William Taylor

"No! She's alive, and I'm going to find her!"

William Taylor was a delusional budding serial killer and abductor who appeared in Awake.

Background
William worked as a tow-truck driver and was the single parent of a girl named Tatiana. On August 17, 2015, he was driving Tatiana home after a school dance recital when he started to fall asleep at the wheel, having just worked a double night shift. He stopped by at the Day Point Creek Rest Area, a rest stop off Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson, where he fell asleep. Moments later, he was approached by a man with a skull tattoo on his hand, who claimed his taillight was out. William thanked the man, who then walked away, allowing William to fall back asleep. When he woke back up hours later, Tatiana was missing. A massive search ensued, but it ended a week prior to Awake when the group, William included, found Tatiana's corpse at a field near the rest stop. Feeling guilty about being asleep while Tatiana vanished, William pointed to the man with the skull tattoo as a suspect, but it was believed he may have imagined him in the midst of microsleep. The child abduction case went cold, and he underwent a severe psychotic break and believed Tatiana was still alive and being held captive by the man with the skull tattoo. He subsequently went out on a mission to track him down and rescue Tatiana.

Awake
After Stephen Jackson dies due to the torture receives, William steals his handgun, poses as a desperate hitchhiker, and abducts Lance Coleman. Despite his protests, William tortures him, and eventually shoots him when he doesn't give him Tatiana's location. Once Lance's body is disposed, he listens to a music box and reminisces about the last time he saw Tatiana. Once finished, he goes out and abducts David Whitfield. He tortures him with sleep deprivation for several days, electrocutes him, and forces a recording of painful static sounds onto his ears. One night, William returns to find that David has somehow escaped, and is incapacitated by him when he wraps his still-attached chains around his neck. David flees, with William pursuing, armed with Stephen's handgun. Eventually, William corners him with his truck just as JJ and Lewis arrive. The two agents try to talk him down by reminding him that Tatiana's body had been found by him, but William refuses to believe that his daughter isn't alive and tries to run Lewis over. She shoots him twice through his truck's back window, killing him instantly.

Modus Operandi
"You will tell me where she is."

William targeted random low-risk men who he believed to be the man with the skull tattoo, all of whom he found at the Day Point Creek Rest Area, the same rest stop where Tatiana disappeared. He would abduct them while they were traveling at night using Interstate 10, luring them in by posing as a hitchhiker or a stranded motorist in need of a car ride. After blitz-attacking them in their cars, William would drive to where he parked his tow truck and use it to take them (and their cars) to his scrap yard, disable their car's GPS devices (though Stephen Jackson's car didn't have one since it was an older model), take them into a building in the scrap yard, and restrain them by their wrists using chains connected to the ceiling.

His signature was forcing them to stay awake by torturing them through various methods, such as electrocuting them, beating them, stapling their eyelids open, and forcing them to listen to loud music, all the while giving them caffeinated drinks as nourishment. The torture was too severe for Stephen Jackson, and he died from cardiac arrest caused by the electrocution he received. He lessened the amount of time he held Lance Coleman captive, but amplified the severity of the torture. He then finished Lance off by shooting him in the head with a handgun stolen from Stephen. He then dumped their bodies on the sides of rural roads outside of Phoenix.

Profile
The unsub is a sadistic inquisitor, a person aroused sexually and emotionally by causing pain in the service of finding information. He is a white male in his 30s to early 40s, and is physically fit enough to subdue male victims. He is driven by rage and an ultimate goal, which makes him brutal in his torture methods. He asserts absolute power and control over the victims, which makes them feel completely helpless and eventually causes them to break and give him what he is looking for. Based on his systematic torture, it is possible that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, rooted to a personal issue that is driving him, based on the work and effort put into the abductions and tortures. He appears unassuming with limited social skills, which is why he chooses to hunt at night. It allows him to take advantage of his victims' goodwill and sympathy before he blitz-attacks and abducts them from their vehicles. Due to the escalation of his torture, it is clear that he is becoming more desperate and volatile. Because his victims are surrogates, there is a chance they will never have what he ultimately wants.

Known Victims
The dates denote when the victims were abducted


 * 2015:
 * November 8: Stephen Jackson
 * November 15: Lance Coleman
 * November 19:
 * David Whitfield
 * Doctor Tara Lewis

Appearances

 * Season Eleven
 * Awake