Mark Tolson

"That's why I need to do this. I need you to hurt...the way I hurt."

Mark Tolson is a psychopathic, homosexual spree killer and abductor who appeared in A Good Husband.

Background
Mark's parents divorced when he was six years old. Whenever he was in his father's custody, Mark was forced to work in his butcher shop while his father sat elsewhere idly and drank. This caused him to develop a fascination with dismemberment and cutting meat. Later, his mother successfully petitioned for full custody over Mark, with his father never fighting against it. Afterwards, he never saw his father again. This paternal neglect warped Mark's mind and caused him to develop severe abandonment issues. As an adult, he realized that he was gay, and he eventually married another gay man named Bill Seavers. However, Mark was extremely manipulative, possessive, and domineering over Bill, eventually causing him to file for divorce and attempt to leave the house. Enraged by this loss of control, Mark attacked a man named Paul Mastriano, who resembled Bill, stabbed him to death, and dismembered his body. The torso was conveniently discovered by a stranded female motorist, prompting the BAU to be called in.

A Good Husband
After claiming his first victim, Mark targets another man named Brent Miller the following night. As a drugged Brent, gives a message to his wife Lisa on the phone in an alley, Mark ambushes, incapacitates and dismembers Brent with a meat cleaver. The next day, Mark is seen in his apartment drinking while Bill packs up all of his belongings. As he does so, a frustrated Mark tells Bill that he can't cut him off, but Bill replies that he didn't come to argue. Then, Mark tells Bill that he made a commitment to him. But, Bill replies that he made up his mind. Then, Mark tells Bill that they have waited three years to get married and asks him if he has another man with him, but he doesn't respond to that question, but Bill tells him that he is paranoid. Then, Bill's friends Kate and Diane call, which disturbs Mark, but Bill tells him that they are his only friends he has left, they care about him and they don't make him feel useless. As Mark promises Bill that he will get help, Bill looks at the news on television of Mark's second kill while Mark continues to drink without looking at it. Bill's friends come to the apartment and give him a hug. Mark tells Bill that he loves him and he would do anything for him, but Diane tells Bill not to let Mark play tricks on him as he is only saying that to prevent Bill from moving. Then, Mark tells Bill not to let them manipulate him and he takes the picture of himself and Bill from the wedding off from the wall, shows it to Bill and tells him that this is who they are, but the three of them ignore Mark and leave the apartment, which saddens Mark.

The following night, Mark is at the bar when he is approached by his and Bill's friend named Dale Ericsson who offers to buy him another drink, but Mark replies that he had too many. As they both talk and have a beer, Dale tells Mark that they should leave the bar, which Mark agrees. Afterwards, Mark takes Dale to his van where he kills him by dismembering him. The next day, Bill comes to Mark's apartment where he calls out to his name, then finds him coming out from the bathroom and tells him about another murder. Mark tells Bill that he is glad that Bill came back home, but he replies that he is not back and wants to know that Mark is safe. Then, Bill notices a cut on Mark's hand, to which he claims that he cut it on a latch when he was loading his van. Mark asks Bill if they know who was killed, to which he replies that they didn't say and his body was found a few blocks away. Later, Bill looks at his phone and to his shock that the murdered victim has been identified as Dale, which doesn't surprise Mark. Then, Mark convinces Bill to stay with him tonight, at first Bill refuses, stating that he needs his friends, but he then accepts the offer. Afterwards, Bill goes to the bathroom, but Mark becomes nervous and tells him to use the master bathroom. At first they argue, but Mark apologizes and gives Bill a hug. As they do so, Mark looks at behind the curtain where Dale's bloodied clothes and meat cleaver are in a bathtub, which Bill is unaware of.

