| “ | You are home, Allison. | ” |
— Anita
| ||
Anita Roycewood (née Weld) was a serial killer, abductor, and the dominant partner of a husband-and-wife killing team with her husband Roger. They appeared in the Season Five episode of Criminal Minds, "Mosley Lane".
Background[]
Not much is known about Anita, other than her family owned a funeral home. She eventually married Roger Roycewood, an electrician. In 1999, the two, for unspecified reasons, abducted Karla Hartaway from Garrisonville, Virginia, and kept her as if she were her own child. They repeated this abduction process once every following year. Whenever any of the children grew too old or ambivalent, Anita would kill them by drugging them and burning their unconscious bodies in the funeral home's crematorium.
Mosley Lane[]
See section on The Roycewoods page
Modus Operandi[]
See section on The Roycewoods page
Real-Life Comparisons[]
Anita appears to be inspired by Gordon Northcott - Both were serial killers and abductors with two accomplices, at least one a relative and one a victim of physical and sexual abuse by them, targeted children of the same age ranges, and disposed of the children's remains on their properties. Also, the traumatized mother of Charlie Hillridge connecting his disappearance to the murders is a likely nod to Christina Collins, the mother of victim Walter Collins, Jr., being illegally committed to a mental hospital by the LAPD when they brought her a different boy, her fight to find the truth leading to the revelation of Northcott's murders.
Anita may have been inspired by Gilles de Rais - Both were serial killers and abductors who killed underage victims and cremated them (although Rais did it post-mortem while Anita did it ante-mortem) and disposed of their ashes with the help of accomplices.
Both Anita and her husband seem to have been inspired by Helmuth Schmidt - Both three were serial killers (The Roycewoods collectively, while Schmidt is suspected) who killed their victims in a place with a crematorium, used said crematorium to incinerate their victims and scattered their ashes, both Roger and Schmidt married a woman named Anita, their spouses were suspected of being their accomplices (though it was actually true and Anita was the dominant partner in the Roycewoods' case), and both Roger and Schmidt committed suicide before they could be convicted of their crimes.
Lastly, she seems to have been inspired by Dean Corll - Both were serial killers and abductors who used two submissive male accomplices to provide new victims for them, (one of whom they abducted themselves). Both intended to kill a victim when they were stopped at gunpoint by one accomplice. They both also attempted to laugh off the threat and tried to retrieve the gun before being shot and killed. Anita's husband being an electrician might be another nod to Corll, who worked as an electrician at the time of his death.
Known Victims[]
Note: All of the dates denote when and where the victims were abducted
- Virginia:
- Unspecified date in 1999, Garrisonville: Karla Hartaway, 8
- Unspecified date in 2001, Bowling Green: Ryan Dowerman, 8
- March 3, 2002, Leesburg: Charlie Hillridge (Anita later attempted to kill him; he escaped on March 3, 2010)
- February 11, 2003, Arlington: Stephen Shepherd (abducted from a toy store; killed by Anita on March 2, 2010)
- January 14, 2004, Linden: Dylan Hedgecliff
- June 12, 2005, Purcellville: Danny Kenman, 7 (abducted from a mall)
- April 4, 2006, Manassas: Mae Hall (Anita later attempted to kill her; she escaped on March 3, 2010)
- September 24, 2006,[1] Culpepper: Tracie Caine, 9 (abducted from a park)
- September 6, 2007,[1] Lynchburg: Kayla Pargrave, 6
- June 13, 2008,[1] Auburn: Austin Manford, 7
- March 15, 2009, Fredericksburg: Hannah Bidon, 6
- March 2, 2010, Ashburn: Aimee Lynch, 8 (Anita later attempted to kill her; she escaped the next day)
Trivia[]
- The dates of Tracie Caine, Kayla Pargrave, and Austin Manford's abductions are listed a year later on the BAU's evidence board than they are on Garcia's computer screen. This is most likely an error on the designer's part.