William Reid

William Reid is the husband of Diana Reid and the father of Spencer Reid, who first appeared in flashbacks in Revelations.

Background
"I tried to keep us together, Spencer, I swear to you. But the weight of that knowledge, it was too much."

William and Diana Reid originally had a good marriage in Las Vegas, in spite of her paranoid schizophrenia. They had a son, named Spencer, together. William wanted to have more children, but Diana didn't approve. He would, however, coach a local little league baseball team. In 1984, a young boy, Riley Jenkins, was raped and murdered﻿. The investigation led nowhere and the killer went free. Not long afterwards, Gary Michaels, the killer, began stalking Spencer, even playing chess with him. Diana, who saw Michaels for what he was, told about him to Riley's father, Lou Jenkins. She later found herself in his car on his way to Gary, who was beaten to death by Lou. Since she got blood on her clothes, William helped her dispose of them by burning them in the yard. As a result of the incident, the Reids' marriage deteriorated and William left Diana and Spencer. He still lived in Las Vegas and continued working as an attorney at the Kierschenbaum, Wieder and Moore law firm in Summerlin, keeping tabs on Spencer's career in the BAU. They remained estranged, with Spencer being oblivious as to his whereabouts.

On Criminal Minds
During a series of child abductions in the same area, Spencer keeps having dreams related to Riley's murder. After the case is closed, he has another dream, in which he sees William in a basement with the body, prompting him to investigate the murder with him as a suspect. After he finds out that the real killer was Gary, Diana and William come forward and tell him the truth about what happened. William presumably went back to his regular life afterwards.

Appearances

 * Season Two
 * Revelations
 * Season Four
 * The Instincts
 * Memoriam