Dale Schrader

"Those idiots didn't know what hit 'em."

Dale Schrader was a murderous former bank robber who appeared in Season Five of Criminal Minds.

Background
A lifelong criminal, Dale began a series of armed bank robberies throughout New York in 1994, marrying a woman named Connie roughly a year after his first robbery; the two had a daughter, who they named Jenny, a few months after the wedding. At some point in 1998, Dale was sold out by Dan Otey, a fellow bank robber, and arrested. Evidence of Dale's involvement in the other robberies provided by Officer Joe Muller (who had gone undercover to catch Dale as Joey Short) proved damning, and Dale was sentenced to fifteen years in a Lockport prison. While incarcerated, Dale proved to be a model prisoner, and due to good behavior, was released in only eleven years. While stewing in prison, Dale plotted an elaborate revenge scheme, which he set into action two days after his release, tracking down Joe, having discerned that he and Dan were the ones responsible for his arrest, and abducting his wife and two sons at knifepoint, subsequently placing them in a crack house frequented by Stacy Ryan, the sister of a deceased former cellmate, and a group of fellow addicts, who he paid to keep an eye on the hostages. With Muller's family taken care of, Dale approached Joe outside a hardware store, showed him a picture and phone recording of his captive family, and blackmailed him into helping him acquire a key (needed to access a large amount of money Dale had stashed during his robbing spree) in police storage. Before getting the key, Dale decided to abduct his daughter to spite his now ex-wife, stabbing Stacy (who had grown increasingly ambivalent of his plans) to death en route, and dumping her body on the side of a road. Dale kidnapped Jenny while Connie was away from home, and placed her in a cabin near the Canadian border. Jenny's abduction was what called in the BAU, who created a profile for him.

Retaliation
A few hours after taking his daughter, Dale is tracked down by the BAU and local police. He flees into the nearby woods, but is quickly found and tackled by Morgan, whom he bites during the resulting struggle. Morgan then subdues him with a punch, and he and Prentiss arrest him. While being hauled away, Dale tries to convince the agents to let him speak to his daughter, but is denied the chance. While Prentiss and Detective Bunting are driving him in for booking, Dale, growing annoyed by the two belittling him, unbuckles his seatbelt and quotes Thomas Fuller. He then suddenly lurches forward, pretending to be sick. Bunting stops the car, and while he and Prentiss are distracted, Dale asks Prentiss if he is "boring" now, right before he puts his seatbelt back on. Seconds later, Joe rams the car down a hill with a utility truck. Recovering quickly, Dale strangles Bunting to death, gets the keys to his handcuffs, and is helped out of the trashed car by Joe. Dale then tries to shoot Prentiss to prevent her from revealing the knowledge that he has a partner, but Joe stops him. The two then drive away in the truck, as Prentiss recovers, climbs out of the car, and ineffectually shoots at them.

The two abandon the truck near the border and hide out at Joe's house, where Joe stitches up a shoulder wound Dale had incurred. Learning from Joe that they won't be able to get the key to his cash stockpile until tomorrow, Dale decides to go out, making Joe drive him to Dan Otey's house. Before getting out the vehicle, Dale nonchalantly offers Joe the chance to kill him, which Joe refuses to do. Knocking on Dan's door a few seconds later, Dale, after Dan's son answers, and then quickly closes the door, shoots through it, injuring Dan, who he finishes off after barging in. While Dale trashes the house, Joe forces the Otey family into another room, telling them to lock themselves in. Returning to Joe's place, Dale outlines his plan to get the key and money but gets into a brief fight with Joe (who wasn't aware of Dale's plan to kill Dan) after once again goading him into trying to kill him. A few hours later, the two drive into town, and Joe gets the key from police storage. As the two begin to drive where the money is hidden, Prentiss and Morgan surround them, having figured out who Joe is and Dale's plan. Dale grabs Joe and puts a gun to his head, briefly taunting Prentiss and Morgan. He then commits suicide by cop when he attempts to point his gun at Morgan, both agents shooting him in the head at the same time and killing him instantly, much to Joe's distress. Despite this, the BAU manage to track down Joe's family, after discerning Dale's connection to Stacy Ryan.

Profile
Dale was originally believed to simply be an angry, impatient, egotistical, and disorganized killer, but, after his escape, the team realized there was more to him than that. He had only seemed emotional and sloppy because of his daughter; if he is not personally attached to the crime, he is fairly efficient.

The team realized he has bigger plans than just taking his daughter (to spite his ex-wife) and fleeing, since he decided to stick around instead of making a run for the Canadian border. Dale likely intended to acquire a stash of money (which was never recovered after his arrest) he had hidden, and the behavior of his partner indicated he had some leverage against them, which allowed him to blackmail them into helping him. Considering how much family appeared to mean to him, he may have taken the partner's, who was likely someone he wanted revenge on, and one of the people who helped put him away. While he could have left Stacy Ryan's body in the alley he killed her in, he didn't, and went to the trouble of moving her, indicating he didn't want to draw attention to the area where she was (a series of abandoned buildings and crack houses that were perfect for storing hostages in).

Modus Operandi
Dale killed his victims with varied methods. He stabbed Stacy Ryan several times with a knife, strangled Bunting to death with the chain of his handcuffs, and used a revolver to murder Dan Otey. When he abducted Molly Muller and her two sons, he held them at knifepoint to keep them compliant and left them at a crack house occupied by drug addicts, whom he assigned to watch the Mullers.

Known Victims

 * Unspecified dates in 1994-1998:
 * Committed at least fifteen bank robberies
 * 2009:
 * December 15:
 * The Muller family
 * Molly Muller
 * Joe and Molly's two unnamed sons
 * Stacy Ryan
 * Jenny Schrader
 * December 15-16:
 * Derek Morgan
 * The car crash:
 * Detective Bunting
 * Emily Prentiss
 * Dan Otey
 * December 16:
 * Joe Muller

Appearances

 * Season Five
 * "Retaliation"