Michael Janeczko

"...I mean, it gets to the point where where you can't even look at yourself in the mirror, like it's your fault. Sometimes you have to move on, but sometimes you can't move on, and that's no way to live. Unless there's the easy way out [suicide]. But...who wants to take that? You have responsibilities! What I'm trying to say, Gus, is I understand. I do. You will no longer have to suffer."

Michael Janeczco was an Angel of Death-type serial killer who appeared in Season Seven of Criminal Minds.

Background
Not much about Michael's personal life is revealed other than that he was married to a woman named Michelle Green. Their relationship was apparently not a good one, since she cheated on him with Michael's best friend, Doug Summers, with whom he worked together at a scrap yard. The affair resulted in a son, Hunter, who grew up not knowing that Doug was his biological father. Two months prior to Closing Time, Michael learned the truth about Hunter and was also served divorce papers when Michelle officially left him for Doug, who moved into the house she and Michael had once shared. Michael eventually became a bartender and moved into the loft of the bar he worked at.

Heavily resentful at Michelle and Doug, Michael started serial killing, murdering and castrating (post-mortem) bar patrons he befriended after listening in on stories about their recently-rough lives, all of which involved relationships that ended from infidelity. Afterwards, he would hide the bodies in a closed-down lifeguard tower and dispose of their cars using the scrap yard. In a two-month span, he eventually claimed three lives. The bodies were later discovered by a teenage couple.

Closing Time
Just as the BAU are briefed on Michael's case, he is first seen standing before the body of Joseph Kraus, having finished castrating him. Learning that his dump site had been discovered, Michael abandons the corpse at a different lifeguard tower before visiting Hunter and asking him to stay at his house, to which he agrees. The following night, Michael goes to the scrap yard, having destroyed Joseph's car, and encounters Doug, who attempts to apologize to him, but is rebuffed by Michael, who coldly replies, "You can kill yourself."

Michael later ties up another bar patron, Gus Harrington, and tells him that he will end his suffering. Gus tries calling out for help, but Michael replies that no one can hear him before killing him. To avoid detection, he leaves the body under a pier instead of a lifeguard tower. He then visits Michelle and has an argument with her over visiting Hunter before Doug arrives on the scene, forcing Michael to leave. He attends to his job as a bartender and chats up a male patron before spotting Kelsey Ashwood and listens in on her story in which she cheated on her husband. Michael gives Kelsey another drink and tells her that "it's on the house". He then gets her drunk and, instead of shooting her execution-style, stabs and dismembers her to death, leaving her in a dumpster.

As he disposes of Kelsey's car at the scrap yard, Michael is confronted by Doug, who reminds him that he doesn't work at the yard anymore. When Doug tells Michael to get over what has happened to him and to "do the right thing", they get into an argument which results in Michael pushing Doug over a railing and into a car compactor, breaking his back. Michael seizes his chance to place Kelsey's car over Doug to prevent escape before crushing both with the compactor, killing Doug.

Desperate to not get caught, Michael picks Hunter up from school and drives him to the bar he works at, where he holds him at gunpoint. When Hunter finds out that Michael killed Doug, he yells at him, only to be incapacitated and taken to the basement where Michael killed all of his victims. JJ arrives just as Michael is finished tying Hunter up and tells Hunter to tell Michael he is his real dad. Michael orders JJ to put down her gun; she complies, then attacks Michael to allow Hunter to escape. Michael initially has the upper hand against her, but finally, JJ defeats him with a kick to the genitals. Hunter grabs Michael's fallen gun and is about to shoot him for killing Doug, but is talked down by JJ and Morgan. Michael is arrested and Hunter reunites with Michelle.

Modus Operandi
Michael targeted men who came to his bar and had suffered some bad luck, such as a divorce or loss of money. Another thing that they had in common was that their relationships had ended due to infidelity. After approaching and befriending them (using the story of how his marriage ended to get close to them), he would get them drunk, bind them to a chair, kill them with a single shot to the forehead and then cut of their genitals post-mortem. The bodies were then left in lifeguard houses. If the victims hadn’t been the one who cheated on their lovers, they would be wrapped in plastic. If otherwise, they would just be left exposed. To cover his tracks, he would remove the GPS devices from their cars and crush the cars themselves with a car compactor at the scrap yard.

Profile
The UnSub is a white male in his 30s or 40s who is targeting emotionally distraught men. Because he is able to befriend and kill them all in one night, he probably appears ordinary, unimposing and is easy to talk to. Because he can get them to open up about themselves, he is able to project a sense of familiarity towards them, meaning he probably has suffered some kind of loss himself. He believes that by killing them he is being merciful and putting them out of their misery. Because he removes their genitals post-mortem, he might be feeling emasculated by his own loss. He probably has enough working knowledge about cars to remove a GPS system himself, and because his victims were out-of-towners, he may have approached people offering help. He is making an effort to cover his tracks, suggesting that he has something to lose, and if he notices an increased police presence, he will move on to another area.

The covering of the men who were cheated on suggests sympathy, while showing disgust for cheaters like Shawn Taylor, leaving his body exposed. The savagery of Kelly Ashwood's murder suggested that either she was the source of his rage or represented it.

Known Victims

 * Hank Mitchell
 * Joe Krause
 * Shawn Taylor
 * Joseph Kraus
 * Gus Harrington
 * Kelsey Ashwood
 * Doug Summers
 * Hunter Green
 * Jennifer Jareau

Appearances

 * Season Seven
 * "Closing Time"