George Foyet

"Are you scared? You should be."

George Foyet, nicknamed "The Boston Reaper" or simply "The Reaper", was a prolific serial killer that Hotch had once hunted ten years before in Boston. He reappears in the Season Four episode Omnivore. He is best known for being the arch-nemesis of Aaron Hotchner.

Background
Foyet was frequently beaten by his father during his early years. His mother tried to protect him, but wasn't strong enough. George hated her for this and came to think of all women as weak. He killed both of them when he was 9 years old and made it look like a car accident. He was then adopted by the wealthy Foyets. His first murders as the Boston Reaper occurred between 1995 and 1998. At the time, he was working as a teacher's assistant at a high school. Tom Shaunessy, the lead detective on the case, called in the BAU. It was Hotch's first case as a BAU senior. At the time, Foyet had killed 20 people and become unable to get as much satisfaction from it as earlier. Since he was motivated by a need for power, he wrote a contract stating that he would stop killing if Tom shut down the investigation. Since the authorities didn't have any leads in the case besides a fake description by Foyet, who in 1996 had killed his girlfriend and severely injured himself, pretending to be a victim of the Reaper in order to manipulate the police, he accepted.

As a result of the injuries, Foyet became addicted to a number of medications, including Oxycontin and Tapazole. After shutting down the investigation and waiting six weeks, Shaunessy sent Hotchner away, believing that The Reaper was gone. Foyet adopted several different identities in order to maintain his lie and became a freelancing computer specialist for the city of Boston and simply waited to start killing again. During this time, he would stalk Shaunessy, taking delight in watching his life fall apart.

Omnivore
In 2009, Shaunessy calls Hotch to himself on his dying night and reveals the deal. The following morning, he dies and the Reaper gets back on the hunt. He starts with Evan Harvey and Nina Hale who are stranded on the roadside with two flat tires. He approaches them, offering his help. Evan accepts, the Reaper leaves, puts on his killing mask and knocks Evan out with a tire iron. The Reaper then sneaks up on Nina, who is in the car calling AAA. He holds his .44 Magnum pistol at point blank range to her forehead, takes her watch, but then promises not to shoot her. Instead, he reveals a knife and stabs her several times. Evan regains consciousness, asking for Nina. The Reaper tells him that she's dead, says "Are you scared? You should be." and shoots him in the forehead. He then places the glasses he made the authorities believe had been taken from him earlier on Evan.

Later, posing as a police officer, he stops Arthur and Diane Lanessa, an older couple, stabs Arthur in the chest, shoots Diane, leaves Nina Hale's watch on her wrist and takes Arthur's wedding ring. He later speaks with Hotch and Rossi, who are unaware that he is The Reaper, and tells them how he survived the attack ten years earlier, claiming Amanda Bertram to have been the love of his life. They offer him protection, but he turns it down.

Later that evening, The Reaper calls Hotch to offer the same deal he offered Shaunessy. Hotch refuses, which angers The Reaper. He then boards a bus and kills all six passengers and the driver. He leaves Arthur Lanessa's wedding ring behind. The team then deciphers a cryptic message left on the windows and realizes the numbers that were left correspond with George Foyet's addresses. They race to Foyet's current address. Morgan spots The Reaper just as he is tackled through a window and knocked out. The Reaper stands above him ready to finish him off, saying "Wake up Derek, it's time to die." But, as Morgan is unconscious, The Reaper flees, leaving a .44 Magnum bullet behind and taking Morgan's credentials. The BAU find a massive amount of Foyet's blood in drag marks.

Later, the BAU wonder why The Reaper would kill Foyet, as he already has control over him. When they looked into Amanda Bertram's past, they found that she had only known Foyet for four weeks. Garcia looked up his known aliases, all of which were registered as computer science substitute teachers, they find that one of them is suspended due to allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior and realize that Foyet is The Reaper, having spent some time draining enough of his own blood to stage his own murder. The team traces the cell phone of Roy Colson, a journalist who wrote a book about The Reaper, to an address Foyet didn't reveal having. While the BAU hurry over, Foyet reveals himself to be the Reaper and holds Roy at gunpoint, forcing him to correct a theory he made in his book about the Reaper having been incarcerated for an unrelated crime or simply died.

