“ | Last chance. Something you'd never say aloud. Not even to your partner here. Your deepest, darkest secret. Impress me or I kill him. | ” |
— Pinkner to JJ
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Casey Allen Pinkner was a proxy killer and thrill killer who appeared in the Season Fourteen episode "Truth or Dare".
Background
Not much information is known about Casey's past prior to the events of "Truth or Dare", but it is stated that he was involved in a head on collision after drinking too much due to a game of truth or dare. He tried to fight the accusations in court by saying that the crash was an accident, but the jury didn't believe him. This caused him to spiral out of control and go on a killing spree to seek his revenge on the people that got him incarcerated. According to Garcia, he has been in and out of the system, took odd jobs, and had problems with drinking.
Truth or Dare
Casey manipulates Mark Zabel through a series of killings and threatens that if he doesn't follow his instructions, Lynn would be killed. When he finds out that Mark committed suicide by cop, he kills Lynn and then moves on with getting back at Melissa Hamilton, the judge who sentenced him, and threatens to kill her daughter if she doesn't play by his rules. But by then, the BAU was already on to him and a chase ensues where he is chased by JJ and Reid into a nearby jewelry shop. The agents tell everyone to get out and Casey fires his firearm into the air, resulting in the shoppers leaving. JJ and Reid try to get Casey to surrender and drop his gun, but he refuses and forces Melissa to point the gun he gave her at them, forces the agents to put their guns down, forces Melissa to toss the weapons aside, and forces the jewelry shop owner to shut down the jewelry shop.
Meanwhile outside the jewelry shop, the BAU and the police try to come up with a plan to get inside but decide to establish a line of communications instead because barging would be too risky and would result in the deaths of the hostages (including JJ and Reid).
Afterwards, he forces Melissa to tie up JJ and Reid before blaming her for the involvement of the agents, telling her that the incident he was involved in was an accident and that Mark was the one who told him to get behind the wheel before shoving the jewelry shop owner to the ground and coercing her to shoot her. However, he is interrupted by JJ who tells him that the jewelry shop owner had nothing to do with his plans and that she should be released. He walks over to JJ and tells her that he wasn't talking to her before he forces the jewelry shop owner to her feet and shoots her, resulting in critical injury. Reid looks at the broken mirror in order to seize an opportunity to grab a glass shard, but he is caught by Casey. Casey then comes up with a new plan for Melissa: either kill JJ or Reid or risk having her daughter killed. Melissa hesitates and he tries to get her to focus on the task at hand but is interrupted a second time when the telephone rings. Reid suggests that Casey answers it, but Casey tells him to shut up and disconnects the phone line before telling Melissa to remain focused and pull the trigger. JJ decides to play along with Casey's game when Melissa continues to hesitate. Reid tells Casey that he knows what it's like being incarcerated in prison for a crime that they didn't commit, but Casey doesn't believe him. While JJ buys time by engaging with Casey in his game, Reid seizes the chance to grab a nearby shard of glass and hides it behind him. JJ and Casey take turns in telling a series of truths. The first truth JJ tells is that she shot another person. Casey tries to get her to respond if she enjoyed it but becomes furious when she responds with "no", ousts her as a "liar" and nearly shoots Reid. JJ responds that it's the truth, but that she had no other choice. While they move on to JJ's turn to ask truth or dare, Reid slowly cuts away at his bonds.
JJ asks Casey "truth or dare" to which he responds with "truth". JJ asks what it will take for everyone to walk out of the jewelry shop alive and ending the standoff peacefully. Casey becomes suspicious and tells her that he isn't going back to prison before telling her it's his turn to ask. JJ tells him "Truth" and Casey asks her to say something that she is afraid to say and that she wouldn't tell anyone and that she better make it "good" before threatening to kill her if she is lying.
JJ tells him that there are only four people she trusts in the world, but he finds the response "boring" and shoots Melissa in the leg before demanding for the next response. JJ then tries to use her unborn baby that she lost as an excuse and that she wanted to name it "Meggie", but Casey tells her that she is wrong and that she could do better than making up answers. Reid tries to interject, but Casey tells him to shut up before shoving JJ to the ground and giving her one last chance to come up with a good response that she'd never say aloud (not even to Reid) and to impress him otherwise he would kill Reid. JJ tells Reid that she had always loved him, but she was too afraid to tell him.
Casey is colored impressed, and he tells Reid that those were some good last words, but then he points his gun at JJ and tells her that they're not good enough to save her life.
Before Casey can shoot JJ, Reid shoots him with a gun he had in his leg holster, and he falls over dead onto the floor.
After the standoff ends, all the hostages are rescued.
Modus Operandi
Casey targeted everyone involved in his manslaughter case and the resulting trial. For the people he blamed the most, he abducted a loved one and held them captive, threatening to murder them if they didn't comply with his demands. When he used Mark Zabel, he made Mark killed victims by staking them, ramming into their cars with one he stole, and shooting the victim while they were incapacitated in the driver's seat. When Mark was shot by police, Casey shot Mark's wife and Casey's hostage Lynn in a rage and to eliminate a witness.
When he used Judge Melissa Hamilton, he planned to use for crimes unknown, but he changed plans when police were after them. Casey fired shots in a jewelry store to scare everyone out, took a woman hostage, and ordered her to lock the store and pull the phone line. Casey tried to make Judge Hamilton kill one of the agents, shooting and wounding the hostage and shooting Judge Hamilton in her leg when she refused. When JJ distracted Casey, he changed his M.O., where when she didn't follow his questions or dares or convince him with revealing secrets to make him feel powerful, he threatened to kill someone in the standoff. Casey planned to shoot JJ anyway in spite of her compliance, but Reid shot him dead to stop him.
Profile
He is a puppet master where he turns other people to do his dirty work to increase his ego and the challenge.
Real-Life Comparison
Casey appears to be heavily inspired by Omar Mateen - Both are spree killers (by proxy in Pinkner's case) with histories of fighting in school, were cited for disciplinary problems, were exhilarated by exposure to violence (Pinkner was a symphorophiliac, Mateen watched Islamic extremist terrorism videos online), got into standoffs with law enforcement inside public businesses, and were ultimately shot and killed.
Known Victims
- Unnamed driver and four unnamed passengers (killed in a head on collision prior to the events of "Truth or Dare")
- Mark Zabel (coerced into killing the people who put Casey behind bars or risk having his wife killed; shot by the police)
- Andrea Hinojosa (hit by a pickup truck while in her sedan; shot twice in the chest at close range by Mark Zabel)
- Paul Burke (hit by an SUV while driving his truck; shot twice in the chest at close range by Mark Zabel)
- Charlie Sturgill (was intended to be the next target for Mark to kill, but Mark was killed before the action could be carried out)
- Lynn Zabel (Mark's wife; shot twice in the chest)
- Candace Hamilton (abducted; was rescued after the standoff at the jewelry shop)
- Melissa Hamilton (held hostage, coerced into tying up JJ and Reid and shooting them and an unnamed hostage, shot in the leg; was rescued after the standoff at the jewelry shop)
- Unnamed jewelry shop owner (held hostage, coerced into locking down the jewelry shop, shot at; was rescued after the standoff)
- Jennifer Jareau (held hostage, tied up, partook in Casey's game of "Truth or Dare", attempted to shoot (but was shot by Reid before he could pull the trigger); was rescued after the standoff at the jewelry shop)
- Spencer Reid (held hostage, tied up, attempted to shoot; was rescued after the standoff at the jewelry shop)