| “ | Look, I wouldn't if I was you. You had that Anna girl's blood all over you. You don't let it go, I'm gonna tell them it was you. | ” |
— Parks to Sean
| ||
Thane Parks is a serial rapist, killer, poisoner, and accomplice of Jim Peters, who he helped in lethally spiking white wine with what they believed was ecstasy. He appeared in the Season Eight episode of Criminal Minds, "Brothers Hotchner".
Background[]
Parks managed the Edinburgh, a bar, and nightclub in New York City owned by Jim Peters, which condoned drug usage by customers and even allowed its employees to hand out drugs. A few years prior to the episode, he came across Sean Hotchner, who lost a gig as a fry cook, and gave him a job as a bartender. He also started supplying Sean with some of his ecstasy but had to stop when Sean was convinced by his girlfriend, another employee named Linda Heying, to become sober. Thane also used the ecstasy to drug women and rape them while they were incapacitated. In 2013, Parks helped Peters and other employees spike some of the Edinburgh's white wine, using what they believed was ecstasy as a prank, not knowing the drug was actually a lethal mixture of PMMA and methamphetamine created by Larry Feretich. This led to the deaths of the people who purchased that wine, including Heying.
Brothers Hotchner[]
Parks is first seen having sex with a drugged barfly named Anna Johnson. Sean interrupts them, asking Parks for his override card. He reluctantly leaves Johnson and gives Sean the card, but when he returns, he sees her bleeding from her eyes, nose, and mouth. He and Sean watch helplessly as Johnson dies from the excessive bleeding, with Sean yelling at Parks to call 911, but to no avail. Parks and Peters are later among those interrogated by a police officer. During the investigation, Johnson's death is then tied to other poisoning deaths that have occurred throughout New York City. As a result, this leads to intense scrutiny on the Edinburgh, which angers Peters. When Peters starts venting his rage on Parks, he is put on edge. However, he continues to do his job, supplying the other employees with more ecstasy meant for the customers. When Sean arrives late, Parks chastises him, but Peters praises him after Sean claims he lied to an interrogator to preserve the Edinburgh's public image. This further unnerves Parks. Then, Sean mentions the police suspecting bad wine in the poisonings. In response, Peters instructs Parks to dump the white wine, and he has Sean help him.
In the storeroom, he gives Sean two bottles of the spiked wine. Then, he tries searching for another case containing spiked wine but becomes frustrated after being unable to find it (unbeknownst to him, Sean had stolen it earlier). When Sean presses him for answers, Parks angrily admits to spiking the wine as a prank. The revelation outrages Sean, who accuses him of killing Heying, but Parks mocks him, claiming that she, a former alcoholic, wasn't as sober as he thought. When Sean starts getting aggressive, Parks threatens to tell the police that he killed Johnson. This prompts Sean to attack him, and they get into a fistfight.
Parks is arrested by Hotch and Morgan.
The brawl eventually reveals Sean is wearing a wire, but Parks is arrested by Hotch and Morgan before he could stab him in a fit of rage. Later on, Parks is interrogated by Rossi and Strauss, who informs him about Peters' murder at Feretich's hands. They then threaten to release him, thus leaving him vulnerable to an attack by him, unless he tells them where the Edinburgh is getting its drug supply from. Parks complies, drawing out a map of the distribution chain for them in exchange for police protection. He isn't seen again, but it is extremely likely that he was incarcerated for the date-rapes he committed.
Modus Operandi[]
As a serial rapist, Parks targeted attractive female customers at the Edinburgh. He would incapacitate them by drugging them with wine spiked with ecstasy, before sexually assaulting them. All of his killings were completely unintentional since Parks believed he was committing a prank with a nonlethal drug. He and his accomplices spiked their white wine with a drug they received from drug dealers and traditionally gave to customers as part of their service. Unbeknownst to them, it wasn't ecstasy like they believed, but instead a mixture of PMMA and methamphetamine. Later on, Parks attempted to kill Sean Hotchner by stabbing him with a utility knife.
Profile[]
No official profile of Parks was made by the BAU since they were more focused on Feretich and the Edinburgh as a whole. However, the team deduced that since Parks had access to a drug supply, he also had access to their unsub. Hotch also informed Sean that, once he tells Parks he was questioned by the police, he will have his attention. He has an idea on how the Edinburgh's drug operation is organized, but he will only give it if the right circumstances are created. The Edinburgh has had a lot of negative attention recently because of the deaths, yet despite this, the club still needs to make money, and that means it still needs to continue selling drugs. This has put Parks on edge because somebody is pressuring him to make the bad publicity go away, thus he will be desperate to know what was said to the police. Parks needs someone on his side right now, and the more Sean can assure him he is a team player, the more he will confide in him.
Known Victims[]
- Unspecified dates: Numerous unnamed women (all incapacitated with drugs and raped only)
- 2013:
- May 15-21:
- Linda Heying (Sean Hotchner's girlfriend)
- Erik Sullivan
- May 22: Anna Johnson (drugged and attempted to rape, but instead accidentally killed)
- May 23: Bernard and Catherine Hatchitt
- May 24: Sean Hotchner (assaulted and attempted to stab with a utility knife)
- May 15-21: