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| “ | Hello, Phyl. You don't remember me. I'd know you anywhere. I looked for you so long. (Jenny: Who are you?) Have I changed so much? It's me, sis. It's Johnny. | „ |
| ~ Carl Sturgis revealing his true nature to Jenny Tate. |
Carl Sturgis, born Johnny Linden, and also known as the Towpath Killer, is the main antagonist in Series 7 of Endeavour, the prequel series to Inspector Morse.
The Towpath Killer was a brutal serial killer who targeted his victims in towpaths from the New Year's Eve in 1970 all the way to the New Year's Eve in 1971, and he killed them in brutal fashions. He is also one of the two core culprits in Series 7, alongside the hidden perpetrator of a series of peculiar "accidents".
Even though his killing started at the start of the season, his true nature and identity was never revealed until the Series 7 finale, making him one of the few recurring culprits in the entire franchise.
He was portrayed by Sam Ferriday.
Personality[]
Carl Sturgis, or Johnny Linden, is a feral and barbaric psychopath who enjoys bringing others suffering, in terms of both human murders and animal cruelty, and his cruelty has nothing to do with his early abuse from his cousin, Kevin. He is also shown to have a violent and possessive side as a control freak, which started the Towpath Killing in the first place.
Nevertheless, Sturgis isn't always a brute, as he can blend himself quite well in the public and uses this feigned peaceful nature to deceive others into believing he was innocent, showing a full understanding over right or wrong, which only makes him even worse than merely being troubled.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Born Johnny Linden, the man later known as Carl Sturgis (and the Towpath Killer) was born in 1939 and was orphaned when he was young, only living along with his two younger sisters, Phyllis and Doris, and his cousin Kevin. He had inherited his cruel maternal grandfather's family name and wickedness. He and his younger sisters had been adopted and raised by their uncle and aunt, who had owned a pub named the Wolf’s head.
Johnny's cousin, Kevin, was twisted and abusive to his cousins and often played cruel pranks to other siblings. Nevertheless, Johnny was even darker than Kevin, fully every inch of his reviled grandfather, Noah Sturgis, who was a cruel man in his life.
From an earlier day, Johnny did things even crueler than Kevin. Whilst Kevin often gave abusive punishment to his siblings during hide-and-seek game, Johnny did even worse as he had abused and tortured animals to their deaths. One time, Johnny did even further by torturing his uncle's dog, blinding one of its eyes with caustic lye.
Family murder[]
In 1949, when he was only ten years old, Johnny turned his cruelty upon humans and killed five people in a week. First, he murdered the very first human in his victims' count, a local boy named George Fontayne, who was the same age as Johnny. In order to conceal his crime, Johnny dragged George's corpse back into his family's pub and set it on fire, faking his own death in the process and killing most of his family - his uncle, his aunt, Doris and Kevin.
Besides Johnny, Phyllis also survived the fire, but she was blamed for the crime and was sent to a mental hospital. Johnny also left George's corpse at the fire, and it was seriously charred beyond recognition, causing the police to believe it was Johnny's corpse. Johnny successfully escaped and started a new life, renaming himself as Carl Sturgis based on his cruel grandfather's family name.
As Carl Sturgis[]
21 years after the fire, Sturgis now worked as an undertaker in Oxford. He later occupied a mansion from a dead man who owned the firm he was working in. Notably, the man is known as Mr. Aspen, and was one of the victims of another main case in Series 7 - the "peculiar accidents", marking the first and the only time those two cases had intertwined.
After that, Sturgis started a romantic relationship with a barmaid named Molly Andrews. However, Johnny was so much of a hateful control freak, that his possessive and abusive attitude made Molly suffered. Meanwhile, Sturgis continued his twisted childhood hobby of animal cruelty. He started a chamber in his mansion, serving as his lab for his twisted works. He captured strayed cats all over Oxford and mutilated them (among other small animals like birds) inside his lab.
Start of the Towpath Killer[]
The towpath darkness started on the New Year's Eve, 1970, when Morse was in Venice for holiday. On a party, Sturgis heard rumors of Molly cheating him behind his back, thus starting a conflict between them. After that, Sturgis decided to kill Molly. He pretended to be drunk and had a taxi driver to send him back his home, before he got dressed in his coat and stalked her on the towpath she went home.
After whistling "Antonio" to startle her, Sturgis attacked Molly from the back and ripped off her crucifix, before snapping her neck to kill her. He had Molly's crucifix in his possession, which was later retrieved by Morse and Thursday as a crucial evidence after the case got closed.
Though he was suspected to be the killer at first, Sturgis got away for lacking evidence and went on a hiatus for four months, evading Morse and Thursday for any questioning. Nevertheless, deep down, Sturgis began to enjoy the feeling of darkness brought by killing in the towpath, and he decided to continue his murder by making it a serial killer's handiwork.
