
and in less than 51 hours,
you went right back to your old ways.
- I didn't want to.
- Then why did you?
Because he would have killed me.
No. No.
It's more than that.
It better be more than that.
Why did you go to his house?
Why would you risk your
freedom to go after this man?
This is the rest of Tom Wittman's house.
Okay, guys. Derek said that the
Sandersons got into an argument
on the night of the murders.
So I went ahead and did a background check.
There is no history of abuse,
domestic calls, therapy.
From the outside in,
they were like the perfect family.
Nobody's perfect.
Yeah, but married right out of college,
medical school, two kids,
house on a hill, dog.
Pretty damn close, yeah?
Okay, so one night they argue.
He takes the couch,
leaving the wife and
kids upstairs vulnerable.
He claims the offenders broke
in through the basement.
There were security bars on the window,
but they were old and broken.
That was such an
obscure fact, though.
It was deemed only someone with
an intimate knowledge of the house
would suggest that
as an entry point.
Yeah, but that means that three
people walked past Sanderson
while he was sleeping on the couch.
Why didn't he wake up?
And why would they walk right
past him without subduing him?
It looks like their
goal was upstairs.
She had a stuffed animal.
Who does that to a 5-year-old?
You know, the child was an afterthought.
The overkill was on Mrs. Sanderson.
That's an understatement.
He was sending a message.
Like what?
He's in control. He has all the power.
And he hates her.
You must be exhausted.
Doing good time just so you
can get out and kill again.
I'm not a murderer.
You are a murderer.
You just stabbed a man to death.
I didn't have a choice.
He saw me, he panicked,
he would have killed me.
I'm telling you, I didn't have a choice.
He didn't kill my family.
He was going to lead me to the one who did.
All right.
And if you had gotten to this person
that allegedly killed your family,
what were you gonna do then,
the same thing you just did to Tom Wittman?
No, I'm not a killer.
Okay, yes.
Yes. There wasn't a day that I was locked up
where I didn't hope that whoever
took my family's lives was dead.
I wanted to find him
and I wanted to destroy
his life like he did mine.
I wanted him... wanted him to pay!
Why wasn't Tom Wittman's
name mentioned at your trial?
I didn't even know
it until years later.
Agent, what I saw
and what happened,
that couldn't have been random.
So what did you do?
Just look at every single
person that knew your family?
- Yeah.
- How?
How did you do that?
You never once asked for
access to your case.
All of it was my memory.
I walked through that night a million times.
Tommy was just a kid then, 18, 19.
He worked at the corner market
and brought our groceries home.
He and his friend,
they would look for any
reason to be near my wife.
I didn't like that.
Carrie told him so,
and he stopped coming by.
So Tom felt abandoned by your wife
and angry at you, so he acted out.
Yeah, you see, except...
that night, he said... he said,
"That's enough."
See, it's like he had
actual boundaries.
That's how you narrowed this down,
to somebody who cared
about your wife?
Yeah.
Tom... Tom, he was just... he was just...
He was a figure in the dark.
And then I heard his voice.
Good morning, Mr. Sanderson.
And that was familiar.
It took me a long time to place it.
Anyway,
a few years later, I called the market
and tried to find his full name.
Thomas Gregory Wittman.
I had Internet
privileges once a week,
and I found his address.
And then what?
A few days later, that heroin
was planted in my cell.
I lost my privileges.
So Tom Wittman was the
only link that you had
to figuring out who was
in your house that night?
And now I'm back to nothing.
Not necessarily.
You want to take him back to his house?
If he can't figure out who
else was there that night,
there's no way to prove his story.
All right.
Let's clean him up first.
This used to be a
great place to live.
You ready?
Yeah.
No one stays here long, do they?
You were asleep on the couch?
In front of the fire.
So it was cold.
Yeah.
And pouring down rain.
The TV was on.
What were you watching?
Reruns.
I'd been on rotation for 36 hours.
Between that and the rain,
it took me about just a
minute to fall asleep.
What wakes you?
Daddy! Daddy, help me, Daddy!
Help! Please!
Don, help, please!
Don!
Daddy! Daddy, help me!
Uhh! Uhh! No!
Shut up!
He's hurting them.
Who is? Tom?
No, the one in the hood.
- Tom's saying...
- That's enough!
My little girl...
She shouldn't be seeing this.
Turn away, baby.
Turn away.
I can't get to her.
- Help me!
- Shut up!
No!
No, no, no, no! You stay away from her!
There's a woman. There she is.
What does she look like?
It's blurry.
Here you go.
She gave Abby her hippo.
My son.
She had my son.
What is she saying?
- Daddy.
- Stop it!
That's enough!
But he won't. He keeps holding me down.
He's laughing.
- I want to keep him.
- He's just a baby.
Put it back.
No. No!
- They're fighting.
- Put it back.
She wants to take my son.
I said put it back!
They could have taken my son.
But she didn't take your son. He's safe.
They must have trusted one another.
We need to figure out who Tom
Wittman's friends were back then.
The woman is the key.
She wanted to take the baby.
Yeah. To build their
own twisted family.
- All right, keep me posted.
- Okay.
Okay, the crazy thing about this is
that nobody turned on one another.
So they have to have a bond.
