| “ | You liked her [the Woman] to look at you. You liked it, didn't you, whore? She knew...that you can't cheat the laws of God or the laws of nature forever. | ” |
— The unsub to Cissy
| ||
The Mountain Man (unnamed in reality) is a deformed serial killer, one-time abductor, and one-time cop killer who appeared in the Season Nine episode of Criminal Minds, "Blood Relations".
Background[]
Not being named, the unsub was born in 1965 to teenage siblings Malachi and Magdalene Lee, who kept his conception a secret from the rest of the family. When Magdalene began to go into labor, Malachi fled in terror, and she stumbled into the nearby forest in pursuit. However, she tripped and fell, and she was approached by an unidentified woman, known only as the "Appalachian Woman", who would watch Malachi and Magdalene during their lovemaking. The Woman assisted Magdalene in giving birth to the child and then adopted him, calling him "perfect". Magdalene, revolted by the unsub's deformities because of his conception by incest, allowed the woman to keep the baby as long as she promised never to tell anyone how he was conceived. As the child grew up, he was raised by the woman, who taught him how to hunt, but kept him away from other people, citing that they wouldn't understand him. When the woman became bedridden from cancer, she informed her step-son about his parents and the circumstances of his adoption before dying. Confused about why his mother gave him away, the unsub managed to track down his parents and formulated a scheme to get the attention of Magdalene, who had by that point renamed herself "Cissy" and inducted herself into the Howard family. It would involve the barbed wire he would steal from local farmers for supplies while surviving alone, being nicknamed "The Mountain Man" and spoken of as an urban legend.
Blood Relations[]
"How come I don't look like the others, mama? How come I don't look like you?"
On March 30, 2014, the unsub initiates his plan, killing Malachi's son Matthias with a bear-trap wrapped with barbed wire as the latter was out hunting. The following day, he attacks Clark Howard, Cissy's son, by hanging him with a noose made from barbed wire. However, when that fails to kill him, he instead snaps his neck and twists his head around 180 degrees. Because both the Lee and Howard families held a long-lasting feud, the BAU, who is called in to investigate, initially assume that the violence between the two families escalated into murder. The following night, the unsub goes to the home of Miles Lee, another of Malachi's sons, with the intention of killing him. However, when he isn't home, he instead kills Miles' wife Maddie by decapitating her through dragging with a car despite Miles' best efforts to save her. The next day, he straps his step-mother's body onto a bed, raises it so he can face her body, and then stabs her in the stomach with a kitchen knife, presumably to collect her blood. As he does so, the unsub begins to sob. Later, he collects salt and puts it on her face and spreads it all over it as her corpse is inside a coffin. He then initiates the final phase of his plan, breaking into Cissy's house the following night, knocking her out, and abducting her after she tries attacking him with a shotgun.
The unsub then takes Cissy to the shack where he was conceived. When she regains consciousness, he confronts her and asks her to say hello to his deceased step-mother, whom he identifies as his actual mother, showing Cissy her corpse. He then tells Cissy about how she raised him and then reveals the time he was told about his adoption. Then, the unsub declares that he will decide whether Cissy should live or not, but adds that he will decide after Cissy tells him about what happened to lead to his adoption. When she tries explaining herself, the unsub merely replies that she or Malachi could never have the ability to change the laws of God or nature. Cissy then tells him everything about the circumstances of his adoption. He asks her if she named him or kissed him goodbye; when she replies no to both questions, he angrily asks if she even held him, to which she answers yes. The unsub then stands up and prepares to hang her with barbed wire, ignoring Cissy's protests. However, she argues that the authorities will find him and prosecute him and that she can help him escape, citing that she needs to pay for her sins, but that she also wants him to live. The unsub agrees and releases her. Off-screen, Cissy gives him a route to escape. However, as he escapes, he stumbles across Blake and ambushes her, knocking the both of them into the water, where Blake fires several shots from her gun, grazing the Woodsman once in the head and apparently knocking him unconscious, causing them both to submerge into the water. Blake resurfaces a few seconds later, shaken by the experience, and tells the rest of the team to open fire, to which they fire over thirty bullets into the water. Though his body isn't recovered, JJ reassures Blake that the unsub is dead.
