Bryan Hughes

"No! I have to make her see what I see."

Bryan Hughes was a hemophiliac, delusional serial-turned-spree killer who appeared on Season Eight of Criminal Minds.

Background
Very little is revealed about Bryan's history and personal life, except that he has a severe form of hemophilia, called Type B Christmas Disease. He also possesses the "universal recipient" blood type, AB positive. Three weeks prior to committing his first murder, Bryan was involved in a car accident from which he came out unscathed, while the other driver bled to death before EMTs arrived while he presumably watched. He eventually snapped and went on to kill Pamela Hurd and Gary Porter for their blood.

Magnum Opus
In the beginning of "Magnum Opus", Bryan is seen exsanguinating Lynn Stevens and filling a jar with her blood, which he then stashes in a refrigerator containing jars of Hurd and Porter's blood. He then lures Aimee Fortner to his residence, presumably under the pretense of some sort of modeling opportunity, and proceeds to remove her eyelids with a scalpel and draining her of her blood. Bryan then visits an art gallery with the intention of selling his paintings to Madison Riley. However, she tells him that she is not interested but might reconsider when he has a signature. Later, at Bryan's workplace, he and and a coworker named Paul discuss a piece of art. Paul becomes friendly towards Bryan and asks him for a ride home, to which Bryan agrees.

However, he instead takes Paul to his home to take his blood, but when Paul struggles and bites Bryan's hand, he becomes angry, grabs a nearby hammer, and bludgeons him to death. The next day, he returns to the art gallery with a painting he made using both Paul's blood and his own, only to be refused by Riley once again. Enraged, Bryan leaves the building, returning later to abduct Riley. He takes her to his residence with the intention of removing Riley's eyelids, the BAU arrives and tries to reason with him. Listening to Hotch's words, he appears to consider them, but changes his mind and moves to kill Riley. He is then shot by Hotch and dies within seconds. In Carbon Copy, his murders are copied by Donnie Bidwell, who killed three women using his M.O.

Profile
The unsub is a white male aged in his 20s or 30s. He thinks of himself as a painter or artist. The placement of the victims near or facing artistic works around the city tells a lot about him: this placement is a compulsion, not accidental, as he is obsessed with art. All of the works of art the victims were placed at are neglected, ignored, or cast aside by the public, which is how he feels about himself. In evolving to removing the victims' eyelids, he is forcing them to see what he sees. There is no sexual component to these murders because the blood and the use of blood is his sexual release. It can be assumed that he is painting with the blood. He has a very quick killing pace, because more blood means more paint for him. However, with the more paintings that he does, the greater chance someone will recognize his work. Because of his need for acceptance, he may be attempting to sell the paintings, so he is likely associated with places that sell fringe art.

Modus Operandi
"I know how to make you see me."

Seeking only for blood, Bryan selected his victims at random. After abducting a victim or luring them to his home with a ruse, Bryan would drug them with ketamine and edetic acid (an anti-coagulant) in some unspecified way, then restrain them to a metal table. There, he would bore a hole into one of their thighs and drain their blood from the femoral artery (a large artery located in the thigh with a tube) into glass jars while the victim was still conscious. The victim would die slowly with little pain. As his M.O. evolved, Bryan began to remove the eyelids of his victims with a scalpel in order to make them "see what he saw" before killing them. As a hemophiliac, he separated the plasma from the blood out of habit, using a centrifuge. The separation of plasma and blood provided him with plasma to induce clotting in case of a cut, as well as thicker blood, which served as a better medium to use as "paint" for his own artwork. When drained, the victims' bodies were then wrapped in plastic and dumped near a local piece of artwork, one that was usually neglected by the general public, initially during the night, but Bryan later began dumping his victims during the daytime hours.

When his last victim struggled against him after attempting to remove his eyelids, Bryan fatally bludgeoned him with a hammer out of frustration, abandoning the exsanguination and instead using the blood drawn from Paul's skull to paint a new image. With his attempted victim, Bryan tried to return to eyelid removal and exsanguination, but was stopped by the BAU.

Known Victims

 * 2013:
 * January 6: Unnamed female motorist
 * January 27: Pamela Hurd
 * January 29: Gary Porter
 * January 30: Lynn Stevens
 * January 31: Aimee Fortner
 * February 1:
 * Paul
 * Madison Riley

Appearances

 * Season Eight
 * "Magnum Opus"
 * "Carbon Copy"