Maybe they're related.
Tom Wittman didn't
have any siblings.
It could be childhood friends.
Uh, the only marks on his
record are from juvie.
He cleaned up after that.
What were his arrests?
Petty stuff.
Uh, anything related to
breaking and entering?
Credit card schemes,
retail robbery.
Okay, now wait. That was big in the '80s.
One person would work in the store,
and the other would use stolen credit cards.
Sounds like a team.
Yeah. Was he arrested with anybody?
I found Tom Wittman's
juvie records.
Other than him, no one was underage
involved in any of his arrests.
Maybe they weren't the same age.
The woman wanted to keep a kid.
That doesn't sound like a teenager.
Okay, I'm gonna cross-ref
the date of Wittman's arrest
with others made on that same day.
Retail crimes.
Shoplifting was very big.
What about a woman who was arrested
from the same department store as Tom?
Mary Rutka, 22 at the time.
- Is she from D. C?
- Born and raised.
Did she have any children?
One 19-year-old son.
Morgan, are you back yet?
We may have found the woman.
That's her.
Go.
He's going down the fire escape!
I need an ambulance and
backup at 751 Hindry Street,
Northeast, Apartment 402.
It's okay. It's okay. Hold on.
Hey! FBI!
It looks like she fought him.
So some guy breaks in here,
kills her, then runs away.
- It's pretty risky.
- He's hiding something,
and she was a witness to it.
He's cleaning up loose ends.
Well, it looks like he made a mess to me.
How'd you track her down?
She was arrested with Tom
Wittman a long time ago.
Sanderson gets out,
Wittman's killed,
and now Mary Rutka.
The whole thing's a house of cards.
He got away with it for 20 years.
He's not about to get caught now.
Any leads?
- Nothing more than we saw.
- Well, he knows you're on to him.
What do you think
he's gonna do now?
Well, I don't think he'd trash
the place for the hell of it.
I think he was looking for
something and we interrupted him.
It makes sense why she survived until now.
What are you guys talking about?
Three people got away with murder.
How do you make sure no
one rats the other out?
Blackmail.
It sounds like we need to
profile a dormant killer.
A very lucky one.
He was essentially given a gift...
a patsy in the form of Don Sanderson,
and he'll do anything to protect that story.
When someone has a secret this big,
everything becomes a lie.
He'll most likely be pathological.
So we're looking for a liar in D.C.
I thought we were trying
to narrow this down.
Her son's 19 years old.
He doesn't have a bedroom,
but she kept all his books.
She's sentimental.
Hey, Morgan.
Almost there.
Ah, sorry.
Daddy help you make them?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
Did Josh help you make them?
Yeah, he got the blueberries.
He got the blue... well,
thank you very much.
I love you.
I love you, too.
Welcome to the Sanderson home.
Don't forget the view.
They look down on everybody.
He sounds jealous.
- Let's do this.
- Shh. You'll wake them.
Garcia, can you
isolate these images?
Yeah. Which one?
The one in the hood.
Do you think it's him?
That could be a thousand guys.
I want to see them.
No. I don't think
that's a good idea.
I wasn't allowed to have
pictures for 25 years.
They thought that looking
at them would get me off.
I don't want to forget my family.
See, they're...
they're here,
and they're in flashes,
but I can feel them slipping away.
Please.
Daddy help you make them?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
- Did Josh help you make them?
- Yeah, he got the blueberries.
He got the blue... Well,
thank you very much.
And the butter.
And the butter.
Were you in charge of the eggs?
- Yeah.
- I know you like to break the eggs, right?
- Yeah.
- I love you.
I love you, too.
Mommy...
Go ahead. Go ahead.
Pancakes.
You guys are too good to me.
What we just watched was...
Debilitating. Frenzied.
And documented, but not for a trophy.
It seems to be from Wittman's point of view.
I mean, she's obviously
an accessory.
Why not just destroy the evidence?
Because she got
something out of it.
Her place was way more
than she could afford,
she never got married, and she had
a son who went to private school.
Do you think it's his kid?
That would explain the bond
and why he didn't get
rid of her before today.
You said her place was nice.
If he's covering his tracks,
he's paying her in cash.
Who can afford to do that?
You want me to find rich
and powerful men in D. C?
Explain to me how to narrow down this list.
Start with me who grew up in the
District, came from nothing.
His ambition will define him.
Whoever did this enjoys taking power away.
He's been way too smart to keep on killing.
So what would satisfy a guy like this?
Well, he's manipulative
but trustworthy.
Two other people witnessed that murder,
and they never turned on him.
Guys, so we have to think of this
city as the unsub's comfort zone.
He didn't leave for a reason.
Target-rich environment.
The damage he's done
and continues to do is right here in D.C.
Politics?
I think it's more
intimate than that.
He needs victims who suffer
directly from what he's doing.
Okay, I'll cross the
politicians off my list.
Look into asset-based lenders,
uh, big money-making ventures where
people would be left in his wake.
Corporate takeovers.
Businessman as psychopath?
They're the same characteristics.
They just use their skills differently.
They both have narcissistic traits,
such as a grandiose sense
of self-importance,
deceptiveness, lack of remorse.
Hard-core businessmen, 36 and counting.
That's way too many.
