Martin Thiel

" I love the rain... it washes everything away... makes it clean."

Martin Thiel is the main antagonist of the 1988 crime thriller film ''Criminal Law. ''He is a wealthy serial killer who preys on women who have had abortions. He is portrayed by Kevin Bacon, who also portrayed Sean Nokes in Sleepers, Wade in The River Wild, Ray Duquette in Wild Things, Sebastian Caine in Hollow Man, Joe Hickey in Trapped, and Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: First Class.

Character Overview
Martin is the scion of the wealthy Thiel family, and presents the public image of a handsome, charming, highly intelligent  playboy. Beneath that facade, however, he is a violent, woman-hating psychopath who rapes and murders women who have had abortions - whom he especially hates because he knows that his cold, unloving mother, a respected surgeon, has performed the procedure and even tried to have him aborted when she was pregnant with him.

In the film
Martin is eventually arrested and tried for murder, but is acquitted thanks to his attorney, Ben Chase. When Martin confesses to Chase that he is indeed a serial killer, Chase is horrified, but is unable to go to the police because it would violate attorney-client privilege. Chase then becomes determined to bring Martin to justice before he kills again.

Martin eventually confronts the real target of his rage - his mother - and kills her. When he is brought to trial for that crime, he opens fire in the courtroom, killing a police officer. He then charges at Chase with a broken water jug, intent on cutting his throat, but another officer shoots him dead before he can kill Chase.

Trivia
Real life serial killer Paul Bernardo was a fan of the film and felt a connection to the Thiel character, so much so that he used "Martin Thiel" as an alias while committing his crimes.