| “ | Nobody believes a slut who cries wolf. | ” |
— Scobie to Diana Mitchell
| ||
Herman Scobie is a serial rapist, abductor, and copycat who attempted to pass off as the Piano Man in the Season Seven episode of Criminal Minds, "Unknown Subject".
Background[]
Not much about Scobie's life is disclosed in full detail, only that he was allergic to latex, used rubber made of neoprene, and worked as an orderly in three different hospitals. Eventually, he began following the crimes of a serial rapist known as "The Piano Man", presumably to gain attention from the media. Scobie made a scheme to pass off as the Piano Man, abducting and raping four of the rapist's past victims and intending to abduct and rape two more.
Unknown Subject[]
The first victim he abducted was the Piano Man's second victim, Brittany Anderson, who he abducted from a restaurant. However, he got several aspects of the Piano Man's M.O. wrong; he didn't play a piano ballad and personally talked to her and the other victims. Meanwhile, the real Piano Man somehow acquired information about Scobie's actions and killed one of his past victims, Vanessa Campbell, placing a piece of neoprene glove inside her throat post-mortem in order to set up Scobie, as Scobie targeted Vanessa and Regina Lampert specifically.
Eventually, Garcia manages to find Scobie and a team led by Rossi, Morgan, and JJ is sent to his house. There, Scobie attempts to escape, only to be subdued by Morgan, while JJ finds a stash of neoprene-made objects in his van. Scobie is arrested and interrogated by Prentiss, to whom he eventually recites a phrase said by Diana Mitchell, "Nobody believes a slut who cries wolf", which she had apparently retained subconsciously from him saying it to her while assaulting her. Diana, who was in the other room, breaks down and immediately identifies Scobie as her second attacker. However, while searching his house, the BAU discover that Scobie's taste in music is more recent than the piano ballads the Piano Man plays to his victims. Scobie confesses and admits he was planning to rape Vanessa and Regina as well, which leads to team tracking down the Real Piano man, Hamilton Bartholomew. By the end of the episode, Bartholomew is arrested, after being narrowly rescued from Regina when he targeted her too and she violently retaliated, and presumably incarcerated alongside Scobie.
Modus Operandi[]
Scobie copied the Piano Man's M.O. as accurately as possible when he assaulted his victims, using the medical records from their first assaults as his source, but he failed to play a piano ballad to said victims, an important part of the M.O. that wouldn't show up in medical records.
Profile[]
No official profile was made of Scobie since the profile the BAU made of the Piano Man was more directed towards Bartholomew.
Real-Life Comparison[]
Scobie appears to be partly based on Heriberto Seda - Both are copycats of unidentified serial criminals they obsessively researched, were motivated by attention from their own crimes, imitated the crimes with similar M.O.s that were modified (Seda shot and stabbed his victims in blitz-attacks before checking their IDs for their birthdays, Scobie didn't play a piano ballad during the rapes), targeted the victims for specific, mission-oriented purposes regarding them (Seda wanted to kill twelve people for the Zodiac signs, Scobie wanted to rape the women already raped by "The Piano Man"), were arrested before the criminal they copied, and even look similar in appearance and have the same first and last name initials.
Known Victims[]
- Unspecified dates:
- Brittany Anderson (second victim of the Piano Man)
- Susan Estrof (ninth victim of the Piano Man)
- Tammy Marlowe (eleventh victim of the Piano Man)
- 2012:
- Unspecified date: Diana Mitchell (third victim of the Piano Man; knocked her out by bashing her head against the floor of his van)
- January 24: Vanessa Campbell (fifth victim of the Piano Man; intended, but she was killed by The Piano Man before he could act)
- January 24-25: Regina Lampert (first victim of the Piano Man; intended, but she was arrested before he could act)