We can each take 6
and look for connections.
No, no. Wait a minute.
If we had this case 25 years ago,
what would we have seen?
How would we fight the physical evidence?
We need look at what the unsub did
the moment he arrived at the house.
They broke into the basement.
Through a window
with rusted-out bars.
Garcia, who lived at the
house before the Sandersons?
Property records...
Well, it hasn't exchanged too many hands.
The Barretts, the Kramers, the Stanworths.
Any of those names on
your list of businessmen?
Uh, no. Let me look at that longer list.
Hold, please. Hey,
family of James Stanworth.
They lost the house in '82 and
then they moved to the outskirts.
He sounded jealous on the tape.
That makes sense.
He knew the Sandersons,
and he would obviously know that house.
There was nothing random about that attack.
He's a native Washingtonian,
married with three kids.
Everything to lose.
- Oh.
- What?
He's running for Congress.
And check out his campaign slogan.
"Let's do this." He said that on the tape.
This won't be easy.
You want to arrest James Stanworth?
Are you out of your mind?
He's got motive.
Mary Rutka had a tape.
She was blackmailing him.
It was a hooded figure.
You can't prove it was
him on that videotape.
He fits the profile, Erin.
Forgive me, but your profile
sounds like a self-made man,
not the psychopath you claim he is.
We said he'd be destructive.
In 1998 alone,
he fired 6,000 people
from one of his companies.
Some of those employees
took their own lives.
This is the type of power and
devastation that he enjoys.
Hearsay.
Slander if you're not careful.
Ma'am, he got into politics
to be hard on crime.
He would have access to
keep tabs on Don Sanderson.
And now you're sounding as
paranoid as Don Sanderson.
You cannot accuse a man without
a shred of physical evidence.
Mary Rutka had skin
under her nails.
Maybe she left a mark.
And you cannot arrest a man based
on the possibility of a scratch.
We can't arrest this man.
That's what you mean.
Don't pull any punches now, Erin.
You don't understand what the
politics are, do you, Dave?
You never have.
No, I do.
I just don't care.
Ma'am, all due respect,
but we have an innocent man in our custody,
and the killer is still out there.
It just might be James Stanworth.
You don't have enough proof.
The BAU functions without you.
Don't push it.
So there's nothing we can do?
This guy's gonna get away with it.
No. No, not a chance in hell.
Garcia, find me James
Stanworth right now.
Yeah.
Another hour passes,
he's that much closer
to hiding his true self.
Mary Rutka's his third victim.
He's now officially
a serial killer.
- What do you want to do?
- I want to expose this son of a bitch.
If he did kill Mary Rutka,
he's gonna have cuts on him somewhere.
We match that DNA, we got him.
Guys, he's having a fund-raiser
- at his house in McLean.
- When?
It started an hour ago.
- Text me the address.
- Yep.
What if we're wrong?
Prentiss.
Which is why I insisted they come to D.C.,
meet the policymakers,
see that it's not as simple
as signing our names,
that the problems we're dealing
with are not easy ones,
that we have to plan not two steps ahead,
but 200 steps,
that it's not just about what's
in our families' best interests,
it's what's in our nation's.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Congressman, Mr. James Stanworth.
You sure have a way with words.
It's mighty impressive.
Thank you.
- May I help you?
- My name's Derek Morgan.
We're with the FBI.
Do your friends here know that
you're a closet psychopath?
Excuse me?
Don Sanderson does.
Do you remember him?
I'm sure you do.
You murdered his entire family
and got him put away for 25 years.
Well, Agent, if you've got anything on me...
No.
James, it's not on you, it's inside of you.
Killing Mary Rutka really
got you going, didn't it?
I'm afraid I don't
know who that is.
- Jim, what's going on?
- They were just leaving.
- But I don't understand...
- Don't worry.
He's good at that, isn't he? Anger.
He's dismissive by nature.
Can't show affection, though, can he?
You walk on eggshells, you and the children.
- Jim...
- Shut up!
Oh, here he comes.
Where was your husband today around 3:00?
These are ridiculous fabrications.
It doesn't matter. We know where he was.
I held the hand of the woman he murdered.
Right.
James, whoever did kill
Mary left some DNA behind
under her fingernails.
- What's that?
- Well, that would be a cut.
I cut myself on a broken glass.
No. Mary Rutka did that to
you trying to defend herself.
You knew that Don Sanderson
was out after 25 years.
He got to Tom Wittman,
and you were afraid that if he got to Mary,
he might find you
and bring you down
for what you did to his
family all those years ago.
- You're delusional, Agent.
- You panicked, and you killed Mary.
- I don't panic.
- You did panic.
You're a killer. It's what you do.
You destroy people's lives.
I destroyed no one.
You put a man away for life,
you murdered his family,
and today you killed a woman
who would never betray you...
I killed no one....because you panicked.
You are a killer. You are a psychopath.
You panicked, and...
I don't panic! I don't panic!
There he is.
Jim, what's going on?
Shh!
Call Charles.
Don't say another word.
They've got nothing.
We found the tape.
James Stanworth, you're under
arrest for the murder of Mary Rutka.
This is absurd.
You have the right
to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be
used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to speak to an attorney.
If you cannot afford an attorney...
