James Burke

"I'm the one with the bomb."

James Burke is a serial bomber who appeared in Season Ten in Criminal Minds.

Background
Burke was once a member with the Indianapolis school board and a prominent member of the community. However, he was also heavily narcissistic and saw himself as God. Prior to Hero Worship, he was found having a sexual relationship with a high-school student at an ethanol plant. Despite the fact that the relationship was technically legal, as the student was eighteen at the time, he lost his job. As a result, Burke snapped, seeing this event as a challenge against his purported authority, and swore revenge against Indianapolis. He first started a fire at the ethanol plant where his relationship was exposed, then set a bomb at an elementary school. Burke intended to not kill anyone during both incidents; while the arson didn't claim any casualties, the school bombing claimed the life of a custodian. The latter incident also attracted the attention of Allen Archer, who decided to emulate it so he could save lives and become a hero.

Modus Operandi
Burke initially targeted locations connected to him before he lost his job. First, he set a fire at the ethanol plant where his sexual relationship with the student was discovered. Then, he planted a homemade bomb made of TNT at an elementary school and left it to detonate. He started the ethanol plant fire and planted the school bomb at the electrical rooms, presumably to make both incidents appear as accidents.

When his plans to continue attacking Indianapolis locations were sidetracked by Allen Archer's copycat bomb, Burke switched his focus to Archer. During both attempts on Archer's life, he used homemade bombs made from nitroglycerin, which were more deadlier than the TNT bomb he used at the school.

Known Victims

 * A victimless arson at an ethanol plant
 * Unnamed school custodian
 * The attempted Archer house bombing :
 * Allen Archer
 * Derek Morgan
 * Spencer Reid
 * The attempted award ceremony bombing:
 * Allen Archer
 * Spencer Reid
 * Jennifer Jareau
 * Aaron Hotchner
 * David Rossi
 * Derek Morgan
 * Kate Callahan
 * Brenda Archer
 * The unnamed mayor
 * Numerous unnamed bystanders and police officers
 * Note: A map owned by Burke can be seen in his room, which shows prominent Indianapolis locations circled, indicating he planned to target those locations in presumably victimless bombings.

Appearances

 * Season Ten
 * Hero Worship