The next day, somewhere in Kentucky, a couple named Brent and Sandy arrive at an isolated home that belongs to the former's parents. The two try to have sex, but Sandy tells Brent that he needs to wait and leaves the room. As he waits, he notices that the fireplace had been recently used before hearing a small crashing noise inside the bathroom. After going inside, he finds the sink running and a window open; Brent shuts off the sink before being surprised by Sandy, who then begins to undress. Just then, the unsub ambushes Brent from behind, wrapping barbed wire around his neck and telling him that he has three seconds to give him the keys to his car. When he completes the countdown, the episode abruptly ends. He currently remains at large.
Modus Operandi[]
The unsub initially targeted the sons of Malachi and Cissy (and therefore his half-brothers), killing them in a variety of ways, although his usual signature involved using barbed wire in some capacity, the wire stole from local farmers' fences on their grounds. Matthias Lee, Malachi's son, was killed by a bear-trap wrapped with barbed wire that was launched out of a tree with a makeshift projectile. Clark Howard, Cissy's son, was killed after being hanged with a noose made from barbed wire, but when that failed to kill him, he twisted his head completely around. Maddie Lee (who was incidental) was killed after being tied up with a noose of barbed wire wrapped around her neck and her legs chained to a container, to which she was dragged by the car and therefore decapitated. When he tried to kill his mother Cissy, he tried hanging her with barbed wire. In the case of the SWAT agent, he was killed by being stabbed with a pickax tied to a cinder block, which was triggered to swing down and kill whoever opened the door to the Woodsman's home. The unsub usually attacked his victims while they were armed, not being intimidated by the advantage they had over him.
Profile[]
No official profile was made of the unsub since the BAU were more focused on the Lee and Howard families, their conflict, and the secret, rival bio-fuel businesses they ran.
Known Victims[]
- 2014:
- Wheeling, West Virginia:
- March 30: Matthias Lee (one of Malachi's sons; killed by a bear-trap wrapped with barbed wire)
- March 31: Clark Howard (Cissy's son; hanged by a noose formed from barbed wire, then fatally twisted his head completely around when the noose failed to kill him)
- April 1:
- Miles Lee (another of Malachi's sons; intended to kill, but attacked Maddie Lee instead when he wasn't home)
- Maddie Lee (his half-sister-in-law and Miles's wife; incidental; tied down, wrapped a noose of barbed wire around the neck, and decapitated by dragging with a car)
- April 2: Cissy Howard (his mother; abducted and attempted to kill by hanging her with barbed wire; was released the next day)
- April 3:
- An unnamed SWAT agent (killed by a triggered swinging door-trap)
- Alex Blake (incidental; assaulted and attempted to drown)
- April 4, unspecified location in Kentucky: Brent and Sandy (attempted)[1]
- Wheeling, West Virginia:
Notes[]
- The unsub is the fourth of only five criminals in the show's history to successfully evade the BAU. The others are:
- Season Five
- Tony Mecacci ("Reckoner") (though he was later murdered by a mobster).
- Season Six
- Shane Wyland ("Into the Woods") (though he may have possibly died from his disease afterwards).
- Season Eight
- Season Ten
- Season Five
Trivia[]
- The unsub resembles the Collyer brothers, in that he isolated himself in a shack in the woods, collected miscellaneous items, and booby-trapped the entryways of his home.
Appearances[]
- Season Nine
- Season Fourteen
- "The Tall Man" (indirectly referenced)
References[]
- ↑ Though their fate is left unknown at the end of the episode, the couple is seen alive in "The Tall Man," indicating that they survived their encounter with the unsub.