There hasn't been a second where
I haven't thought about this.
Now it's here.
How does it feel?
I'm terrified.
You know, your son has
been studying medicine.
He wants to open his own clinic.
It seems to me he's becoming
a lot like his father.
I don't even know
what he looks like.
Well, it looks like
you're about to find out.
Yes, but I...
What am I supposed to say to him?
He knows that you didn't do it.
That's all you ever
wanted him to know.
Yeah.
Go.
Show him who his dad really is.
Oh, my God.
Joshua.
All truths are easy to understand
once they are discovered.
The point is to discover them.
Galileo.
Take all the time you need.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll be fine.
Okay. You, too.
Hi.
I was hoping I could get a minute.
Agent Seaver has requested her
remedial training be here.
She was only cleared for one case.
That didn't end the way she had hoped.
I'd say.
She made a mistake.
But she remained
calm under pressure.
She just wants to prove herself.
Hotch isn't here to supervise her.
I'll do it. I'll be
her training agent.
He signed off?
Via email. But I know you
have a history with her.
Don't make me regret this.
Thank you.
Ma'am.
Agent.
Have you heard from Aaron?
He sounds like he hadn't slept.
Do you think he's all right?
Jack's having some problems.
Well, it's been a year since...
Well, I'm glad he's finally
taking some time off.
This is the only
thing that's pending.
Donald Sanderson?
That was 20 years ago.
25, actually. He's up for parole.
They've asked us to do a risk assessment.
Well, I can't do it, not with Aaron gone.
Well, who can?
Morgan, can you come in here?
Well, he's he's got
to meet him today.
The parole board
hearing is tomorrow.
Now, what was his story?
Junkies randomly
attacked his family?
Yes, that's what he claimed.
He and his son survived.
Frankly, I don't understand
how parole is even a consideration.
Well, he's eligible.
They're overcrowded.
Yes, but the physical evidence was shocking.
Who could possibly believe
he would be innocent?
That's not our job.
All we need to see is how 25
years has changed his life.
Ma'am.
Is everything all right?
I need you to take a trip.
Who's this?
Don Sanderson.
He's been in Petersburg
half his life
and he's up for parole.
It appears he's become a model prisoner.
You don't sound convinced.
I don't know how someone who
kills his wife and daughter
can be rehabilitated.
Open 7.
On the gate.
SSA Derek Morgan.
BAU.
You analyze behavior.
Close it.
Nobody's ever believed that I'm innocent.
Why would you?
- May I?
- Yeah.
I don't rely solely
on physical evidence.
It says here that you were
two years into your residency
when all this happened.
What did you want to specialize in?
Pediatrics.
You haven't requested
parole in over 18 years.
The system put me in here.
They're gonna keep me in here.
Time's gone by a little
faster since I accepted that.
Has the heroin helped you pass the time?
They found it in your
cell two years ago.
New regime had to assert power.
You're saying someone planted it.
Oh.
It is what it is.
You hadn't been in solitary
since you got here.
Gave me a lot of time to think about my son.
Your son's name is Joshua?
I'm sorry. I still don't
understand how... how you're...
gonna ignore all that evidence.
The prosecution said that I had
an acute psychological break,
that I was a psychopath.
Is that what you see?
Psychopaths are masters at
hiding what's inside of them.
Is that what you think I've done?
Agent, do you have any idea what it's like
to be accused of something
that you didn't do?
You went to the infirmary 16 times,
and not once did you ever try to fight back.
No.
The last time they beat me, they...
well...
I... I almost had it.
I mean, I didn't think
that I was gonna make it.
And I was okay with that.
But I was lying there...
and I had this, uh...
vision.
See, Joshua was,
uh... was grown up.
The sun was shining on us.
I... I don't know where we were.
But I got to tell him
that I didn't hurt our family.
And that's what's kept you going?
I thought just didn't want
to feel sorry for myself.
I wanted... I wanted to...
to live my life in here
the way that I would have lived it out there
and do things that I got cheated out of
with Joshua.
Is that why you've taught men how to read?
Why you started a mentor program?
You've helped...
41 inmates get their GED.
Mr. Sanderson, this is the
type of evidence I consider.
If you were to gain your freedom,
what would you do with it?
I can't even think about
something like that.
But what would you do?
I would try and find my son.
And I'd tell him the truth.
Based on physical evidence,
Don Sanderson has been prosecuted
to the full extent of the law.
But the way in which he has
spent the last 25 years...
it throws doubt on that conviction.
Now, I know that is not the
question at hand here today.
I have learned that
behavior does not lie.
You all want to know whether or
not this man has been reformed.
I believe that he has.
He's lost everything,
yet somehow he has still
managed to better himself.
More importantly,
the people around him.
He's held on to the only good
thing left in his life...
his son.
It's what defines him.
At this point,
he's simply looking ahead.
Therefore,
it is my belief that Don Sanderson
is not a danger to
himself or to society.
Goodbye, now.
I, uh, noticed you all
drink double shots.
Oh, thanks. You do, too?
This is a first.
I wanted to thank you for having my back.
I hope you have mine.
Front page news, huh?
Morgan must not think he did it.
Or believes he won't do it again.
Is Agent Morgan in?
What do you need, Erin?
