The team's limited evidence consisted of blurry surveillance footage and ballistics confirming the bullets came from the same handgun. The meeting room soon fell into an unusual silence, rather than the usual back-and-forth brainstorming sessions.
It was an unsettling feeling—waiting for the killer to strike again, waiting for new bodies to appear, hoping for a mistake or a taunt from the killer, as had happened in the "Son of Sam" and "DC Sniper" cases.
David Berkowitz, the "Son of Sam" killer, had written letters to the police and media. Similarly, John Muhammad of the "DC Sniper" case had called the police, ultimately leading to his capture, and left notes, including a tarot card, at crime scenes.
These actions were designed to grab public attention, mocking and humiliating law enforcement. For many serial killers, the murders became a twisted game of cat and mouse with the authorities.
Now, the BAU team, along with Danny, Joyner, and Jack, found themselves on the receiving end of this humiliation—not just from the killer's audacious crimes but also from the guilt of being unable to prevent the deaths of current and future victims.
Jack sat in a corner, repeatedly replaying the videos on his tablet. Garcia had processed the footage, smoothing out the choppy original recordings and enhancing their clarity. Despite this, none of the videos captured the killer's face, making facial recognition impossible.
Garcia, still hard at work, was combing through NYPD surveillance footage from other timeframes, hoping to find clues among the onlookers at the crime scenes. This tactic stemmed from lessons learned from the "Son of Sam" case, where killers often returned to their crime scenes out of compulsion.
The FBI had numerous tools for rapidly identifying individuals in crowds using facial recognition. However, while the technology was effective, the sheer scale of the task was daunting. Each crime scene was in a public area, and even the famously indifferent New Yorkers couldn't resist stopping to gawk at a cordoned-off corpse.
With nearly 1,000 faces to process across the five crime scenes, Garcia and the tech team faced a monumental challenge.
But as the saying goes, where there's a will, there's a way. Rossi advised Garcia to focus on identifying any face that appeared at two or more crime scenes.
After pulling an all-nighter tweaking the facial recognition software, Garcia finally let the program run automatically. She slumped over her desk and declared that unless the computer flagged a match, no one was to wake her.
Jack wasn't interested in battling the software. He kept reviewing the crime scene videos, feeling that he was on the verge of a breakthrough but unable to grasp it fully.
One by one, the others joined him. First Emily and rookie Luke Alvez, then Danny and Hannah, followed by Aubrey and Joyner. Soon, everyone but Reid, who remained deep in thought by the map, had gathered behind Jack.
"Does anyone see anything unusual?" Jack finally asked, feeling suffocated by the crowd around him.
"No," came the collective reply, including a curt shake of the head from Hotchner.
Jack played the videos from the four crime scenes in chronological order, omitting the first, which lacked footage.
"There's definitely something odd, but I can't quite put my finger on it," Aubrey said, rubbing his chin—earning him a collective eye-roll.
"The killer's behavior changes after the shots are fired," Emily pointed out. "We don't know what happened in the first case, but in the second, the killer calmly walked away, blending in as a bystander.
"However, in the third and fourth cases, they ran away, appearing flustered. Then, during the fifth shooting yesterday, they reverted to calmly leaving the scene. It doesn't add up."
Emily's observation hit on a key point. Typically, serial killers become more methodical with each crime, moving from clumsy and panicked to cold and calculated, treating murder as casually as eating or drinking.
As Rossi elaborated, "Five murders in, his behavior should've stabilized by now."
"So, you're saying the killer isn't just one person?" Kate Joyner, proving she wasn't just a figurehead, immediately grasped their implication.
At some point, Reid had quietly joined the group, standing on tiptoe behind them. "I know a way to test that theory, but it might mean waking Garcia," he said.
"I'll handle it," Jack volunteered. He squeezed through the crowd and stepped out of the room to take a deep breath. Fully reoxygenated, he headed to the break room.
A few minutes later, the microwave beeped. The enticing aroma of passion fruit mixed with rum wafted down the hallway.
The team watched as Jack carried a large slice of cake past their conference room and into Garcia's office.
Not long after, they heard Garcia's delighted squeal and an exaggerated smooching sound.
JJ and Hannah exchanged amused glances. A few minutes later, Jack returned, a noticeable blue lipstick mark on his cheek.
Clearing his throat, Jack announced, "Garcia analyzed the footage and used a digital coordinate model to estimate the killers' heights. The one who calmly walks away is six-foot-one (about 185 cm), while the one who flees in a panic is no taller than five-foot-ten (under 176 cm)."
"So, the killers really aren't the same person," Hotchner said, his expression as stern as ever, his furrowed brow deepening.
"What does this tell us?" Rossi's "masterclass" began in earnest.
"Most partnered serial killers don't act separately unless they have to," Rossi explained. "Take the 'DC Snipers,' for example. Although Malvo committed the first killing alone, Muhammad was nearby in the car.
"Or Kenneth Bianchi and his cousin Angelo Buono, the infamous 'Hillside Stranglers.' Bianchi's solo killings left enough evidence to get him caught, but only because Buono had suffered a mental breakdown and fled before the final murders."
Reid added more context, referencing another infamous duo. Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono terrorized Los Angeles from October 1977 to February 1978.
In those months, ten young women aged 12 to 28 were murdered. Before being strangled to death, the victims were sexually assaulted and subjected to horrific abuse. Their naked, battered bodies were discarded on the slopes near Hollywood, earning the killers their grim nickname.
(End of Chapter)
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