Charlie Wilkinson

Charlie Wilkinson was a budding serial killer and copycat who appeared in Birthright.

History
Charlie's father, Robert Wilkinson, was a serial killer active in Fredericksburg, Virginia in the 1980s. Since he was a mean drunk, his wife, Mary, moved in with her parents during her pregnancy. This abandonment set off his serial killings. When she moved back, she found him drunk in the place he kept his victims. She then placed him in his combine harvester, turned it on and killed him, and made it look like an accident in order to protect Charlie. When time passed, however, it became evident that Charlie had inherited his father's killer instincts. When he was fifteen, he kidnapped a cat, and placed it in a bag which was hung on a tree branch, beating it to death.

Birthright
In 2007, Charlie, who had figured out his father's connection to the 1980 killings, felt a bond with him and started killing in the same way his father did, even using the same areas to confine and torture his victims. The BAU was called in after the third victim was discovered missing. During the search for similar crimes in the area around the same time as the 1980 killings, they found a story of Karen Foley who had similar experiences with the victims. When the BAU went to ask her, however, she claimed to have lied to cover up her cocaine addiction. After finding out that she moved after what happened to her, she then moved back when Robert Wilkinson died, they figured out, with help from the investigator of the original crimes, John Caulfield, that Robert was the one responsible.

They then went to question Mary, who obviously wasn't surprised to hear about Robert's murders. When trying again with Karen Foley, her son, Stephen, who was conceived when Robert raped her, briefly becomes a suspect. This changed when he told her that he had figured out the way he was conceived. Meanwhile, Derek and JJ were looking for Charlie, who hadn't gone to work that day and found that he had used a barn near the house when he and his wife, Chrissy, lived to torture his victims. When they brought Karen to the scene to trace her memories to the confinement area, she accused Mary of not doing anything to stop Robert. Mary then confessed to killing him. With Karen's help, they found the confinement area, a small barred cave, and were able to save the two girls held captive there.

In the meantime, Chrissy confronts Charlie at a nearby Civil War memorial where he had been drinking. When she brought up Robert, saying "you're a sick son of a bitch, just like your daddy," Charlie rose up. In the next scene, a gunshot was heard off-screen. It was revealed that Chrissy killed him. She claims it was self-defense, although Mary realizes she did it to protect her and Charlie's son but she doesn't tell.

Profile
It was initially believed that the same killer was responsible for both the 1980 killings, as well as the 2007 killings. The 1980 perpetrator was thought to be a migrating farm worker. He would be in his mid 20s, reckless in his personal life, and a heavy drinker. Robert's killings were triggered by his wife moving out while Charlie's were possibly triggered by his wife's pregnancy.

Modus Operandi
Charlie copied his father's murders almost to the letter. He abducted them and took them to his barn to rape and torture them using cigarette burns, usually keeping two at a time. After a few hours, he brought them to a small cave to keep them captive. When transporting them between the locations, he made them wear a bag on their heads. During the torture, he would play music and force them to dance. Whenever they refused to obey him or simply weren't capable of doing so, he would decapitate them with an axe, chop the bodies up and then dump the remains on the site of the Battle of Chancellorsville. The difference between Robert's and Charlie's murders was that Robert targeted junkies and runaways while Charlie targeted college students. According to the BAU, this was because of the transformation the area underwent in two decades.

Known Victims

 * Unnamed victim
 * Julie Stanton
 * Molly McCarthy
 * Tara Ricker

Appearances

 * Season Three
 * Birthright