Hotch and Rossi then burst in and Foyet is arrested, claiming that he'll be "more famous than [they] even realize". Having spent the past 10 years studying the blueprints of every legal building in Massachusetts, Foyet cuts his right wrist on a sharp edge, sucks out some of his own blood and pretends to vomit blood and have convulsions in order to escape. When the BAU hear about his escape on the news, Garcia asks "They're gonna find him, right?" Hotch replies "No, they're not."

To Hell and Back, part II
Foyet returns in the season four finale. He had been waiting in Hotch's apartment and sneaks up behind him while Hotch is making a drink. He points his gun at Hotch and says "You should have made the deal." A gunshot is heard as the screen goes black.

Nameless, Faceless
Foyet returns in the Season Five premiere, picking up where the Season Four finale left off. He holds Hotch captive after a brief struggle. He tells Hotch that it is necessary to study anatomy in order to stab one's self multiple times without dying. While Hotch is subdued, Foyet slowly stabs him nine times in various non-lethal locations. He tells Hotch not to struggle, as relaxing helps the blade go in easier. He also points out the BAU's incorrect assumption that "stabbers" are impotent and use knives as a sexual surrogate. George explains that he has no need for a surrogate, he just likes to mutilate. After several hours of this, he drives Hotch to a local hospital, and drops him off along with Morgan's stolen credentials. Foyet had taken the B section from Hotch's address book, and left a photo of Haley and Jack; Hotch's ex-wife and son.

It is clear that Foyet will attempt to target Haley and Jack, so the team locates the two of them to put them in protective custody. It would appear that Foyet has now targeted Hotch as his new nemesis, replacing the now-deceased Tom Shaunessy. Foyet had felt that with Shaunessy's death, he had lost his power, thus he had to begin killing again. This would explain why he let Hotch live; as long as he has a nemesis, his continuing power is assured.

Outfoxed
When Miranda Jakar killed the second time, Foyet sent Karl Arnold, a family killer from the BAU's past, two envelopes containing newspaper clippings, the second of which contained a note claiming responsibility for the murders. At the end of the episode, Karl revealed that one of the envelopes contained an article about Foyet's attack on Hotch with his signature Eye of Providence painted on it, a message to Hotch that he was returning.

100
The BAU manage to track down Foyet by listing the medications he used which couldn't be replaced with over-the-counter medicine. Foyet, taking the alias Peter Rhea (an anagram of The Reaper), manages to track down U.S. Marshal Sam Kassmeyer and get the location of Haley and Jack Hotchner from Sam's cell phone. Foyet then mortally wounds him, and Sam dies en route to the hospital. Foyet calls Haley, and posing as an employee of the U.S. Marshal service, claims that her safety has been compromised and arranges for her to return home. He meets her there, still posing as a U.S. Marshal.

During a lengthy phone conversation with Hotch, Haley is informed that Foyet is in fact The Reaper rather than a U.S. Marshal. She puts the phone on speaker and Hotch instructs Jack to help him "work the case," and Jack runs off to an unknown location inside the house. Haley tells Hotch she loves him and several shots are heard. Meanwhile, the team is racing to Hotch's home, with Hotch getting there first. He finds a trail of blood leading up to the master bedroom, where he finds Haley dead and Foyet hiding behind a curtain. He fires several shots and Foyet goes down. He is, however, wearing a Kevlar vest and is uninjured.

The two engage in a brutal hand-to-hand fight, Foyet taunting Hotch the entire time. The fight takes them downstairs and into the dining room, where Hotch gains the advantage, managing to overpower Foyet and get on top of him. Foyet says, "You got me, I surrender." Hotch ignores him and in a blind rage, beats Foyet to death with his fists before the team arrives. The team then arrives and Morgan pulls Hotch off of Foyet, exclaiming, "He's dead!"

Hotch then goes into the room which was previously his home office, and finds Jack hiding inside a piece of furniture next to his old work space. It is then revealed that "working the case" was an expression Jack used before the divorce, whenever Hotch was working in his office, and Jack would hide in the same piece of furniture. He would then come out and reveal himself, claiming he was "working the case." Hotch had taken advantage of this so that Foyet would not find him before he could arrive.

