| “ | Gael: What's wrong? Jude: You sure? Gael: Sure about what? Jude: There's no going back. Gael: Yes. Hey, look at me. I can't do this without you. |
” |
— Gael and Jude when returning to their home
| ||
Gael and Jude Bruneau are a pair of home invader brothers who appear in the Criminal Minds: Evolution episode "Pay-Per-View."
Background[]
Gael and Jude Bruneau lived with their mother Jaylee and father Cameron in Redland, Maryland. Cameron, a security contractor, protected their home with state-of-the-art equipment. Despite this security, in 2012, a pair of drug-addicted transients broke in. Cameron took Jude to a safe room and locked them in, while the home invaders held a knife to Jaylee and Gael and threatened to kill them if Cameron didn't open up the safe room and give them the money in his vault. Cameron refused, and the invaders slashed Jaylee's throat, right in front of a 12-year-old Gael. Cameron still refused to open the door, and the invaders spared Gael and fled, never being caught.
At some point, Cameron remarried to a woman named Danielle. Before their murders, the Bruneau brothers lived in Baltimore.
Pay-Per-View[]
See sections on the Gael Bruneau and Jude Bruneau pages
Modus Operandi[]
The Bruneau brothers would target homeowners who had a CODA home security system installed in their homes. They would wait until the homeowners left, Gael would hack into the system, where the brothers would then deliberately have at least one security officer sent from the company. When a guard arrived, the brothers would knock them out before putting them in front of a motion activated camera, where they would attract the homeowner's attention. Once the homeowners viewed the feed, the brothers would greet and taunt them before killing the responding officers with large knives. During their crimes, the brothers wore CV Dazzle makeup, a type of makeup that cameras cannot clearly see. They did not wear this makeup during their last break-in, as they wanted the homeowner, their father, to see them.
Profile[]
The unsubs are two males between the ages of 18 and 35. They are related, most likely brothers with a shared profound personal trauma not unlike the attacks they are carrying out. One or both have been trained in computer science. They are mission-oriented with a bent towards avenging a personal injustice.
The fact that the unsubs choose to punish the homeowners as surrogates for the real targets of their revenge suggests they are not only working up the means but building up the courage to carry said revenge out. Based on the timing and method used to escape the Murrays' home, they are most likely locals.
Real-Life Comparison[]
The Bruneaus appear to be primarily inspired by Gregory Powell and Jimmy Lee Smith - Both are duos of cop killers who each got into armed confrontations with two dispatch officers during their routines, held them hostage at gunpoint, forced them to give up their guns, which the officers did to buy time, and at least one of the officers was ultimately killed in the standoff.
The Bruneaus appear to be inspired by Lyle and Erik Menéndez - Both are sibling teams of murderers with codependent relationships, primarily targeted their families, lived in affluent neighborhoods on coastal states in the U.S., had histories of burglaries before their attacks on their families, and defended their crimes as retaliation over trauma from their families' past actions.
The Bruneaus appear to also be inspired by the Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs - Both groups are serial killers and thrill killers with affluent backgrounds, were in their late teens and early 20s at the times of the murders, killed at least one cop each, used blunt and bladed weapons to incapacitate and kill their victims, killed their victims on film, and the footage was disseminated to other viewers for shock value.
Mutual Victims[]
- 2022
- Kevin Warren (killed in the home of David and Leticia "Tish" Crawford while they were vacationing in Miami; killed by Gael)
- The attack at the Murray's home (killed while the Murray's were at a restaurant; both knocked out and stabbed simultaneously)
- Calvin Ray
- Edgar Holland
- The attack at Cameron Bruneau's home (attempted; did not wear make-up)
- Danielle Watkins (their step-mother; held at knifepoint at the home of their father)
- Jennifer Jareau (attempted to shoot by Gael)
- Tara Lewis (attempted to shoot by Gael)