Later that night, while Bill is sleeping, Mark gets off from the bed, goes to the bathroom, locks the door and cleans up the meat cleaver, the blood, the bloodied clothes and the bathtub with the cleaning supplies. Afterwards, Mark returns to the bedroom where he finds out that Bill is gone. He finds Bill at a bar with their friend named Wesley Parham as they both talk about Mark while he watches from outside the bar. After Bill leaves the bar, Mark goes inside and approaches Wesley. Wesley is disturbed and enraged to see Mark, but he tells him that he knows that he has been a terrible friend by cutting off Bill from him. He tries to make it up to Wesley by offering him a drink. As they both talk about Bill, Wesley's vision becomes blurry due to the Rohypnol that Mark slipped into Wesley's drink. Mark offers to take Wesley home, but he takes him to his van. As Wesley is still drugged, Mark tells him that he brought this on himself and then kills him. The following morning, Mark, Bill and everyone else go to the spot where Wesley's torso was found and put flowers on the ground. Afterwards, Mark tries to convince Bill to come back to him and give him some comfort. Mark and Bill go to a restaurant where they talk about the previous night and about his previous job where Mark called Bill twenty times a day, which got him fired.

They both go back to Mark's apartment where Bill talks to Mark about the previous night and he wants to invite friends over and be more independent, which Mark agrees to it. However, Mark makes a slip about Wesley flirting with every guy at his friend's Rebecca. This makes Bill suspicious and asks Mark how did he knew where he was the previous night, to which Mark replies that it is his favorite place and he assumed. Bill becomes frustrated when he realizes that Mark was following him. Bill tells him that is exactly what Kate and Diane warned him about and tells Mark that he is jealous of his friends. Bill tries to leave the apartment, but Mark stops him. This makes Bill realize that Mark is the one who killed Wesley and the other men. They both get into a struggle and Mark tells Bill that this is all his fault and he broke the rules. Bill incapacitates Mark and when he tries to call 911, Mark gets up and incapacitates Bill with a horse figurine. Bill regains consciousness as Mark restrains him with duct tape. Bill tries to reason with Mark by telling him that he loves him, but he puts a duct tape on his mouth. Mark replies that is why he needs to do this and tells Bill that he wants him to hurt the way he hurt. As Mark is about to kill Bill with the meat cleaver, the BAU show up and Reid, JJ, and Prentiss hold him at gunpoint. They tell him to drop the meat cleaver, which he does. Prentiss frees Bill and asks him if there is anyone they can call for him. As Mark is being handcuffed and dragged away, he tells Bill that they are still married, adding that he can't say a word to them and they will never prove anything. Mark is last seen being taken away by JJ and a police officer as he and Bill both lock eyes at each other.

Modus Operandi
Mark initially targeted blond, lean, healthy men who resembled Bill and were at bars drinking alcohol at the time. However, as he became more focused in his killings, he started targeting people connected to him and Bill. The victims were all mentally incapacitated by date-rape drugs placed in their drinks, then dismembered with a meat cleaver in Mark's van and the pieces disposed of, with the torsos always being the easiest to find.

For his first two murders, which were committed out of rage, Mark stabbed the victims repeatedly with a meat cleaver and dismembered them with the same weapon. The first victim, Paul Mastriano, was stabbed to death and decapitated and dismembered post-mortem, with the torso being hidden away in a dumpster. The second victim, Brent Miller, was also stabbed repeatedly, but the decapitation and dismemberment occurred ante-mortem; the torso was not hidden away and instead left in plain view. In both cases, the victims were straight and had relationship problems, just like Mark. Starting with his third murder, however, Mark became more focused in his victimology. The third victim was gay, and was dismembered and fatally decapitated without being stabbed; the torso was then left in a public place frequented by the gay community as shock value.

During his fourth murder, Mark targeted a gay man who was a friend of Bill's and an acquaintance of his. Much like the previous victim, he was dismembered and fatally decapitated without being stabbed, and the torso dumped in a public place frequented by the gay community in order to frighten Bill into staying with Mark. When Mark tried to kill Bill, he first manually strangled him, but when Bill assaulted him and escaped, Mark bludgeoned him into unconsciousness with a horse figurine. Then, he restrained his limbs with duct tape and attempted to dismember him with the cleaver.

