Paul Westin

CRIMINAL
Name	Paul Westin
Gender	Male
Birth Date	c. 1991
Family	John Westin (father; deceased) A. Westin (mother; full first name unrevealed; deceased)
Pathology	Serial Killer (originally) Abductor (originally) Spree Killer (later)
Signature	Setting victims' watches to 6:22
Modus Operandi	Varied
No. of Victims	6 killed
Status	Incarcerated
Portrayed By	Patrick John Flueger John Omohundro (teenager)
First Appearance	"Broken"

“	What good? I'm an abomination.	”
	— Paul

Paul Westin is a homosexual serial killer and abductor-turned-spree killer who appeared in the Season Eight episode of Criminal Minds, "Broken".

Background

Born sometime around 1991, Paul's mother was a sergeant during the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S. troops during his pre-teenage years. A week after the invasion ended, she was killed in the line of combat. When Paul became a teenager, he began to develop homosexual urges and started a relationship with a fellow schoolmate named Mitchell Ruiz, which his father John disapproved of. John eventually sent his son and Mitchell to a conversion camp called Camp Willing, where he was frequently abused and also molested by a prostitute named Isabella Grant. John would frequently be in the room with him when Isabella was "teaching" him, but never bothered to stop her, feeling that the sexual abuse would help mature Paul as a man; he sometimes even had sex with Isabella himself, which further traumatized Paul. In addition, the camp subjected him to a drug therapy. Mitchell had also received similar abuse from Isabella and the camp. After leaving Camp Willing, Paul and Mitchell broke up due to what they went through at the camp. However, they had remained very good friends. For years, Paul had repressed his homosexual urges instead of getting professional help. Prior to the episode, he had intercourse with Craig Pickett. Beset with depression immediately afterward, he killed him and dumped the body, dressing it up as a sign of remorse. He then encountered Heather Wilson and attempted to have sex with her, but failed; enraged at his impotence, he murdered her as well, put his broken watch on her wrist, and set it to 6:22.

Broken

In the beginning of the episode, Paul is first seen outside a bar and is approached by Michelle Bradley as she exits a bachelorette party. He seduces her, and they go into his truck to have sex, but he is unable to perform. When she tries to leave, he forces her back into his truck. Hours later, he kills her in a fit of rage and dumps the body, again after putting another broken watch on her wrist, which shows 6:22. He later meets up with several of his friends, who introduces him to Doug Warn. The two bond and go to Paul's house, again to have sex. Afterward, Doug notices that Paul is angry about what they have done and tries to comfort him, but unintentionally induces a flashback of what Isabella Grant and his father did to him, which drives Paul to kill Doug. He then desperately tries to clean up the bloodstains but fails to get rid of the blood. As with the last two victims, he leaves a broken watch reading 6:22 on Doug's wrist.

He is later visited by Mitchell, who has become concerned about Paul after hearing about Doug's death. Mitchell then discovers the bloodstains and realizes that Paul killed him. Unsure of what to do, Paul grabs a handgun from his shelf. Paul confesses his crimes to Mitchell, and while talking with him, he gets the idea to punish his father. Paul takes Mitchell to his father's house and forces him at gunpoint to the basement. He unfurls the bed and tells Mitchell to undress and rape John. When Mitchell resists, John gets into a struggle with him over the gun, and a stray bullet fatally hits Mitchell. Paul then shoots and kills John, and takes Mitchell into his arms. The BAU arrive, and Paul points the gun at himself, intending to commit suicide. Morgan and Rossi convince him to put it down, saying that he can help shut down Camp Willing. He surrenders and is arrested; by the end of the episode, the staff of Camp Willing are arrested, and presumably incarcerated alongside Paul.

At the end of the episode, someone is seen watching footage of the BAU raiding the camp.

Profile

"Save me? Ha. You mean fix me, don't you? Fix me. All those years trying to prove to me that I was broken. Well, it worked, Dad. It worked. I'm pretty damn broken now."

