Criminal Minds

Look, there's been some kind of misunderstanding, all right?

I'm innocent!

I didn't--I--

I couldn't do this!

Will someone please listen to me!

Who are you?

I'm agent hotchner, mr. Merrin.

Have you been advised of your rights?

Yeah.

Do you know where you are?

Some fbi place, right?

You're at the behavioral analysis unit in quantico, virginia.

You know why you're here?

Because you think I'm a killer.

Are you a killer?

No.

Why won't anybody believe me? I am not--

Stop.

Sit down.

Take a deep breath.

I want you to tell me exactly what happened two nights ago.

Don't leave anything out. Can you do that?

Yeah. Yeah, I can do that.

So, uh, me and...

Me and my wife tabitha,

We were getting ready for bed and she says...

I think I heard something,

Downstairs.

Again? Maybe outside.

It's--it's a dog or a cat or squirrel or something.

It's nothing.

Go.

So I did.

I checked the front door and it was fine.

Everything was fine.

Until...

Until I--I smelled like...Sage.

Sage?

Like burning sage.

'cause that's when I...

Tabitha?!

Hold on! I'm--

Aah!

A shadow monster?

Yeah.

With talons for hands?

I know how it sounds.

I--I knew I needed to get upstairs,

Because...

Because I--I--

I could hear her screaming.

Tabitha: Larry, no!

Larry, please, stop!

No! No! No!

No! No! Larry, please!

No! Larry, no!

Please don't! Larry, no!

Stop, larry!

Stop! Aah!

I passed out,

And when I woke up, the cops had arrested me.

I didn't do it.

I swear to god, it is exactly what happened.

No, it's not.

Yes, it is.

Mr. Merrin, what happened was you took a kitchen knife

And you stabbed your wife to death.

No, no.

Neighbors heard the screaming and they called 911,

And when the police arrived, they found you still on the bed

Holding the knife.

I didn't do that.

You've been scratching yourself, mr. Merrin.

Are you aware of that?

Open your shirt and you will see why.

That's--that's from the shadow monster.

No, that's from your wife.

Forensics matched your skin under her fingernails

As she fought to keep you from killing her.

Think back to the words she was screaming.

Larry, please, please, please! Larry!

Larry...

Why would I do that?

Do you recognize either of these people?

No, I--no.

This is daniel karras and this is christine mcneil.

Each of them claims to have been attacked in their homes

By a shadowy figure.

When in reality, daniel stabbed his mother to death

And christine her boyfriend.

And like you, they have no recollection of the murders.

What does it mean?

It means that someone found a way

To induce a psychotic break in the 3 of you.

Why--why us? Why me?

Well, that's why you're here instead of a holding cell in topeka,

So my team can answer that question.

Agent hotchner.

I'm not a murderer.

Yes, you are.

And I'm going to find out who turned you into one.

Hotch: "your memory is a monster.

"it summons with will of its own.

You think you have a memory, but it has you."

John irving.

Why don't we just start with the simplest explanation?

There are easier lies to tell to cover for murder.

Why tell the same one, especially when it doesn't make sense?

Their similar age range all points in that direction,

33 to 34 years old, but the geographic diversity kind of rules that out.

Yeah. Larry merrin's from topeka.

Christine mcneil is from roswell, georgia,

Daniel karras is from derry, maine,

All different economic levels, social circles,

Obviously different racial backgrounds.

So if he's an unsub, he's not killing but creating killers.

Murder by proxy, if you will.

It's gotta be drugs.

Larry merrin's story just sounds like a bad trip.

According to the police reports, all 3 tox screens came up negative.

Well, they only screen for known compounds.

This could be a cocktail we've never seen before.

Every drug affects every person differently,

Yet somehow this unsub is able to make his drug

Affect 3 completely dissimilar people exactly in the same way.

Maybe they're not dissimilar at all.

Maybe the drugs are just the tipping point

And these 3 share some sort of pre-existing mental condition

He knows he can tap into to induce them to kill.

We find that, we find him.

Did she feel a lot of pain?

Did I kill her quickly?

Mr. Karras, we want to get to the bottom of this, too.

So we'd like to take you through a cognitive interview.

What's the point?

It could help you remember details you couldn't before.

And those details could help us understand what happened.

So, please.

Close your eyes.

And put yourself back in your home a week ago.

You got home from work early, right?

Right.

How did you feel when you walked through the door?

Happy.

Hey, ma.

Hey, ma, you home?

She wasn't. And then I remembered

She said that she was going to the movies with some friends.

I thought my beer tasted funny.

And then I realized it wasn't my beer,

That it was a smell that was coming from somewhere else.

What was the smell?

Sage.

You're sure about that?

Yeah. Yeah, because once I placed it,

I was out.

Jj: How long were you out?

I don't know.

All I know is that when I came to,

It was dark and I couldn't move.

Help!

Somebody help me!

Help!

It did sexual things to me.

He had these--these-- these talons for hands,

And...

Uh, I got--I got free and then I, um...

And then I hid somewhere in the house,

And, uh...

Next thing I remember,

I was standing over my mom's body...

And the cops were cuffing me.

I...

So...So, I--

Maybe--maybe--you know, maybe the rape,

You know, uh...

Maybe I snapped.

You know? You know what I mean?

Maybe I snapped and, uh, I lashed out

At the first person that I saw.

Mr. Karras--

Because this is the only way that it makes sense.

At your lawyer's insistence, the maine police

Ran a rape kit on you.

There was no evidence of assault, sexual or otherwise.

Ok, well, run another rape kit.

No rope burns on your arms or legs.

No evidence of a break-in at all.

What you guys trying to tell me,

That this didn't happen to me? 'cause it did!

There are others.

My lawyer said that there were others that this happened to.

That's right.

Well, can I talk to them?

No.

Why not?

Kate: Christine?

Christine?

Can you just blink

If you understand what we're saying?