Nathan Tubbs

"You think just because I'm a security guard, I don't understand sarcasm?"

Nathan Tubbs, a.k.a. "The Campus Killer", was a spree killer who appeared in Season Three of Criminal Minds.

Background
Living in Flagstaff, Arizona and married to a woman named Cheryl, whom he had a daughter with, Nathan applied to the Police Academy in 2003, but was denied entry after failing the psychological exam, with the results stating he had borderline, antisocial and sociopathic tendencies. After being rejected, Nathan got a job as a security officer at a local college campus and, four years later, lost his wife and daughter, Sam, when, after assaulting Cheryl, she divorced him and gained full custody of their child. Depressed over losing his daughter and being rejected by his wife, Nathan went into a downward spiral, becoming an alcoholic and growing addicted to pornography. A mere six days after his family fell apart, Nathan murdered a college student named Brenda Gladwin, who reminded him of his ex-wife.

Doubt
Dubbed "The Campus Killer" by the media, Nathan, a day after claiming his second victim, Sharon Stanworth, murders another girl named Amy Deckerman, this one while she was waiting for the campus security shuttle. As the local authorities and BAU investigate this new killing and the others, Nathan sulks in his apartment before going out in search of another victim. Finding a student on her way to her car, Nathan offers her a lift and, while he drives, attempts to make small talk. As the largely one-sided conversation grows more and more disturbing, with Nathan yelling at the girl to swear that she would never abandon anyone like his ex-wife did, Nathan is pulled over and arrested by the police and BAU, his concealed knife taken, and his intended victim rescued. At the police station, Nathan is questioned by Gideon, who tries to coerce a confession from him, due to none of the evidence they have against him being solid enough for a conviction. Refusing to admit to the murders, Nathan is held overnight and reluctantly released the next day when another murder with an M.O. similar to his is committed with a note being sent to the police by someone claiming to be the real killer.

With the campus being temporarily shut down due to all the deaths, Nathan, finding himself alienated by everyone, cleans out his locker. On his way home, Nathan is approached by a student named Anna Begley and is lured away to a secluded courtyard by her. Believing Anna wants to have sex, Nathan grows nervous after seeing a security camera trained on them and suggests they go to his apartment before Anna reveals what she truly wants from him. She committed the murder that got him released; her reason for doing so being that she wants Nathan to kill her. When Anna takes out a knife and begs him to end her life, Nathan refuses, believing this is a set up. Walking away, Nathan is grabbed by Anna and, in response, he calls her a bitch and states that she is not going trick him into saying or doing anything incriminating. Directly after saying this, Nathan is stabbed in the stomach by Anna. Morgan, who had been trailing him with Prentiss, tries to save Nathan, but despite his best efforts Nathan still bleeds to death. The deaths of Nathan and Anna resulted in Hotch getting suspended and Gideon resigning from the BAU.

Profile
The unsub is someone with access, since he has managed to move in a small local community with high police presence without raising suspicion, meaning there is a chance that it is someone who has been seen by police. It is very likely that something has set him off that caused him to go off on a spree. The victims were all killed in non-secluded areas and lacked defensive wounds, suggesting that the unsub lived or worked on-campus. He may be a student, professor, or part of a support staff. All of the victims were brunettes who were stabbed, even after death, which signified that the unsub may have been rejected in some way by someone physically similar, such as a mother or girlfriend. He may feel emasculated and this rejection was the stressor that sent him over the edge. People will notice his devolution: he will have most likely found religion, been drinking, or harming himself. He displays a great amount of anger toward his victims even after killing them; he stabs his victims repeatedly post-mortem, but seconds later, he feels remorse. It is possible that his victims are in a position to trust him because he is a part of campus life.

While questioning him, Gideon noticed that Nathan chewed his fingernails, which told him that it was possibly his way of punishing himself, and goes on to say that the reason he folded his victims' arms over their chests was because he felt guilty about murdering them, as he was supposed to be their protector.

Modus Operandi
Nathan would approach brunettes who resembled his ex-wife, Cheryl, when they were alone, and incapacitate them with a taser. He then killed them by stabbing them directly in the heart, inflicting several post-mortem stab wounds to the body and folding the victim's arms over their chest afterwards. The folding of the arms signified his remorse over the fact that the victims also reminded him of his daughter. Before killing his victims, Nathan made each victim swear that she would not do the kind of thing that Cheryl did to him.

Known Victims

 * Unspecified date: Cheryl Tubbs
 * 2007:
 * September 8: Brenda Gladwin
 * September 10: Sharon Stanworth
 * September 11: Amy Deckerman
 * September 12: Helen

Appearances

 * Season Three
 * "Doubt"
 * "In Name and Blood"