| “ | SYL, Miss P. By the way, I do miss my mom. | ” |
— Chris to Garcia
| ||
Christopher "Chris" Summers is the unwilling accomplice of his father, Will Summers. They appeared in the Season Five episode of Criminal Minds, "Risky Business".
Background[]
Chris apparently had an average childhood during his early years. However, when his mother Cynthia died after being fatally poisoned by his father Will, he began dressing in black and went to three different schools within two years. The latter fact dealt a terrible blow to his social skills due to the constant changing of his surroundings. Will, suffering from Münchausen Syndrome by proxy, soon began choking Chris to unconsciousness and reviving him, over and over again. Chris'clothes hid his physical scars, so nobody apparently noticed he was being brutalized. In an effort to divert his father's abuse elsewhere, Chris helped him set up a website called "The Choking Game", which dared teenagers to choke themselves in order to attain pleasure from it. Operating under the username DarkSoul634, the two took turns posting dares, before Will would be called to the scene as an EMT to revive the kids. But things went too far when two pairs of teenagers died after accepting the dares and choking themselves. All the while, Chris remained reluctant in his actions but stayed silent in order to protect his father.
Risky Business[]
"I don't wanna die..."
When Garcia looks through the computer of one of the victims, she uncovers "The Choking Game." It has set up a competition for the upcoming Friday, pitting several students from two different schools against each other. Since the website is the authorities' only way to catch the unsub, Garcia doesn't shut it down. The BAU give the investigators the profile of the unsub and begin informing teachers and parents about the warning signs and students about auto-erotic asphyxiation. While lecturing at the James E. Evans High School, Reid tells the class about Ryan's death, describing graphically how it occurred. When he is finished, Chris claims they are lying, much to the bewilderment of the class. When a suspicious Morgan asks him to tell the group his opinions about the matter, he gets up from his desk and, realizes everyone in the class now suspect him, panics and flees through the door. When he runs down a flight of stairs, he runs into a cart and is caught. When Reid and Morgan look under his necklace, they find that he had choked himself multiple times.
Chris is deemed a likely candidate for being the unsub and taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries. Will arrives and claims he is innocent. Chris' computer is confiscated and searched through by Garcia, who has difficulties breaking through its defenses. As Reid and Morgan are unable to extract any information from Chris, Hotch sends in Garcia as Chris would relate better to her. They do get along from their computer skills and experience with only cultures, as well as not fitting in and caring about family. During the interview, Will invokes. Before they leave, Chris discreetly hands Garcia his earring through a handshake. Using his mother's name as a password, she then manages to enter the system. Meanwhile, the BAU look through the family's medical records and the records of the game site's chat. They learn about Cynthia's poisonings and that Chris had bruises on his chest identical to those that occurred during CPR. Realizing that Will, being a Fire Department EMT, is trained in CPR, they determine that he manipulated Chris into creating the website, the earring handed to Garcia being a cry for help to be saved from Will or to say goodbye. They hurry after him as he is about to take copies of the recordings of the victims' deaths. Using clues left by Chris during his conversation with Garcia, they track him down to the graveyard where Cynthia is buried. When Will's attempts to download the videos are blocked by Garcia, he begins choking Chris. The BAU then storm in and arrest him, saving Chris.
Appearances[]
- Season Five
- Season Eleven
- "A Badge and a Gun" (referenced)