Rodney Harris

"Look up to the sky!"

Rodney Harris is a smug dealer who was involved in SSA Derek Morgan's troubled past. He first appeared in Profiler Profiled as a notable character, then reappeared in Restoration, when he becomes a spree killer.

Background
Rodney grew up in the same neighborhood as Morgan, but, unlike him, he grew up a criminal. One day, when they were younger, Morgan and presumably some others got into a fight with Rodney's gang during which Rodney was pushed to the ground and hurt his head. That was the first time local detective Stan Gordinski, then a beat cop, arrested Morgan, who was charged with aggravated assault because Rodney needed some stitching. Unbeknownst to anyone, Rodney was one of many boys molested by pedophile and future serial killer Carl Buford, who ran a community center Rodney was presumably a member of; according to another molestation victim, Keron Bender, Rodney was Carl's "favorite" who "got it the worst". Coincidentally, Morgan was also a member and another of Carl's victims. Rodney spent the rest of his life dealing with the sexual abuse and went on to marry a woman named Sheila Goode, having a son named Tyler with her. However, he worked as a drug dealer, which likely led to his divorce with Sheila, who would go on to marry another man.

Profiler Profiled
In 2006, when Morgan was accused of killing Carl's victims, Rodney was interrogated by the BAU about the agent's past.

Restoration
Prior to the episode's events, Rodney quit his days as a drug dealer, but continued to be mentally unstable. In events directly preceding "Restoration", Sheila pulled Tyler out of a swimming center after finding out that his coach, Michael Crowley, had molested him. This brought memories of the sexual abuse by Carl's hands back to Rodney, and upon spotting Crowley one day, he snapped and beat him to death. Several days later, in "Restoration", he spots shop owner and former MMA fighter Anthony Rango letting in two young boys to have some food during closing hours. Believing that Rango was molesting the children, Rodney waits until the boys leave and then attacks Rango, dragging him into a secluded storage shed, and murdering him there. Out of instinct, he paints the message "Look up to the sky" on the shed door before leaving. Going into a frenzy, Rodney murders Rod Avill and Sean Traner in a short period of time between, leaving behind "Look up to the sky" at the former's crime scene.

Becoming increasingly unstable, Rodney takes a handgun and goes to Sheila's house as she, Tyler, and her current husband come home. He holds them hostage and assaults Sheila's husband with the pistol. The BAU, deducing that he was the unsub as well as his motivations, arrive at the house, and Rodney and Morgan's eyes meet each other as the former holds Sheila at gunpoint. Morgan eventually volunteers to go inside the house and talk Rodney down. Doing so, the agent tells him that he was also molested by Carl, and that Carl had already gone to jail for what he did. When this fails to pacify Rodney, Morgan argues that by continuing his killings, he will traumatize Tyler just as Carl traumatized Rodney. When Tyler tells Rodney that he still loves him, he releases Sheila and kneels to the floor, apparently about to commit suicide, but instead drops the gun and allows Morgan to arrest him. Upon being dropped off at jail, Rodney calls Morgan's name, and the two look at one another as Rodney is escorted away by an officer. At the end of the episode, Rodney watches a live press conference held by Morgan and Gordinski, smiling.

Modus Operandi
Rodney would brutally beat his victims with his bare fists and then leave them with their pants and boxers pulled down to their ankles. He first killed Michael Crowley, who had molested his son, followed rapidly by the others, men who had had innocent interactions with children before they died; they were surrogates for Carl Buford. When he killed his last two victims, he also bashed their heads with a bottle. A common signature was that he wrote the phrase "Look up to the sky" at the crime scenes (apparently as a reference to something Carl used to say while molesting his victims), and left behind a bottle or bottles he drank from, the latter likely by accident.

Profile
The unsub is an African-American male in his late 30s to early 40s who is from the urban Chicago area and most likely attended the local community center as a youth. He is athletic and powerful, which explains his ability to overcome his victims with aggression. His perfect timing and selection say that he has a high intelligence level, but his victim selection shows that the murders are not planed in advance. Additionally, he may have a drinking problem, which makes him more unpredictable and exacerbates his anger. The fact that he doesn't steal from his victims means that he is mission oriented, which says that the substance abuse is a coping mechanism, from the fact he never adequately dealt with his own victimization. By exposing his victims and scrawling the phrase Carl used during his sexual assaults at the crime scenes, he is telling the world that he sees the victims as child molesters, which is his justification for killing them.

This belief is an example of projection and polarization, a black-and-white thinking when coupled with impulsivity, anger, and outbursts of violence indicate that this unsub most likely suffers from an extreme case of borderline personality disorder, one of the most common mental disorders suffered by adults who were victimized as children. This particular disorder represents the borderline between anxiety and psychosis. This unsub's perspective has become so warped that he is likely experiencing stress-related paranoid ideation, most likely brought on by a recent traumatic event that triggered that rage. He is killing men just after they innocently interact with children. He is assumed to be armed and extremely dangerous.

Known Victims

 * Michael Crowley
 * Anthony Rango
 * Rod Avill
 * Sean Traner
 * The standoff at his ex-wife's house:
 * The unnamed man who married his ex-wife
 * Sheila Goode
 * Tyler Harris

Appearances

 * Season Two
 * Profiler Profiled
 * Season Eight
 * Restoration