Joe Belser

"I've put a lot of time and effort into making this a special night. Is it too much to ask for a little appreciation?"

Joe Belser, a.k.a. "The Nashville Killer", is a misogynistic serial killer and stalker who appeared in Season Five of Criminal Minds.

History
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Joe went to primary and secondary school in the Nashville Public School District. In 2000, Joe was placed in the prestigious Southern Charleston Preparatory Academy by his parents, who died in a boating accident on December 13, 2003, the same year he graduated. After that, he lost his inheritance in the stock market and began racking up large debts, trying to stay in the world he grew up in. In April 2009, Joe became engaged to wealthy magazine editor Rose Smith, but broke off the engagement when Rose was caught sleeping with the best man. As he had already fully paid for the wedding chapel, Joe was financially crippled by the breakup. This drove him to begin killing women who resembled Rose, learning information about them beforehand, taking them hostage for days, and forcing them to pretend that they're his spouse before killing them. The murder of his second victim, Melissa Johnson, led to the summoning of the BAU.

Joe takes another woman, Erika Silverman, hostage. However, she decides to pretend that she actually fell in love with him, even voluntarily having sex with him one night. Joe, fascinated by this, is unaware of Erika's true intentions; when she asks him to take her out, something he usually doesn't do to his victims, he agrees to do so. Unfortunately for Erika, her boyfriend Grant comes over, enraging Joe, who stabs him to death before asking Erika, "Why did he have a key?". He then proceeds to murder her as well. Their bodies are shortly discovered. After a while, he takes another woman hostage, but the BAU, having found out his identity, broke into the house and arrested Joe. Prentiss placed cuffs on Joe and said that when an inmate tried to have his way with him, to just play along, as he forced his victims to do.

Modus Operandi
Joe acquired a job as a parking valet at a club for upper-class citizens. He used the cars' GPS devices to find his victims' homes, and also used his universal garage door opener to open the garage doors of his victims and therefore open the door to the house. After making a small but brutal assault on his victims to ensure his dominance, Joe would then force the women to take part in his fantasy; after a couple of days, he'd end his fantasy by killing them through stabbing when they broke the delusion. The fantasy began with them finding rose petals at the doors followed by a dinner of chicken and red wine. Joe would then try to sleep with the victim, with only Erika Silverman going along with it in an attempt to stay alive. Erika Silverman and Grant Franklin were killed more brutally than the other victims, suffering more stab wounds and also being beaten.

Profile
The unsub is a white male who may already be with his next victim. If he matches patterns, the victim will be a successful, upper-class brunette in her early 30s to mid-40s who would be at home in Nashville's upper-class neighborhood. It means the unsub will fit in, since he drives the right car and wears the right clothes. He is highly intelligent and probably comes from the same place of status. He is very sociable and endearing, so nobody could ever believe that he was capable of murder, but he will do whatever is necessary to maintain the fantasy that he is in a romantic relationship with his victims, which he is repeatedly recreating. The women he targets are strong and confident, but he was still able to overpower them. He may have lost a loved one recently, either through death or a messy divorce, and is now targeting women similar in appearance, much like the motivations of Ted Bundy. The women are confident, successful, and strong, and they tried to fight back, meaning he has the ability to fight back as well and overpower them easily. He believes or fantasizes that he is in a relationship with his victims, and no matter how fleeting the initial reaction is, it means everything to him,

When the BAU asked around for someone fitting Belser's profile, they said that he would be proper with very few, if any, disciplinary actions, a romantic who frequently spoke about women and love, and may recently have ended a relationship or, in some other way, lost a loved one.

Known Victims
Note: The dates denote when the victims were held captive before being attacked


 * 2009:
 * November 27-29: Bethany Heminger
 * December 4-6: Melissa Johnson
 * December 11-12: Erika Silverman
 * December 12: Grant Franklin
 * December 13: Ann Herron

Appearances

 * Season Five
 * "The Slave of Duty"