Raoul Whalen and Tess Mynock were a killer couple who appeared in the Season Eight episode of Criminal Minds, "Alchemy".
Background[]
See sections on Raoul Whalen and Tess Mynock's articles
Alchemy[]
By the beginning of the episode, Mynock had already killed two victims under Whalen's guidance. The case catches the attention of Reid, who is still haunted by the murder of his girlfriend Maeve, and he convinces the BAU to investigate the killings. At the same time, Mynock is able to convince Chad Dumont to stay at her hotel after he guides her to her car per her request. Dumont accepts the offer, and once Mynock helps him settle into his room, she seduces him, and they have sex while Whalen watches through a hole in the wall. The next morning, hotel employee Amber Moxley becomes suspicious about the strange activities that have been going on in the hotel, but Whalen denies them as Dumont is served tainted food. The next day, Dumont has a disturbing nightmare in which he tries to follow a boy walking backwards and then gets attacked by a Native-American woman who stabs him in the throat, and Mynock gives him a herbal drink concocted by Whalen. This induces disorientation to the man, and he collapses as Mynock begins to rant to him about her son and calls him "Steven". The BAU later learns about Dumont's disappearance.
Later, Moxley, still suspicious, gets a key to Room 209, the room where the killings took place and gains entry. When she steps inside, she is ambushed by Whalen, who closes the door on her and murders her in an unspecified way. He then dismembers her body and dumps the pieces at a wildlife area, where it is later found. Eventually, the BAU deduces Whalen and Mynock to be the unsubs and head to the hotel, just as Mynock takes Dumont to Room 209, where he hallucinates Whalen as a man with the face of a stag. Whalen orders Mynock to kill Dumont, but as she retrieves a cutting tool, Moxley's name-tag falls onto the floor. Mynock realizes that Whalen killed her, against his promise that no innocent people would be murdered, and he defends his actions, angrily ordering her to kill Dumont and slapping her in the face. Mynock then realizes that she will never get her son back, just before Dumont tackles Whalen to the ground. The BAU burst in and find Whalen trying to kill Dumont, but he instantly surrenders, unsuccessfully lying that Mynock was cheating on him. However, the team is unable to find Mynock. Reid theorizes that she went to the lake where her son drowned, and with Garcia's help, the BAU arrives at the lakeside. However, they arrive too late and find Mynock' corpse floating down the lake current.
Modus Operandi[]
Mynock targeted men who were physically similar to her ex-husband Steven, whom she would drug with solanine, an administration that would be ultimately fatal. Before they would die, she would take them to Whalen, who would perform Native American rituals upon them. After they died, she would dismember the bodies, and the body parts would be disposed by Whalen.
Real-Life Comparison[]
Whalen and Mynock appear to be inspired by Ray and Faye Copeland - Both are serial killer couples with a dominant male member having a previous record for fraud, primarily targeted men, the female member performed postmortem rituals after the victims were dead (Mynock dismembered the men she killed, Faye took the clothes of the men ray killed and turned them into quilts), and the female members were also reportedly abused by the male members.
Mutual Victims[]
- 2013:
- March 6: Raymond Nava
- April 14: Joseph Purl
- May 1-2: Chad Dumont (drugged, held captive and attempted to kill; was rescued)