William Lynch

William "Billy" Lynch is a delusional serial-turned-spree killer, stalker, and rapist who appeared in To A Better Place.

Background
Billy was born to Ruth Lynch in 1991, his father never being a part of his life. His mother was a drug addict, likely in response to years of verbal and emotional abuse at the hands of Billy's alcoholic grandmother, Edith, who had been left to raise Ruth alone after his grandfather, Joseph, abandoned the family. In spite of her addictions, Ruth was determined to be the mother that Edith never was to her for Billy. She attended rehab, kept Billy up-to-date with vaccines and used what money she could spare to send him to summer camps. Finally, in 1997, Ruth decided to move out of Edith's house, removing her son from the hostile environment in which she grew up, and live with her best friend, Susan Aldrete. She even sent several of her and Billy's belongings to Susan's house ahead of them, including a red toy tow truck Billy played with. As Ruth began to pack the rest of her belongings, she and Edith got into a heated argument, which started to upset Billy. When Ruth tried to leave with him, Edith struck her in the head with a bottle in a moment of intense rage, an act a six-year-old Billy witnessed. As Edith tried to revive Ruth, Billy started to cry. She buried her daughter in the backyard and told Billy, who later suppressed the memory, that his mother had abandoned him. This caused Billy to develop abandonment issues and a deep mistrust of women.

Growing up, he suffered from a series of psychiatric problems and in 1999, at age eight, Billy attempted suicide by cutting his left wrist. This was one of the several times Billy was admitted to the emergency room. As an adult, Billy's destructive behavior was kept at bay by Edith but when she was diagnosed with emphysema in 2010, Billy went into a deep depression, for which he received treatment. At some point prior to To A Better Place, he got a job as a barista at a coffee shop and developed feelings for a co-worker named Helen Pierce, who liked him in return. On August 27, 2017, Edith died from her emphysema. Her death caused Billy to become severely depressed and, although he sought out and joined a counseling support group, it ultimately caused Billy to snap and begin killing women who served as surrogates for Ruth, claiming the lives of Patty Dunlop, the caterer for Edith's memorial service, and Ann Baker, the nurse who treated Edith prior to her death.

Modus Operandi
Billy targeted women who adopted the role of a caregiver or were connected to the grieving process. His first two victims also had additional connections to his grandmother, Edith, with Patty Dunlop being the caterer for Edith's memorial service and Ann Baker the nurse who treated Edith in the weeks before her death. His third victim, Laura Westin, was another member of the grief counseling support group he joined after Edith died. They served as surrogates for Ruth, the mother whom he believed had abandoned him as a child. He would passively insert himself into their lives romantically and slowly build a relationship with them, using his feelings of abandonment by his mother to appear sympathetic and trustworthy.

With the exception of Patty Dunlop, after a few weeks, he would convince his victims to allow him into their homes for a romantic dinner. Sometime later, he would subdue them using a knife, strangle them with a ligature and smear Midnight Surprise lipstick on their mouths then stuff their bodies into vintage oversized suitcases, which he brought with him. The lipstick and suitcases dated back to before the 1980s when Ruth would have been roughly the same age Billy was when she "left". He would then transport the bodies to secondary disposal sites, which became more public as Billy became more reckless; a swamp, a beach, and a bus stop respectively. In the case of Laura Westin, he likely killed her as they were preparing to have consensual sex (she was found wearing only lingerie and traces of spermicide were found on her hands). It is unknown if he did this with Ann Baker as well.

As he devolved, Billy began to abandon elements of his M.O. He was less selective in his chosen victim when he ambushed Holly Lefferts as she entered her home. Instead of subduing her with a knife and using a ligature, he bashed her head into the floor repeatedly, raped and manually strangled her. He also posed the body post-mortem, placing a cushion behind her head, unknowingly re-creating his memory of his mother's death as Edith did the same after she killed Ruth. Also, while he did smear lipstick on her face, he did not place her in a suitcase or move the body to another location. Attacking a random victim was Billy's attempt to divert his homicidal impulses onto a woman other than Helen, who he was in love with. However, when he ultimately did try to kill Helen, he did intend to place her inside a suitcase.

Profile
The unsub is a male in his early-to-mid twenties. He is strong enough to strangle his victims, stuff them into oversized luggage and transport them to secondary disposal sites. He is most likely handsome, non-threatening and is able to insinuate himself into his victim's lives romantically before murdering them. This unsub differs from the usual "charm-and-harm" killer as he does not actively seduce his victims, rather they come to him. He hunts them by making himself the hunted. In psychoanalysis, this is referred to as the "Florence Nightingale effect", a term given to caregivers who develop strong sexual or romantic relationships with their patients.

The stressor is placed in his childhood and involves abandonment by a maternal figure, most likely his actual mother. However, this goes far beyond the mere seeking out of lost motherly love. For some reason, his needs is entangled with intense and ritualistic homicidal impulses, meaning something or someone else could be in play.

Until now, the unsub has been able to easily compartmentalise his life, separating the psychopath who kills from the part of him that blends into normal society. However, something recently triggered a breakdown and his ability to separate the sane from the psychopath is rapidly eroding. It is expected that this killer will become more reckless and more violent and time is of the essence.

Known Victims

 * 2017:
 * Early September: Patricia "Patty" Dunlop
 * September 30-October 1: Ann Baker
 * October 2: Laura Weston
 * October 3-4: Holly Lefferts
 * October 4: Helen Pierce

Appearances

 * Season Thirteen
 * To A Better Place