Norman Hill

"Oh, God! What did I do?! Why did I do that to my family?! My family! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Norman Hill, a.k.a. "The Road Warrior", is a disgruntled white-collar office worker-turned-spree killer in Season Four of Criminal Minds.

Background
A quiet, all-around average man with affinity for collecting model cars, Norman lived in the suburbs with his family and worked at an insurance company in Orange County, California, being in charge of travel expenses. On June 2008, tragedy struck the Hill household when Norman's youngest daughter, Jenny, was hit and killed by a car on the freeway, having wandered away while Norman was busy changing a flat tire. Norman never got over Jenny's death, and came to believe everyone secretly blamed him for the tragedy, adding to his already considerable disenchantment with life, which stemmed from his dead-end job, his emasculating wife Vanessa and his other, teenaged daughters, Sasha and Britney.

Normal
"I tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen! You just wouldn't listen!"

Six months after Jenny's death, Norman, on his way to work and intending to drop off a Remington 870 shotgun as a gift, is cut off in traffic by a woman named Judith Hannity, who resembles his wife. Norman pulls up next to Judith, presumably to ask for an apology, but is blown off and insulted. Angered by the woman's attitude, Norman pulls up to her again, pulls the shotgun out of its gift box and opens fire, causing Judith to crash, paralyzing and nearly killing her. Something inside him having changed, Norman later arrives at an office party, where his wife and co-workers notice that he is unusually happy and confident. Later that night, Norman is shown contemplating the unknown as he stares at each of his childrens' bedroom doors. He then goes to the garage and begins sawing the barrel off of his shotgun. Killing two women in drive-by shootings with the shotgun in an attempt to achieve the same high he got attacking Judy Hannity, Norman finds he is unable to achieve as much satisfaction from shooting as he did before, so he begins modifying his shotgun and starts roleplaying, dressing as 1950s style punk after the media dubs him the Road Warrior.

Going over a week without killing anyone, Norman begins becoming more and more unstable and, while at the office, briefly contemplates committing a massacre when he envisions his fellow employees are mocking him. Regaining his senses just as he begins reaching for his concealed shotgun, Norman spots Jordan Todd on a television in the lounge, releasing the BAU's profile of the Road Warrior to the public. Rushing to his car after the seeing the broadcast, Norman, on his way home, has a psychotic fit, and when two men pull up and ask him if he is alright, Norman hallucinates they are laughing at him, instantly calms down, and murders both of them, shooting the two until the shotgun is empty. Arriving home, Norman watches another news broadcast, in which Jordan pleads with the Road Warrior, who the BAU had discerned had a family, to turn himself in peacefully. Seemingly moved by Jordan's speech, Norman hallucinates of him telling his family that he is the Road Warrior, but is mocked by them. Changing his mind about giving up, Norman forces his family into the SUV, ranting about how he can fix everything and that he can no longer bear living in that house after what happened to Jenny, whom he accuses his wife and teenage daughters of forgetting about.

Norman's erratic driving attracts the attention of the police and a chase ensues, with Norman alternating between firing shots and bickering with his family, who begin blaming him for Jenny's death, saying they can never be a family again. Reaching the highway, Norman jerks the steering wheel to the left (thinking Vanessa had grabbed it) and crashes into the concrete barrier, causing the SUV to flip over. Crawling out of the wrecked SUV, Norman is surrounded by Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, and several officers, who he begins begging to help him save his family. When Morgan, who had gotten a call regarding the fate of the Hills from Rossi, shows him the SUV is empty and tells him his family is gone, Norman suddenly remembers the truth - he murdered his wife and daughters shortly after shooting Judith Hannity. Realizing what he had done, Norman suffers a complete remorseful breakdown and does nothing but sob and say he's sorry as Morgan arrests him. Morgan tells Norman it's over and promises to get him some help. The psychosis most likely landed Norman in a psychiatric hospital. The events of the case would later lead Jordan, who felt responsible for the killings of the two men, to resign from the BAU after JJ, whom she replaced temporarily, returned to work.

Profile
The unsub is a white, middle-aged, married father. His wife is believed to be blonde, approximately 40 years old, who resembles the victims, and drives a luxury sedan. This unsub drives a blue, small SUV and most likely lives in the area. It is believed the unsub recently suffered a personal trauma in his life. The hyper-masculine disguise, victim preference, and the emasculating trigger of the first attack points out that the unsub is suffering a masculine identity crisis. Julia was just the trigger. Something happened in the unsub's life, something so traumatic, it turned a normal man into a spree killer. He suffering from a psychotic break, which means the world he sees around him has changed, and so has his role in it and that of his family. His perception of his home life is the key to his pathology. At home this unsub feels less than a man, a failure as a father and as a husband. He feels his children don't need or respect him and that he's unwanted and obsolete in their lives. As a husband he feels emasculated and humiliated by his wife. These perceptions, real or imagined, have destroyed this individual's masculine self-image. This unsub is delusional. He's now dressing in this Road Warrior persona. It gives him feelings of power and purpose that he craves. It is now the single most important thing in his life and he will die before giving it up. His new fantasy persona cannot coexist with the everyday reality of his home life, which means that sooner or later, he is going to kill his entire family. Somebody out there knows this man, but doesn't know it.

Impersonal killers are like drug addicts. The first time gives the ultimate high, and after that, no high is as good. Unfortunately, the addict doesn't know that. He will chase that high to the gates of insanity and death. Killing is all the unsub thinks about. He's set up the exact same situation again and again, hoping to get the same result. He begins to think he's doing it wrong. He becomes obsessed with improving his skills, honing his M.O. and tailoring his weapon to a deadly purpose. He figures if he gets them all just right, if he can get his technique and his tools perfected, he'll feel that first high again. He's becoming a more lethal addict. And he'll never accept that the high is gone and it won't come back. He'll never stop.

It is difficult to officially classify Norman as either a spree or serial killer, as he seems to have characteristics of both. While his motives and profile fit the description of a spree killer, his actual killings more closely resemble serial killings; there was a week-long cooling-off period between his fifth murder and the double homicide.

Modus Operandi
While Norman's first freeway attack was spontaneous, his next two murders were planned in advance, taking place at night (when there would be fewer witnesses) and being committed with company cars. Cruising alternate merge sites on the freeway, Norman drove extra slow, and when a blonde women who reminded him of his wife inevitably cut him off, he pulled up next to them and opened fire with a 12-gauge Remington 870 pump-action shotgun, which he continually modified in order to create a "perfect" weapon. Norman first shortened the barrel of the gun to increase the spread of the shots, then attached a bracket to the pump handle, allowing him to hook the gun onto his car door when the window was rolled down and chamber new shots without having to take both hands off of the wheel. As he grew more unstable, Norman fully embraced "The Road Warrior" persona and began dressing as a stereotypical tough guy on his outings, wearing a leather jacket and mirrored sunglasses.

Real-Life Comparison
Norman shows some similar characteristics to James Swann, named by the media as The Shotgun Stalker. Both were spree killers who were also mentally ill and committed drive-by shootings using a shotgun.

Known Victims

 * 2008:
 * December 5: Judith Hannity
 * December 6: His family :
 * Vanessa Hill
 * Sasha and Britney Hill
 * December 7: Linda Sicher
 * December 8: Marilyn Cohen
 * December 16:
 * Burke Manning and numerous unnamed coworkers
 * Joe Karem and Timothy Calvert
 * An unnamed police officer

Appearances

 * Season Four
 * "Normal"
 * "Bloodline"