The Gold Star Killers are a group of delusional, "injustice collector"-type serial killers, cop killers vigilantes, hitmen, abductors, and terrorists. They’re the primary unsubs of the second season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, as well as both the victims of and directed in their operations by cult leader Frank Church.
Background[]
Church is the founder of private military contracting conglomerate Aida Limited. He wanted to kidnap and train child soldiers at his barracks, so he founded the Stuart House facility to conduct his experiments. Five at-risk teens, nicknamed the "Gold Stars" 1-5, were sexually abused, tortured with electrical shocks, and brutalized otherwise while brainwashed to be indoctrinated to Church’s influence. He trained them in combat and military strategy to make them his personal army, which would become the blueprint of his future captivity and abuses of kids captive at his barracks in Maryland.
Everyone of the Gold Stars was receptive, except for Aiden Keller, who was too traumatized to the point of psychosis that he was left to fend for himself after gouging the eyes of an employee that raped him. Another one of the Gold Stars was Pete Bailey, the brother FBI Deputy Director Doug Bailey, who tried and failed to safely pull Pete out and deprogram him from the cult’s influence. The group become heroes and role models for the kids Church was torturing and indoctrinating, and in the meantime, while filling their heads with conspiracy theories about reaffirming and cabals, the five killers were sent by Church to butcher the accomplices of his crimes, disguising them as deaths and disappearances not pointing to assumptions of murder to cover Church’s tracks. Church solicited a Strike Team of mercenaries to dispatch the Gold Stars once they were liabilities, but the group found out and killed the mercenaries first. Around this time, serial killer Elias Voit found them through his online network, hoping to use them against law enforcement once they were closing in on him, and once he was arrested, to use them for revenge by lying to them just like Church did.
On Criminal Minds: Evolution[]
After Damien Booth killed three of the mercenaries, he tortured to death the wife of the fourth and left him in shock and to take the fall. The mercenary later committed suicide in custody. The FBI couldn't stop him from killing the final mercenary, who they found just as he was dying. Shortly after that, Aiden had a psychotic break, found some of the Stuart House staff still residing in Utah, and he butchered one of them and his wife. He kidnapped another and tortured her with electric shocks. The FBI stopped him from murdering her, but when they tried to appeal for his surrender, he moved to kill the woman, resulting in Rossi shooting him dead. It was originally believe Stuart House was a distraction, so they focused on Jade Waters when they were tracking her murders of sheriff's deputies associated with both her father Rick and Stuart House. She herself didn't stop using ruses of being stranded on highways to kill them and gladly listened to radio reports to relish the crimes. Rick tried to kill her after abducting her, but Jade got the upper hand and shot him instead, where he murdered her mother years ago.
Damien and Jade reconvened, where they gathered all the badges Jade wanted as souvenirs from their crimes and discussed their next plans. They then called Voit, who was encouraged by the FBI to lure them to a meeting. After verifying who he was, Voit arranged a public park as here they'd meet, while tapping "North Star" in Morse code as part of his lies to them. Believing he wasn't on their side when noticing the FBI showed up, Damien and lade strapped arms dealer Eddie Dayton to a bomb and made him drive a bulletproof van to try and run over Voit. When that failed, they called Voit on the phone strapped to the bomb, Jade confronting Voit about why she should believe him. Damien was convinced by Voit's consolation, so after the bomb was diffused, Damien pretended to be a cop to get into the van Voit was in and ask about "North Star". Voit then told him a bunch of lies about how the U.S. government was behind Stuart House.
Damien and Jade went off the grid, living in camps and, while Jade was flashing back to be raped by Church, reminding each other that they had each other. They then killed the last employee they needed to find and staged his death as a hanging. Shortly after that, Voit's lawyer, Vincent Orlov, provided Damien and Jade with a GPS tracker to a storm shelter with more fraudulent documents to manipulate them once they found it. When they planned to kill Jill Gideon, who provided the very research Church used to brutalize them, they were convinced the government was corrupt when thy saw what security from the bureau she had. Jill made them all go away so she could lure Damien into kidnapping her. Taking him to Jason Gideon's cabin, she apologized for her role in his trauma and told him the truth. he was successfuly deprogrammed and peacefully surrendered once police arrived. Refusing to live with his crimes in prison, when he saw Jade was armed with a rifle, he signaled her to kill him out of mercy. She fled and later lured a state troopper into a vulnerable position, where Dana Howe shot and wounded him and Jade gouged his eyes. She told the deputy to let the FBI know she wanted to be left alone and was returning to Church's Maryland barracks.
Jade and Dana found a corkboard diorama that painted a fictitious picture that said the FBI pulled off the Stuart House program. They rigged it with explosive, killing three more state troopers, and reported back to Church. Church killed Dana when she was no longer useful, then tried to lie to Jade she was ready for the next part of his agenda. But when one of his captives trained like her for murder, Mila Sandoval, revealed Church raped them both and the other girls, Jade turned on him. She got Mila to run to the responding law enforcement with the rest of the kids, then detonated bombs in the barracks with Pete. She abducted Church and Prentiss with Pete, then held them captive in the cafeteria. Jade killed Church when he refused to admit to his crimes, and when Prentiss wanted a "trial", Pete revealed himself. When she refused to admit to getting Doug killed, Jade tortured her with electric shocks. The two of them planned to shoot and bomb the responding law enforcement when they arrived. But when the agents showed videos of Voit confessing to killing Doug, Pete and Jade surrendered. Jade narrowly came close to shoting herself, but Prentiss talked her down from commiserating with her. The were both incarcerated, having tearful reunions with Mila and Pete's family before they taken into custody. Church's company and barracks were dismantled by the U.S. government afterward.
Members[]
- Leader: Frank Church (deceased). Portrayed by Tuc Watkins.
- Gold Stars:
- Damien Booth (GS1; deceased). Portrayed by David Garelik.
- Aiden Keller (GS2; deceased). Portrayed by Matthew Erick White.
- Pete Bailey (GS3; incarcerated). Portrayed by Alex Saxon.
- Dana Howe (GS4; deceased). Portrayed by Nikko Austen Smith.
- Jade Waters (GS5; incarcerated). Portrayed by Liana Liberato.
Appearances[]
Real-Life Comparisons[]
The Gold Star Killers are primarily inspired by Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow and the Barrow Gang - All are outlaw gangs, serial killers, and cop killers with leaders who were sexually assaulted, were active with multiple states, and at least one of their leaders and followers each died by shooting.
The Gold Star Killers also appear to be inspired by Eric and Kim Williams - Both are revenge killers of law and justice officials, primary consistent of a couple, killed their victims outdoors and in home invasions, and killed their victims by shooting (though the Gold Star killers also used other means).
The Gold Star Killers also appears to be inspired by the killers of Brian Wells - Both groups are bombers led by female serial killers with psychiatric illnesses, met their victims through criminal affiliates, lured victims to obscure locations using their jobs, strapped them to bombs at gunpoint and took them hostage, forced them to commit criminal acts while wired with the bombs, intended more crimes after the attacks (which only the Gold Star Killers were successful with), the victims were apprehended by law enforcement in attempts to disarm the bombs (though this failed with Wells, who was killed when the bomb was detonated), and the leaders shot their respective boyfriends as the authorities closed in, and federal law enforcement were brought onto the cases.