Dylan Kohler

"Helen...Helen, you were destined to find me. We were...we were destined to find each other..."

Dylan Kohler was a copycat serial killer who appeared in Season Seven of Criminal Minds.

History
Little information is revealed about Kohler's early life, but considering that he initially applauded Garrett for his killings of women, he might've harbored a feeling of misogyny, slight at least. In his adult years, he became fascinated with a death-row inmate, a serial killer named Rodney Garrett, who claimed the lives of 25 women before being apprehended. Kohler soon became a "fan" of Garrett's (and apparently the only one in town) and sent at least two letters to him, applauding his murders and stating that he was an "inspiration" to him. In order to get as close as he can get to Garrett, he received a job as the driver of one of the shuttles for the prison housing Garrett. Somehow, Kohler was able to arrange for the occurrences of two shankings that involved Garrett, both of which happened on the day after Garrett's scheduled executions were postponed.

As a result of his job as the prison shuttle driver, Kohler came to know Garrett's wife Helen, who visited her husband daily. The two became acquainted and Kohler eventually fell in love with her. Coming to view Garrett as more of an enemy than a source of inspiration, Kohler decided to allow for the killer's execution to proceed as planned rather than try to prevent it again. Learning that Helen was bald due to a surgery, Kohler, at this point deluded, deciding to start a mission to give her "the perfect wig". On the day that Garrett was scheduled for execution, he captured Cara Smith in her home and waited until a news network announced Garrett's execution. He then murdered her minutes later, at 6:30 a.m., and cut off several strands of her hair, taking them and some flowers along with him. He also intentionally allowed the body to be easily found as a taunt to the authorities.

Six hours later, at 12:30 p.m., Kohler attacks Jodie Armstrong, also cutting off strands of her hair and taking them with him. Another six hours later, he murders Karla Demshure and takes strands of her hair too. The BAU realize that he is killing every six hours and helps local authorities urge the community to be on alert. A curfew is resultantly placed on the town. Near midnight, Kohler breaks into the home of Emily Sisk and goes to her bedroom, thinking she is sleeping inside, but doesn't find her. Minutes later, Emily and her boyfriend, Gary Hazlett, arrive and the latter goes inside to get some beer while Emily talks on the phone with her mother. Gary is ambushed by Kohler, who beats him into submission before being spotted by Emily, who flees with Kohler in pursuit. He catches up with Emily and tries to kill her, but the struggle awakens a neighbor and Kohler is forced to abduct her instead. Successfully fleeing, he then kills Emily, by stabbing her repeatedly to death instead of. He then removes her scalp, and takes a huge risk by dumping the corpse near Emily's house while the BAU and police are still present.

The next day, 6:30 a.m. has passed without a single murder, for Kohler had attended to his job. He carries out the final phase of his plan, abducting Helen Garrett when she is the only passenger on the prison shuttle and taking him to his house. There, he has her wear the wig he designed for her and prepares to have dinner with her when the BAU, having realized he was the unsub, burst into the room, forcing Kohler to hold Helen at knifepoint with one of his icepicks. He refuses to release Helen, forcing Hotch to non-fatally shoot him, allowing Helen to escape. Kohler eyes the icepick he dropped, but is arrested before he can grab it. By the end of the episode, he is visited by Helen, who had suddenly come to like him.

Modus Operandi
Kohler copied Garrett's M.O., with some differences. After forcing his way into their homes, he tied his victims, who were young, short-haired blondes, to their bed frames with duct tape, cut their hair to make them more similar to Garrett's victims (he took the hairs with him afterwards), gagged them and killed them by stabbing them straight through the heart with an icepick that would be left there. Unlike Garrett, Kohler attacked his victims consecutively in a single day, around 30 minutes after times whose numbers are divisible by six, such as 6:30, thirty after noontime, and thirty after midnight. He also picked out the locations of the victims so their outline formed a heart on a map, a heart meant for Helen. Also, Garrett targeted high-risk victims such as prostitutes, drug addicts, and runaways, while Kohler targeted low-risk victims. Kohler was also much more careful not to leave behind evidence, dressing up in a full-body suit with gloves. Later in his killings, Kohler began abducting his victims and also departed from his six-hour-long cooling-off period, all due to the heightened alert in the community from his murders.

As mentioned earlier, Kohler took the hairs he cut from his victims afterward. He would use these hairs to fashion a makeshift wig for Helen. To complete the wig, he removed most of Emily Sisk's scalp after killing her and used it in said wig. Also, he would take several other items, specifically ones that were typically associated with a romantic party, such as flowers and a glass of wine. He would use these items to set up a "dinner" for him and Helen.

Profile
The UnSub is a 30-40 year old white male who is able to subdue physically fit young women with minimum resistance. He is forensics conscious and is able to leave no evidence behind. He is also confident, since he is taunting the authorities by leaving the bodies of his victims behind in plain sight. Because of his ability to plan the attacks in advance, he is also able to hold down a job, though it's probably a menial and unfulfilling one. The victims being blond and pretty may, to the UnSub, represent a societal standard unattainable to him. The UnSub's way of cutting their hair and taking it with him may be a way to degrade them or take a part of them with him.

It is difficult to determine whether Kohler is a serial or spree killer. While he targeted specific victims and planned out the murders beforehand, it should be noted that he attacked several people within a roughly two-day span.

Known Victims

 * 2012:
 * April 29:
 * Cara Smith
 * Jodie Armstrong
 * Karla Demshure
 * April 30:
 * Gary Hazlett
 * Emily Sisk
 * Helen Garrett

Victims by Proxy

 * Rodney Garrett

Appearances

 * Season Seven
 * Divining Rod