Robert C. Parker

Robert Parker is a serial killer who appears in season four.

Background
The Unsub is first seen at a night club flirting with young socialite named Vanessa Holden. She says goodbye to her sister, Ashley, and is never seen alive again. Vanessa is later found disemboweled, surrounded by cleaning supplies. Learning that the Unsub has shifted from killing prostitutes to high class women, the team suspects he may have changed his image drastically, and taken classes on how to pick up women. Jordan and Prentiss visit a pickup class, taught by a man named "Viper". They do not seem to be impressed with his style, but initially suspect that he is the unsub. It is later learned that the unsub is a "student" of his.

The rest of the team investigates a new murder; a woman named Becky. She was thrown out of the window of her apartment. Cleaning supplies were out, but not arranged in the familiar pattern. Either Becky fought back and he pushed her out the window to protect himself or, Prentiss suggests sadly, the woman may have jumped if her fear had pushed her into irrationality.

Later, after discussing the killer's profile, the team goes with Viper to a local club; where he is demonstrating his "skills" to his class. He is enamored with Prentiss, who blows him off; possibly feeling a little flattered at the attention.

Something about this case is still bothering Agent Hotchner. He stands staring at the map that pinpoints each murder as Rossi approaches. It is the secondary trigger that the agents are still looking for - it is nothing that he took from the course, it is much deeper psychological. Why does he go to the victims' apartments, not to his own place? There is some reminder at his own home of how miserable his life is.

When questioning Ashley about the man who killed her sister, Rossi suggests that perhaps it was not a boyfriend, but someone who expressed himself inappropriately and sexually to Vanessa years ago. The boy would also have had some type of obsession with cleaning. Mrs. Holden reacts - she had a cleaning woman who brought her son with her when the girls were children. She doesn't remember her name, but the boy was "odd." He hid and watched Vanessa. She caught them one day when they were both in their underwear. Mrs. Holden grabbed the boy and spanked him harshly in front of Vanessa - and Vanessa smiled. Ashley remembers that his name was Bobby, and Mrs. Holden fired the mother that day.

At the club, Reid and Morgan are passing out flyers. Morgan is giving Reid tips on how to impress women. Reid says he's good at magic, and Morgan tells him to try it on the bartender, Austin. Reid does a trick with a pencil and a flyer that impresses her. She asks if she can call him even if she doesn't see the suspect.

The team locates the agency that Mrs. Holden used, and Garcia does a search. They find only one match: Robert C. Parker, who lives only five miles away. In Parker's apartment, Bobby has Austin kneeling on his living room floor, her arms bound by duct tape. He screams at her to clean up her mess and she grabs a scrub brush from the bucket next to her and begins to scrub the carpeting. Austin cries, telling him that she'll do whatever he wants, but he rips off a new piece of tape for her mouth, whispering that "the help" doesn't talk.

Bobby stands behind her, holding his knife, as Austin closes her eyes in terror. Morgan bursts through the door first, and tackles Bobby, flinging the knife away from him, as Reid goes to Austin and releases her, holding her and helping her outside. Hotchner and Rossi notice a frail voice coming from the back of the house. They enter the bedroom to find Bobby's mother, bedridden, attached to a dialysis machine. She is frightened, insisting that she needs her son - "I need Robert, I need to be changed," she whimpers. The dialysis pump was issued ten months ago. "We found our secondary trigger," Rossi says.

Profile
The unsub is a confident, white man, between 25 and 30 years old. He has an obsession with cleaning, and probably works in a service industry, believing that people look down on him. He's taken coursees on picking up women and will repeat a series of well-rehearsed mind games with them. Reid, stepping up between Agent Todd and Det. Harding, explains one routine called the "push-pull" where a man will approach two women, compliment one and then subtly insult her before paying attention to the other one.

Modus Operandi
Robert mortally wounds his victims by disemboweling them. He then makes them clean up their own blood with cleaning supplies. He would then slit their throats.

Known Victims

 * Two previous prostitutes
 * Melissa Foster
 * Vanessa Holden
 * Becky Williams
 * Austin (bartender, attempted)

Appearances

 * Season four
 * 52 Pickup