Killing Team

A Killing Team is a term used to describe several (usually two) people who commit murderous crimes together, such as serial killers or school shooters. The typical formula of a Killing Team is that there is one dominant partner who usually does most (if not all) the killing and a submissive partner who obeys the dominant one's orders and usually supplies them with more victims.

On Criminal Minds[]

Killing teams featured on Criminal Minds.

Season Two
- The Canardos ("The Perfect Storm") - A couple who abducted, tortured, and killed teen girls and women.
- The Mulford Family ("Open Season") - A family of sadistic killers who hunted victims in the woods like animals.
Season Three
- Gary and Ervin Robles ("Children of the Dark") - Two foster brothers who killed families (Gary would kill the parents, who acted as surrogates for his abusive foster parents, while Ervin killed the children so they would not have to end up like them) in a series of home invasion-homicides.
- Francis Goehring and Henry Frost ("Identity") - A pair of killers and abductors, in which Frost would abduct women, then Goehring would rape, torture, and eventually kill them. After Goehring committed suicide, Frost completely took up his identity and attempted to finish his work.
Season Four
- The Soul Mates ("Soul Mates") - Two neighbors who committed a series of murders after befriending each other because of their psychopathic behaviors.
- The Romani Family ("Bloodline") - A "gypsie" family who murdered dozens of parents and abducted their children, to brainwash them and continue the tradition.
- The Turner Brothers ("To Hell and Back, Part 1" and "To Hell and Back, Part 2") - Two brothers, one the paralyzed leader, and the other the dim-witted brawn, who conducted gruesome experiments on dozens of high-risk victims.
Season Five
- Turner's Group ("Hopeless") - A trio of construction workers who killed random people for the thrill of it.
- The Reimanns ("Cradle to Grave") - A husband-and-wife team who would abduct teenage girls and rape them in order to 'recreate' their lost son Michael.
- The Roycewoods ("Mosley Lane") - A husband-and-wife team who abducted and killed nine children.
- Robert Matthew Burke and Juliet Monroe ("...A Thousand Words") - A couple who would abduct and hold women captive in their home for a year before being killed by the former.
Season Six
- Lee Mullens and Colby Bachner ("Remembrance of Things Past") - A father-and-son team who would abduct, torture, and kill women.
- Raymond Donovan and Sydney Manning ("The Thirteenth Step) - A married couple who committed an interstate killing spree before going after their fathers to get revenge for molesting them as kids.
- The Breakaway IRA Faction ("Valhalla" and "Lauren") - A terrorist group led by Ian Doyle that became active again after he escaped from jail.
Season Seven
- The Collins Family ("A Family Affair") - A family whose son, Jeffrey, was paralyzed in a car crash caused by his father's drinking. Enraged, Jeff began murdering women he attempted to have sex with (his paralysis left him impotent), and his parents cleaned up after him.
- The Face Cards ("Hit" and "Run") - An anarchistic team of bank robbers who robbed banks in order to fund an attack on the U.S. Government.
Season Eight
- Ellen Russell and Darlene Beckett ("The Pact") - Two women who embarked on a vigilante mission to murder anyone they suspected of committing heinous crimes against the duos' family members.
- David Roy Turner and Toby Whitewood ("The Apprenticeship") - A man and teenager who progressed from simply killing animals to murdering prostitutes.
- Moore Brothers ("The Wheels on the Bus") - Two brothers who abducted a bus of high school students and forced them to take part in a real-life version of a video game they were both obsessed with.
- Raoul Whalen and Tess Mynock ("Alchemy") - A married couple who went after men that resembled Tess' ex-boyfriend, letting them stay at the hotel they worked at before Tess fatally poisoned them.
Season Nine
- John Nichols and Sam Russell ("The Black Queen") - A pair of hackers who killed prostitutes after meeting each other.
- The Andersons ("Mr. & Mrs. Anderson") - A married couple that would have sex after the husband killed the couples' victims.
- Joe Bachner and Daria Samsen ("The Edge of Winter") - A team consisting of a serial killer and one of his victims. Unlike most killing teams on the show, Daria was an unwilling partner in Joe's crimes until she developed Stockholm Syndrome.
Season Eleven
- The Outlaw Bikers ("Outlaw") - A group of murderous bikers and drug addicts who committed robberies at various places and murdered the teenage employees there.
Season Thirteen
- The Capilano Brothers ("The Capilanos") - Two brothers who robbed several houses, eventually jumping to murdering the residents (though Sal did the killing).
Season Fourteen
- The Elgins ("Starter Home") - A couple who abducted and killed women who were surrogate mothers for their grandson.
- The Wells Brothers ("Twenty Seven") - Two brothers who committed a machete slashing spree against a city who they blamed for the death of their third brother, Thomas.
Season One (Evolution)
- The Bruneau Brothers ("Pay-Per-View") - Two brothers who lured security guards to residences and killed them, forcing the away homeowners to watch, with the homeowners being surrogates for their security contractor father.
Season Three (Evolution)
- Malcolm Ramsey and Brad Falco ("I'm Fine, It's Fine. Everything is Fine.") - A former doctor and paramedic who kidnapped homeless women, after which Ramsey would skin them and Falco would sell their bodies.
Novels
- David Yarno and Becker Chapin (Jump Cut) - A duo of serial killers who murdered vagrants in an attempt to make a 'perfect horror film'.
- The Silvans (Finishing School) - A duo of abductors and killers (though only Suzanne was a killer) who abducted, cared for, and eventually murdered a set of girls.

On Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders[]

List of killing teams on the spin-off series Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

Season One
- Natalie Knox and Nick Jamison ("The Ballad of Nick & Nat") - A couple of spree killers and abductors who killed citizens who sympathized with the U.S.
- The Tuareg Brothers ("Citizens of the World") - A brother trio of serial killers and abductors who abducted tourists and held them for ransom in order to pay for their dying mother's medical bills.
- Xavi and Simon Alonso ("El Toro Bravo") - A father-and-son team of serial killers, abductors, and torturers who killed tourists who they believed disrespected Spain's annual Running of the Bulls event.
Season Two
- The Gonzalez Sisters ("La Huesuda") - A sister duo of spree killers, abductors, and enucleators who killed people as part of a ritual they believed would invoke Santa Muerte.

Real-World Examples[]

Real-world killing teams.