The unsub is a white homosexual male aged in his mid-to-late 20s who is suffering from an identity crisis. This man cannot accept his same-sex desires, but he cannot fight them either. He most likely has been repressing all of his sexual urges for quite some time. His first victim, Craig Pickett, represents a "fall from the wagon", and intercourse between the two men was most likely his trigger. Immediately after copulation, a man's serotonin levels drop, creating a high, and that rapid change can manifest itself into extreme depression and low self-esteem. Combined with the apparent belief that acting out on his attraction towards other men is wrong, this state causes the unsub to lash out violently at those he is with. As his levels normalize, he begins to feel remorse for what he has done and attempts to correct his course, and this is where his female victims became involved. After killing Craig Pickett, the unsub sought out women that he was desperate to become attracted to. However, since he is trapped in a scenario with an impossible outcome and he cannot force himself to like women, he becomes depressed again when being unable to get aroused and lashes out in anger to the people he blames for his impotence.

The circular logic dictating his unending cycle was not formed overnight; it most likely came about due to years of serious abuse, either emotional, physical, or both. The most popular motive for trying to overcome same-sex attraction is the need to be accepted by a parent or loved one who has rejected the individual because of their homosexuality. That said, he most likely grew up in a broken home and suffered under the guardianship of a domineering parent, as well as those who fell victim to bigotry or bullying. The bottom line is that this unsub will not stop killing, and with each failed attempt to get aroused by women or to avoid giving in to same-sex urges, he becomes more desperate and more dangerous.

Modus Operandi

"They all thought that they could rape us straight. I think it's time we see if it works the other way around."

Paul targeted Caucasian males and females, initially finding them at social gatherings at night in different districts in Austin. He would lure them away from whomever they were with without being noticed, force them into his truck, and hold them captive for twelve hours. Afterward, he would kill them and dump their bodies in the same districts he abducted them in. However, he stopped doing so with Doug Warn (who was killed in his apartment instead of his truck) and afterward.

He killed his male victims by bludgeoning them with some sort of incidental instrument after having sex with them, while he killed his female victims by stabbing them repeatedly with a knife (usually aiming for the genitals) after he could not get aroused by them. However, Doug Warn was also stabbed in the face ante-mortem, then the genitals post-mortem, presumably with the same knife. His female victims, selected because they resembled Isabella Grant, were also stripped of all their clothes and jewelry post-mortem, while his male victims were redressed post-mortem out of remorse. He later shot Mitchell Ruiz and his father John with a handgun, though the former's death was an accident. Before killing his father, he pushed him down a basement staircase and attempted to have Mitchell undress and rape him, as a reference to the sexual abuse he suffered in Camp Willing.

His usual signature was setting the victims' watches to 6:22 before dumping their bodies (although in the case of Michelle Bradley, he put his own watch on her before killing her), as a reference to Leviticus 18:22, which contains the quote, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination." It is the same Bible quote that Camp Willing had chosen as their motto.

Real-Life Comparisons

Paul seems to have been inspired by Patrick Kearney - Both are homosexual serial killers who targeted homosexual men, lured them from public places, shot them (though Westin only shot his last two victims, one accidentally), had some sexual element in their crimes (Westin had or attempted to have sex with his victims prior to killing them, while Kearney engaged in necrophilia with his), and cleaned their crime scenes afterwards. Also, the way Westin fled with Mitchell Ruiz is similar to how Kearny fled with David Hill.

He also seems inspired by Juan Corona - Both were homosexual serial killers who were sent to facilities by their families prior to their killings (a mental hospital in Corona's case, a conversion camp in Westin's), tried to project an outward appearance of heterosexuality, primarily targeted men (though Westin also killed women), killed them by bludgeoning, stabbing, or shooting them, had a first and unplanned victim who was the most like them (Westin killed a young homosexual man first and later killed women or older men, while Corona first attempted to kill a Mexican man and his fatal victims were non-Hispanic Caucasians, two African-Americans, and one Native American), and they left their first victims dressed and the others undressed.

