Eddie Lee Wilcox

Eddie Lee Wilcox, Jr. was a murderous robber who appeared in Season Nine of Criminal Minds.

Background
Eddie was born in Chicago, Illinois, in the early 70s. His mother died from childbirth, and when Eddie was five years old, his father, Edward Wilcox, Sr., drove them both to Los Angeles, California, where a job opportunity had opened for him. However, the job fell through, and the elder Wilcox committed suicide by shooting himself. The authorities discovered his body two days later after an L.A. County postman reported an odd smell coming from the house; Eddie was found sitting next to the corpse, having been sitting there ever since his father shot himself. His father's suicide would go on to leave a permanent imprint on Eddie's mind since then. For the rest of his childhood, he had been in and out of jail. During his adulthood, he married a woman named Melody Grimes and had a daughter, named Samantha, with her; their marriage was an unhappy one. Becoming a robber and a car thief (the latter of which being acquired from his skills as a mechanic), Eddie used the money acquired in his heists to support his family, but Melody became suspicious. One day, he and a partner named Christopher Corbone, who was incarcerated in the same prison as he was, committed a robbery at a pawn shop, and Corbone unexpectedly shot and killed the store owner and the customer present before they stole $25,000 worth of cash and jewelry. Horrified by the killings, Eddie argued with Corbone, who then tried to kill him, but his gun jammed; Eddie promptly fired back, killing him, but he continued to shoot Corbone's body before fleeing. When the store robbery and killings broke the news, Corbone's murders of the owner and the customer were also pinned on Eddie. Eddie was later arrested for his car thefts, and Melody divorced him, relocating to Wichita, Kansas, with Samantha, who came into constant contact with her father afterward, in which she complained about her life and wanted to leave Wichita. Sometime prior to Route 66, he was paroled from prison and decided to spend one last time with Samantha before committing suicide, knowing that he was a nobody.

Route 66
Tracking Samantha and Melody down at Wichita, Eddie waits until Samantha sneaks out of the house to see her boyfriend. The two of them kiss in his car, but Samantha tries to break away when her boyfriend tries to have sex with her. When she slaps him, he tries to attack her, but Eddie ambushes them, pulling the boyfriend out of the car and beating him before trying to bludgeon him with a crowbar. However, he relents when Samantha yells at him. He then takes her. The attack on Samantha's boyfriend and her subsequent disappearance was initially assumed by local authorities to be a classic parental abduction, which led to the BAU being called in due to his violent tendencies. Driving into Texas, Eddie pulls over alongside a highway and apologizes to Samantha for attacking her boyfriend. Later, as they drive down the highway, Samantha suggests likely locations that they could visit while looking at a map before Eddie spots a police officer. He pulls out his handgun in preparation, and the police car flashes its lights, but it races past their car. Samantha then asks Eddie if he was planning to shoot the police officer inside, and he denies it, saying that he would've checked the glove compartment where the gun was contained. The two later arrive in Amarillo, where a gas station owner spots Eddie and recognizes him from the news. Eddie notices the owner calling police, and tells Samantha to go and buy him something when she decides to go back to a motel they were staying at and take a shower. When she leaves, Eddie cuts out the telephone line and then enters the convenience store. He purchases a bag of potato chips, a pack of gum, and six postcards as the owner, operating the register, subtly reaches for his shotgun. However, Eddie is faster, and he shoots the owner twice, killing him before leaving the store, carrying the items with him. He then sneaks into a car yard and steals one of the cars, as well as a big-rig communication radio.

Eddie then drives back to the motel, where he is confronted by Samantha, who had seen the news, which stated that he was being suspected of the pawn shop robbery and killings. When she asks him if he killed those people, he angrily denies it, promising that he would tell her what happened when she got into the car, and then orders Samantha to change into her clothes. In the car, Eddie tells her about what Corbone did, but doesn't specifically tell her that he murdered anyone. Later, the two arrive in El Paso, where Eddie tries to steal another car, but is attacked by the owner, who shoves him to the ground and begins kicking him. Angrily, he takes out his gun and shoots the man in the stomach, killing him in front of Samantha. Shocked, Eddie tells Samantha to get into the car and drive it, which she fearfully does.

Modus Operandi
During his killing spree, Eddie shot his victims with a .45-caliber handgun. He also assaulted Samantha's boyfriend, breaking his jaw and giving him a concussion, before trying to bludgeon him with a crowbar, but relented. All of the victims were killed either out of self-defense or necessity. In the case of his partner, he shot him eight times, even when he was already dead, a definite sign of overkill.

Real-Life Comparison
Eddie may have been inspired by James DiMaggio, who abducted a 16-year-old girl named Hannah Anderson in National City, California, after killing her mother Christina and younger brother Ethan in nearby Boulevard; Hannah was later rescued in the Idaho wilderness while DiMaggio was shot dead by police. Both had fathers whom they were named after, who committed suicide, and they would later copy the circumstances of their fathers' suicides (although DiMaggio was partially successful). The scenario of Samantha being in constant contact with Eddie and willingly coming with him also seems to based on Hannah Anderson's contact with DiMaggio, and also accusations that she willingly went with DiMaggio and was even aware of her mother and brother's murders. In an unrelated note, both Eddie and DiMaggio share the same middle name of Lee.

Known Victims

 * Several unspecified charges of assault
 * Committed numerous victimless car thefts and store robberies prior to Route 66
 * Chicago, Illinois: Christopher Corbone
 * Wichita, Kansas: Samantha's unnamed boyfriend
 * Amarillo, Texas: Damon Turner
 * El Paso, Texas: Unnamed man
 * Los Angeles, California: Unnamed woman

Appearances

 * Season Nine
 * "Route 66"