John Curtis

"You never appreciated me, none of you. I gave you my life, and you rejected me."

John Curtis, a.k.a. "The Replicator", was a serial killer and copycat who had been stalking the BAU at least since the start of Season Eight of Criminal Minds.

Background
"You know, I admired you back then. Leading the charge the day it all changed, the day Erin Strauss ruined us. I sat next to you, borrowed your pen to sign my transfer. They put me in Kansas. Me!"

Little is known about Curtis's early years, other than he was an only child to parents who both died in a car accident when he was eighteen years old. Also, according to the records, he had an estimated IQ of 172. In his adult years, he worked as a brilliant but reclusive FBI agent and also specialized in other fields, most notably biochemistry. As a result, he worked on the Amerithrax case, which Strauss and Blake also investigated. When the case turned south after a wrong suspect was arrested, both he and Blake were demoted when Strauss managed to put the blame on them, saving herself and her career. Afterwards, as a result, Curtis was demoted from the rank of Special Agent to Agent and was transferred to a position in Kansas City, a position rarely coveted. Three years later, in 2008, he was transferred to the FBI's field office in Chicago. Another three years later, he was transferred to the D.C. field office, where he was assigned to the Department of Justice's Intelligence Oversight Section. Because of his demotion, Curtis blamed Strauss for his downfall and started stalking her team when he learned that there was going to be an opening in the BAU; Blake was being considered for the position, and he was, once again, being overlooked. Judging by the photos seen in his darkroom in "The Silencer" and the warehouse in "Carbon Copy", Curtis started stalking them sometime after the BAU concluded a hostage situation at a bank in Washington, D.C., which would be the point where Blake was considered as a replacement for SSA Emily Prentiss, who left directly after the aforementioned events.

The Silencer
Sometime prior to the episode, Curtis claimed his first victim, killing her in the style of an unnamed serial killer who was apprehended by Blake, Morgan, and JJ in Seattle. He is first seen at the end of the episode, standing in a darkroom and hanging a newly-finished photo of Blake next to photos of the other members of the team.

The Apprenticeship
After the team solves the prominent case, Hotch receives a phone call from Dallas authorities, announcing the appearance of a copycat of John Myers, a.k.a. The Silencer, who has killed a man and sewed his mouth shut post-mortem. He and Rossi discuss it, believing that it must be a copycat since Myers is already dead. At the end of the episode, Curtis is seen taking photos of the team during a bureau softball match from his car.

Magnificent Light
Curtis is next seen at a dinner that Morgan and Garcia attend. As Morgan gives a speech, he takes an empty wineglass at Garcia's table that was previously used by Morgan, puts it in a plastic bag, returns to his residence, and puts it on a table. From that same table, he retrieves a photo of his third victim, whom he killed by severing his right leg in the style of John Nelson, and hangs it next to a photo of his second victim and under a set of photos of the entire team. Off-screen, he murders his fourth victim, severing his right leg and replacing it with the leg of the third victim.

Perennials
After the BAU conclude the latest case, Hotch and Rossi call the rest of the team into the briefing room. There, they inform them about Curtis's copycat crimes, and Hotch says that the team will be investigating this ongoing case.

Zugzwang
"Zug...zwang."

Curtis made a brief appearance in the episode, calling Reid on a payphone from Maeve Donovan's house. He identified himself as "Adam Worth" and uttered the single word, "Zugzwang". At the time, Reid and the BAU believed that it was Maeve's stalker, Diane Turner, who made that call since Maeve and Reid had used names related to Arthur Conan Doyle in their correspondence.

Broken
Curtis was seen at the end of the episode, watching live news coverage of the BAU raiding a conversion camp that was using illegal methods. He then views photos of his victims, where it is revealed he has already killed a woman in the style of Adam Rain. Finally, he views a video of Blake's lecture on linguistics and then looks at the cover of a book written by her.

Carbon Copy
In the beginning of the episode, Curtis sends JJ a bouquet of flowers with a card reading "Zugzwang". Reid then realizes that it was Curtis who called him on the payphone, not Diane. Throughout the episode, the BAU assumed that Donnie Bidwell was the Replicator, as he was killing women based on the M.O. of killer artist Bryan Hughes. Towards the end of the episode, however, the team realized that Curtis convinced Donnie to commit the Bryan Hughes-based murders while he killed a woman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the style of killing team David Turner and Toby Whitewood. At the end of the episode, the BAU arrive at a location in Pittsburgh, where they find the woman's body, the hammer used to kill her, and dozens of photos of the team, all surrounded by "Zugzwang" words written in red.

