“ | What happened, it wasn't my fault. People can't keep blaming me! | ” |
— Keane
|
Leonard Keane is an elderly spree killer who appears in the Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior episode "Nighthawk".
Background[]
Leonard's son, Matthew, was a serial killer who killed and dismembered five women. The case got a massive amount of attention in the media and Leonard himself came under scrutiny as well, even being interviewed along with Matthew on TV at least once. He and Elaine were often harassed by protesters outside their home during Matthew's trial. The latter eventually suffered a breakdown and was confined to a hospital. Leonard's relation to Matthew also affected his work life at a construction site, where his coworkers alienated him and complained whenever they had to work with him. Michael Nolan, the father of one of Matthew's victims, kept up a campaign of personal harassments aimed at Leonard, vandalizing his car and sending him letters reading simply "WHY HER AND NOT YOU?" on the 14th of every month, the monthly anniversary of his daughter's death. Though Leonard got a restraining order against him, the harassments continued and he was nearly bankrupted by legal fees.
Nighthawk[]
While walking around in the middle of the night for an unknown reason, Leonard spots a man who closely resembles Matthew and snapped, following him around town. When the man went inside his car, Leonard smashed the car window open with a baseball bat owned by Matthew, which he presumably brought along incidentally, and dragged him out of the vehicle before bludgeoning him to death. Gaining a satisfaction from the murder, Leonard went on to search around town for more men who resembled Matthew for the rest of the night, killing a university student and a security guard. This led to the summoning of the Red Cell team.
The next day, Leonard gets fired from his job due to his increasingly violent behavior. Snapping again, he followed another man who resembled Matthew while he was jogging in the woods. When the two of them reached a secluded place, Leonard leapt out and bludgeoned the man to death. Before he could leave, Leonard hears the man's cell phone ring and answers it; it is the man's mother, who was jogging with him but fell behind. Remorsefully, Leonard tells the woman that he killed her son before hanging up. He then goes to the hospital and talks to Elaine before smothering her with a pillow, but hallucinations of Matthew stopped him from continuing. He proceeded to follow a man who resembled Matthew and an older man. But when the Red Cell team arrived at the crime scene, it is revealed that only the older man was killed. They realize that the unsub has switched his choice of victims.
With the help of Garcia, the Red Cell team deduces Leonard as the unsub before Cooper receives a call from Leonard himself. Leonard asks Cooper if he believes in forgiveness before getting out of his car and stalk towards Michael Nolan's house, his bat ready. Realizing that Leonard now intends to kill Nolan, the Red Cell team arrives at the house to find Leonard being held at gunpoint by Nolan. As Cooper approaches, Leonard taunts Nolan in hopes of goading him into killing him, stating that he always wanted to kill but was originally cowardly, and that he had apparently passed this gene to Michael. However, in a tense standoff, Cooper persuades Nolan to drop the gun, and the local police arrest Leonard.
At the end of the episode, Leonard revealed in the TV interview that he, Elaine, and Matthew found an injured night-hawk and took it in to tend to its injuries. When the time came for them to release the night-hawk, Matthew, in spite of his psychopathic tendencies, didn't do anything to ensure the bird's death and merely watched it as it flew away. Leonard states that he intends to remember his son that way.
Modus Operandi[]
Leonard bludgeoned his victims, who initially resembled his son Matthew, and who he found at random, to death with an aluminum baseball bat, which belonged to Matthew and was usually kept stored in his car. The amount of times he bludgeoned his victims would increase with each murder. While his first murder was impulsive, several of Leonard's subsequent ones showed some planning; when he attacked the university student, he smashed all nearby lights, and before he killed the security guard he managed to somehow coerce him into allowing him into his car. His usual signature was beating his victims to the point of near or total facial disfigurement. When he devolved and escalated further, he targeted people close to him, first an attempted mercy killing of his wife, then a man near his age, then Michael Nolan out of revenge for harassing him. When he was finally giving up, Leonard made a failed attempt to get Nolan to kill him out of both devastation and spite.
Profile[]
This unsub is a white male in his late 50s to mid 60s. He is a native of Oklahoma, possibly even Tulsa. He may have a record and the past crimes that he had committed still haunt him. Based on his victimology, it is possible that he had committed a previous crime that involved a younger male in his mid to late 20s. This person has traumatized the unsub, enraging him in some way. He has established his area of control within a five mile radius of his first kill sight. He is expected to remain within that radius if and when he would try to kill again. When he cools off, his remorse makes him vulnerable.
Later in the investigation, it was realized the unsub is a father targeting surrogates for his son. His son did something that enraged him to such a degree that he would bludgeon and disfigure his victims. During the first call he made to Cooper, he mentioned that people blamed him for what happened. If it is a father-and-son dynamic, he is carrying the guilt for what happened to his son. Based on the second call he made and all the personal details he divulged, he wants to be found and he is at his endgame. By killing his last victim, he is able to punish himself and the father of his son's last victim.
Real-Life Comparison[]
Leonard appears to be partly inspired by John List - Both were rampage killers who had problematic relationships with their family members, struggled to work, were under financial hardship, had wives with health problems (Keane's had a mental breakdown and was institutionalized, while List's had alcoholism from her previous husband), were harassed and degraded constantly by another person who troubled them (Keane was harassed by the father of one of his son's victims, while List was verbally emasculated by his wife), went into depression that drove them to murder, they killed five victims, and showed remorse for their crimes.
Known Victims[]
- 2011:
- March 13:
- Patrick Birdwell
- Unnamed university student
- March 14:
- Unnamed security guard
- Unnamed coworker (assaulted only)
- David Harrison (took his phone and covered his body with leaves)
- Elaine Keane (his wife; attempted; smothered with a pillow, but stopped before she could die)
- Lawrence Millman
- Michael Nolan (Melanie Nolan's father; attempted)
- March 13: