Ethan Howard is an ephebophilic statutory rapist, and later abductor who appeared in the Season Fourteen episode "The Tall Man".
Background
Not much is known about his growing up. Ethan Howard was a Guidance Counselor during Roslyn Jareau's adult and JJ's childhood time. He continued becoming a guidance counselor and a teacher. At some point, he became a pedophile where he entered into a relationship with Roslyn and gave her a heart-shaped necklace to tell her that he loved her. At some time, JJ and her family found out about the affair where it got into an argument and caused Roslyn to pass the heart-shaped necklace to JJ and Roslyn later committed suicide. He appeared at Roslyn's funeral and that was the last time he and JJ saw each other.
The Tall Man
He appears in the episode as the fable "The Tall Man" where one night, he abducts and drugs the victims Chelsea Davis, Bethany Wilson, and Ally McCready. There, he ties Chelsea and Bethany up and tortures them with a razor blade while asking "Where is it?" while Ally screams. Because Ally is a schizophrenic, he drugs her with Fentanyl and leaves her in the forest. He appears later where he greets JJ civilly and tells her that he hasn't seen her in awhile after Roslyn's funeral. He gives her information about the victims, Chelsea, Bethany, and Ally. As JJ is reminiscing some memories that she had about her sister, the team helps her to get involved in the case by helping Ally to remember by using a technique for schizophrenics to remember where Ethan took Ally and her friends. Ally is able to tell the BAU that of "a tunnel and on the ceiling had pink stars on it". The BAU rushes to find Chelsea stabbed by Bethany and rushes her to the hospital where Chelsea recognizes the necklace JJ is wearing is the same necklace Bethany had.
Later, Ethan gets a call from Bethany at the school where she tells him that she stabbed Chelsea and found out where the necklace is hidden. Then, Ethan arrives at the school where he assaults, knocks Bethany unconscious. The BAU and JJ soon realize that Ethan is the unsub all along. They obtain a warrant for his house and JJ bluffs her way in making Ethan admit what happened. JJ, Alvez, and Simmons are able to find Bethany stored underneath the electrical tech system of the school JJ grew up in and find her stuffed in a box with a fentanyl patch. Bethany survives and is arrested for attempted murder of Chelsea and being an accomplice. After the incident, JJ becomes enraged for someone like Ethan using Rosyln's insecurities and trust for his sexual pleasures. He is then arrested by JJ. Ethan is last seen where Bethany is handcuffed as well and they both look at each other. Then, Bethany slaps him and they are both taken away.
Modus Operandi
Ethan would go after female girls around teenage or adult age when they are going through a hard time either at school, personal life, and at home. His signature is to give a female a gold heart-shaped necklace to let them know he "loves them and will care for them." For Roslyn Jareau, he would gain her trust by being supportive and understanding of her troubles. It is possible when Roslyn committed suicide, he would pretend to be close to the Jareau family about their loss and promise of "trying to help them move on." Because the necklace was given to JJ before Roslyn's death, he didn't risk seducing JJ because he felt that JJ will find out or because "she is tough and stronger" and because JJ being eleven of age at the time was underage. He didn't want to risk himself being caught.
For Chelsea, Bethany, and Ally, he would drug them with fentanyl and take them to an abandoned train with "pink stars on the ceiling". He tied Chelsea up so that she wouldn't escape and tied Bethany up so that way she can easily escape. Because Ally is a schizophrenic, he believed he could use it as an advantage by having her drugged and leaving her in the forest believing that no one would believe her and no one will find the rest of her friends. He gave Bethany a burner phone for her to use to call him and lure her to the school where he would put her in an unconscious state and place a Fentanyl patch on her and lock her up in a box underneath the school where no one can find her.
Profile
No official profile of Ethan is made by the BAU as they thought that they were looking for a boyfriend around a teenage to adult age. This was however mistaken when they realized that they are looking for someone who was older. When Rossi helped JJ to remember her past again, he described the unsub as a male who would take advantage of female's insecurities at home and make them trust him long enough for them to lower their defenses. JJ also stated that the unsub kept jewelry as trophies which talks about their victims and to get them to like and trust him.
Known Victims
- Roslyn Jareau
- Chelsea Davis
- Bethany Wilson
- Ally McCready