Mason and Lucas Turner were a brother team of prolific serial killers, abductors, and robbers who appeared in the two-part Season Four finale of Criminal Minds.
History[]
See Mason Turner and Lucas Turner's articles
Modus Operandi[]
The Turner Brothers waited until shortly after welfare checks were issued in Detroit to begin their killings. Lucas, on Mason's orders, would park outside a seedy motel in the Cass Corridor, where prostitutes, vagrants, etc. would cash the checks. Lucas would lure the victims into the car by pretending to be a drug dealer or prospective john. Once the victims were in his grasp, he would hold them at gunpoint with an M1911 to control them, shove their hands behind their backs, cover their mouths with duct tape, and forcibly take them across the border via a small raft, leaving his car nearby.
Once he arrived at the farm, Lucas would show the victims to Mason through a window, and draw a red "X" with a marker on their necks. After Mason showed his approval, Lucas would then bash a hammer on the "X" repeatedly until they were dead. Afterwards, he would sterilize their bodies and take pictures of their faces with a Polaroid camera. He would then extract viable material from the bodies with a syringe, which he would use (along with medical equipment he stole on the same days as when he abducted some of his victims) in Mason's experiments. He would dismember the bodies using a buzz saw and feed the pieces to the pigs. He would then place his victims' shoes in a large bin near the pig pen.
Profile[]
Note: This is the BAU's profile on Lucas, as no official profile was made for Mason
The unsub was originally profiled as an intelligent and organized sexual sadist who achieves sexual gratification out of torturing others, regardless of gender, race, or age (hence why the victims had little in common besides being poor), and has managed to abduct his victims without any witnesses. Medical equipment, such as sterilizing agents and anesthesia, being stolen around the same as the abductions indicated the unsub could be performing experiments and surgeries on his captives, and was keeping them alive for as long as possible in order to prolong their suffering. The choice of items he has stolen are extremely specific, so he may have a medical background and might be working in a hospital, medical school, or community health organization. The unsub's coworkers would undoubtedly notice his odd behavior, such as enthusiastically volunteering to perform painful procedures, during which he would spend extra time on such as probing a broken hand or a distend abdomen. At the end of the day, while his coworkers would be emotionally drained from the process of dealing with the sick and dying, the unsub would appear unfazed, suggesting things like going out for drinks and talking about the day.
After looking through the unsub's room, it is believed that he most likely suffers from autism or moderate mental retardation, as evidenced by the child-like crayon drawings scattered throughout the barn. Disembodied eyes being present in all of the drawings indicates that the unsub is being watched over by someone, and if caught, he will be scared and confused, and may lash out. Merely doing what his brother told him out of guilt over what he had done to him, the unsub probably does not fully understand the acts he has committed, as his brother had manipulated him into viewing his victims as mere objects by forbidding him from speaking to or having any extended interaction with them, and told him that people always lied to him.
Real-Life Comparisons[]
Lucas in particular seems to have been inspired by Ed Gein - Both were mentally-challenged killers who lived on a farm with a brother and abusive parental figure (who they were dependent on), their older and mentally sound brothers both suffered an accident when they tried to leave the farm years before their killings began (interestingly enough likely at the their hands: Lucas paralyzed Mason by pushing him off the loft of their father's farm, while Gein's brother Henry died from head-trauma after a fire at their farm), primarily targeted women (though Lucas also targeted men) and dismembered them.
The brothers were inspired by Robert Pickton - Both Lucas and Pickton were prolific (possibly in Pickton's case) serial killers and (presumably in Pickton's case) abductors who had brothers, were active in Canada, worked as pig farmers, targeted the 'unwanted'/high-risk victims like drug addicts and prostitutes in poor neighborhoods, fed them to pigs after killing them (possibly in Pickton's case), and both went undiscovered for years due to poor Canadian investigations at the time of their crimes.
Mutual Victims[]
Note: the following crimes were all committed by Lucas on Mason's orders:
- Unspecified year-2009:
- Presumably committed numerous victimless robberies
- 78 unnamed victims
- 2009:
- April 2: Lee Hightower (a prostitute)
- April 8:
- A victimless robbery at HD&L Medcial Supplies (stole a dry heat sterilizer, two cases of bandages, and four boxes of silk sutures)
- Alana
- April 16: Jared
- April 18: Colby Van Kirk
- April 23:
- A victimless robbery at Penday General Hospital (stole a volumetric infusion pump, an infusion pump stand, a chest drainage system, and test tubes)
- Claire Osenbaugh
- April 26: Faith
- April 29:
- A victimless robbery at Detroit Community Blood Center (stole five units of O-negative blood and boxes of IV tubes)
- Ivy
- May 3: Sheldon Abernathy
- May 5: Louis
- May 9:
- A victimless robbery (stole numerous medical supplies)
- Celeste Evercroft
- May 16: Charles Porter (a drug addict)
- May 19: Kelly Shane (a prostitute; abducted, attempted to kill, and held captive in a cellar; was rescued the next day)
Appearances[]
- Season Four
- Season Five
- "Nameless, Faceless" (mentioned)