| “ | When I want something, I take it. That's what happens when you can't count on anyone else. | ” |
— Gilcrest
| ||
Rory James "R.J." Gilcrest was an erotomanic, delusional family annihilator, serial killer, stalker, and abductor who appeared in the Criminal Minds: Evolution episode "Just Getting Started".
Background[]
"It'll be hard at first, not being with your parents. You'll get used to it. I did. It's just us now."
Born sometime around 2003 on Maryland's eastern shore, Rory James Gilcrest lived with his mother and father on a patch of farmland. In 2007 when he was four years old, both his parents overdosed on Oxycodone, resulting in the two dozen acres the family owned being taken over by the state. In the following years prior to the episode, Gilcrest bounced from foster home to foster home, only to be ejected from them following bouts of uncontrollable behavior and sent to a juvenile correctional facility until he was released when he reached the age of eighteen. His record included assaults on children, a bedroom arson, and the killing of one foster family's cat. Gilcrest returned to his family's farmland to squat there and make a hideout, by then sinking into depression and thoughts of suicide.
At some point in time, he came across the social networking site known as "SOAR", which stands for "Safe Online Acquaintance Revolution". The website was specifically designed for underage users to engage in secure communication, which Penelope Garcia assisted in coding. Gilcrest began starting communications with Jessie Westbrook and Chrissy Delaney under the handles of "RJ2003" and "2003RJ" respectively, gaining their trust by saying he was "looking for" his birth parents, which they encouraged from him. When both girls said they wanted to grow into their independence, his attraction to the girls grew into an obsession Gilcrest held toward each of the girls, wanting to hold them captive so he'd have company.
Sometime in 2022, Gilcrest attempted to abduct Jessie, only to brutally murder her and her entire family when she alerted them to his presence. David Rossi invested his efforts into tracking Gilcrest down, but leads he followed went cold. Setting his sights on Chrissy next, Gilcrest came across a large following of criminals inspired by prolific, experienced unsub "Sicarius", finding instructions on how to perfect his kidnapping technique. After eventually getting the equipment he wanted based on the material, Gilcrest prepared to set his plans into motion at the Delaney house.
Just Getting Started[]
Months after the Westbrook family massacre, Gilcrest broke into the Delaney home, killing Chrissy's parents, but sparing her brother because he was just a baby. He then proceeded to abduct Chrissy from her bedroom after a struggle, her father crawling toward her to try and save her just before he died. After the BAU is called in, the baby is left to Delaney's maternal grandmother. Gilcrest lies to Chrissy her parents are alive, that he'd kill them if she didn't speak with a man he arranged to sell the family car too. Once the deal is made in a crowded parking lot and the stranger takes the car, Gilcrest makes Chrissy return to his car and drive off with her to his hideout.
Holding her captive, Gilcrest refuses to let Chrissy go despite her pleas. When they get to his mobile home, he speaks about going to California with her, which she said in her chats was what she wanted to get away from her parents. When Chrissy asks how he found her, since she didn't tell him facts about her, he just says he knew how to get what he wanted. he thanked her for how he enjoyed chatting with her online, saying he wanted her as a friend to not be lonely and to go on an adventure with her. Chrissy asks if he killed her parents, and Gilcrest tries to evade the question, but when she presses, he tries to tell her to cope and that they only have each other. Chrissy snaps and attacks Gilcrest, who overpowers her and holds her at gunpoint.
The team arrives to hear a gunshot, Chrissy comes out of the van holding Gilcrest's gun and Gilcrest himself dead, when she's near killing herself from feeling like she has nothing to live for without her parents, that she was at fault because Gilcrest misinterpreted her needing space. Rossi pleaded Chrissy to not commit suicide, to fight to live, talking about how his wife died and the grief was hard for him too. Chrissy drops the gun and cries, the team taking her back to her remaining family to begin the rest of her life.
Afterwards, JJ remarks that Chrissy will need a lot of help managing the trauma from killing Rory in self-defense, but Alvez states that ballistics indicate that he killed himself, surprising Alvez, as Rory wasn't profiled to be suicidal. When going through Gilcrest's belongings his storage locker was found to be the same brand as one used for a mass grave, which would put the BAU on the trail of Sicarius once they had jurisdiction.