Profile
An obvious sociopath, Foyet is a cunning narcissist, who was able to manipulate the authorities into surrendering. He feels the need for power, and that power was lost with the death of Tom Shaunessy, prompting him to kill again. He is described as a predator and an omnivore. He is disciplined and focused, making it difficult for him to maintain order in his day life. It also makes him so inflexible that he can't keep close relationships or work closely with others. He is attracted to teenage girls, and the BAU reasons that he may be working as an authority figure in a field involving teenagers, possibly a teacher.

When Foyet kills, he does so mercilessly; without an ounce of pity. He also wants his victims to know they are going to die by his hand. For this reason, Derek Morgan survives an attack later in the episode, as he was unconscious at the time. To make up for it, the Reaper leaves behind a .44 Magnum round to let him know that he could have killed him.

Serial vs. Spree
Foyet is a hybrid serial/spree killer. He goes on multiple killing sprees with very short cooling off periods between, then may go into hiding for months or years only to begin again. Unlike a typical spree killer, Foyet has no desire to die himself. But unlike a serial killer, Foyet kills multiple victims at once. For this reason, it is difficult to classify him in either category. He could be a new "breed" of killer that may be classified later. It can be argued that Foyet came close to becoming a spree killer in 100, as he killed two people with a short interval using a handgun.

Modus Operandi
The Reaper dressed in a black trench coat (if he was outdoors), with a black hooded sweatshirt, a black resin paintball mask and black leather gloves. He spoke with a low, guttural growl, adding to his already fearsome appearance. He usually attacked couples in cars on unpopulated highways at night, approaching them with some kind of ruse, like pretending to be a lost traveler (when he killed the Lanessas, he pretended to be a cop). He enjoyed taunting them and telling them that he was going to kill them, using their first names whenever possible.

Foyet's M.O. would always vary, as would his victimology. His victims were of both sexes and all sorts of ages and races. He would either stab them with a small sickle-like knife (although after Nameless, Faceless he used a switchblade), shoot them with a .44 Magnum S&W Model 629 (although in 100, he used a .45 M1911A1 semiautomatic pistol), or bludgeon them with some incidental object, like a tire iron. The only solid victimology he had was that he would always stab his teenage female victims, the younger they were, the more time he would take, since the stabbing was a substitute for sexual penetration. During the massacre on the bus in Omnivore, he used a pair of his usual revolvers to "put down" most of the passengers (except for the driver, who was shot in the head), then finished them off with his knife.

After the murders, Foyet would take some item from his victims, like a watch, a pair of glasses or a piece of jewelry, and put that item on his next victim, in order to make sure the police would know that he was the killer. He would also paint the Eye of Providence and/or the word "FATE" in his victims' blood. Judging from some photos of the bodies, he may also have had a habit of carving the Eye of Providence into some victims' bodies. Also, until he killed Amanda Bertram and injured himself, he would call 911 so emergency workers would find his victims. He stopped doing this after they saved him.

Real-life Comparisons
In Omnivore, Hotch draws parallels between the Reaper, the BTK Killer and The Zodiac Killer, describing them as "disciplined, sadistic killers who name themselves for the press". Like the Reaper, Son of Sam and the Zodiac killed (or attempted to kill) at least one couple while they were seated in a car. Foyet almost always targeted people on unpopulated highways and killed them in different ways while Son of Sam usually attacked people in their cars on streets and the Zodiac killed Darlene Ferrin and attempted to kill Michael Mageau, his third and fourth victims, when they were on a golf course at night. Also, like Zodiac, BTK, and Son of Sam, Foyet enjoys taunting the police. In one of his letters, Zodiac claimed he would "hit a school bus". In Omnivore, Foyet hijacked a night bus and killed the driver and the passengers. Like in the case of BTK, a book was written about Foyet suggesting that he had been arrested on an unrelated charge or killed.

The Monster of Florence, an Italian-based serial killer, would also target couples in cars, shot and stabbed them (one 18-year-old female victim was stabbed 97 times) and wasn't caught, not unlike Foyet. Also, like Ted Bundy, Foyet, on at least one occasion, pretended to be a cop in order to gain his victims' trust, even dressing up in a full uniform and driving a patrol bike with red-and-blue lights and a siren.

