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| “ | Just remember, I always get my payback. | „ |
| ~ Benton Farland's most famous line. |
Benton Farland is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "Amelia Porter". He is a homicidal sociopath who goes on a kidnapping and murder spree, with the ultimate goal of recreating his murder of his own sister along with the title character, his former, unwilling accomplice.
He was portrayed by Travis Caldwell.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Farland's mother died when he was nine years old, and he was raised by his older sister, Miriam. He became sexually obsessed with her, worsening his already emerging sociopathy. He began acting out by abusing drugs and committing petty crimes such as vandalism and arson to vent his resentment of her for "making him" have incestuous feelings, as well as his jealousy of her toddler-aged children, Andy and Rebecca.
As a teenager, Farland entered a relationship with Amelia Porter, an older woman with a submissive personality. One night, he attacked and raped his own sister, and then got Porter drunk and high and ordered her to kill Miriam. Porter stabbed her to death while in a state of substance-induced euphoria, but after coming down and realizing what she had done, she became frightened and ran away. The police arrived soon afterward and arrested Farland, but he managed to convince them that Porter had forced him to kill his sister. Porter, meanwhile, managed to escape to Canada, where she lived under another identity.
Farland was imprisoned for the next 12 years, during which he concocted an elaborate scheme to "reunite" with Porter and recreate the murder. He also received visits from a now-teenage Andy, who believed his fake shows of remorse and forgave him for killing Miriam.
"Amelia Porter"[]
Farland is released from prison, but has no money and nowhere to go. He shows up at his father Oren's house, where Andy and Rebecca have lived since Miriam's death, and asks to have dinner with them. Oren wants nothing to do with him, but Andy persuades his grandfather to let Farland stay for one night. Nevertheless, an argument breaks out between father and son that results in Farland stabbing Oren to death with a steak knife. He then steals Oren's car and kidnaps Rebecca and Andy. He takes them to Andy's therapist's office, where he kills a security guard and steals his gun as his horrified niece and nephew watch, helpless. They stay overnight in the office, and hit the road in the morning.
He breaks into Porter's former home and digs up some money he had buried in the back yard before going to prison. When the house's current owners come home unexpectedly, he kills both of them. He then puts a bound and gagged Rebecca in the trunk of the car and has Andy drive them away, claiming that they are going to a cabin owned by a friend of his - Porter.
He has a close call when they are stopped by a patrol officer, but he only gives them a ticket for having a broken taillight before moving on. Panicked, Andy deliberately crashes the car, briefly knocking Farland unconscious. Andy tries to get away with Rebecca, but Farland regains consciousness and shoots him and a passing motorist who stops to help, before forcing Rebecca to go with him on foot. They happen upon a hitch-hiker who recognizes Rebecca as one of her daughter's classmates, but Rebecca says she has her confused with somebody else so Farland will not kill her.
Eventually, they reach their destination, Porter's house, where Farland surprises her in her kitchen. Terrified, she asks him how he found her, and he replies that she had drunkenly told him about the cabin before killing Miriam. When Rebecca walks in, he remarks that she looks just like Miriam. Porter realizes what he wants: to rape his own niece and force her to kill the girl in imitation of what they had done to Miriam. When Porter refuses, Farland hits her in the face and accuses her of abandoning him. When Rebecca begs him to stop, however, Farland abruptly becomes tender and affectionate with his former lover, kissing her gently and promising her that killing Rebecca will be "just like old times". Fearing for her life, Rebecca tries to escape, but Farland catches and subdues her by binding her to the floor.
Meanwhile, the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) starts tracking Farland after the police call them in to investigate Oren's murder. They trace Oren's car to the site of the accident, where they find Andy and save his life by getting him to a hospital. Once Andy regains consciousness, BAU Agents David Rossi, Spencer Reid, and Kate Callahan question him, and Andy tells them about the cabin.
They arrive just as Farland is about to rape Rebecca, and overhear an argument between him and and Porter in which she says that raping and murdering Miriam had been his idea, confirming their suspicions that he had been the dominant partner in the murder. Farland holds Rebecca at gunpoint, and once again uses Porter as a scapegoat, accusing her of forcing him to kill Miriam and his father and kidnap Rebecca. The agents play along with his lies in order to distract him and keep him calm, with Rossi and Reid saying that Andy told them that Porter kidnapped all of them and forced him kill people. However, Farland notices Callahan sneaking up on him from behind, and realizes that they are going to arrest him. Porter tries to run, creating a distraction that Farland uses to let Rebecca go and commit suicide by shooting himself in the head.
Trivia[]
- Farland is inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
- Charles Starkweather, a spree killer responsible for the murder of his girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate’s family before going on a killing spree with her as an accomplice, albeit with questionable complicity.
- Joseph Duncan, a serial child rapist, child murderer, and spree killer responsible for slaughtering an entire family, kidnapping a brother and sister, and murdering the brother before the sister was rescued.
- Paul Bernardo, a.k.a. “The Schoolgirl Killer”, Canada’s most hated serial killer with his ex-wife Karla Homolka as an abused accomplice, responsible for the rape and fatal torture of Karla’s sister Tammy on Bernardo’s orders.
- Alton Coleman, a serial rapist and later a spree killer with his accomplice Debra Brown.
- Eddie James, the killer of Betty Dick and the rapist and killer of her granddaughter Toni Neuner, whose family was boarding with James, James briefly went on the run after the murders.
- Chuck Riley, one of the two “Barbecue Murderers”, who was coerced while on drugs by his girlfriend Marlene Olive to kill her parents.
- Barrie Watts, responsible with his older wife Valmae Beck for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Sian Kingi out of Watts’ lack of satisfaction with sex with Beck and wanting to rape a virginal girl or woman.
- Amelia Porter is in part inspired by Sharon Kinne, an American serial killer of men in her life who fled to Mexico to avoid prosecution.
External Links[]
- Benton Farland on the Criminal Minds Wiki
