George Foyet

George Foyet, nicknamed "The Reaper", was a prolific serial killer that Hotch had once hunted ten years before in Boston. He reappears on the BAU's radar in the Season four episode Omnivore.

Background
George Foyet's first murders occurred in Boston between 1995 to 1998. Tom Shaunessy, the lead detective on the case, called in the BAU. It was Hotch's first case as a BAU senior. At the time, Foyet had killed 20 people and become unable to get as much satisfaction from it as earlier. Since he was motivated by a need for power, he wrote a contract stating that he would stop killing if Tom shut down the investigation. Since the authorities didn't have any leads in the case besides a fake description by Foyet, who had killed his girlfriend and severely injured himself, pretending to be a victim of the Reaper in order to manipulate the police, he accepted. After shutting down the investigation and waiting six weeks, Shaunessy sent Hotchner away, believing that The Reaper is gone. George adopted several different identities in order to maintain his lie became a freelancing computer specialist for the city of Boston and simply waited to start killing again.

Season Four
In 2009, Shaunessy called Hotch to himself on his dying night and reveals the deal. The following morning, he dies and the Reaper gets back on the hunt. He starts with Evan Harvey and Nina Hale who are stranded on the roadside with two flat tires. He approaches them, offering his help. Evan accepts, the Reaper leaves, puts on his killing mask and knocks Evan out with a tire iron. The Reaper then sneaks up on Nina, who is in the car calling AAA. He holds his .44 Magnum pistol at point blank range to her forehead, takes her watch, but then promises not to shoot her. Instead, he reveals a knife and stabs her several times. Evan regains consciousness, asking for Nina. The Reaper tells him that she's dead, says "Are you scared? You should be." and shoots him in the forehead. He then places the glasses he made the authorities believe had been taken from him earlier on Evan.

Later, posing as a police officer, he stops Arthur and Diane Lanessa, an older couple, stabs Arthur in the throat, shoots Diane, leaves Nina Hale's watch on her wrist and takes Arthur's wedding ring.

He later speaks with Hotch and Rossi--who are unaware that he is The Reaper--and tells them how he survived the attack ten years earlier. The Reaper had apparently stabbed his girlfriend 67 times.

Later that evening, George calls Hotchner to offer the same deal he offered Shaunessy. Hotch refuses, which angers George. He then boards a bus and kills all six passengers and the driver. He leaves Arthur Lanessa's wedding ring behind. The team then deciphers a cryptic message left on the windows and realizes the numbers that were left correspond with George Foyet's addresses. They race to George's current address. Morgan spots The Reaper and chases after him, but is tackled through a window and knocked out. The Reaper stands above him ready to finish him off, saying "Wake up Derek, it's time to die." But, as Derek is unconscious, The Reaper flees, leaving a .44 Magnum bullet behind.

Later, after finding out Foyet's former aliases, Hotch realizes that Foyet is The Reaper, and the team traces the cell phone of Roy Colson, a journalist who wrote a book about The Reaper, to an address Foyet didn't reveal having. While the BAU hurry over, George reveals himself to be the Reaper and holds Roy at gunpoint, forcing him to correct a theory he made in his book about the Reaper having been incarcerated for an unrelated crime or simply died.

Hotch and Rossi then burst in and Foyet is arrested, claiming that he'll be "more famous than [they] even realize". Having spent the past 10 years studying the blueprints of every legal building in Massachusetts, Foyet cuts his right wrist on a sharp edge, sucks out some of his own blood and pretends to have convulsions in order to escape. When the BAU hear about his escape on the news, Garcia asks "They're gonna catch him, right?". Hotch replies "No, they're not".

George returns in the season four finale. He had been waiting in Hotch's apartment and sneaks up behind him while Hotch is making a drink. He points his gun at Hotch and says "You should have made the deal." A gunshot is heard as the screen goes black.

Season Five
George returns in the Season Five premier, picking up where the Season Four finale left off. He holds Hotch captive after a brief struggle. He tells Hotch that it is necessary to study anatomy in order to stab one's self multiple times without dying. While Hotch is subdued, George slowly stabs him nine times in various non-lethal locations. He tells Hotch not to struggle, as relaxing helps the blade go in easier. He also points out the BAU's incorrect assumption that "stabbers" are impotent and use knives as a sexual surrogate. George explains that he has no need for a surrogate, he just likes to mutilate. After several hours of this, he drives Hotch to a local hospital, and drops him off. George had taken the B section from Hotch's address book, and left a photo of Haley and Jack; Hotch's ex-wife and son.

It is clear that George will attempt to target Haley and Jack, so the team locates the two of them to put them in protective custody. It would appear that George has now targeted Hotch as his new nemesis, replacing the now deceased Tom Shaunessy. George had felt that with Shaunessy's death, he had lost his power, thus he had to begin killing again. This would explain why he let Hotch live; as long as he has a nemesis, his continuing power is assured.

When Miranda Jakar killed the second time, George sent Karl Arnold, a family killer from the BAU's past, two envelopes containing newspaper clipings, the second of which contained a note claiming responsibility for the murders. At the end of the episode, Karl revealed that one of the envelopes contained an article about George's attack on Hotch with his signature Eye of Providence painted on it, a message to Hotch that he was returning. George will reappear in the upcoming episode 100 which is scheduled to air on 25 November, 2009. According to the tv.com overview of the episode, he will return to Washington and enter a final showdown with the BAU.

