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Daniel Dryden is a serial killer (and attempted spree killer) copycat who appeared in the Criminal Minds novel "Killer Profile".

Background
Originally a fashion photographer on his way to stardom Daniel met his future wife Connie during an outdoor shoot, which was interrupted when it began to rain. Taking shelter in the company car while waiting out the storm Daniel and Connie wound up having a bout of spontaneous sex and instantly fell in love, marrying sometime later. The two eventually had a son named Kevin, which ultimately caused Connie to become a stay-at-home mom. Without his so-called muse Daniel's quality of work declined and his popularity fell rapidly, forcing him to get a job as a crime scene photographer when companies and agencies stopped hiring him and moved on to the next hot prospect.

A few years after their second son Kyle was born Daniel decided to become a copycat killer; using Max Ryan's book Serial Killers and Mass Murderers: Profiling Why They Kill as a guide Daniel planned on first emulating the serial killers it listed before moving on to the spree killers.

Profile
The BAU's profile of Daniel said he would be an unassuming middle-aged white male whose occupation allowed him a lot of freedom. He would likely have a wife and even children, but was a sociopath with a massive ego, believing himself to be smarter than the public, the authorities and even the killers whose crimes he copied. He felt underappreciated and unnoticed by society and murder was his means of gaining the attention he believed he deserved.

Modus Operandi
Daniel's kills were all meticulously planned, sometimes weeks in advance. Though he went to great lengths to make sure his murders were as true to the originals as possible (even going so far as pretending to be a woman in the Wuornos-based shooting) Daniel always made sure to alter the crime in some small way (for example, in the Berkowitz-based double homicide he shot the male driver, not the female passenger, first). After killing them Daniel would take several pictures of his victims, mailing the photographs to the authorities to fuel his need for attention, which wound up degenerating to the point that he eventually came to skip the police all together, e-mailing the photos directly to the media.

Known Victims

 * Bobby Edels - Strangled and sealed in a plastic barrel; based on Jeffrey Dahmer
 * Benjamin Mendoza and Adrienne Andrews - Shot with a .44 Magnum while in a car; based on David Berkowitz
 * Donna Cooper and Casey Goddard - Strangled, with some of their bones being left in the woods afterward; based on Ted Bundy
 * Stevie Darnell - Exact method of death unspecified; based on John Wayne Gacy
 * Vern Latham - Shot with a .22 Automatic; based on Aileen Wuornos
 * Detective Jacob Denson - Unplanned kill, shot with a .22 Automatic
 * Unnamed nursing student - Unplanned kill, shot with a .22 Automatic as a diversion; two others were wounded
 * Unnamed family (attempted) - Planned on stabbing every member in reference to Richard Speck
 * Grant Shuler (attempted, was rescued) - Buried alive; based on Herman Kotchman

Appearances

 * Novels
 * "Killer Profile"