Patrick Jon Murphy

"Is your inner tigress worried or is she ready for you to be free?"

Patrick Jon Murphy is a serial killer who appeared in Season Ten of Criminal Minds.

Background
When he was twelve years old, Patrick witnessed his neighbors engaging in sexual foreplay. The act went terribly wrong when the couple tried out erotic asphyxiation, which resulted in the death of the wife, who was accidentally strangled to death by her husband. The incident was left imprinted onto Patrick's mind, and since he was still developing his love map, brutal erotic asphyxiation became his fetish. As an adult, he married a woman named Stacey, and in 2000, they had their first child together, a girl named Connie. However, Connie's birth put a strain in Patrick and Stacey's marriage, resulting in them seeing couple therapists. Patrick was still unsatisfied and eventually went to Bowen, Illinois, where he strangled a prostitute to death. In 2007 and 2014, Patrick and Stacey had two more daughters together, both after which Patrick would go out of the state to kill another prostitute due to the strain it put on his marriage. In 2015, he became fascinated with an erotic romance novel called Bare Reflections, which depicted many forms of BDSM. Although it did not feature erotic asphyxiation, the book's content spurred Patrick (who was still dissatisfied with his marriage) to seek out women who read the book, court them, and then kill them during sexual foreplay copied directly from the book.

Modus Operandi
Patrick killed all of his victims by strangling them to death during acts of consensual sex. He initially targeted high-risk prostitutes and sought them out in states outside of Wisconsin, always killing one right after the birth of a child he had with Stacey. After reading Bare Reflections, he targeted women who read the book and courted them with quotes taken from it. Eventually, they would set up a meeting in the victim's house, where Patrick would enter, tie them up with scarves, and engage in consensual sexual foreplay with her. He would then end it by strangling them to death with nylon rope. With Charlotte Jacobsen's attempted murder, he deviated from his usual M.O., tying her up and raping her when she rejected his advances.

Profile
Based on the area's demographics, the unsub is a physically-fit white male in his mid-30s to 40s, who is a homicidal dominant with an interest in roleplay. It is believed that his charisma has allowed him to latch onto women who are interested in a popular erotic romance novel called Bare Reflections, and that the unsub and his victims are consensually recreating a scenario from it, in which the male protagonist introduces the female protagonist to BDSM by binding her to a bed as they have rough sex. The unsub uses this roleplay to get his victims into a vulnerable position before his own fantasy takes hold. This has provided the unsub with a victim pool that could easily drop its guard. His first victims were single, while his last two were married, indicating that he may be married himself and probably has a family. This unsub's M.O. takes patience and caution and is firmly rooted in a need-based desire, which means he will not be stopping anytime soon.

Known Victims

 * November 7, 2000, Bowen, Illinois: Ginger Paulmont
 * October 12, 2007, Iowa City, Iowa: Chloe Banman
 * February 4, 2014, St. Paul, Minnesota: Sarah Young
 * 2015, Madison, Wisconsin:
 * February 23: Mary Healy
 * March 6: Donna Rayburn
 * March 8: Emma Zika
 * March 9: Lynn Boyd
 * March 11: Charlotte Jacobsen

Appearances

 * Season Ten
 * "Breath Play"