Profile
The unsub is a local white male aged in his 30s with control issues. He may be homosexual or bisexual, and he has been harboring a kill fantasy. Until now, he has been able to sublimate his homicidal urges by controlling his work environment or his relationships. He may not be physically imposing himself, which is why drugs his victims to paralyze and control them. He then dismembers them as a form of torture before decapitating them because this gives him the ultimate feeling of power. It is also a way to depersonalize them, or intentionally negate the characteristics that make them uniquely human. He may be disposing his victims' limbs and heads by putting them in dumpsters or in shallow graves in the desert as a forensic countermeasure. The torsos he leaves for display are his trophies and he wants them to be found. Each victim so far has been blond, healthy, and slim, meaning he has a preference. They are most likely surrogates for a current or former romantic partner, or even a spouse who he controlled through nonviolent manipulation. It is believed he may have been rejected recently, causing him to escalate to murder in order to regain a sense of control.

Real-Life Comparison
Mark seems to have been based from a variety of real-life homosexual serial killers. Firstly, he has some similarities with Robert Berdella, a.k.a. "The Kansas City Butcher". Both were homosexual killers who had troubled childhoods involving their fathers, and targeted fellow gay men (including acquaintances of theirs), who they would mentally incapacitate with drugs and alcohol. After killing their victims, both Mark and Berdella dismembered the bodies and disposed of the body parts, with the dismemberment being learned beforehand in their occupations (Mark worked in his father's butcher shop as a child, while Berdella once worked as a successful full-time chef).

Mark has similarities to Larry Eyler, a.k.a. "The Highway Killer". Both were homosexual serial killers whose parents divorced when they were children, had troubled childhoods involving their paternal figures, targeted homosexual men, incapacitated their victims with drugs, and had M.O.s that involved stabbing and dismemberment.

Mark also has elements in common with Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy, according to Lewis. All three were psychopathic, homosexual killers with troubled childhoods, who incapacitated their victims with drugs and alcohol. Like Dahmer, Mark's parents divorced when they were young, he shared Dahmer's abandonment and control issues, as well as Dahmer's victimology (homosexual Caucasian males) and tendency to dismember his victims (Dahmer did it post-mortem, while Tolson did it ante-mortem). Like Gacy, Mark was raised by an alcoholic father and had a spouse who left him prior to the killings; he also killed his first victim by stabbing them to death.

Mark also has elements taken from William Bonin, Patrick Kearney, and Randy Kraft, the so-called "Freeway Killers". All four were homosexuals who targeted males and operated in California. Like Bonin, Mark tortured and killed his victims inside his vehicle, and performed overkill on the bodies. Like Kearney, Mark was in a longstanding relationship with another man (though Mark's husband left him prior to his killings; whereas Kearney's lover, David Hill, was still with him when he committed his murders), found his victims in bars, killed his victims in his vehicle, and dismembered their bodies (though Kearney did it ante-mortem, while Mark did it as a torture method with his last three victims). Like Kraft, Mark found his victims in bars, incapacitated them by lacing their drinks with drugs, and tortured them before killing them.

In addition to all of these killers, Mark has some similarities with an uncaught serial killer, the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run. Both Mark and the Butcher dismembered their victims completely (although the Butcher dismembered all of his victims post-mortem while Mark did it ante-mortem with his later victims), with the torsos always being found first. In addition, the Butcher's first identified victim, Edward W. Andrassy, was an alleged bisexual and had several homosexual friends, while police searched for suspects in gay bars; these could have been used as references for Mark's sexual orientation and selection of later victims.

Known Victims

 * 2017:
 * February 5: Paul Mastriano
 * February 6: Brent Miller
 * February 7: Dale Ericsson
 * February 8:
 * Wesley Parham
 * Bill Seavers

Appearances

 * Season Twelve
 * A Good Husband