Jonathan Rhodes

"Just enjoy the ride."

Jonathan Rhodes is a spree killer and stalker who engineered a number of car crashes via hacking in Collision Course.

Background
Rhodes was a socially-awkward but computer-savvy man who worked as a sound technician at the 98.2 Bradenton, Florida, radio station. In his personal life, he enjoyed playing video games, especially first-person shooter and driving-themed ones. At some point, he joined a dating site and tried to court some of its female members, including Alyssa Miles and Veronica Perotta, but they never responded to his advances. Unable to handle the rejection, Rhodes began scheming their murders. He developed a computerized system that would allow him to hack into and take control of vehicles manufactured after 2009, which are all vulnerable to hacking. Once he had it finished and tested on his own vehicle as a starting point, Rhodes moved on to hacking other drivers' vehicles and using them to strike pedestrians.

Collision Course
After perfecting his technique through three car crashes, Rhodes hacks into a fourth vehicle and crashes it into Veronica as she is outside her home, killing both her and the driver. Hours later, he approaches Alyssa outside her home and tries to get her to remember him. When she doesn't, he forces her into his car, duct-tapes her hands to the steering wheel, and makes her drive down a highway. Midway into the ride, Rhodes hacks into the car, forces it out of the highway, and directs it toward a storage facility with the intent of crashing the car and killing himself and Alyssa. This fails, however, when Garcia overrides his hacking and stops the car in the nick of time, allowing Alvez to make the arrest.

Modus Operandi
Rhodes would hack into security cameras in crowded parking lots and spy on people to learn their daily routines and schedules. Once he spotted a motorist who owned a vehicle manufactured after 2009, and who would frequently use handheld technology simultaneous to their driving, he would hack into their vehicles. Once he had complete control over the vehicle, Rhodes would assert his dominance by activating the windshield-wipers, rolling the windows up and down repeatedly, and setting the radio channels to 98.2, his workplace. Then, he would guide the vehicle via remote control until it struck a pedestrian.

During his first two attacks, Rhodes hacked into a vehicle of the same make and model as his own, since he already knew how to take control of that specific brand, while the pedestrians he struck were selected at random. As his confidence grew, Rhodes started hacking into other vehicles and targeting pedestrians who resembled the true objects of his rage. By the time of his fourth attack, he went after Veronica Perotta directly, striking her with a vehicle outside her own home and making sure she died by pinning her against her SUV. Then, Rhodes abducted Alyssa Miles, forced her to drive his vehicle while he took control of it via remote, and planned to crash it in a murder-suicide, but was stopped in time.

Known Victims

 * The first crash:
 * The unnamed driver
 * Jan Gilford
 * The second crash:
 * Marta Calderon
 * Todd Daberman
 * The third crash:
 * Mark Keeling
 * Meredith Courtelis
 * The fourth crash:
 * Tim Dellinger
 * Veronica Perotta
 * Alyssa Miles

Appearances

 * Season Twelve
 * Collision Course