Joe Carroll

Joe Carroll is the main antagonist in the first season of The Following, He was a Professor of English literature at Winslow University who murdered twelve of his female students, he was eventually caught by FBI agent Ryan Hardy while he was attempting to murder one of his students and was placed on death row after being found guilty in court. While in prison he began to establish a cult filled with admirers and other like minded individuals through the internet and prison visits, in 2013, a few months before he was to be executed he broke out of prison and he murdered the student that Hardy had previously saved from him before being found and arrested by Hardy again after he was brought out of retirement in order to catch him. Carroll then escapes again and informs Hardy that he has been planning his revenge against him for nine years.