Eric Rawdon

CRIMINAL
Name	Eric Rawdon
Gender	Male
Birth Date	December 2, 1986
Pathology	Homegrown Terrorist Cop Killer Unclassified Killer Proxy Killer
Modus Operandi	Shooting Proxy murder by shooting
No. of Victims	1 killed 10+ killed by proxy 2 attempted 6+ attempted by proxy
Status	Incarcerated
Portrayed By	Jonathan Camp
First Appearance	"The Storm"

“	You'll never stop it in time. Boom.	”
	— Rawdon

Eric Rawdon is a psychopathic homegrown terrorist and the leader of a group of anarchists, who appears in the Criminal Minds Season Eleven episode "The Storm".

Background

Born on December 2, 1986, further details about Rawdon's personal life are never elaborated on. He was a sadistic psychopath who wanted to destroy for the sake of it, and as a result, he joined the community of anarchists, which he presumably felt allowed the most leeway for him to provoke large-scale chaos. Hotch's profile on him also mentioned he joined white supremacy groups such as the Aryan Nations, though that was never elaborated on. Rawdon became prominent in the anarchist community and managed to rally dozens (and possibly hundreds) under his leadership, recruiting and training them into homegrown terrorists. However, Rawdon never shared their beliefs and simply wanted to cause chaos through them. At some point, he began interacting with an autistic man named Asher Douglas, who he manipulated into participating in his plan of staging a large-scale attack against the U.S. On December 24, 2013, he was arrested in Arlington, Virginia, after breaking into a building and attempting to steal explosive chemical compounds; and later charged with burglary, breaking and entering, and criminal conspiracy. He was found guilty and sentenced to eighteen years in Virginia Supermax Prison. During his trial, Rawdon was profiled by Hotch, causing Rawdon to become vengeful towards him. While imprisoned, his followers began concocting a scheme to break him out.

The Storm

In 2016, the group conducts their plan under Rawdon's supervision, and they eventually manage to free him and numerous other inmates. Rawdon makes it into the control room, where he kills a responding prison guard. After Captain Grant Howard and a SWAT team are killed by Rawdon's followers, Rawdon re-enters the control room, relishes in the dead bodies around him, and orders his followers to disguise themselves as SWAT and guards by stealing their victims' clothes. Johnson informs him that the BAU is present in the serial killer wing and another cell block. Rawdon informs him that they will take care of the agents in the cell block and instructs Johnson to release the inmates in the serial killer wing, as he held them back for a reason. He then disguises himself as a SWAT agent, and the group enters the block where Reid, JJ, and a SWAT agent are at. Rawdon's accomplices kill the agent and shoot at Reid and JJ, who fire back, while Rawdon himself struggles to take out a flashbang grenade to use offensively. Hotch and SWAT agents arrive, with Hotch shooting and incapacitating Rawdon. In the process, Rawdon drops the flashbang grenade, which unintentionally incapacitates the other anarchists. Hotch then confronts Rawdon and demands him to reveal the location of a bomb the anarchists intend to use in an attack, but Rawdon smugly tells him that they will never stop it in time. However, Hotch deduces that the bomb is at the Ivory Tower, which a shocked Rawdon tries to angrily deny. He is then arrested while the BAU and SWAT manage to stop his remaining followers from escaping with the bomb.

Modus Operandi

The term "M.O." may be misused, as Rawdon was only known to have killed one victim. When he did, he shot that victim, a prison guard, in the head with a firearm. He later shot at and tried to throw a flashbang at Reid and JJ during a firefight between them and his accomplices.

Profile

Eric Rawdon is a malevolent psychopath with anarchistic tendencies. He exhibits multiple symptoms of Antisocial Personality Disorder. These traits most likely explain Rawdon's gravitation to white supremacy groups. Unlike most terrorists, he is motivated not by any political or ideological agenda but by a desire to create chaos and the thrill he gets from provoking large-scale hysteria. He is egotistical, obtaining gratification from personal power. He lacks empathy and feels no ethical remorse for the consequences of his actions.

