Greg Phinney

"Do you feel that? Not the pain. Do you feel your heart starting to beat a little faster? It's not your mind panicking. It's your body. It's fighting to adapt."

Greg Phinney, dubbed "The Co-Ed Killer" by the media, was a serial-turned-spree killer and stalker who appeared in Season Six of Criminal Minds.

Background
Born in Chula Vista, California, on February 6, 1982, Greg was raised by his parents, Carl and Nancy Phinney. During his entire childhood, Greg began "experimenting" with animals and killed a household pet and a neighbor's cat. His mother was killed in a car accident when Greg was eleven. His father remarried a year later, on March 10, 1994, to his old babysitter, Kate Jones. On May 5 of the following year, when Greg was thirteen years old, he was arrested and sent to a juvenile detention center after threatening Kate with a knife. At seventeen, Greg was institutionalized by his father after Kate filed numerous reports against him for violent behavior and animal cruelty. On March 16, 2011, his father passed away at the age of 53. Greg was released two weeks later and presumably started stalking and killing his victims, all of whom reminded him of Kate, once he started his work-release job as a data-entry clerk at the San Diego Register. After Greg murdered three women, the BAU was called in.

The Stranger
In the episode, Greg is first seen at the workplace of Laurie Burgin, flirting with her online. He later follows her at the Jenkins home ﻿as she babysits the child. Laurie takes a picture of herself for him, unaware that he is outside and directly behind her. She later goes upstairs to respond to the child's cries as Greg enters the house. Following her upstairs, Greg watches as Laurie looks at the picture she took of herself and sees Greg. She looks behind her just as Greg attacks her in front of the baby. The BAU later realize that he fed the baby its milk right after murdering Laurie. He then later arrives at the Ellison home and watches Lily Droubay as she talks with her boyfriend on the phone. Waiting until the Ellison parents arrive, Greg attacks them and Lily when the Ellison father opens the front door to let Lily out. Killing the father and Lily while forcing the mother and the baby in the nursery at knife-point, Greg poses his victims' bodies so then they would be looking at each other before leaving the scene.

The next day, he watches Kate comb her hair and later confronts her inside her home right after organizing the items in the fridge. Strapping her to a chair and torturing her by cutting her wrists, Greg hears the BAU and local police arrive and allows Hotch and Seaver to enter when the former calls him on Kate's phone. During the resultant negotiations, Greg pulls out a gun from a drawer. Meanwhile, Rossi leads a squad of policemen to the back of Kate's house. When Greg becomes unstable, telling Kate that he loved her (implying that he was angry only because she married his father and didn't love him in return), Rossi enters the home through an open window and prepares to confront him when Greg notices him and attempts to shoot him, forcing Rossi to open fire on Greg, killing him instantly. Seaver later talks to Kate outside and reassures her that Greg didn't kill his victims just because of her; he did so because he was a sociopath.

Modus Operandi
Greg usually targeted female brunette Caucasian college students in their early twenties who resembled Kate, majored in childcare and/or education, and whose lives he gained access to through his job as a data entry clerk at the San Diego Register and/or by chatting them up on the Internet. The last two female victims were also babysitting infants when they were killed. As Greg's killings progressed, he developed habits of neatly organizing food packages in the house, smearing the victims' blood on the walls, and making considerable effort to keep any babies in the house safe. His last female victim was also sexually violated with a knife. In order to conceal his identity, Greg would dress completely in black with a cap and wrap a scarf around the lower part of his face. As he began escalating in his M.O., he also came to target fathers who hired his female victims for babysitting duties, as a reference to his own father.

Profile
"I want her to pay for what she's done."

The unsub's murders indicate that he is a white male in his early 20s who is working out of his house or a part-time job, since he is stalking his victims. He strikes inside the safety of a home rather than outside where he could easily abduct his victims, which indicates that his social skills are most likely lacking and that he may not have the confidence to talk to women. His confidence with killing, however, is growing. He has gone from hesitant strikes in the victim's house to painting the walls with their blood, showing that he is developing a taste for the kill. His victims share similar features and backgrounds, so therefore, his victims most likely represent someone who the unsub thinks has wronged him and he is taking out his rage on them. Because the unsub shows signs of one neat aspect and started killing suddenly and effectively with no break, it is believed that he was recently incarcerated or institutionalized. It was recommended that authorities look at men who got out a month or so ago, with records that show a history of violence as well as anger toward women and/or symbols of authority. Since the Jenkins family found Laurie online, the unsub may be using similar methods; profiles, job listings, anything that gives a little too much information the unsub could use to hunt his victims. With this type of unsub, time is not on the side of the authorities, as it is believed that he already has targeted his next victim.

Real-Life Comparison
Greg shares some traits with serial killer Edmund Kemper (also nicknamed "The Co-Ed Killer") and was also compared to him by Reid. Both killers were active in California, targeted female college students, had close relationships with their fathers and part of their rage was driven by being separated from them after they were institutionalized; in Kemper's case, his father remarried, moved to another state and got a stepson, in Greg's case, his father remarried and died. Like Kemper, Greg also killed surrogates for his real intended target, Kate, in preparation for their killings: Kemper's intended victim was his mother, who had abused him; Greg targeted Kate, who was his stepmother and, as he erroneously believed, was the one responsible for sending him away. Also, the way Greg dresses completely in black and with a cap during his murders is similar to how Richard Ramirez dressed while embarking on his murders.

Known Victims

 * 2011:
 * April 8: Monica Shanley
 * April 11: Natalie Wallace
 * April 13: Amber Lasko
 * April 14: Laurie Burgin
 * April 15: The attack at the Ellison home:
 * The Ellison family
 * Jake Ellison
 * Amy Ellison
 * The unnamed baby son
 * Lily Droubay
 * April 16: The standoff at Kate Phinney's house:
 * Kate Phinney
 * Aaron Hotchner and Ashley Seaver
 * David Rossi

Appearances

 * Season Six
 * The Stranger