Metro P.D. Sent this an hour ago.
And they want us to take a look?
No, they want you to take a look.
Who's this?
The man Don Sanderson
just murdered.
There is no such thing
as part freedom.
Nelson Mandela.
Why didn't Sanderson just run?
Maybe he wanted to
go back to prison.
There are plenty of ways to violate
your parole other than homicide.
- Is Morgan okay?
- He just vouched for a man
that turned around and killed someone.
So he's the one who let him out?
Come on, Bill, you know
it's never that simple.
Oh, you see this all
the time, Rossi.
Guy's out for a couple of days,
he's gotta get back inside.
They why did he claim self-defense?
Why call the paramedics?
Why attempt CPR to keep him breathing?
Why not just flee the scene?
He wanted something else.
Like what?
I don't know yet.
Well, he's predictable,
if you ask me.
He broke into this guy's
basement and stabbed him,
same way he did his wife.
Rossi, he's coming with us.
Get out of the car.
Let's go, move.
You're welcome to join us.
After I clean up here.
This is not a random
act of violence.
There has to be a reason.
Anything could have been a weapon.
So he chose to stab him,
just like he did before.
Hello, Tommy.
Aah!
So he dialed 911,
then he performed CPR.
Why go through this big fight
and then try and save him?
So the gun wasn't loaded,
but he broke in, took it,
and waited for Wittman to get home? Why?
I don't know, love,
but I do know that your victim
legally purchased that.38
in '94, licensed to him.
Other than that, no weapons,
wives, or children.
The guy was pretty much a loner.
So there's gotta be some sort of connection.
There isn't any yet. I'm sorry.
All right. Thank you, Garcia.
Yeah, hey, how is my boy?
Uh, fine.
Really?
No.
Oh.
The bullets were in the other room,
but the gun is right here.
Maybe killing him was an accident?
Does any of this strike
you as hard to believe?
Neighbors confirmed hearing
sounds of a confrontation.
Yeah, but Sanderson was out
of prison for what, Reid?
At the time of the murder,
51 hours.
He's free for two days and change?
What's the big hurry
to find this guy?
You woke up a free man and
decided to kill Tom Wittman.
You gotta help us out here.
It doesn't look good for you.
It wasn't supposed to be like that.
He came at me.
I get it that you don't
trust anyone right now,
but this man is the reason that you're free.
Did you find your son?
No.
Did you even look?
Drive.
How is he?
Clearing his head.
Strauss is waiting for
you guys to come back.
Great. That's all he needs.
We still don't know
how Tom Wittman is
connected to Don Sanderson.
All we know about him is
everything Morgan went over,
what he was accused of.
And that he killed Tom Whitman this morning.
The guy's not talking.
He doesn't trust anybody.
If he doesn't tell us who Tom Wittman is,
how are we going to help Derek?
The answer's in there somewhere.
We just have to find it.
All right, March 10, 1985,
2:23 a.m.
Don Sanderson was
asleep on his couch
because of an argument he had with his wife.
He woke up to her screams.
He ran to the bedroom to
find one man stabbing her.
Another man struck him from behind,
knocking him unconscious.
His wounds were superficial in comparison,
so it was easy for the prosecution to claim
that Sanderson's wounds were self-inflicted.
And he had just finished his
second year of residency
at Georgetown, indicating he had
the skills to do it to himself.
And his fingerprints
were all over the weapon.
So Sanderson comes to.
His wife and daughter are dead.
Almost dead. He called for help.
Sounds familiar.
He said that two men
killed his wife,
but when officers arrived,
he changed his story.
He added a woman.
Let me guess. They never found her.
No one ever looked.
So wait, three people commit
a brutal double homicide,
then never act on it again?
I don't know, it seems unlikely.
But nothing like that ever happened
after Sanderson went to prison.
The question is,
how does Tom Wittman play into this?
He was a teenager at the time.
Strauss.
I want everything from
Tom Wittman's apartment.
It's on its way.
Do you think Wittman was there that night?
- That depends.
- On what?
If you believe Sanderson's story.
My office will handle
the press from here on.
That's unnecessary.
You don't need any
more distractions.
He looks genuinely distraught.
He's very convincing.
I can see why you fell for it.
I don't need to remind you
that your reputation's on the line here.
That's not what matters to me right now.
It should.
You played me.
I know how this looks.
Oh, do you?
Oh, well, please, enlighten me.
How does this look?
I didn't do it.
Yes, you did!
And now that's on me.
I bought in to your
holier-than-thou garbage!
I put a psychotic killer
back out on the street,
and in less than 51 hours,
you went right back to your old ways.
- I didn't want to.
- Then why did you?
Because he would have killed me.
No. No.
It's more than that.
It better be more than that.
Why did you go to his house?
Why would you risk your
freedom to go after this man?
This is the rest of Tom Wittman's house.
Okay, guys. Derek said that the
Sandersons got into an argument
on the night of the murders.
So I went ahead and did a background check.
There is no history of abuse,
domestic calls, therapy.
From the outside in,
they were like the perfect family.
Nobody's perfect.
Yeah, but married right out of college,
medical school, two kids,
house on a hill, dog.
Pretty damn close, yeah?
Okay, so one night they argue.