Known Victims

 * ?, 1977, unknown location: His unnamed parents
 * 1995-1998, Boston, Massachusetts: Killed 20 victims during a three-year span. Named ones are:
 * January 19, 1996: Amanda Bertram
 * May 7, 1997: Henry Alan Ward
 * February 11, 1998: Renata Joyce and Keira Calder:
 * Renata Joyce
 * Keira Calder
 * The 2009 killings:
 * Boston, Massachusetts:
 * Nina Hale and Evan Harvey:
 * Nina Hale
 * Even Harvey
 * Arthur and Diane Lanessa
 * Seven killed in the bus massacre. They are:
 * The unnamed bus driver
 * All six unnamed passengers
 * Sergeant Michael O'Mara
 * Derek Morgan
 * Roy Colson
 * Washington, D.C.:
 * Aaron Hotchner
 * U.S. Marshal Sam Kassmeyer
 * The attack at the old Hotchner house:
 * Haley Brooks-Hotchner
 * Aaron Hotchner
 * Jack Hotchner

Quotes
(The Reaper approaches Evan Harvey with a tire iron in his hand)

Evan Harvey: (not noticing the tire iron or The Reaper's mask) Oh, I appreciate this.

The Reaper: My pleasure.

(hits Evan Harvey with the tire iron)

The Reaper: (holding Nina Hale at gunpoint) I'm not gonna shoot you. (puts away his gun) Shhhhh.

Nina Hale: (relieved) Thank you.

The Reaper: You're welcome.

(pulls out a knife and cuts Nine Hale's throat)

The Reaper: (to Evan Harvey) Are you scared? You should be.

The Reaper: (pretending to be a cop) I'm gonna let you off with a warning.

Arthur Lanessa: A warning? For what?

The Reaper: You were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Arthur Lanessa: Excuse me?

(stabs him in the chest)

George Foyet: Do you have any idea how long it takes to stab someone 67 times?

Bus Driver: Just take the money. Nobody needs to get hurt.

The Reaper: Actually, they do.

(shoots him in the head)

The Reaper: (holding a gun to Morgan's head) Wake up, Derek. It's time to die.

Hotch: (to Foyet as he holds Roy Colson at gunpoint) It's over.

George Foyet: Stop. I'll kill him.

Hotch: You need him to write your story.

George Foyet: I'm taking him with me. I'll let him go as soon as I'm safe.

Hotch: No, you're not.

George Foyet: I said I'll kill him!

Hotch: You kill him, I kill you.

George Foyet: You think I'm afraid to die?

Hotch: You're not afraid. You're greedy and narcissistic. You want the recognition that's gonna come from the book that's he gonna write, you want the fame that's gonna come from the media. It's gonna be like Bundy.

George Foyet: I wanna be bigger than Bundy.

(The rest of the BAU arrive)

Hotch: Well, you can't enjoy it for you're dead.

George Foyet: If you know me so well then how come so many had to die to bring you here?

Hotch: That's your choice, not mine. You're the serial killer.

George Foyet: That's right. (looks at Morgan) Hello, Derek.

George Foyet: (to Hotch) I'll be more famous than you'll even realize.

The Reaper: (to Hotch) You should have made the deal.

George Foyet: (from Nameless, Faceless promo, to Hotch) How's my friend, Agent Morgan?

George Foyet: (to Hotch) Do you want to see my scars?

(removes his shirt and turns on a light, putting his scars in great relief)

George Foyet: (displays his scars to Hotch) Well? Do you like 'em? Yours are gonna look just the same.

George Foyet: Try to relax, the blade goes in so much easier.

George Foyet: This little piggy... (cuts off one of Sam Kassmeyer's fingers) Well, look at that. He's not going anywhere, is he?

George Foyet: (ranting to Hotch, taking out his knife) After I finish you, I'm gonna find that little bastard son of yours, and I'm gonna show him both of his dead parents, and I'm gonna tell him it was all your fault. And then I'm gonna-

(Hotch hits his leg with a wooden pole)

Appearances

 * Season Four
 * Omnivore
 * To Hell and Back, part 2
 * Season Five
 * Nameless, Faceless
 * Haunted
 * Reckoner
 * Cradle to Grave
 * The Eyes Have It
 * Outfoxed
 * 100
 * The Slave of Duty
 * Season Six
 * The Longest Night
 * Season Seven
 * The Bittersweet Science