Daniel Milworth

"Did you see what I did?"

Daniel Milworth was an Angel of Death-type budding serial killer and stalker who appeared in The Caller.

History
Milworth was born to an American man named Charles and an Romanian mail-order bride named Olga, who would be forced by an abusive Charles to perform S&M with him and a prostitute. During his childhood, Milworth had to watch his mother and the prostitute be tortured by his father, who would also force him to videotape the acts. Eventually, Olga couldn't take it anymore and tried to kill herself and Milworth by driving the car into a lake, but he escaped while she drowned. He went on to become a schoolteacher in Memphis, Tennessee, under the alias of Burt Solomon, all the while being haunted by his childhood experiences, and he also became extremely religious, being particularly interested in mother figures. In 1998, he targeted one of the students in his computer class, Frankie Clayvin, who also had an Eastern European mother who committed suicide. Out of mercy for Frankie and also rage against his father Richard (who reminded him of Charles), Milworth began sending phone calls to the latter, using recordings of a videotape of him as a child that his mother recorded prior to her suicide. After sending a few, Milworth then abducted Frankie on September 15 and killed him a couple of hours later. Richard was considered a suspect in Frankie's murder, but was let go, although he suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of his second wife leaving him and had to be sent to a psychiatric facility, where Milworth called him one last time. Then, in 2000, he went to Arizona and tortured a prostitute on May 5, but was caught in the act and briefly institutionalized. When he was released, Milworth relocated to St. Louis, Missouri, to resume his teaching career before setting his sights on another student of his, Andy Taffert, in 2013, who also had an American father named Malcolm and an Eastern European mother named Lida, who did not commit suicide.

In The Caller, after calling the Taffert family five times in a two-week span, Milworth abducted Andy in the middle of the night and killed him before Lida even realized that he was missing. He then splashed pig blood all over the front door of the family home. Initially, Malcolm is named a suspect in Andy's disappearance due to his overprotective nature towards his son, the fact that he was never present when Lida received the phone calls, and the fact that Malcolm's cellphone number was used to call the house. However, he is let go after Andy is found dead, and Malcolm experiences anguish over his son's death. The following night, Milworth follows Malcolm and Lida to a hotel room when they try to escape the press, and he abducts the latter when she goes outside, intending to kill her as well to spare her the pain of being married to Malcolm. He leads on half the team to a forest where he left a decoy cellphone, while he remained at his house, where the other half of the team was. When Blake is separated from the rest of the group, Milworth walks out of a secret passage in the house and points a handgun at her while she is viewing his videotapes, but is shot in the back and killed by Reid before he could pull the trigger. Lida is later found tied up but alive in the same secret passageway.

Modus Operandi
"I'm gonna catch you." Milworth targeted young redheaded boys whose fathers were American while their mothers were Eastern European; Frankie Clayvin was specifically targeted since his own mother committed suicide just like Milworth's did. For about two weeks, he would call the parent(s) using a phone number cloned from the fathers' cell phones. During these calls, Milworth would play recordings of a homemade video of himself and his mother, in which the dialogue would be played as a taunt. Then, after a few calls, he would lure out the boys, whom he already knew beforehand since they were students of his, take them into the woods, and kill them by strangling them. Afterwards, he would contact the fathers again with another taunt. Because Andy Taffert's mother did not commit suicide, Milworth abducted her as well and intended to kill her.

Profile
Based on his victim choice, the unsub is likely a Caucasian male aged at least in his late 30s. The taunting phone calls reveals that the unsub is sadistic to the parents. The use of the young boy's voice means that he identifies in some way with the child. He could be seeking revenge for an injustice he suffered in his youth. In his mind, killing the children are mercy killings likely committed out of remorse, as evidence by the fact that he is not torturing or sexually abusing them and then posing their bodies as if they are sleeping. He is technically skilled, so may have a computer or engineering background. Based on the blood left on the Tafferts' door, he also may be an extremely religious killer. He was able to lure Andy Taffert in the middle of the night, which suggests he is socially skilled or he may know the victim's family.

Known Victims

 * September 15, 1998, Memphis, Tennessee: Frankie Clayvin
 * May 5, 2000, unspecified location in Arizona: Unnamed prostitute
 * 2013, St. Louis, Missouri:
 * November 27-28: Andy Taffert
 * November 28:
 * Lida Taffert
 * Alex Blake

Appearances

 * Season Nine
 * The Caller