He takes the couch,
leaving the wife and
kids upstairs vulnerable.
He claims the offenders broke
in through the basement.
There were security bars on the window,
but they were old and broken.
That was such an
obscure fact, though.
It was deemed only someone with
an intimate knowledge of the house
would suggest that
as an entry point.
Yeah, but that means that three
people walked past Sanderson
while he was sleeping on the couch.
Why didn't he wake up?
And why would they walk right
past him without subduing him?
It looks like their
goal was upstairs.
She had a stuffed animal.
Who does that to a 5-year-old?
You know, the child was an afterthought.
The overkill was on Mrs. Sanderson.
That's an understatement.
He was sending a message.
Like what?
He's in control. He has all the power.
And he hates her.
You must be exhausted.
Doing good time just so you
can get out and kill again.
I'm not a murderer.
You are a murderer.
You just stabbed a man to death.
I didn't have a choice.
He saw me, he panicked,
he would have killed me.
I'm telling you, I didn't have a choice.
He didn't kill my family.
He was going to lead me to the one who did.
All right.
And if you had gotten to this person
that allegedly killed your family,
what were you gonna do then,
the same thing you just did to Tom Wittman?
No, I'm not a killer.
Okay, yes.
Yes. There wasn't a day that I was locked up
where I didn't hope that whoever
took my family's lives was dead.
I wanted to find him
and I wanted to destroy
his life like he did mine.
I wanted him... wanted him to pay!
Why wasn't Tom Wittman's
name mentioned at your trial?
I didn't even know
it until years later.
Agent, what I saw
and what happened,
that couldn't have been random.
So what did you do?
Just look at every single
person that knew your family?
- Yeah.
- How?
How did you do that?
You never once asked for
access to your case.
All of it was my memory.
I walked through that night a million times.
Tommy was just a kid then, 18, 19.
He worked at the corner market
and brought our groceries home.
He and his friend,
they would look for any
reason to be near my wife.
I didn't like that.
Carrie told him so,
and he stopped coming by.
So Tom felt abandoned by your wife
and angry at you, so he acted out.
Yeah, you see, except...
that night, he said... he said,
"That's enough."
See, it's like he had
actual boundaries.
That's how you narrowed this down,
to somebody who cared
about your wife?
Yeah.
Tom... Tom, he was just... he was just...
He was a figure in the dark.
And then I heard his voice.
Good morning, Mr. Sanderson.
And that was familiar.
It took me a long time to place it.
Anyway,
a few years later, I called the market
and tried to find his full name.
Thomas Gregory Wittman.
I had Internet
privileges once a week,
and I found his address.
And then what?
A few days later, that heroin
was planted in my cell.
I lost my privileges.
So Tom Wittman was the
only link that you had
to figuring out who was
in your house that night?
And now I'm back to nothing.
Not necessarily.
You want to take him back to his house?
If he can't figure out who
else was there that night,
there's no way to prove his story.
All right.
Let's clean him up first.
This used to be a
great place to live.
You ready?
Yeah.
No one stays here long, do they?
You were asleep on the couch?
In front of the fire.
So it was cold.
Yeah.
And pouring down rain.
The TV was on.
What were you watching?
Reruns.
I'd been on rotation for 36 hours.
Between that and the rain,
it took me about just a
minute to fall asleep.
What wakes you?
Daddy! Daddy, help me, Daddy!
Help! Please!
Don, help, please!
Don!
Daddy! Daddy, help me!
Uhh! Uhh! No!
Shut up!
He's hurting them.
Who is? Tom?
No, the one in the hood.
- Tom's saying...
- That's enough!
My little girl...
She shouldn't be seeing this.
Turn away, baby.
Turn away.
I can't get to her.
- Help me!
- Shut up!
No!
No, no, no, no! You stay away from her!
There's a woman. There she is.
What does she look like?
It's blurry.
Here you go.
She gave Abby her hippo.
My son.
She had my son.
What is she saying?
- Daddy.
- Stop it!
That's enough!
But he won't. He keeps holding me down.
He's laughing.
- I want to keep him.
- He's just a baby.
Put it back.
No. No!
- They're fighting.
- Put it back.
She wants to take my son.
I said put it back!
They could have taken my son.
But she didn't take your son. He's safe.
They must have trusted one another.
We need to figure out who Tom
Wittman's friends were back then.
The woman is the key.
She wanted to take the baby.
Yeah. To build their
own twisted family.
- All right, keep me posted.
- Okay.
Okay, the crazy thing about this is
that nobody turned on one another.
So they have to have a bond.
Maybe they're related.
Tom Wittman didn't
have any siblings.
It could be childhood friends.
Uh, the only marks on his
record are from juvie.
He cleaned up after that.
What were his arrests?
Petty stuff.
Uh, anything related to
breaking and entering?
Credit card schemes,
retail robbery.
Okay, now wait. That was big in the '80s.
One person would work in the store,
and the other would use stolen credit cards.
Sounds like a team.
Yeah. Was he arrested with anybody?
I found Tom Wittman's
juvie records.
Other than him, no one was underage
involved in any of his arrests.
Maybe they weren't the same age.
The woman wanted to keep a kid.
That doesn't sound like a teenager.
