Robert Johnson

"You'll never understand what I did. But out there... my followers... they understand."

Robert Johnson is a serial killer and stalker who appeared in "The Internet Is Forever".

Background
Robert was born on February 6, 1976, in Boise, Idaho. On May 5, 2002, he was arrested for three counts of possession of torture videos, for which he was sentenced to two years of rehabilitation in a halfway house (his arrest record mentions that he suffered from sexual addiction) but escaped in June 2003. He eventually got a job as an Internet installer for Meridian Telecom using an alias. He would then, without the company's knowledge, go around knocking on doors asking people if they wanted free fibre optics installation. The company eventually found out about this and he was subsequently fired. Sometime after losing his job, Robert began serial killing, stalking women whose facial symmetry matched his own, eventually reusing his fibre optic cable installation ruse to get into their homes, where he would hide miniature cameras, in order to know when it would be safe to break back in, and plant more cameras. After a few days, Robert would enter in the middle of the night, and strangle the woman to death, using his cameras and fibre optic connection to broadcast the murders live for a select few (who he would send illegal videos to as "collateral" in case they turned on him). Robert placed the bodies of his victims in a walk-in freezer he had acquired from local businessman Austin Chapman, who also watched his videos, and to make sure no one realized something was off, would make it appear as if his victims were still alive by hacking their social networking accounts, where he posted (under their identity) about going on vacation.

The Internet Is Forever
Robert claims his third victim, Doris Archer, disabling her security system with the correct codes, and letting her dog (familiar with him from previous entries) out. Later, Robert is shown is checking the social networking profiles of a woman named Allison Kittridge, whom he eventually spies on in person at a cafe, watching as she updates her profile. Later, outside Allison's home, Robert watches a press conference being held by JJ and Detective John Fordham, who show a composite sketch of him, and advise the public to be cautious online. When a reporter mentions the theory that the killer targets women whose facial symmetry match his own, Robert is clearly perturbed, and proceeds to close his laptop and attach a mini-cam to himself. Thrown off by the press conference, Robert does not wait for Allison to go to bed, and instead barges in. He quickly strangles her to death while she is in the kitchen, removing his planted cameras afterward, but neglecting to take the fibre optic cable. After putting Allison's body in the freezer with the rest, Robert sends out a mass email to his fans, telling them that since the FBI is watching, his next murder, which he intends to commit tomorrow, will be the best yet.

When the time comes, Robert abducts Lucy Masters, and takes her to the freezer, leaving a mini-cam on her television. When Morgan and Prentiss, having discerned Lucy is the next victim, inspect her home, Robert remotely activates the television, which displays the bound and gagged Lucy. Having gotten the full attention of the BAU, Robert puts on his gloves and mask, and begins to strangle Lucy, only to have his connection interrupted by Garcia, who had taken the case personally after having witnessed Allison's murder online. Robert tries to reestablish the connection, but is unable to, and grows enraged, knocking objects aside as he pulls off his mask and makes his way back to Lucy, whom he begins choking again, harder than before. Before he can kill the woman, however, Robert is pulled off her by Morgan and Detective Fordham, who had been able to discover his location by tracking down and interrogating Austin. As he is being hauled away, Robert tells Prentiss and Morgan, after the former asks him why he did it and what he sees in the women he murdered, that they will never understand why he did it, but all his fans out there will.

Modus Operandi
Robert would set up a number of different cameras inside his victims' houses and then stream the murders live into a chat room. All the cameras are set on Robert, to make as good a show as possible. To avoid being tracked down by the police, Robert would use a number of proxy servers to hide his identity. As he is also a narcissistic killer and found out the BAU was watching him, he began escalating between the murders. He targeted Caucasian women whose facial symmetry was the same as his. Usually striking at night, Robert would discreetly sneak into his victims' homes, allowing any eventual pets to leave, go to the victim's bedroom while she was asleep and kill her by manually strangling her. He always avoided leaving behind any forensic evidence. Robert would bring the bodies with him after each murder and then hang them in a freezer, which Austin Chapman lent him. In order to buy himself some time, he would use his victims' social network site accounts to trick their friends and family into believing they went on a trip or on vacation. He would later use the freezer for his attempted killing of Lucy Masters.

Profile
"Welcome to the show."

The unsub is a narcissistic white male in his early- to mid-30s and 5'10" in height who craves the immortality that is shown on the Internet. He recognizes his face on his victims and kills them as his method of saying, "This is what I look like." This also invokes his compulsion to take the bodies with him to a secondary location, where he preserves them so he can see his own reflection when he looks at them. He is an expert on computers and home networks, so he may have a criminal record that involves an indication of extensive computer training. He may work at an electronic store or an IT department, or be a computer distributor active at the same locations where his victims worked. Every aspect of his life has been constructed from an inflated sense of himself, so unsubs like this one will be particularly vulnerable to what is referred to as "narcissistic injury": if his self-worth is attacked or damaged, he will lash out. If he is found, he shouldn't be challenged publicly; instead, he should be talked to and be asked if he knows anything about the "brilliant mastermind" who is stalking these women. Under no circumstances should he be denigrated, as difficult as it is, and he needs to be talked to about his exploits as if he is being respected.

Known Victims

 * 2010:
 * January: Paula Renmar
 * March: Samantha Rush
 * May 15-16: Dorris Archer
 * May 18: Allison Kittridge
 * May 19: Lucy Masters

Appearances

 * Season Five
 * The Internet Is Forever