The Reimanns are a couple that abducted, raped, and murdered (the latter two in Robert's case) several women and kept their infants captive in Season Five episode of Criminal Minds, "Cradle to Grave".
History[]
See Robert and Linda Reimann's pages
Modus Operandi[]
"She's perfect."
Robert and Linda targeted blonde, blue-eyed, troubled Caucasian runaways aged between 16 to 19 years old. Robert would abduct them personally (since Linda's disease kept her at their home) from different cities in New Mexico, at least once paying accomplices in the area to lure them, and take them to his and Linda's home in Arizona. He would usually hold two at a time, put them in a dungeon in his basement, and bind them by their wrists and ankles using chains. He would sexually assault and impregnate them while holding them captive until they gave birth. Before impregnating his victims, Robert and Linda would get them healthy enough to carry a child and also give them various medications to make the birthing easier. When the births took place, the most recently abducted girls would act as midwives.
If the victims gave birth to a girl, they would be killed by asphyxiation and dumped near highways in New Mexico. The daughters were then left on the steps of a nearby Presbyterian church to be put up for adoption or in foster care because they wouldn't think to look for the babies' relatives out of the state. If they gave birth to a boy, the victims would stay captive and Robert and Linda would take the newborn and raise him as their own; the victims would also act as nurses when necessary.
Profile[]
The unsubs responsible for the abductions and murders are most likely a couple aged in their 30s to early 40s. The husband would have a history of sexual abuse, starting with stalking and then moving up to assault and rape, but this violent streak had ended temporarily when he met his wife, to which he became calm, having met someone who submitted to his torture. His wife will have gone to the E.R. repeatedly with signs of spousal abuse sometime in the past five years, prior to the first abduction. However, since a sexual sadist cannot derive any pleasure from a willing partner for long, and the husband could not escalate his violence against her without killing her, the wife made a deal with him: he would get to rape and kill the runaway victims in exchange for her keeping the children and taking care of them as an outlet to cling onto her own life.
The medications that are being given to the victims suggests that the wife may have some obstetric job, such as a nurse or an O.B. The wife needs these children, which were the only lifeline that kept her alive, and as long as her husband had other targets for his abuse, she avoided his rage. She also wants a child who resembles her and her husband physically, a child whom no one would question as their own, which is why she gives some of them up for adoption. All of the runways were blonde, which may mean the wife is as well. Whatever the desirable physical characteristic, like the color of the eyes or the skin type, if the baby doesn't have it, he or she ends up being placed in the foster care system. Wives of sexual sadists need outlets as a denial mechanism to cope with what their partners are doing to them, and motherhood, especially in which a helpless infant is taken care of, is the wife's way of coping.
Real-Life Comparison[]
The Reimanns appear to be partly inspired by Phillip and Nancy Garrido - Both were couples of abductors with the husband being a serial rapist and domestic abuser, the husbands violently abused at least one of their respective wives, both couples kidnapped young Caucasian women and girls, the husbands repeatedly raped the victims for as long as years in captivity, impregnated the victims, forced the victims' childbirth to be in captivity, gave their children of one gender away for adoption and held their children of the other gender captive while raising them as their own (the Reimanns kept the sons and gave away the daughters, the Garridos kept the daughters and gave away the sons), and their victims were rescued along with their children.
The Reimanns are also similar to Cameron and Janice Hooker - Both were couples of abductors consisting of a sexually sadistic husband and a wife who was violently abused by the husband, abducted young Caucasian women from the streets with ruses, held them captive in makeshift cells, the victims repeatedly raped by the husbands, the wives set rules with the husbands during the rapes so they could still have children (born to the victims rather than herself, in Linda's case), and at least one victim each was killed by the husbands, who then disposed of their bodies in isolated areas.
The Reimanns also appears to be inspired by Fred and Rosemary West - Both were serial killing and abducting couples involving a husband with previous abusive marriages and abused wives, were raising children of the same gender during the murders in the very homes where the murders were committed, targeted young female runaways, kidnapped them with ruses, and raped them repeatedly in the basements of the homes before killing them.
Known Victims[]
The dates denote when and where the victims were abducted
- New Mexico:
- October 2004, Lovington: Monica Winmar (abducted and raped repeatedly; killed on March 24, 2006, shortly after giving birth to a girl)
- July 2005, unspecified location: Janeen Atterman (abducted and raped repeatedly; killed on April 1, 2008)
- December 2006, Farmington: Kristie Taylor (abducted and raped repeatedly; killed on October 19, 2009, shortly after giving birth to a girl)
- March 2008, unspecified location: Carol (abducted and raped repeatedly; was rescued on October 21, 2009, shortly after giving birth to a boy)
- October 20, 2009, Albuquerque: Julie (non-fatally suffocated with a plastic bag and abducted, but not raped; was rescued the next day alongside Carol)