Daniel Dryden

Daniel Dryden is a serial killer (and attempted spree killer) copycat who appeared in the Criminal Minds novel "Killer Profile".

Background
Originally a fashion photographer on his way to stardom Daniel met his future wife Connie during an outdoor shoot, which was interrupted when it began to rain. Taking shelter in the company car while waiting out the storm Daniel and Connie wound up having a bout of spontaneous sex and instantly fell in love, marrying sometime later. The two eventually had a son named Kevin, which ultimately caused Connie to become a stay-at-home mom. Without his so-called muse Daniel's quality of work declined and his popularity fell rapidly, forcing him to get a job as a crime scene photographer when companies and agencies stopped hiring him and moved on to the next hot prospect.

A few years after their second son Kyle was born Daniel decided to become a copycat killer; using Max Ryan's book Serial Killers and Mass Murderers: Profiling Why They Kill as a guide Daniel planned on first emulating the serial killers it listed before moving on to the spree killers. Daniel's first victim was Bobby Edels, who he lured from a gay bar by paying off a lowlife named Eddie Minchell; after strangling him Daniel disposed of Bobby's body in a plastic barrel, which he left in an abandoned apartment in Chinatown. Weeks later Daniel killed a couple making out in a car and months later lured two female beachgoers to a secluded area, where he strangled them and left several of their bones partially buried in the forest.

Killer Profile
By the time the BAU is called to Chicago to investigate the murders Daniel has Eddie bring him another victim, a traveling salesman named Stevie Darnell, who Daniel abducts after Eddie drops him off at a secluded motel. Burying Stevie in the crawlspace of John Wayne Gacy's house after killing him Daniel (in his job as a crime scene photographer) arrives at the scene with the authorities after the body is found by an employee of the gas company. As Rossi and Hotch talk with detectives Daniel, overhearing them discussing how the unsub replicated crime scene photos that were never made public, introduces himself and mentions the killer could be a city employee with access to evidence, or they could merely be someone who found the pictures on the internet.

Daniel goes on to kill a man he picks up in a bar (disguising himself to do so) and later abducts and prematurely buries Grant Shuler near a deserted farmhouse, being interupted in the midst of doing so by Detective Jake Denson, who had somehow pieced together Daniel was the killer. Managing to gain the upper hand against the detective Daniel shoots him the stomach, knocks on top of the homemade coffin Shuler is in and fills in the hole.

Having finished copying all the serial killers in Max Ryan's book Daniel moves on to the spree killers, the first one mentioned in the book being Richard Speck, who had raped and tortured eight nursing students before stabbing them to death. Discovering Daniel is the killer Rossi, Morgan and a local detective reach the house where Speck committed his murders at the same time Daniel, who intended to kill the family residing in the house, does. Scared off Daniel manages to reach his car and drive to the nearby community hospital and randomly opened fire, killing one nursing student and wounding another (who he also believed he had killed) as a distraction intended to get the authorities away from the Speck house. After a few hours of hiding Daniel returns to the house and, just as he about to break in, Rossi (who had been staking out the property, having correctly assumed Daniel would return) engages him. Trying to escape again Daniel is brought down and arrested by Rossi.

Brought to the police station Daniel is interrogated by Rossi, as Grant Shuler is still missing and possibly still alive, as Daniel had Herman Kotchman (a killer who buried his victims alive and gave them enough supplies to survive a few days) in mind when he kidnapped Shuler. By making it seem as if Shuler had already been rescued (using doctored photographs of a man vaguely resembling him being loaded into an ambulance) Rossi manages to manipulate Daniel into unintentionally revealing Shuler's whereabouts - a secluded farmhouse a short distance across state borders. Finding the correct farm Shuler is dug up in time and saved.

Profile
The BAU's profile of Daniel said he would be an unassuming middle-aged white male whose occupation allowed him a lot of freedom. He would likely have a wife and even children, but was a sociopath with a massive ego, believing himself to be smarter than the public, the authorities and even the killers whose crimes he copied. He felt underappreciated and unnoticed by society and murder was his means of gaining the attention he believed he deserved.

Modus Operandi
Daniel's kills were all meticulously planned, sometimes weeks in advance. Though he went to great lengths to make sure his murders were as true to the originals as possible (even going so far as pretending to be a woman in the Wuornos-based shooting) Daniel always made sure to alter the crime in some small way (for example, in the Berkowitz-based double homicide he shot the male driver, not the female passenger, first). After killing them Daniel would take several pictures of his victims, mailing the photographs to the authorities to fuel his need for attention, which grew so immense over time that he eventually came to skip the police all together, e-mailing the photos directly to the media.

Known Victims

 * Bobby Edels - Strangled and sealed in a plastic barrel; based on Jeffrey Dahmer
 * Benjamin Mendoza and Adrienne Andrews - Shot with a .44 Magnum while in a car; based on David Berkowitz
 * Donna Cooper and Casey Goddard - Strangled, with some of their bones being left in the woods afterward; based on Ted Bundy
 * Stevie Darnell - Exact method of death unspecified; based on John Wayne Gacy
 * Vern Latham - Shot with a .22 Automatic; based on Aileen Wuornos
 * Detective Jacob Denson - Unplanned kill, shot with a .22 Automatic
 * Unnamed nursing student - Unplanned kill, shot with a .22 Automatic as a diversion; two others were wounded
 * Unnamed family (attempted) - Planned on stabbing every member in reference to Richard Speck
 * Grant Shuler (attempted, was rescued) - Buried alive; based on Herman Kotchman

Appearances

 * Novels
 * "Killer Profile"