Jon Kanak

"It's eighteen below [zero degrees]. How long do you think he has?"

Jon Kanak is a budding serial killer and abductor who appeared in The Forever People.

Background
When he was still a child, Kanak went hiking with his parents in the wilderness. When they got lost and temperatures dropped down to dangerous levels, the three had to resort to extreme measures in order to survive. There aren't any specific details regarding these measures, but the event obviously had a lasting impact on Kanak's psyche. As a result, he developed a sexual attraction to freezing and decided to join The Forever People, a Nevada cult that froze newcomers alive and then resuscitated them as an initiation ritual. He became a member, but became unsatisfied by the absence of other freezing rituals. As a result, Kanak began killing members of the cult who wanted to leave, using a walk-in freezer he apparently purchased.

The Forever People
After killing Sarah Rhodes and Adam Lewis, Kanak abducts Carl Mason, Sarah's husband, who was searching for his son Bobby, one of the children Kanak was assigned to watch over. Succumbing to his desire to watch someone be frozen, he takes Carl to his house, where the freezer was, and leaves him inside. He is about to kill Carl when JJ bursts into the home and holds him at gunpoint. Kanak tells her that if she fires her gun or if he switches on his lighter, the gas he uses, which is leaking all over the freezer, will ignite and kill them in an explosion. However, JJ takes her chances and shoots Kanak without igniting the gas. Both Kanak and Carl survive, with the former being taken to prison while the latter reunites with Bobby.

Modus Operandi
Kanak targeted members of The Forever People who wanted to leave the cult, to ensure no one would miss them. He would take them to his house, tie them up using zip-ties, and lock them in a walk-in freezer, where they would slowly freeze. After a while, he would re-enter the freezer, cut the victims loose, and then kill them by spraying them with smoke measuring at subzero temperatures. He would then wrap their bodies in plastic, tie them down, and dump them in the nearby Lake Mead.

Profile
It was initially believed The Forever People as a whole was responsible for the murders, but this was ruled out when their leader, Colton Grant, was horrified by the crime scene photos and didn't condone the deaths. The BAU then profiled the unsub as a secondary member. He is a male who is replicating The Forever People's M.O. of freezing their members, even though law enforcement is watching his every move. Unlike the cult, he is not resuscitating his victims and is only interested in seeing them freeze to death, because it is compulsion. This means he would be a psychrophile, or someone is sexually attracted to the cold. It would make sense for him to join the cult, since they would satisfy his sexual desires, much like a paedophile who uses pornography to control his urges. However, when he cannot control his urges any longer, he murders the members who were trying to get out of the cult, people the cult wouldn't miss.

Known Victims

 * 2015:
 * January 13 : Sarah Rhodes
 * January 14: Adam Lewis
 * January 15:
 * Carl Mason
 * Jennifer Jareau

Appearances

 * Season Ten
 * The Forever People