Okay, I'm gonna cross-ref
the date of Wittman's arrest
with others made on that same day.
Retail crimes.
Shoplifting was very big.
What about a woman who was arrested
from the same department store as Tom?
Mary Rutka, 22 at the time.
- Is she from D. C?
- Born and raised.
Did she have any children?
One 19-year-old son.
Morgan, are you back yet?
We may have found the woman.
That's her.
Go.
He's going down the fire escape!
I need an ambulance and
backup at 751 Hindry Street,
Northeast, Apartment 402.
It's okay. It's okay. Hold on.
Hey! FBI!
It looks like she fought him.
So some guy breaks in here,
kills her, then runs away.
- It's pretty risky.
- He's hiding something,
and she was a witness to it.
He's cleaning up loose ends.
Well, it looks like he made a mess to me.
How'd you track her down?
She was arrested with Tom
Wittman a long time ago.
Sanderson gets out,
Wittman's killed,
and now Mary Rutka.
The whole thing's a house of cards.
He got away with it for 20 years.
He's not about to get caught now.
Any leads?
- Nothing more than we saw.
- Well, he knows you're on to him.
What do you think
he's gonna do now?
Well, I don't think he'd trash
the place for the hell of it.
I think he was looking for
something and we interrupted him.
It makes sense why she survived until now.
What are you guys talking about?
Three people got away with murder.
How do you make sure no
one rats the other out?
Blackmail.
It sounds like we need to
profile a dormant killer.
A very lucky one.
He was essentially given a gift...
a patsy in the form of Don Sanderson,
and he'll do anything to protect that story.
When someone has a secret this big,
everything becomes a lie.
He'll most likely be pathological.
So we're looking for a liar in D.C.
I thought we were trying
to narrow this down.
Her son's 19 years old.
He doesn't have a bedroom,
but she kept all his books.
She's sentimental.
Hey, Morgan.
Almost there.
Ah, sorry.
Daddy help you make them?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
Did Josh help you make them?
Yeah, he got the blueberries.
He got the blue... well,
thank you very much.
I love you.
I love you, too.
Welcome to the Sanderson home.
Don't forget the view.
They look down on everybody.
He sounds jealous.
- Let's do this.
- Shh. You'll wake them.
Garcia, can you
isolate these images?
Yeah. Which one?
The one in the hood.
Do you think it's him?
That could be a thousand guys.
I want to see them.
No. I don't think
that's a good idea.
I wasn't allowed to have
pictures for 25 years.
They thought that looking
at them would get me off.
I don't want to forget my family.
See, they're...
they're here,
and they're in flashes,
but I can feel them slipping away.
Please.
Daddy help you make them?
- Yeah.
- Yeah?
- Did Josh help you make them?
- Yeah, he got the blueberries.
He got the blue... Well,
thank you very much.
And the butter.
And the butter.
Were you in charge of the eggs?
- Yeah.
- I know you like to break the eggs, right?
- Yeah.
- I love you.
I love you, too.
Mommy...
Go ahead. Go ahead.
Pancakes.
You guys are too good to me.
What we just watched was...
Debilitating. Frenzied.
And documented, but not for a trophy.
It seems to be from Wittman's point of view.
I mean, she's obviously
an accessory.
Why not just destroy the evidence?
Because she got
something out of it.
Her place was way more
than she could afford,
she never got married, and she had
a son who went to private school.
Do you think it's his kid?
That would explain the bond
and why he didn't get
rid of her before today.
You said her place was nice.
If he's covering his tracks,
he's paying her in cash.
Who can afford to do that?
You want me to find rich
and powerful men in D. C?
Explain to me how to narrow down this list.
Start with me who grew up in the
District, came from nothing.
His ambition will define him.
Whoever did this enjoys taking power away.
He's been way too smart to keep on killing.
So what would satisfy a guy like this?
Well, he's manipulative
but trustworthy.
Two other people witnessed that murder,
and they never turned on him.
Guys, so we have to think of this
city as the unsub's comfort zone.
He didn't leave for a reason.
Target-rich environment.
The damage he's done
and continues to do is right here in D.C.
Politics?
I think it's more
intimate than that.
He needs victims who suffer
directly from what he's doing.
Okay, I'll cross the
politicians off my list.
Look into asset-based lenders,
uh, big money-making ventures where
people would be left in his wake.
Corporate takeovers.
Businessman as psychopath?
They're the same characteristics.
They just use their skills differently.
They both have narcissistic traits,
such as a grandiose sense
of self-importance,
deceptiveness, lack of remorse.
Hard-core businessmen, 36 and counting.
That's way too many.
We can each take 6
and look for connections.
No, no. Wait a minute.
If we had this case 25 years ago,
what would we have seen?
How would we fight the physical evidence?
We need look at what the unsub did
the moment he arrived at the house.
They broke into the basement.
Through a window
with rusted-out bars.
Garcia, who lived at the
house before the Sandersons?
Property records...
Well, it hasn't exchanged too many hands.
The Barretts, the Kramers, the Stanworths.
Any of those names on
your list of businessmen?
Uh, no. Let me look at that longer list.
Hold, please. Hey,
family of James Stanworth.
They lost the house in '82 and
then they moved to the outskirts.
He sounded jealous on the tape.