Profile
An obvious Sociopath, George is a cunning narcissist, who was able to manipulate the authorities into surrendering. He feels the need for power, and that power was lost with the death of Tom Shaunessy, prompting him to kill again. He is described as a predator and an omnivore. He is disciplined and focused, making it difficult for him to maintain order in his day life. It also makes him so inflexible that he can't keep close relationships or work closely with others. He is attracted to teenage girls, and the BAU reasons that he may be working as an authority figure in a field involving teenagers, possibly a teacher.

When George kills, he does so mercilessly; without an ounce of pity. He also wants his victims to know they are going to die by his hand. For this reason, Derek Morgan survives an attack later in the episode, as he was unconscious at the time. To make up for it, the Reaper leaves behind a .44 Magnum round to let him know that he could have killed him.

Serial vs. Spree
George Foyet is a hybrid serial/spree killer. He goes on multiple killing sprees with very short cooling off periods between, then may go into hiding for months or years only to begin again. Unlike a typical spree killer, George has no desire to die himself. But unlike a serial killer, George kills multiple victims at once--usually using firearms. For this reason, it is difficult to classify him in either category. He could be a new "breed" of killer that may be classified later.

Modus Operandi
The Reaper dressed in a black trench coat, with a black hooded sweatshirt, a black resin paintball mask and black leather gloves. He spoke with a low, guttural growl, adding to his already fearsome appearance. He usually attacked couples in cars on unpopulated highways at night, approaching them with some kind of ruse, like pretending to be a lost traveler (when he killed the Lanessas, he pretended to be a cop).

George's M.O. would always vary, as would his victimology. His victims were of both sexes and all sorts of ages and races. He would either stab them with a small sickle-like knife, shoot them with a .44 Magnum S&W Model 629 or bludgeon them with some incidental object, like a tire iron. The only solid victimology he had was that he would always stab his teenage female victims, they younger they were, the more time he would take, since the stabbing was a substitute for sexual penetration. During the massacre on the bus in Omnivore, he used a pair of his usual revolvers to put most of the victims down, then finished them off with his knife.

After the murders, George would take some item from his victims, like a watch, a pair of glasses or a piece of jewelry, and put that item on his next victim, in order to make sure the police would know that he was the killer. He would also paint the Eye of Providence and/or the word "FATE" in his victims' blood. Also, until he killed Amanda Bertram and injured himself, he would call 911 so emergency workers would find his victims. He stopped doing this after they saved him.

Real-life Comparisons
In Omnivore, Hotch draws parallels between the Reaper, the BTK Killer and the Zodiac Killer, describing them as "disciplined, sadistic killers who name themselves for the press". Like the Reaper, Son of Sam and the Zodiac killed or attempted to kill at least one couple while they were seated in a car. Foyet almost always targeted people on unpopulated highways and killed them in different ways while Son of Sam usually attacked people in their cars on streets and the Zodiac killed Darlene Ferrin and attempted to kill Michael Mageau, his third and fourth victims, when they were on a golf course at night. Also, like Zodiac, BTK and Son of Sam, Foyet enjoys taunting the police. In one of his letters, Zodiac claimed he would "hit a school bus". In Omnivore, Foyet hijacked a night bus and killed the driver and the passengers. Like in the case of BTK, a book was written about Foyet suggesting that he had been arrested on an unrelated charge or killed.

Known Victims

 * 1995-1998 19 unnamed victims
 * 1/19 1996 Amanda Bertram, his girlfriend (was stabbed 67 times)
 * 2009 Nina Hale and Evan Harvey (she was stabbed several times, he was bludgeoned, then shot)
 * 2009 Arthur and Diane Lanessa (stabbed him in the throat, shot her)
 * 2009 7 unnamed victims aboard a bus, including the driver (were put down with guns, then finished off by stabbing)
 * 2009 Sgt. Michael O'Mara
 * 2009 Derek Morgan (attempted)
 * 2009 Roy Colson (attempted)
 * 2009 Aaron Hotchner (stabbed him multiple times, left him to live, even dropped him off at the ER to be saved)
 * 2009 U.S. Marshall Sam Kessmeyer

Quotes
George Foyet: Do you have any idea how long it takes to stab someone 67 times?

The Reaper: (to Hotch) You should have made the deal.

The Reaper: Are you scared? You should be.

The Reaper: (pretending to be a cop) I'm gonna let you off with a warning.

Arthur Lanessa: A warning? For what?

The Reaper: You were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Arthur Lanessa: Excuse me?

(The Reaper stabs him in the throat)

Bus Driver: Just take the money. Nobody needs to get hurt.

The Reaper: Actually, they do.

(shoots him in the head)

The Reaper: (holding a gun to Derek's head) Wake up, Derek. It's time to die.

George Foyet: (from Faceless, Nameless promo, to Hotch) How's my friend, agent Morgan?

George Foyet: (from Faceless, Nameless promo) Try to relax, the blade goes in so much easier.

Appearances

 * Season Four
 * Omnivore
 * To Hell and Back, part 2
 * Season Five
 * Faceless, Nameless
 * 100