Franklin Graney

"Stupid, incompetent sons of bitches! I don't make mistakes! I am Death! You hear me? I am Death! You'll see now, tomorrow. Mark my words, you will see. And while I'm taking her, I'm gonna be thinking of you."

Franklin Graney is a serial rapist and killer who appeared in Season One of Criminal Minds

Background
Franklin worked as a phone technician for Bell San Diego and lived with a nagging female relative, presumably either his mother or wife. Franklin began raping and murdering women he who lived on his routes in 2005, spying on them for some time before attacking them, destroying symbols of wealth in their home and gluing their eyes open after killing, which he did by strangling them with a length of cord. After his first three murders go unconnected by the police, Franklin, angered by this, began leaving snippets of a 16th century ballad The Great Messenger of Mortality or A Dialogue Betwixt Death and a Lady at the scenes of all his subsequent murders, as a means of getting the attention from the press, which, after his affinity for gluing eyes open comes to light, dubbed The Tommy Killer, after The Who's rock opera Tommy (which features the line "See me, feel me, touch me").

Plain Sight
After Franklin claims six victims in only three weeks the BAU is called in to help with the investigation. When a black youth is brought in (the boy had tried and failed to rape an elderly woman) as a suspect, Franklin, enraged by this development, calls the police station and claims he will rape and kill another woman tomorrow. Since Franklin routed his call through twenty-five different substations he is unable to be traced.

In the early morning, Franklin sneaks into Shelly Hart's house, forcing her into an upstairs bedroom under threat of hurting her infant son. Tying Shelly up, Franklin begins verbally abusing her when he hears Gideon coming down the hallway. When Gideon enters the room, Franklin points a handgun at Shelly's head and threatens to shoot her. By appealing to Franklin's desire for recognition and infamy, Gideon starts talking him down, saying that if he gives up he will be immortalized, but if he forces Gideon to kill him, Gideon will claim he was just a simple burglar, a nobody who will never be remembered by anyone. Mulling this over, Franklin, after making Gideon promise he will tell everyone about him, drops his gun, and allows himself to be arrested by Hotch and Elle when they arrive.

Profile
The unsub was profiled as a highly organized exploitative rapist and middle-class white male who, due to going completely unnoticed in a highly patrolled neighborhood, despite watching his victims for days to get their schedules down and striking in broad daylight, likely had access to a company car or truck. Destroying some of his victims' possessions, all of them symbols of wealth, meant he both envied and hated people of a higher social status, who he felt ignored and dismissed him, making him feel invisible. He felt in control at the crime scenes but inadequate everywhere else in life. The victims all represented a dominant female who had him under her thumb, and by raping and killing he acquired a sense of control. Like all exploitative rapists, the unsub wanted his victims to see him, hence him gluing their eyes open. Additionally, the unsub would be obsessed with getting recognition from the authorities, which was what leaving the lines from the ballad at the crime scenes did. They were simply a means of getting attention and not actually needed for any kind of emotional release, like gluing the eyes was.

Modus Operandi
Franklin spied on his victims for days, completely memorizing their schedule and routines to pinpoint the perfect time to strike, which was always in the morning. Using a "kill kit" filled with items used in his job (duct tape, cords and glue) Franklin would incapacitate his victim, bind them to the bed, rape them and finish them off by strangling them with a length of wire. After killing them, Franklin would glue the victim's eyes open and make them face out a window, towards the telephone lines he worked on. After doing all this, Franklin would go on to destroy symbols of wealth he found in the house (objects such as small appliances, silverware, and fine china) and clean up the crime scene, even organizing and putting away miscellaneous objects.

Known Victims

 * Chandler
 * Four unnamed women raped and killed prior to Plain Sight
 * Brenda Samms
 * Shelly Hart

Appearances

 * Season One
 * "Plain Sight"