Pablo Vargas

"How did I do?"

Pablo Vargas was a prolific Mexico-based serial rapist-turned-killer who appeared in Season One of Criminal Minds.

Background
Employed as the floor manager of women's plus sizes in a clothing factory in Allende del Sol, Mexico, Pablo, at some point, apparently killed his mother, leaving her corpse in the living room of their home, situated in front of a television that was constantly running. In 2003, Pablo began raping young women, ambushing them in the street, forcing them into the desert at knifepoint, and blindfolding them before committing the act. Once it was over, Pablo would kiss the woman's neck, and ask "How did I do?" and leave. In the fall of 2004, Pablo attacked his fourteenth victim, a waitress named Milagros Villanueva, who struggled more than the other women, managing to give him several minor injuries. After being wounded by Milagros, Pablo was mocked and laughed at by the woman, who had noticed he was wearing a dress. Discouraged and humiliated, Pablo fled the scene without being able to successfully rape her. A month later, Pablo attacked the mother of his first victim, believing the elderly would be easier to rape. During the attack, Pablo, having been unable to get over the feelings of emasculation his failed rape of Milagros left him with, was unable the rape the old woman, and in a rage, stabbed her, discovering murder was a satisfactory substitute for rape. Targeting the mothers of his rape victims, Pablo killed one about every nine weeks, committing eleven murders in two years. While the Mexican media was convinced a serial killer was on the loose, the government was reluctant to admit this, and the slayings continued.

Machismo
Going on vacation from his job, Pablo murdered Lupe Trejo on his first day off and, seemingly in a frenzy, killed Isabel Santiago only two days later, taking a necklace she was wearing (which belonged to her daughter) and bringing it back to his house. Once home, Pablo placed the necklace on his mother's body, along with other accessories he had stolen from his victims, and applied makeup to himself, throwing a fit in the midst of it and smashing the mirror, before going to caress his mother's hair. Later, Pablo heads to the home of Nina Villanueva, Milagros's mother, and is attacked on the property by his rape victims as well as Nina, who had discerned his identity due to the local police and the BAU's investigation of the murders. After being brutally beaten, Pablo is castrated with a kitchen knife (Milagros stating "He pretended to be a woman. Now he doesn't have to pretend.") and is left bleeding outside, where the BAU and police find him. If he survived his injuries (which appear to be extremely severe), Pablo was presumably arrested and incarcerated.

Profile
The unsub is a Hispanic heterosexual male, aged thirty-five to fifty, who blends into the poor neighborhoods he targets and (since the homes of his victims showed no signs of forced entry) appears non-threatening and is capable of making his victims feel at ease due to disguising himself as a woman, as evidence at the scene and the testimony of Roberto González indicated. Using his disguise, the unsub probably pretends to be a nurse or social worker, like most Old Lady Killers-type offenders. The heavy mutilation inflicted to the face, chest and genitals of the victims indicates the murders are sexually motivated, with the unsub attacking the subjects of his attraction. Before escalating to murder, the unsub probably committed other sex crimes, such as peeping and rape, and when rape stopped being enough, he began killing women who reminded him of a repressive authority figure in his life, like his mother or grandmother, who he blames for his perceived impotence.

After interviewing his rape victims, the unsub was classified as a power-reassurance rapist, meaning he is passive, non-athletic, lacks confidence, is incapable of having normal relationships with women, and lives or works near his victims. The unsub probably fantasized that the women he raped were his girlfriends, and would be dissuaded if they had fought back or screamed. The unsub asking "How did I do?" after the sexual assaults confirmed he lacked confidence, as the confident do not need reassurance that they did a good job; they just assume they did. In his workplace, he may act somewhat inappropriately around female coworkers, would be unable to look his boss in the eye, and desperately wants approval from his superiors, no matter how small the job.

The stressor that caused the unsub to stop raping young women and begin killing old ones was assumed to be rape victim Milagros Villanueva fighting him off and mocking him, making him feel humiliated and emasculated. Deciding to attack an older woman after the incident, likely thinking she would be easier to overpower, the unsub found he was unable to go through with the rape, his feelings of emasculation still lingering heavily, and thus he grew enraged and murdered the victim, discovering killing gave him the same sexual release that rape did. Until he is stopped, the unsub will continue killing, his cooling-off period growing shorter as his need for sexual release grows.

Modus Operandi
Originally, Pablo approached young women in the streets, came up behind them, put a knife to their backs and took them out to the desert, where he would blindfold and rape them. When he was finished, Pablo would kiss his victim's neck, and ask "How did I do?" At home, Pablo would place flyers showing his victim's face on the living room wall, presumably using them to relive the rapes.

After he escalated from raping young women to killing to their elderly mothers, Pablo, disguising himself as a woman using plus-size clothing presumably taken from his workplace, would knock on their door and, pretending to be a nurse or social worker from a city, enter when they answered. Once inside, Pablo would overpower the victim, and stab them repeatedly in the face, chest and genitals with a knife, possibly taken from the kitchen, as was the case in Lupe Trejo's murder. Once the victim was dead, Pablo would take pieces of jewelry belonging to their daughter and bring it home to place on his mother's corpse.

Real-Life Comparison
Pablo appears to have been based on female serial killer Juana Barraza, a.k.a. Mataviejitas ("The Old Lady Killer"), as both killed elderly women and there was genuine surprise from the public that the killers were female (although it turned out Pablo was male). Another inspiration could have been Jose Antonio Rodriguez Vega, a Spanish serial killer and rapist, also nicknamed Mataviejitas, who assaulted and murdered at least sixteen elderly women, ranging in age from 61 to 93 years old, in Spain during the late-80s. The local government's refusal to acknowledge his existence and its implied belief that Mexican society could not foster a serial killer was also compared to the initial circumstances surrounding prolific, Soviet Union-era serial killer Andrei Chikatilo.

Rapes

 * 2003:
 * May 1: Julia Torres Morales
 * May 22: María Gómez Fuentes
 * July 6: Michelle Cortez Torres
 * August 7: Rosario Reyes Espinoza
 * September 12: Juana Robles Pérez
 * November 1: Carmen Morales Rivas
 * November 28: Nicolasa Martínez Reyes
 * December 12: Conchita Ochoa Morales
 * 2004:
 * May 27: María Sánchez Tovarez
 * July 2: Susana Montes Hernández
 * July-August:
 * Unnamed victim
 * Rosa Trejo
 * Anna Santiago
 * August 30: Milagros Villanueva Cruz

Murders

 * Unspecified date: His unnamed mother
 * September 21, 2004: Elena Gutiérrez Torres
 * 2005:
 * January 14: Juanita Rodríguez Gómez
 * March 6: Patricia Fernández Cortez
 * April 3: Marielys Espinoza Reyes
 * June 27: Gloria Rivas Robles
 * September 19-26: Carla Chávez Morales
 * December 19: Adriana Flores Martínez
 * 2006:
 * January 31: Isabel Silva De Ochoa
 * February 14: Regina Cortez Sánchez
 * June 30: Linda Quintanilla Montes
 * September 6: Raquel Trevino
 * November 1: Lupe Trejo
 * November 3: Isabel Santiago
 * November 4: Nina Cruz Villanueva

Appearances

 * Season One
 * "Machismo"