We open in Wilmington Delaware. We see 11 year old Billie Copland arguing with her mother Marilyn while her mother coaches soccer. Billie is not playing in the next game (her arm is in a cast), and does not want to attend. Another mother named Mary! Mary is divorced from her husband William. Marilyn makes Billie run laps. Billie hides behind a trash can and calls her father, she tells him that she wants to live with him for a while. We then see someone with a dog leash abduct Billie.

Cut to Quantico, VA where BAU headquarters is. Gideon took Hotch’s advice from the last episode and bought Garcia flowers as an apology… or did he? We see her notice a bunch of framed photos on his side table, and she asks if it’s his family. He says “sort of”.

JJ introduces the team to Billie Copeland’s case, she was last seen twenty hours ago. This case wasn’t initially acted on because the police believed that Billie was with her father (due to the phone call she made to him). He was out of touch with Billie’s mother Marilyn, and when he got in touch, he told her that he didn’t have Billie. Reid

Some statistics on child abductions and killings:

· Long-term stranger abductions are rare for Billie’s age range. They represent on half of 1% of all missing children cases each year.

· Stranger abductions are usually fatal.

· 40% of children that are abducted and murdered die within the first hour

· 75% die after three hours

· And virtually all of them are dead after 24 hours.

This means that the team has just under 4 hours to find Billie. The BAU travels to Delaware. Morgan and Hotch work with detective Charlotte Russet in the park where Billie was abducted. So many things happen in parks! The police so far have set up a hotline, done grid searches, two media interviews, and amber alerts out. They go to interview another child at the park who may have talked to Billie’s unsub yesterday. Hotch talks to Connie who talked to a man yesterday about his lost dog Candy, but she told him she couldn’t help because she had to go home for lunch. Apparently the unsub came back to try to abduct Connie again after she returned to the park.

Gideon and Elle visit Billie’s house. Gideon digs through Billie’s room looking for clues? Billie has a shrine in her room for Billie’s dog. Elle is put in charge of Billie’s parents because Hotch is concerned that the combo of divorce + child abduction, one might snap. Marilyn, Billie’s mother, feels like she is “the bad guy” because Billie’s father is a dead beat. Also there are SO many pillows on Marilyn’s couch. Too many pillows. Billie’s father William arrives at the house. Gideon questions William, about his whereabouts yesterday. We learn that Mr. Williams has terminal cancer, he was at Sloane Kettering all of yesterday. Marilyn later confides to Elle that they go the divorce when Mr. Williams was initially diagnosed, because he didn’t want his wife and daughter to suffer. But Marilyn told Billie that she wanted the divorce so she could take the fall for it. Which is just so fucking stupid I can’t deal with it.

JJ and Reid deal with the press. JJ has an ex boyfriend in the press, Hal Greene. He asks her to give him something for old time’s sake and she says “you may want to rethink that tie”.

The team reconvenes. Gideon comes running across the lawn “WHAT DO WE KNOW??” Gideon tells Detective Russet that they have to “move past the child abduction guidelines” (CARP) and do their own thing. The BAU tells the Wilmington police that they have to cancel the amber alert and pull police off the streets to make the unsub feel more comfortable.

PROFILE:

· White male in his late 20’s to early 30’s

· Drives a late-model green SUV

· He will not inject himself into the investigation, but will watch the news

· From the neighborhood, fits in

· Solitary activities appeal to him (dog walking, yard work)

· A menial or temporary job

· Socially marginalized and frustrated

· Relates better to kids than he does to adults

· Not first offense against children, but first abduction (seasoned abductors do not hunt close to home)

· Recent stressor such as a loss of job or other set back

· Unable to maintain a normal relationship, will have lots of porn (not all will involve child porn, but some will)

· At some point did own a dog named Candy

Garcia answers the phone “Penelope Garcia’s House of How Can I Save Your Ass Today?” and Morgan asks her to give her the sex offender registry for Wilmington Delaware. And I’ll tell you as someone who has now learned how to check my local registry, it doesn’t work like that. Anyways, the sex offender registry doesn’t have anyone who fits the profile. Garcia asks for a lists of suspects to run a deep background check on, but Morgan says they don’t have a list and don’t have enough time. A neighbor gives William Copeland a list of sex offenders in the area and he takes off. Mr. Copeland attacks Mr. Martin Jones and Morgan tackles him.

JJ asks the Copelands to make a public appeal about a white male in a green SUV to appear as a witness to the crime, to take the pressure off the unsub. A body is found in a nearby river- brown hair and under five feet- but it’s not Billie’s body, possibly a junkie overdose. JJ’s ex boyfriend brings up the unidentified body at the press conference, which causes the Copeland’s to freak out.

BAU still has no suspects. Reid realizes that the usnub likely was not home or did not answer the door during the initial canvass because he would have been nervous. Gideon gives William Copeland a pep talk. The press conference worked! A Mr. Lomax calls in, he’s got a neighbor with a green SUV who has not be around the next few days. When Reid and Morgan show up he says “Holy Smokes! That was fast.” He called in a tip of Donald Curtis, who the BAU had as a “no answer” for the canvas. They discover that Mr. Curtis had a golden retriever named Candy who died six months ago (potential stressor??).

Detective Russet faces off with the BAU. She’s upset that the BAU doesn’t have probably cause. She wants to call a judge. Gideon is like “there’s no time” and he breaks into Mr. Curtis’ house. So the rest of the team has to break in. They arrest Mr. Curtis and Gideon’s like “TEAR THE PLACE APART”! Several hours later, the house and garage have been fully searched and there’s no Billie. Morgan finds video that was some sort of child rape?? Hotch profiles so hard, but Curtis won’t tell them where Billie is. Without Billie they don’t have evidence to keep Curtis in custody. Gideon finds fluff in a broom- it’s insulation, finds a central air vent where Billie is tied up in the attic. Not sure why she didn’t make any noise when the police were there? Also Gideon took her dog’s ball from her shrine to show Billie that she can trust him. We learn that Hotch was the one who sent flowers, and Gideon states that he also bought a gift for Garcia. Elle also thinks the Copelands will get back together. We see Gideon add Billie’s picture to his collection of “family”. Also we see Josh Patel from derailed????

Rating criteria

Criminal/Serial Killer: 15/20
Character development/ character arcs: 15/20
Forensics/Context: 15/20
Script writing: 10/20
Background characters: 10/20

Overall: 65/100

S1E12 - “What Fresh Hell?”

S1E13 - “Poison”

S1E11 - “Blood Hungry”