He also seems inspired by Andrei Chikatilo - Both were serial killers who lured women, attempted to have sex with them, then violently stabbed them to death when they couldn't be aroused by them.

Lastly, Paul seems to have been inspired by Andrew Cunanan - Both were homosexual serial/spree killers who had a strained relationship with one of their parents due to their sexuality (Cunanan with his mother, Westin with his father), killed their first victim (who were also their lovers) by bludgeoning, at least one by stabbing, and two others by shooting, both victimized their abusive parent in some way (Cunanan assaulted his mother, while Westin killed his father), and both attempted suicide by gunshot after their killing sprees (though only Cunanan was successful, while Westin was talked down).

Known Victims

• 2013:
  • February 11: Craig Pickett (his lover; fatally bludgeoned and redressed post-mortem; didn't set his watch)
  • February 15: Heather Wilson (stabbed repeatedly)
  • February 17: Michelle Bradley (stabbed 40 times)
  • February 18: Doug Warn (bludgeoned and stabbed in the face; also stabbed in the genitals and redressed post-mortem)
  • February 19: The Westin house shooting:
    • Mitchell Ruiz (accidentally killed; shot in the torso while wrestling with John for a handgun)
    • John Westin (his father; pushed him down a staircase and attempted to force Mitchell to rape him, then shot him twice in the torso with the same handgun)

Notes

• Paul Westin is the fifth of only nine serial killers in the show's history to have successfully kill all of the victims they targeted. This is a very rare occurrence, as almost all serial killers depicted on the show have at least one survivor. The others are:
  • Season Three
    • Steven Fitzgerald ("In Heat") - A robber, one-time cop killer, and serial-turned-spree killer who successfully killed eight homosexual men.
  • Season Four
    • Vincent Rowlings ("The Big Wheel") - A prolific serial killer who successfully killed a dozen women and a gangbanger who tried to rob him (though he still managed to shoot Rowlings, who died hours later from the gunshot wound).
  • Season Six
    • Lee Mullens ("Remembrance of Things Past") - A prolific serial killer and abductor who successfully killed two dozen women.
  • Season Seven
    • Rodney Garrett ("Divining Rod") - A prolific serial killer who successfully killed twenty-five women and two inmates who attempted to shank him.
  • Season Eight
    • Larry Feretich ("Brothers Hotchner") - A poisoner, serial-turned-spree killer, and one-time mass murderer who successfully killed fifteen people.
  • Season Nine
    • Charles Johnson ("Strange Fruit") - A serial killer who successfully killed four people, two of which were responsible for castrating him when he was younger.
    • Sam Russell ("The Black Queen") - A serial killer and hacker who successfully killed four prostitutes.
  • Season Eleven
    • Benjamin Wade ("Outlaw") - An ephebophilic rapist, robber, arsonist, one-time mass murderer, and serial killer who successfully killed four teenage employees during a robbery, then later murdered a clerk during another.
• Paul's personal vehicle is a first generation Chevrolet Silverado. Another unsub Tory Chapman, is seen driving a vehicle identical to Paul's in the Season Eight episode "Pay It Forward". This is most likely to save production costs during shooting.
• Paul seems to have been based on at least three unsubs from the show's past:
  • Season Three
    • Steven Fitzgerald ("In Heat") - Both were homosexual serial-turned spree killers who had strained relationships with their fathers who didn't accept their lifestyles, killed out of hatred of their own homosexuality, and killed men who were also homosexual (although Paul also killed other victims). Also, Paul being abused as a teenager could be an allusion to the allegation that Steven was also abused.
  • Season Five
    • Darrin Call ("Haunted") - Both were traumatized spree killers and abductors (Darrin was only once) who were abused as children and killed their abusive fathers (who were also their last victims) by shooting them in their homes.
  • Season Seven
    • Jeffrey Collins ("A Family Affair") - Both are serial killers attempted to have sex with their female victims and would then stab them repeatedly in a state of rage due to their impotence.

Appearances

• Season Eight
  • "Broken"