Brothers Hotchner (Part 1)
Curtis is seen in the episode, taking pictures of Hotch and his half-brother Sean. He also hacks into Garcia's computer system, disabling it after showing photos of the team on the screens along with the word "Zugzwang" written over and over. His face was finally revealed at the very end of the episode as he loomed over a sleeping Strauss in her hotel room.

The Replicator (Part 2)
"Erin Strauss and the Bureau discarded us. We were the forgotten ones." "They forgot you. I [Blake] did alright." "But they'll remember me now."

After abducting and slowly killing Strauss by poisoning her with spiked wine on a crowded sidewalk, a murder based on poisoner Larry Feretich, Curtis directly sent Rossi a letter that had a poison attached to it, even innocently helping Kevin Lynch and Agent Anderson into the meeting room as he did so. The letter was a forged official report of Strauss's autopsy, which revealed that Morgan's DNA was found on a strange 8-shaped marking that was carved onto her wrist (it was unanimously assumed that the DNA came from the glass Curtis took during the dinner in "Magnificent Light"). As a result, Rossi, becoming deluded from the poison that he was exposed to, confronted Morgan with his gun when the agent came into his office. Overhearing the commotion, Hotch stepped into Rossi's office and realized that he was poisoned. When Rossi lets his guard down after seeing a hallucination of Strauss, Hotch takes the gun from his hands. Rossi is later taken away on a stretcher. The team then deduces that the Replicator was able to learn of the cases he copied by reading FBI case-files. The 8-shaped marking was based on a false statement Strauss wrote in a report about proxy killer Phillip Connor in an apparent attempt to trick Curtis into revealing where he got his information about the BAU's cases.

Using a list of names of people in positions that allow them to view FBI case-files, compiled by Senator Cramer, the BAU deduce that Curtis was the Replicator, and the team flies over to a land of property owned by his family in helicopters. However, Curtis disabled the helicopter that Hotch, Reid, Blake, and a pilot were flying in, and caused it to crash-land. Using a smoke bomb that knocked them all out, he captured Blake, chaining her to a chair outfitted with a pressure sensor. When she regained consciousness, Curtis explained his rage and his motives to her. He then left her to die, along with the rest of the team who would come to rescue her. When Blake was freed, she stood up from the chair, effectively starting a timer linked to explosives. Garcia managed to delay the timer, but only for a short time. Noticing that the explosion was delayed, Curtis returned to the room he trapped the BAU in, only to learn that they had escaped. He was then confronted by Rossi, who was especially affected by Strauss's death, and had freed his teammates. Sensing defeat, he promptly trapped himself and the agent by sitting on the pressure-sensor chair and then getting back up. However, Rossi had blocked the door's locking mechanism by using Strauss's Alcoholics Anonymous coin and was able to escape the room, but not before saying to Curtis, "Zugzwang." Rossi was able to escape the explosion in time, while Curtis was likely killed.

Profile
The unsub is a white male in his mid 40s, possibly in his late 50s. He is criminally and forensically sophisticated, so he may be an ex-convict or have law enforcement training. He is using his victims as a device with which to antagonize the FBI, particularly the BAU team by copycatting murder cases that the team had closed all over the country. He stalked each member of the team, which means that he is mobile and has the time and means with which to get around and the intelligence to cover his tracks and remain evasive.

It was remarked by Rossi once Curtis's identity was revealed that, having no relatives or any family, he took it very badly when he lost his job since he had nothing else to live for. It was also remarked by the team that Curtis's continued usage of the alias "Adam Worth" suggests that he identifies himself as a similar master criminal and wants to paint himself out as the worst enemy the team has ever had.

