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| “ | If you shoot me, you save her, but then I can't tell you where I buried all those other girls over the years. But if you don't shoot me, I'm gonna kill her. | „ |
| ~ Thomas Yates holding a hostage. |
| “ | I'm back, Dave, and I'm feelin' like my old self again. | „ |
| ~ Yates taunting David Rossi. |
Thomas "Tommy" Yates is a supporting antagonist in Criminal Minds. He is a misogynistic serial killer who murders women and mutilates them post-mortem. He is the Archnemesis of FBI profiler David Rossi.
He was portrayed by Adam Nelson.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Yates is the product of the rape of his mother Georgina, who died giving birth to him. He was raised in Seattle, Washington by his grandmother Trudy, a cruel woman who blamed him for Georgina's death and mercilessly beat, starved, and humiliated him throughout his childhood. He was expelled from two schools for starting fires and committed his first murder at the age of 15, stabbing the school bully to death. He served three years in juvenile detention, and another seven in prison.
As an adult, he drifted around the country as a day laborer, working a series of menial jobs. He also began murdering women to release his long-simmering rage toward his grandmother. His signature was to tear out his victims' wombs - a response to Trudy's repeated insult that he should never have been born - and vocal chords with a knife. He targeted women in high-risk lifestyles, such as prostitutes, and low-risk ones, such as housewives. He tortured and starved his victims for days to inflict as much pain upon them as possible.
His murders were investigated by FBI criminal profiler David Rossi. Over the years, Yates became obsessed with Rossi, believing him to be the only person who had ever understood him and made him feel special.
"Profiling 101"[]
In 2009, Yates returns to Seattle after Trudy is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and puts her in hospice care. He also starts killing again after a four-year hiatus, murdering a prostitute named Rochelle Jenkins. Rossi, now the head of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), recognizes his signature and reopens the investigation.
Yates kidnaps soccer mom Grace Powell from the same building where he had killed one of his first victims 17 years earlier. BAU Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia searches for criminal records in the area and finds the police report of Georgina's rape. From there, she learns of Yates' abuse history and arrest record, and Rossi becomes convinced that he is the killer. The BAU interviews Trudy and finds Yates' address, where they arrest him in the act of torturing Powell.
The BAU interrogates Yates for two weeks, but he refuses to confess to his crimes. He is nevertheless convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to death. He calls Rossi from prison and offers to identify his victims and give him their locations, in return for getting his sentence commuted to life imprisonment and being transferred to another facility. He gives Rossi the names of 40 victims as a sign of good faith, even though he has killed more than 100. He has other conditions, as well: he will only talk to Rossi, and will only divulge one name a year on Rossi's birthday. Rossi reluctantly agrees in order to give the victims' families closure.
On his birthday in 2011, Rossi tells a criminology class the story of the hunt for Yates. He then meets with Yates, who gives him a victim's name and mockingly sings "Happy Birthday" as Rossi leaves.
"The Storm"[]
In 2016, an anarchist terrorist group invades the federal Supermax prison that houses Yates in order to break out their leader, Eric Rawdon. In order to distract the BAU and the SWAT team backing them, Rawdon sabotages the prison's security system, automatically releasing the prisoners in the "serial killer wing", including Yates. Ultimately, however, the BAU manages to foil the prison break, returning the prisoners to their cells - except for 13 of them, including Yates, who escape.
Yates does not physically appear in this episode, but his involvement in the prison break is confirmed in a later one.
"Profiling 202"[]
A year later, Yates calls Rossi on his birthday from a pre-paid cell phone, and tells him he has kidnapped a woman, Jody Wilson. He gives Rossi her location, but by the time the BAU gets there, he has killed her and disappeared. Rossi talks with Wilson's mother and shows her a picture of Yates, whom she recognizes as her daughter's boyfriend, "Johnny".
Rossi and the rest of the BAU team notes that, unlike Yates' other victims, Wilson did not lead a high-risk lifestyle and was not starved, and that he dated her for months before killing her. Rossi theorizes that Yates did not date Wilson in order to lure her into his power, but as an attempt to have a normal, healthy relationship for the first time in his life. When the reality of a relationship did not match up to his idealized picture of one, he killed her - not as part of a sadistic sexual fantasy, but out of frustration. They then realize that Yates will find another victim as soon as he can.
Yates calls Rossi again that night, and makes veiled threats against Rossi's ex-wife, daughter, and grandson. He then tells Rossi that he has kidnapped a prostitute, Regina Franklin, and tells him where he will be able to find her body after he kills her. When Rossi and his team arrive at the crime scene, they are greeted by reporters; Rossi theorizes that Yates also told them where to find the body in order to humiliate him.
Rossi examines Yates' prison medical records, which reveal that he has terminal lung cancer from years of smoking. He fears that Yates will accelerate his killing routine so he can "go out with a bang".
Yates abandons his car and steals a van, in which he picks up prostitute Stephanie Weatherly. He starts coughing up blood, but he is still strong enough to kidnap Weatherly at knife point. He calls Rossi and tells him that, unlike the others, he is never going to find Weatherly. He takes her holds her prisoner for three days, starving and torturing her the whole time, and then takes her to Rossi's house, planning to kill her and literally leave her on Rossi's doorstep as a final taunt to his archnemesis.
Before he can kill her, however, Rossi approaches him with his gun drawn, having figured out his plan. He tells Rossi that he has to choose between shooting him and saving Weatherly or sparing him and letting her die so he can find out where the other victims are buried. Rossi tries to disarm Yates, who declares that he will not die in prison and moves to stab Weatherly. Before he can hurt her, however, Rossi shoots him three times in the chest, killing him.
Trivia[]
- Yates is inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
- The late Henry Lee Lucas, a.k.a. "The Confession Killer", Yates' primary inspiration, a serial killer/rapist with a similar history of childhood domestic violence, as well as confessing to hundreds of murders worldwide, despite many being disproven.
- Andrew Urdiales, a serial killer/rapist of women across the country, starting with stabbing a woman dozens of times, later being arrestsd, convicted in multiple states, and committ8ng suicide.
- Robert Charles Browne, a.k.a. "The Confessor", a nationwide serial killer/rapist, mostly of women out of misogyny, his first murder being a man during his military service. Browne pleaded guilty to two child murders to avoid rhe death penalty, then taunted the police by saying he killed nearly 50 people, confessing in letters, poems, and private interrogations.
- The late Carroll Cole, a serial killer of women who had a similarly abusive mother and a record of having killed a boy before his murder spree.
- The late Arthur Shawcross, a.k.a. "The Genesee River Killer", a serial killer/rapist of female prostitutes who had an abusive family and a previous record of serial arson, and who was released after serving time for the murders of two children.
- Sean Vincent Gillis, a.k.a. "The Other Baton Rouge Killer", a serial killer/rapist with an absent parent, was raised by his grandparents, had a failed relationship with a woman, and killed various women by means of violent butchery and mutilation while watching news coverage of true crime.
- The late Paul Michael Stephani, a.k.a. “The Weepy-Voiced Killer”, a compulsive serial killer of women who called the police in sobs to report his crimes, arrested after a failed murder attempt on a sex worker. Stephani confessed to all his crimes from prison when he was dying from melanoma.
- The late Richard Kuklinski, a.k.a. "The Iceman", a freelance hitman and serial killer who confessed to hundreds of murders. His first victim was his hometown's local bully.
External links[]
- Thomas Yates on the Criminal Minds Wiki
