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Ronald Graber

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“ Oh, is that supposed to work? Somehow you, uh, you "get" me, and I get all weak in my knees and give up? Tell me I'm wrong. You wanna know why I do this? [...] Because I want to. ”
— Graber

Ronald Graber, a.k.a. “The Brutal Man”, is a family annihilator, serial killer, stalker and criminal accomplice of Elias Voit who appeared in the Criminal Minds: Evolution Season Three episodes “I'm Fine, It's Fine. Everything is Fine.", "The Brutal Man", and "Hell is Empty...".

Background[]

Graber initially had a normal childhood, being brought up by his parents alongside his unnamed sister. In 2007, Graber met Elias Voit while at a gas station in Beavercreek, Ohio with his mother. After being left alone, Voit introduced himself as "Lee" asked him to pick a hand, which he did. Once it was open, Voit ate a piece of chocolate and left just before Graber’s mother came. Voit stalked Graber to his family's house, where he held a gun to his sister's head before massacring his family and stealing a family bumper sticker. Unfortunately, Graber had no grandparents, so he was put in foster care, in which he was also put in juvie for numerous unspecified crimes.

On April 20, 2022, Graber became a locksmith for a company he made named “Keyforge”. With the help of Voit under the alias “RG07”, he joined the website. Despite proclaiming that he did it for enjoyment, he truly did it because of what he experienced. When Voit shut down his website for a short time, Ronald started to help bring it back. Starting off with his killing spree, he targeted the Langham family and spared the daughter Marilyn. He filmed a video of Marilyn walking on screen and himself wearing a Yase Otoko mask, then posted it to BAU-Gate. He put his mask on Marilyn’s face and left through the garage.

Evolution: Season 3[]

I'm Fine, It's Fine. Everything is Fine[]

Graber films a video on BAU-gate in which a girl with a teddy bear in her hand walks behind him to a room. He then peels off styrofoam with his fingers, revealing a white mask. There were additionally smells around the house in conspicuous areas which smelled like candy and wrappers. Marilyn is then forced to tell the BAU that the man who attacked her has the moniker "The Brutal Man".

The Brutal Man[]

Through flashbacks from JJ, another family is massacred around a week after. This time, he leaves the wife alive and also forces her to put a mask on, saying that the police will kill her instantly. JJ and police go to the house as they believe he is there, but they only find 3 dead bodies and Amy. Before this, using ViCap, they get a hit on the house revealing the first familicide. After Alvez, Tyler, and JJ go to the newest crime scene, JJ spots a picture of the family on the wall. Becoming suspicious of why the unsub went through the garage, she goes to look at the car. Learning that Amy's car had a decal sticker on the back of her minivan showing a stick figure family is now gone, they finally deliver the profile. Tracking down the Nicoletti family, he watches the children play as he is behind a tree with the mask in his hand. He eventually breaks into the house, knocks the family out, and hits the father with a baton when he sees them in a circle. Once again, JJ finds a new clue, this time proving that he had a key to the house. Garcia looks through the families' records and finally identifies that Ronald is the suspect and will target the Nicoletti's. After posting pictures of the corpses to the network, they wake up. The father tries to give himself, but as he wants something new, he forces the wife to pick someone else. Once cornered, JJ tries to convince him to give up as he was most likely abused himself. Graber takes off the mask to show a sad face, but then starts laughing, stating that he does what he does out of enjoyment. During his incarceration, Voit, who listened to JJ talk with Dr. Ochoa about what happened, agrees to reveal that he is Sicarius to Graber and ask about what message he wants to deliver.

Hell is Empty...[]

Graber finally gives Voit the message, starting off by asking him if he watched his videos. He asks Voit to call him his alias, which he does. In exchange for the message, Voit must answer one question; “why am I here” and why he is not in the morgue. Voit receives a flashback of Graber talking to him online and tells him his address and backstory. After telling Graber the backstory, he was shook knowing that Voit was the man. He berates Graber, who starts to cry, and demands to know the message, which is “Hell is empty, and all the devils, are here.” Graber then bashes his head on the table but survives. However, in "CollateRal", it is mentioned by Rebecca Wilson that Graber is considered brain-dead due to his self-inflicted injuries.

Modus Operandi[]

Graber targeted families in Cleveland, Ohio where he had keys to their houses. He typically knocks out his victims with a retractable baton before tying them up with zip ties and making them look at each other. While they are at the dinner table, he gives a false choice in which the victims decide who dies. He then stabs the targeted victim to death before repeating the process again. In the first attack, the daughter was left alive, In the second attack the wife was left alive, and in the third attack, he attempted to kill them. After it was done, he would put a mask on the survivor before leaving through their garage and stealing family car stickers as trophies.

Profile[]

The unsub is a white male between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. The psychological game he plays with his victims, in addition to calling himself “The Brutal Man”, suggests a sadistic psychopath with a grandiosity bordering on a god complex. His desire to not only disrupt, but destroy these families, speaks to the unsub’s own background being filled with domestic violence. Or, a violence that somehow denied him a family bonding. What seems to trigger this unsub is viewing what would otherwise be a rather innocuous visual representation of the family unit. Specifically, a common stick figure family decal like these — to him, it’s like a taunt. Because of the torture and nature of the violence, it’s likely he’s unmarried and has no children. As for having his victims “choose” whom first, that is obviously a false choice. Again, it is unlikely that this unsub has ever been married or has had children.

Later though, the part of the profile was wrong as he never went through domestic violence, it was instead Voit who caused his homicidal tendencies.

Real-Life Comparison[]

Graber appears to primarily inspired by Dennis Rader - Both are sadistic serial killers and family annihilators with blue-collar jobs giving them access to victims' houses, were motivated in part by a need for control, bound their victims and separated them before killing them in front of each other, send messages to law enforcement, and left surviving victims behind.

Known Victims[]

  • 2025:
    • The Langham family:
      • Bradley Langham (father)
      • Jacqueline Langham (mother)
      • Walter Langham (son)
      • Marilyn Langham (daughter; left alive)
    • The D'Anna family:
      • Bryan D'Anna (father; hit with a baton; was killed first)
      • Megan D'Anna (elder daughter)
      • Taylor D'Anna (younger daughter)
      • Amy D'Anna (mother; left alive, coerced into attempting suicide by cop, but failed)
    • The Nicoletti family (held hostage and intended to kill):
      • Nina Nicoletti (mother; put a knife to her throat)
      • Jessica Nicoletti (daughter)
      • Trevor Nicoletti (son; put a knife to his throat)
      • Anthony Nicoletti (father; hit with a baton)

Notes[]

  • Graber appears to be partially based off Rory Gilcrest (“Just Getting Started”) - Both are serial killers who had the same initials, lost their families (Rory’s died of overdoses, Graber’s were murdered by Voit), were put in foster families, spent time in juvenile detention centers, and targeted families, often leaving one survivor, attempted to kill at least one member of a family (Graber tried to kill 3 members of the Nicoletti family, while Rory intended to kill the infant son, but relented) and were associates of Elias Voit’s criminal network.

Appearances[]

Criminal Minds: Evolution[]

Season Three[]

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