Modus Operandi
During most of Curtis's killings, he copied the M.O. of unsubs the BAU team have captured during the course of Season Eight:


 * The first victim was killed in a manner similar to an unnamed serial killer in Seattle. Little details were revealed about the murder, but it was likely the victim, a woman, was lured in by a child. Since not much is specified about this killing, it is unknown if there were any major differences between this and the original killer's murders. It should be noted that he didn't take a photo of this victim, for unknown reasons.
 * The second victim was killed the same way John Myers, a.k.a. The Silencer, killed his victims, by fatal asphyxiation and then sewing his mouth shut post-mortem. A major difference to this particular murder was that the victim, a man, was specifically targeted.
 * The third victim lost his right leg and died of blood loss, with the fourth victim losing his right leg as well and having it replaced with the leg of the third victim; this was the same way killer surgeon John Nelson killed his victims. A major difference to this particular murder was that the victim whose leg was used as the implant wasn't discovered.
 * The fifth victim was killed by having her limbs dislocated, followed by a fatal hanging from a marionette device and then disposal by stuffing into a box, the same way killer puppeteer Adam Rain killed most of his victims. A major difference to this particular murder was that the victim was a woman.
 * The sixth victim, also a woman, was killed by having her head covered with plastic wrapping and then bludgeoned, the same way killing team David Turner and Toby Whitewood killed most of their victims. A major difference to this particular murder was that the victim was killed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, while the original victims were killed in Miami, Florida.
 * The seventh victim, Strauss, was killed by being poisoned with wine spiked with a combination of methamphetamine and ecstacy, the same way poisoner Larry Feretich killed some of his victims. A major difference to this particular murder was that Strauss was specifically targeted, the drug recipe was enhanced to become more potent, and afterwards, her wrist was branded with the number 8 by a piece of glass, which was actually based on a false report she made on proxy killer Phillip Connor in an apparent attempt to trick Curtis.
 * The eighth victim and only survivor, Rossi, was exposed to a poison attached to a letter sent to him by Curtis, the same way the Amerithrax killer killed his victims. A major difference to this particular murder was that the poison was not anthrax, but a different type that caused victims to hallucinate and become delusional; it appeared to be based on the one that killed Strauss.
 * The proxy victims murdered by Donnie Bidwell were all killed by exsanguination and then their eyelids being removed post-mortem, which was the fully-evolved M.O. of killer artist Bryan Hughes, who used said M.O. to kill two of his victims. Major differences to these particular murders were that the victims were all women who were specifically targeted and worked as nurses; they were all murdered within a day's time; and their murders occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while the original victims were killed in San Francisco, California.

During several of the murders, Curtis went to largely-populated cities located near the same cities where the original killers committed their murders. Another difference between Curtis and the serial killers he copied is that the former takes photos of his victims after killing them.

Personal Victims

 * 2012:
 * Seattle, Washington: Unnamed woman
 * Dallas, Texas: Maxwell Holmes
 * Unspecified location: Unnamed blond man
 * Las Cruces, New Mexico: An unidentified black man
 * 2013:
 * Phoenix, Arizona: Megan Lowenbach
 * Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Unnamed woman
 * New York City, New York: Erin Strauss
 * Quantico, Virginia:
 * David Rossi
 * Attempted to kill the following by crashing their helicopter:
 * Aaron Hotchner
 * Spencer Reid
 * Alex Blake
 * The unnamed pilot
 * Attempted to kill the following by blowing them up:
 * Aaron Hotchner
 * Spencer Reid
 * Alex Blake
 * Derek Morgan
 * Jennifer Jareau
 * David Rossi

Victims by Proxy

 * 2013:
 * Philadelphia, Pennsylvania :
 * Molly Patton
 * Sandy Larson
 * Shannon Levin
 * Quantico, Virginia :
 * Derek Morgan
 * Aaron Hotchner

Quotes
Curtis: (on the phone with Hotch) Does it ever get confusing? That whole Erin-Aaron thing?

Curtis: You really think your team is gonna save you? Erin Strauss: I know they will.

Curtis: You know what I've been wondering? Why did Strauss change her mind about you? Alex Blake: I kept my head down and I worked hard. Curtis: We all did. But you got my chance.

Curtis: (last words, to Rossi) We'll go out as heroes.

Appearances

 * Season Eight
 * "The Silencer"
 * "The Apprenticeship"
 * "Magnificent Light"
 * "Perennials"
 * "Zugzwang"
 * "Broken"
 * "Carbon Copy"
 * "The Gathering"
 * "Brothers Hotchner"
 * "The Replicator"