Kenneth Roberts

Kenneth Roberts is a serial bomber who appears in Empty Planet.

History
Kenneth was adopted at a young age. His adoptive mother died when he was 8. Several years later, his adoptive father needed a blood transfusion. When Kenneth tried to donate, it was discovered that they had nothing genetically in common. Before dying, he admitted to Kenneth that he was adopted. Kenneth tried to find his birth mother, but wasn't able to, since the records were sealed, but he found out that he was adopted in Youngstown, Ohio. Around the same time, he found out that postmodern litterature professor and one-hit wonder science fiction writer Ursula Kent had put up her child for adoption there, the same year that Kenneth was adopted. This, combined with the plot of her novel, Empty Planet, made Kenneth believe Ursula Kent was in fact his biological mother. In order to be close to her, he moved to Seattle and studied under her at St Denis University. He later joined the Freedom From Technology Brigade, a Seattle-based anti-technology activism movement which at one point were involved in the thrasing of computers in a research lab in Tacoma, Washington and sending floppy disc bombs to St Denis University which exploded, but didn't harm anyone.

Feeling that he still hadn't reached out to Ursula Kent, Kenneth decided to recreate events from Empty Planet in real-life. He started by placing a bomb hidden in an umbrella under the seat of a Dr Emory Cooke, an artificial life scientist who had developed software mirroring the human reproduction system, but it was picked up by a teenager and taken to the driver before Kenneth detonated it, killing the two. Later, Kenneth heard a press conference staged by the BAU intended to draw him out where they claimed that nobody had taken the blame for the bomb despite the fact that Kenneth had made calls to various news networks before detonating it. He then proceeded to call Gideon from a payphone near a gas station, calling himself Allegro. He then detonated a large bomb placed in the gas station, leaving a copy of his manifesto, A Guide To Pratical Living, which contained some direct excerpts from Empty Planet and demanded that all machinery that's replaced American workers be stopped within a week. Reid then understood the connection between the bombings and the novel.

The following day, Kenneth succeded in killing Dr Cooke by placing a pressure sensitive bomb under the seat of his car, ensuring that it would only kill him. He then called Gideon shortly before planting even more bombs in government buildings, like a library and a post office, all of which were defused, demanding that his manifesto would be published in The Seattle Ledger. After planting bombs at various government buildings he attempted to kill Dr Brazier, but she was saved by the authorities. Later that day, he snuck into St Denis University and confronted Ursula Kent with his theory. He took her to the lecture room he had studied in, where she revealed that the child she gave up was girl, meaning Kenneth couldn't be her son. He refused to accept this when the BAU and SWAT stormed in. Holding Ursula Kent hostage with a bomb, Kenneth demanded that they leave them alone. Meanwhile, a SWAT sniper snuck up to a high point adn aimed a Kenneth's heart. Noticing the laser pointer, she threw herself in the bullet's pathway, saving Kenneth's life. She survived, and Kenneth, thrown off-guard by the shot, was arrested.

Empty Planet
Empty Planet is a fictional science fiction novel written by Professor Ursula Kent under the pseudonym David Hansberry. She was inspired to write it when she gave up her child for adoption. Its primary theme appears to be how machines replace human beings and inspired Kenneth to start his bombing campaign.

The novel takes place in a world where robots have found a way to reproduce with humans and taken over the world. The protagonist is a 12 year old boy named Allegro who forms a resistance army shortly after his father's suicide. The army defends against robots and also assassinates the scientists responsible for creating them. In the end, Allegro discovers that he is adopted and is reunited with his birth mother, who turns out to have become a robot, forcing Allegro to kill her. She is in fact proud of what he does, as told in her narratiion featured throughout the entire book, as if she was talking from beyond the grave.

Modus Operandi
Kenneth made simple pipe bombs with a fairly light explosive and used dried peas as shrapnel, ensuring that they wouldn't spread too far. He would also engrave a picture of a robot with arrow through it into the bombs, the sybol being copied from a necklace belonging to Ursula Kent. He usually avoided human loss, except for in the cases of Dr Cooke and Dr Brazier.

Profile
Kenneth was profiled as a personal-cause bomber, not unlike Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, and thus probably motivated by some underlying emotional conflict. He would live alone, possibly be self-employed. He would seem odd to those around him, angry, distant and short-fused. He would be meticulous, highly organised and smart.

Known victims

 * Unnamed teenager and bus driver (killed by the bus bomb)
 * The gas station bomb (no casualties, left his manifesto behind)
 * Dr Emory Cooke (killed by a car bomb)
 * At least four small bombs placed in government buildings (presumably to distract the authorities, all succesfully defused)
 * Dr Betsy Brazier (attempted to kill with the same type of car bomb that killed Dr Cooke)
 * Prof Ursula Kent (attempted)

Appearances

 * Season 2, Episode 8: Empty Planet.