Leo Jenkins

"You're right. Let me show you what it feels like to be sick like I am!"

Leo Jenkins is a delusional abductor and killer who appeared in The Itch.

Background
Leo was a low-level lab assistant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After he somehow contracted the shingles virus, he was given a vaccine, which deadened the nerves in his arm. Since his brain was still sending stimuli signals to his arm, Leo, who was now developing delusional parasitosis, believed CDC officials put cockroach larvae inside the vaccine they gave him. Doctors tried all they could to convince him otherwise, but failed. His paranoia escalated and he eventually believed that the U.S. government was conspiring to infest Americans with cockroaches and the like. Leo eventually joined a support group for sufferers of the Morgellons syndrome, founded by fellow sufferer Lisa Randall, so he could share his beliefs and sympathize with its other members. However, when that wasn't enough, he abducted a journalist named Albert Stillman, who was writing a story about vaccinations, in the hopes of convincing him to write an exposé about his condition. However, Stillman, secretly a heroin addict, had been using at the time of the abduction and was uncooperative. Becoming increasingly agitated, Leo demanded if he could see the 'insects' inside him, to which Stillman suffered a psychotic break due to severe opiate withdrawal, prompting Leo to release him.

Modus Operandi
Since Leo only killed one person, the term "M.O." is somewhat misused. Leo initially abducted people he believed would help him of his condition: he targeted Albert Stillman in the hopes that he could write an exposé about his condition, while Doctor William Suri was targeted because he hoped he, as an entomologist, would believe him when he tried to show him what he was suffering. Later, as his paranoia escalated, he began targeting people he believed were associated with the U.S. government. After abducting his victims, he would take them to his basement and restrain them to a chair by their arms and legs with duct tape. The last two victims were tortured by being covered with some sort of bug: Suri was covered in cockroaches while in a metal tube, while Lisa was covered with spiders while restrained to a chair. In the case of Albert Stillman, he videotaped his interrogation, and released him after the former had experienced a psychotic break due to an unrelated heroin withdrawal. After torturing Suri with the cockroaches, Leo then killed him by shooting him in the head with a handgun after he found the doctor's reaction to the torture to be unsatisfactory and dumped his body in an alley.

Profile
The unsub is a male who suffers from delusional parasitosis, a condition in which the sufferer believes that he is being attacked or infested by bugs. He takes his victims and covers them in cockroaches, likely to convince his victims that they share in his condition. He is not trying to make his victims sick so he can kill them. Murder is not his goal, but the attention to the condition is; he is essentially crying out for help. He abducted an investigative journalist because he wanted him to write a story about the bugs inside of him. Unfortunately, because the victim was experiencing opiate withdrawal, he was already hallucinating insects, and this led to a psychotic break, so the unsub had to changed tactics. As a result, he abducted a controversial research scientist who he thought would be more willing to believe him. Unfortunately, the doctor recognized his condition for the mental illness that it is, which is why the unsub killed him so quickly.

He is not to be labeled as crazy or insane to the media or press, as he is desperate to confirm his own self-diagnosis. As a result, he will be violent towards those who do not, and this kind of delusion goes hand in hand with conspiracy thinking. He probably believes that the bugs are part of a plot involving the U.S. government to keep him sick. When he is alone, he will be paranoid and disorganized, while his body will be mutilated from self-harm. However, his search for a fellow believer will give him focus and allow him to appear calm and rational. He may be visiting the entomology and infectious disease fields, as well as hospitals, for anyone with similar beliefs. This unsub has searched high and low for treatment for his condition, and he will return to one of these locations for his next victim.

Known Victims

 * 2014:
 * October 16-19: Albert Stillman
 * October 20-21: Doctor William Suri
 * October 22: Lisa Randall

Appearances

 * Season Ten
 * "The Itch"