That makes sense.
He knew the Sandersons,
and he would obviously know that house.
There was nothing random about that attack.
He's a native Washingtonian,
married with three kids.
Everything to lose.
- Oh.
- What?
He's running for Congress.
And check out his campaign slogan.
"Let's do this." He said that on the tape.
This won't be easy.
You want to arrest James Stanworth?
Are you out of your mind?
He's got motive.
Mary Rutka had a tape.
She was blackmailing him.
It was a hooded figure.
You can't prove it was
him on that videotape.
He fits the profile, Erin.
Forgive me, but your profile
sounds like a self-made man,
not the psychopath you claim he is.
We said he'd be destructive.
In 1998 alone,
he fired 6,000 people
from one of his companies.
Some of those employees
took their own lives.
This is the type of power and
devastation that he enjoys.
Hearsay.
Slander if you're not careful.
Ma'am, he got into politics
to be hard on crime.
He would have access to
keep tabs on Don Sanderson.
And now you're sounding as
paranoid as Don Sanderson.
You cannot accuse a man without
a shred of physical evidence.
Mary Rutka had skin
under her nails.
Maybe she left a mark.
And you cannot arrest a man based
on the possibility of a scratch.
We can't arrest this man.
That's what you mean.
Don't pull any punches now, Erin.
You don't understand what the
politics are, do you, Dave?
You never have.
No, I do.
I just don't care.
Ma'am, all due respect,
but we have an innocent man in our custody,
and the killer is still out there.
It just might be James Stanworth.
You don't have enough proof.
The BAU functions without you.
Don't push it.
So there's nothing we can do?
This guy's gonna get away with it.
No. No, not a chance in hell.
Garcia, find me James
Stanworth right now.
Yeah.
Another hour passes,
he's that much closer
to hiding his true self.
Mary Rutka's his third victim.
He's now officially
a serial killer.
- What do you want to do?
- I want to expose this son of a bitch.
If he did kill Mary Rutka,
he's gonna have cuts on him somewhere.
We match that DNA, we got him.
Guys, he's having a fund-raiser
- at his house in McLean.
- When?
It started an hour ago.
- Text me the address.
- Yep.
What if we're wrong?
Prentiss.
Which is why I insisted they come to D.C.,
meet the policymakers,
see that it's not as simple
as signing our names,
that the problems we're dealing
with are not easy ones,
that we have to plan not two steps ahead,
but 200 steps,
that it's not just about what's
in our families' best interests,
it's what's in our nation's.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Congressman, Mr. James Stanworth.
You sure have a way with words.
It's mighty impressive.
Thank you.
- May I help you?
- My name's Derek Morgan.
We're with the FBI.
Do your friends here know that
you're a closet psychopath?
Excuse me?
Don Sanderson does.
Do you remember him?
I'm sure you do.
You murdered his entire family
and got him put away for 25 years.
Well, Agent, if you've got anything on me...
No.
James, it's not on you, it's inside of you.
Killing Mary Rutka really
got you going, didn't it?
I'm afraid I don't
know who that is.
- Jim, what's going on?
- They were just leaving.
- But I don't understand...
- Don't worry.
He's good at that, isn't he? Anger.
He's dismissive by nature.
Can't show affection, though, can he?
You walk on eggshells, you and the children.
- Jim...
- Shut up!
Oh, here he comes.
Where was your husband today around 3:00?
These are ridiculous fabrications.
It doesn't matter. We know where he was.
I held the hand of the woman he murdered.
Right.
James, whoever did kill
Mary left some DNA behind
under her fingernails.
- What's that?
- Well, that would be a cut.
I cut myself on a broken glass.
No. Mary Rutka did that to
you trying to defend herself.
You knew that Don Sanderson
was out after 25 years.
He got to Tom Wittman,
and you were afraid that if he got to Mary,
he might find you
and bring you down
for what you did to his
family all those years ago.
- You're delusional, Agent.
- You panicked, and you killed Mary.
- I don't panic.
- You did panic.
You're a killer. It's what you do.
You destroy people's lives.
I destroyed no one.
You put a man away for life,
you murdered his family,
and today you killed a woman
who would never betray you...
I killed no one....because you panicked.
You are a killer. You are a psychopath.
You panicked, and...
I don't panic! I don't panic!
There he is.
Jim, what's going on?
Shh!
Call Charles.
Don't say another word.
They've got nothing.
We found the tape.
James Stanworth, you're under
arrest for the murder of Mary Rutka.
This is absurd.
You have the right
to remain silent.
Anything you say can and will be
used against you in a court of law.
You have the right to speak to an attorney.
If you cannot afford an attorney...
There hasn't been a second where
I haven't thought about this.
Now it's here.
How does it feel?
I'm terrified.
You know, your son has
been studying medicine.
He wants to open his own clinic.
It seems to me he's becoming
a lot like his father.
I don't even know
what he looks like.
Well, it looks like
you're about to find out.
Yes, but I...
What am I supposed to say to him?
He knows that you didn't do it.
That's all you ever
wanted him to know.
Yeah.
Go.
Show him who his dad really is.
Oh, my God.
Joshua.
All truths are easy to understand
once they are discovered.
The point is to discover them.
Galileo.