On an interpersonal level, he has an incapacity for mutually intimate relationships or forging meaningful connections with others. Nevertheless, he is a master manipulator — someone highly charismatic who uses exploitation, coercion, and deceit in order to dominate or control those around him. His ability to work with the Aryan Nation despite not adhering to their ideology himself indicates an utter lack of any morality. His personal code is to simply cause as much fear and destruction as [he can]. - Aaron Hotchner's written profile of Rawdon

Later, during the Virginia Supermax Prison attack and break, Hotch briefly told Rawdon that he was "too compulsive to deviate" from set patterns while trying to deduce the location of the anarchists' bomb.

Known Victims

Personal Victims

• September 28, 2016: The Virginia Supermax Prison attack:
  • Unnamed prison guard (shot in the head)
  • Spencer Reid and Jennifer Jareau (attempted, shot at, but missed, then attempted to throw a flashbang at them)

Proxy Victims

• September 28, 2016:
  • The Virginia Supermax Prison attack and break:
    • At least four unnamed prison guards (killed by anarchists for their uniforms)
    • The control room massacre:
      • Two unnamed inmates (manipulated a SWAT team into killing them)
      • Captain Grant Howard (shot in the neck by Johnson)
      • Two unnamed SWAT agents (both killed by anarchists)
    • Tara Lewis (attempted; Johnson sent Leonard Ennis and several serial killers to kill her, but they failed)
    • The E Cell Block shootout:
      • Kershaw or Bring (first name unrevealed; shot by Johnson and other anarchists)
      • Spencer Reid and Jennifer Jareau (attempted; Rawdon, Johnson and other anarchists shot at both repeatedly, but missed)
  • The Ivory Tower shootout:
    • Aaron Hotchner (attempted; anarchists shot at him repeatedly but missed)
    • David Rossi (attempted; anarchists shot at him repeatedly but missed)
    • Spencer Reid (attempted; anarchists shot at him repeatedly but missed)
    • Jennifer Jareau (attempted; anarchists shot at her repeatedly but missed)
    • Tara Lewis (attempted; anarchists shot at her repeatedly but missed)
    • Several unnamed SWAT agents (attempted; anarchists shot at them repeatedly, but missed)
• Notes:
  • It is unknown if any other victims were killed or almost killed by his anarchists in three other prisons breaks across the U.S.
  • He also planned to commit at least one terrorist bombing, though it failed and it was unknown where it would happen.
  • Lastly, it’s unknown what he was going to do with the explosive chemical compounds that he attempted to steal, as he was arrested for burglary before it was successful.

Appearances

Criminal Minds

Season Eleven

• "Devil's Backbone" (indirectly referenced)
• "The Storm"

Season Twelve

• "The Crimson King" (flashbacks)
• "Seek and Destroy" (referenced)
• "Green Light" (referenced)

Notes

• Rawdon is the third unsub in the show's history to impersonate a member of the BAU. He is also the first to do so through a third party and not do so personally, having manipulated Asher Douglas into posing as Hotch and splicing a threatening warning, leading to SWAT arresting Hotch as a cover for Rawdon's followers to break him out of prison. The others are:
  • Frank Breitkopf ("No Way Out" and "No Way Out II: The Evilution of Frank") - Targeting victims rescued by Gideon and the team to force them to locate Jane Hanratty, Brietkopf visited Rebecca Bryant, the former captive of budding serial killer and stalker Randall Garner, posing as Gideon, whom Rebecca hadn't met personally in the aftermath of her rescue, before murdering her while she was on the phone with the rest of the BAU (sans Gideon, who was considered a suspect in Brietkopf's murder of his girlfriend, Sarah Jacobs), attempting to warn her. Breitkopf appeared in Season Two.
  • George Foyet ("Omnivore", "To Hell and Back, Part 2" and "100") - After stabbing Hotch in his home, Foyet transported him to the hospital and checked him in using Morgan's FBI credentials in "Nameless, Faceless", which Foyet had previously stolen. Foyet appeared in Seasons Four and Five.
  • Peter Lewis ("Mr. Scratch", "The Crimson King", "Mirror Image" and "Wheels Up") - Following his escape from prison, Lewis used Reid's identity to purchase BDSM equipment for one of his victims to use in a series of forcibly induced copycat crimes. Later, in "Red Light", Lewis cloned Garcia's phone to send a text to Morgan as a ploy to lure the BAU into a vehicular ambush. Lewis is also the only unsub to impersonate more than one BAU team member. Lewis appeared in Seasons Ten, Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen.