Aiden Keller

“	You want to know what this is about? I'll show you.	”
	— Aiden's last words

Aiden Keller was a violently psychotic budding serial killer, abductor and enucleator who appeared in the Evolution episode "Contagion".

History[]

"You remember this? They used to use it on us when we were bad. You know, we learned really quickly what we were supposed to do with this thing came out. But the worst was when it would come out just because. So Nancy, if you're wondering why I'm doing this...it's just because."
- Aiden's threat to Nancy Daley

Little is revealed about Aiden's life. He was one of the five "Gold Star" children at Stuart House, a fake reform school, kids who were violently experimented on due to their traumatic pasts to turn them into brainwashed, cold-blooded killers. Aiden, like the other kids, were terrorized, beaten, tortured, including with electrified prods, and sexually brutalized. One day, he removed the eyeballs of an orderly who'd molested him and was arrested as a result. It became evident that Aiden was irreparably broken from his trauma and, although psychotic, wasn't suggestible to domineering influence, so he was kicked out and left to fend for himself. All of the records of abuse at the Stuart House were eventually covered up.

On January 9, 2023, he checked himself in to a mental health facility after he reported "hearing voices", where he remained for the next 30 days. After being released, Aiden began targeting staff who'd worked at the Stuart House, abducting Caroline and Timothy Leo and holding them at the site of the school, which had been abandoned in 2015.

Contagion[]

Aiden is first seen once Timothy wakes up, finding himself tied to a chair and Caroline gagged while she's also tied. Aiden, in a hoodie, appears and asks if Timothy recognizes who he is and where they are. When Timothy denies this, Aiden pulls out a pocketknife, saying he'll remind Timothy. While Caroline screams, Aiden prepares to cut out Timothy's eyes, which he does off-screen before killing the Leos and moving their remains. He then breaks into receptionist Nancy Daley's home and knocks her out to abduct her, Nancy's daughter seeing the whole thing.

Aiden confronts Nancy when she's woken up, also tied down at Stuart House, and he mutters at her his hatred over the torture the orderlies put the kids through, torturing Nancy with an electric prod to demonstrate. The BAU then barge in, having figured out his location. Aiden scrambles back and holds Nancy at knifepoint, yelling that they don't understand and that they don't know what they did. Prentiss reassures him and asks him to tell them about Gold Star. Realizing that they are oblivious, Aiden prepares to cut Nancy's throat and is shot in the head by Rossi, killing him instantly. They briefly believe he has nothing to do with Gold Star, but their original suspicions are confirmed more definitively as the case progresses.

Modus Operandi[]

Aiden targeted former staff at Stuart House still living in Utah, along with their family members if they weren't children. He would break into their homes to knock them out and abduct them, then tie them to chairs at the abandoned property of Stuart House. Aiden would interrogate them over recognizing him and remembering the crimes at Stuart House. As he escalated, he tortured with one of the facility's electric prods to force out answers. Especially in front of any present loved ones held hostage with them, Aiden would enucleate the victims while they were still alive, then shot all present victims once in each of their chests. They would be left to be found dead at outdoor isolated fields. When he took Nancy hostage, he held her at knifepoint and attempted to slash her throat to kill her.

Profile[]

"You see, I wanna believe you. But you didn't save me the first time."

Initially there were conflicting profiles, as Prentiss believed that Keller was Gold Star. She established that the Unsub was handed off to the school where Timothy Leo taught. He suffered horrendous trauma. Beatings, deprivation, possible sеxual abuse. He gets out. He becomes a hired killer, and when he takes the strike force out, it awakens something in him. He becomes an injustice collector, and he goes back to where it all started.

Rossi believed that the Unsub was simply somebody who is angry at parents who give their kids up to reform schools, and that this Unsub is not Gold Star.

Known Victims[]

Unspecified date: An unnamed orderly (removed their eyes; it is unknown if they survived)
2023, February:
- Provo, Utah: Caroline and Timothy Leo (dumped at a local camp site)
  - Timothy Leo (removed his eyes and shot in the chest)
  - Caroline Leo (shot in the chest)
- Salt Lake City: Nancy Daley (abducted, tied up, electrocuted, and attempted to slash her throat; was rescued)

Notes[]

Keller is somewhat similar to Sebastian Hurst ("Under the Skin") - Both were killers who at least one member of the BAU initially believed to be another active killer they were hunting due to having similar killing methods (Hurst and Everett Lynch removed specific parts of their victim's skin, Keller and Damien Booth enucleated their victims). While both cases were eventually proven to be the work of separate killers, the killers originally suspected did have some kind of connection to the former.

Appearances[]

Season Two
- "Contagion"
- "Kingdom of the Blind" (mentioned)
- "Conspiracy vs. Theory" (mentioned)
- "Save the Children" (mentioned)