Robert Bremmer

"It's okay, Rosie. Things are gonna get better."

Robert Bremmer was a delusional serial killer, rapist, and abductor who appeared in Season Six of Criminal Minds.

Background
A happy, ordinary café owner from Wilkesboro, North Carolina, Bremmer's private life was revealed to involve physically (and likely sexually) abusing his stepdaughter, Rose, while her mother and his wife Denise was hospitalized for depression. When Denise found out, she attempted to run away with Rose several times before, but Bremmer always kept catching them during the act. She, either desperately or in a delusional act, tried to poison her daughter in order to put her out of her misery. Denise eventually became more mentally unstable and, in 1991, in a last attempt to escape, drove herself and Rose into a lake as a result, killing both of them in the process. Haunted by the loss, Bremmer moved to Lake Worth began abducting, raping, and torturing women that reminded him of Rose before killing them. He killed in this process for at least a decade. Sometime prior to Out of the Light, he found out about Marcus Talbot, an art teacher who sneaked looks at girls while they were in the bathroom and taking pictures of them, leading him to make a decision to frame him in case local police found out about his killings. This eventually led to the abduction of both Marcy Owens and Angela Proctor, the latter of which happened to be at the scene and was apparently taken out of necessity.

Out of the Light
Angela was seen running in the forest, occasionally looking back to see if Bremmer was pursuing her. After a long run through the woods, Angela climbs a slope, manages to get to the top, and starts running again, only to fall off a cliff and land on a road. She is found by a local sheriff and taken to the hospital. Bremmer later digs up the corpse of one of his victims and takes her skull. Angela later dies at the hospital, but not before she tells Reid, "He has Marcy." However, they initially believe she said, "He has mercy." Bremmer is later seen telling Marcy that Angela is dead, and that she is all alone now. Bremmer is then seen returning from work and proceeds to torture Marcy. After doing so, he comforts her when she starts crying, and when Marcy tries to tell him of her personal life in hopes of getting him to release her, he angrily seizes her hair and orders her to not lie to him. Meanwhile, the BAU suspects Talbot of killing Bremmer's victims and arrests him for questioning. When Reid and Morgan find the corpse of the victim that Bremmer dug up earlier, which was buried at Talbot's property, they realize that Talbot is being framed and decide to let him go.

When he realizes that the police are onto him, Bremmer decides to execute his endgame, taking Marcy to his car and driving towards a local lake, intending to drive into the water to emulate the deaths of Rose and Denise. However, there is a police roadblock, so Bremmer draws his blade, tells Marcy to be quiet, and prepares to wait for a policeman to investigate the car. However, when the BAU arrive, he abandons his current plan and drives around the roadblock and into the lake. Morgan dives in after the car and attempts to take Marcy out of the car, but Bremmer grabs Marcy's ankle. However, Hotch, having dived in as well, swims up in front of Bremmer and shoots twice through the windshield, then fires a third shot into Bremmer's forehead at close range, killing him instantly. Marcy nearly dies, but is saved by Morgan, who performed CPR. Talbot is later seen whistling merrily and hanging a photo of Marcy being held captive by Bremmer in his darkroom, while a file with Bremmer's name sits on a table, implying that Bremmer may have been giving Talbot photos of his victims for the latter's personal viewing and classes (which may have then led to his decision to target him as a patsy for his murders).

Modus Operandi
Bremmer targeted blonde Caucasian women in their late teens who reminded him of Rose. He abducted them in secluded locations and took them to his barn. He would torture them with a sharp instrument (presumably as means of punishment), dehydrate them, and rape them repeatedly before fatally stabbing them when he became tired of them. Afterwards, he would bury them in shallow graves at a secluded area in the nearby woods and spray ammonia over them to ensure plants would grow and cover them. He would later attempt to drown Marcy by driving his car in a lake while she was in it to emulate Denise and Rose's deaths. A personal signature was the odd weapon he used to torture his victims; while it is never named onscreen, he used it when handling stained glass in his work.

Profile
The unsub is a white male aged in his 40s to 50s and a resident of the Lake Worth area. Even if he is not a native, he likely has ties to other parts of North Carolina. 80% of sexual sadists like him have a dozen or more victims in their past. They lead normal lives, but eventually develop God-complexes. They usually have a ruse for abducting their victims as well. It is possible he has abducted victims in the states surrounding North Carolina. He did not plan on Angela Proctor escaping and it is believed that if he knew she escaped, he may have taken forensic countermeasures to make the authorities think she went in the opposite direction to throw them off. Angela saying "He has mercy" (although it was later realized she was saying "He has Marcy") means he had to be a master manipulator to make her believe that.

He dyed Angela's hair so she would appear blonde, which is not unusual as unsubs often manipulate their victims to fit their fantasies in some way. It is likely he has not killed Marcy Owens because she fits his delusion and he is continuing to play it out with her. Because he targets blonde women in their late teens, he has either been hurt by or in love with one, though the former is more likely since he is a sexual sadist and they typically express rage towards their victims. He may have a history in Raleigh and feels comfortable in the area where he abducted Angela and Marcy, since he drove a far distance to find a new victim. He may have committed prior sexual offenses outside of Lake Worth and was arrested for them.

He is framing Marcus Talbot for his murders and may have known Marcy Owens had a connection with Talbot's class, as well as Talbot's pro-activity towards girls around the ages of his victims. He has also seen Talbot's darkroom and has a connection to the church membership in Lake Worth. The high metals found in Angela's blood, unique pattern of the stab wounds, and the glass found in her cuts may mean the unsub works with stained glass.

Known Victims

 * Unspecified dates, Wilkesboro, North Carolina: Rose Bremmer
 * 2001(?)-2011, Lake Worth, North Carolina: At least five unidentified women, including:
 * An unidentified woman
 * An unidentified woman
 * 2011, Lake Worth, North Carolina:
 * April 26: Angela Proctor and Marcy Owens :
 * May 4 : Angela Proctor
 * May 7 : Marcy Owens
 * May 7: Officer Ted

Appearances

 * Season Six
 * "Out of the Light"