Modus Operandi[]
Gilcrest targeted teenage girls with parents and a brother who he met on the social website Soar. He started with a home break-in with the intention of abducting his first intended target, but when she alerted her family, Gilcrest snapped and killed the whole family by bludgeoning with a baseball bat the father used in self-defense, out of rage or panic. When targeting his next focus of obsession, Gilcrest, in order, killed the girl's parents by slashing them to death, saw her brother was an infant and spared him out of mercy, then abducted her from her bedroom after a struggle. He employed signal jammers on security and surveillance equipment wherever he was seem with or without his captive victim. Under the threat of pretending her parents were still alive, Gilcrest would force the girl to arrange the sale of the family car to a stranger to get rid of evidence, set up at a public parking lot to hide in plain sight. He kept the girl captive over a matter of days to possess her, then watched a romantic movie with her. Gilcrest had plans to try and transport the victim out of the state with him before she was rescued. He also held Delaney at gunpoint and killed himself with a Smith & Wesson Model 19 Snub Nose.
Profile[]
"I've been thinking. It gets lonely, you know? And you were always so kind to me online. You changed everything. So I thought instead of, you know, ending it all, that we could be friends. We could have an adventure."
- Gilcrest to Chrissy
The unsub was originally profiled as a white male in his 40s, based on his methodical, proficient use of a murder weapon and other equipment during his second house attack and the planning put into it beforehand. His first murders were impulsive, and personal elements showed down to not killing a baby at his second crime scene, possibly out of seeing himself in the child.
Killing entire families suggested a broken home the unsub came from, and getting into a website exclusively for teenager and children suggested technical prowess to hack the server. As a preferential offender fixated on teenage girls, the unsub likely found a common problem, likely within the girls' homes, to gain their trust from. His evolution in his M.O. in a short period of time was unusual and even inconsistent with an offender of that age profile, so he was profiled as having been under 20, which explained his impulsivity in the first murder and how he got onto the online platform. Another source, very likely criminal, encouraged him to plan and mature his M.O., his obsession kept him focused on the girl, his primary focus, and he utilized privacy as much as he could, be it at the crime scene or even in public areas, like a crowded parking lot.
The unsub would've taken the victim only a couple states away, likely in isolation due to his loneliness. Since his evolved M.O. implies he got it from a "manual" of sorts, a connection in his crimes will lead to another unsub, even if unaffiliated with his own crimes. After the unsub died, written as a suicide by gunshot, it was remarked that the unsub didn't profile as suicidal.
Real-Life Comparison[]
Gilcrest is similar to Matthew Hoffman - Both are murderous stalkers with criminal records before their murders (including animal cruelty), were described as having behavioral problems, stalked the teenage daughters of families, killed the targeted girls' relatives on impulse when their original plans failed, abducted the girls and held them captive, watched movies with their captive victims, were arrested several days later to rescue the girls, and are similar in appearance.
Known Victims[]
- Several incidents prior to "Just Getting Started":
- July 1, 2008: Unnamed child (bit)
- February 5, 2013: A victimless bedroom arson
- April 19, 2014: Unnamed child (stabbed with a pencil)
- March 3, 2016: Unnamed cat (killed)
- 2022:
- The Westbrook family, Alexandria, Virginia:
- The unnamed parents
- Jessie Westbrook (intended to abduct; killed when she alerted her family to his presence)
- An unnamed son
- The Delaney family, Bethesda, Maryland:
- The unnamed parents
- Chrissy Delaney (abducted; rescued several days later)
- Chrissy's unnamed brother (intended, but spared)
- The Westbrook family, Alexandria, Virginia:
Notes[]
- Gilcrest appears to have been partially based on Patrick Sorenson ("The Sandman") - Both were delusional serial killers, family annihilators, and abductors whose first familicides were unplanned as they intended to leave at least one member of the family alive (Gilcrest intended to abduct the teenage daughter, Sorenson intended to leave the mother alive while abducting the son) but ended up killing there intended targets (Sorenson accidently), were more prepared in their second attacks starting by killing at least one of the parents by slashing their throats (Gilcrest killed both parents, Sorenson only killed the father) abducting a younger member of the family, and were ultimately shot and killed while attempting to kill their final victim (Gilcrest committed suicide, while Sorenson was shot and killed by Rossi).
Appearances[]
- "Just Getting Started"
- "Sicarius" (mentioned)
- "Moose" (mentioned)
- "Forget Me Knots" (mentioned)