| “ | I moved into your perfect little house, your perfect little street. Everybody told me that I lucked out, that I got myself a good family. Well, I had a good family. I didn't want yours. | ” |
— Walsh
| ||
Sue Walsh is a psychopathic "wound collector"-type killer who orchestrated the disappearance of Gabby Hoffer. She appeared in the Season Nine episode of Criminal Minds, "Gabby".
Background[]
When she was eight, Sue's parents died from unknown causes, and she was sent to live with her cousin Kate Hoffer and the latter's parents. Sue claims that Kate's father molested Sue, which traumatized her and caused her to develop psychopathic and violent tendencies, as well as a jealousy against Kat, who never received any of the sexual abuse and was unaware of it, upholding her father as a good man. It's implied that this is a lie Sue told to psychologically torture Kate. Nevertheless as an adult Sue decided to take revenge against Kate by having her daughter, four-year-old Gabby, abducted. She recruited her boyfriend Ian Little and Kate's ex-husband Doug Hoffer to help her in the plan. However, Doug Hoffer grew belligerent and refused to leave Kate's home without seeing Gabby, roughly shoving Sue. In her subsequent rage from what she perceived as a challenge, Sue killed him with a glass candlestick. Little then disposed of his body. Meanwhile, Sue decided to change her plan; she contacted an online forum focused on "disrupted adoption", a relatively new type of crime that involves children being quickly given away by overwhelmed adoptive parents to offenders who pose as adoptive families. She eventually sealed a deal with one of her contacts, Nicole Jones, who agreed to take Gabby.
Gabby[]
In the episode, Sue takes a sleeping Gabby to a convenience store, where she purchases a number of food and drinks in a rush, while Jones abducts Gabby outside. When Sue goes back outside and sees that Gabby is gone, she feigns horror and screams for help. The BAU, called in to assist in the investigation, believe her to be innocent, instead suspecting Doug of being behind Gabby's disappearance. Their suspicions are disproved when Doug's body is shortly discovered. Then, security footage reveals that Sue was seemingly waiting for someone before entering the convenience store; that and the fact that she didn't park her car near a light (the typical behavior of a protective mother) lead to the agents suspecting her. After Sue attacks Hotch in a fit of rage when he accuses her, the BAU deduce from her behavior that she is indeed responsible. Later, Kate offers to interrogate Sue herself, and when she does, she reveals her motives and tells her that Gabby is gone. She also implies that she is pregnant, and taunts Kate by saying that she "won't ever let [mine] out of my sight". She isn't seen for the rest of the episode, but the BAU later deduce that Sue was lying in order to further the psychological torture on Kate and are able to rescue Gabby from Michelle Fader and Michael Feehan. She and the rest of her accomplices are presumably incarcerated afterwards.
Modus Operandi[]
Since Sue only killed one person, the term "M.O." may be somewhat misused. When she killed Doug Hoffer, she fatally bludgeoned him with a candle holder with such force that it broke into several pieces. She then had Little dispose of the body. When she had Gabby abducted by Nicole Jones, she drove to a food market at night with Gabby in the car, entered the market, and waited for Jones to abduct Gabby. She then came out of the market and walked back to her car; when she noticed Gabby was gone, she made a scene to make it appear as if Gabby had been abducted without her realizing it.
Profile[]
Sue displays uncontrolled rage whenever challenged, an indicator of a predisposed female offender. Though she has no known criminal record or history of violence, she is capable of concealing her tendencies, like any other predisposed female offender. Predisposed female offenders are also considered the rarest type, and they usually target young children under their care. Their tendencies can be sadistic, brutal, and sometimes bizarre. The blunt-force trauma that killed Doug Hoffer suggests that Sue has violence issues, and that kind of rage must have stemmed from somewhere.
Real-Life Comparison[]
Sue appears to be heavily inspired by Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, the mastermind in the murder of Brian Wells - Both are criminal conspiracy masterminds with psychiatric problems who ultimately targeted family members; the masterminds killed men who knew about the plots before they were executed; one conspirator was a boyfriend and another was a sex offender (though they were one and the same in Walsh's case); each group's respective crimes involved a hostage the group knew (Walsh's niece and pizza deliveryman Brian Wells, a mutual acquaintance, respectively); one conspirator made a dump at a secondary location after the crime was committed (William Rothstein dumped debris into a landfill, Ian Little dropped the remains of Doug Hoffer in a river); and federal law enforcement was brought onto the cases.
Known Victims[]
- 2014:
- February 16: Doug Hoffer (Kate's ex-husband) murdered
- February 18: Gabby Hoffer (Kate's daughter; arranged for her abduction; was rescued the next day)
- February 19: Aaron Hotchner (assaulted)
Notes[]
- Sue is similar to Amber Canardo ("The Perfect Storm") - Both were psychopathic female killers who were sexually abused by a paternal relative when they were children, had at least one male accomplice who assisted them in their crimes, and were initially believed to be innocent of the crimes they committed until the BAU realized their true natures as psychopaths.
- Andy McPhee, the father of Sue's actress Sianoa Smit-McPhee, previously appeared on Criminal Minds, portraying Liam, a member and (presumed) second-in-command of the Breakaway IRA Faction, a criminal organization that appeared in Season Six.
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ While Sue implied that she was pregnant, this could've been a lie meant to further the psychological torture on Kate