Further Murder[]
In May 1970, Sturgis murdered his second Towpath Killer victim (and in total, his seventh human victim) named Tony Jakobssen, a flasher who had passed by the towpath for many times. Sturgis's killing method went even more brutal and bloody than before, as he slit Jakonssen's throat and left him bled to his death. Merely a week later, he claimed his third Towpath Killer victim, a young woman named Bridget Mulcahy, whom he not only slit her throat but also drank her blood.
This time, Thursday had pieced together the connections and arrested Sturgis, whom he believed was the murderer. Unexpectedly, however, Sturgis' action had inspired a copycat who had murdered a woman named Petra Cromwell a few weeks later. Sturgis was released soon afterwards and made a speech in front of the public. He painted himself as a victim of police persecutions, blaming every crime of his own on the copycat at large before accusing the police to be corrupt, threatening to sue them if they could not catch the real killer before he left.
Later, the copycat was arrested after a failed murder attempt, and Morse discovered that this was not the real killer, because this copycat whistled another song rather than "Antonio". Still, Thursday was in difference with Morse's recent behavior, advised Morse to take a rest and forbade him from digging it further. It gave Sturgis a chance to finally enact his ultimate plan: Find his lost sister, Phyllis.
Final plan[]
Phyllis Linden, now under the alias of the aforementioned Jenny Tate, worked as a waitress in Oxford and became friend with Morse and others, but she was still traumatized by the death of her family. Sturgis tracked Jenny/Phyllis down and imprisoned her, revealing his true identity right in front of her, as well as displaying his incestuous feelings towards her. He bit Jenny's arm in an attempt to eat her bit by bit, further pushing her into insanity.
Later, Thursday sent Strange to Sturgis' house for further inquiries, even though Strange was unconvinced that Sturgis was the Towpath Killer. However, after hearing Sturgis whistling "Antonio", Strange became convinced that Sturgis was the real Towpath Killer. Seizing the chance of Sturgis' absence, Strange went upstairs and went closer to where Jenny was held captive.
However, Sturgis discovered Strange was approaching his sister's cell and stabbed him with his swordstick, the same one he used to slit his victims' throat.
Death[]
Before Sturgis could finish Strange off, however, Morse defied Thursday's command and arrived just in time to rescue Strange and Jenny. Morse and Sturgis went into a fight. Soon, Morse was lured upstairs and got defeated since he was notoriously weak in close combat. Sturgis tried to slit Morse's throat, but Morse went up again and disarmed Sturgis.
Agitated, Sturgis revealed his barbaric and feral true nature by trying to tear Morse's throat out with his bare teeth, but Morse fought back and threw Sturgis off the staircase. Sturgis rolled all the way down to the stairs' bottom, where he broke his neck and died. Thursday arrived with backup soon, and Strange was hospitalized.
After saving Jenny, Morse and Thursday opened the door that led to Sturgis' twisted display of dismembered animals, discovering Sturgis' disturbing past, retrieving Molly Andrews' stolen crucifix, and finally closing the case of the Towpath Killer once and for all.
Gallery[]
Victims[]
- Total count: 8+ (human)
- Along with: Countless animals
- Childhood murders (1949): 5+ (human)
- George Fontayne
- Kevin Sturgis
- Aunt Bess
- Uncle Joe
- Doris Linden
- Phyllis Linden (survived, but framed)
- As the Towpath Killer (1970-1971): 3+ (human)
- Molly Andrews
- Tony Jakobssen
- Bridget Mulcahy
- Jenny Tate/Phyllis Linden (attempted; survived)
- Jim Strange (attempted; injured but survived)
- Endeavour Morse (attempted; survived)
- Along with: Countless animals (again)
Trivia[]
- The Towpath Killer is considered to be one of the most brutal and disturbing culprits in Inspector Morse franchise.
- Sturgis' overall characteristics, including his lines and killing method, takes on several monster from classical horror fictions, including Count Dracula and the Wolf Man.
- Sturgis is the only Inspector Morse villain that had conducted massive animal cruelty.
- Ludo and the Towpath Killer are the first duo of seen arc villains in Endeavour that shares no relations to each other. Both have their own seperated influence throughout the same season, and the only Big Bad Ensemble that are dealt with personally by Morse. The previous arc villains, except those that were unseen and not confronted, are either leaders or at least a vital part to a long-running story arc in each seasons.
- Reginald Bright (pre-redemption) was originally antagonistic towards Morse's investigation and skills.
- Clive Deare was a part of Oxford's police corruption and was responsible for Peter Jakes' traumatic past, and being the shelter of pedophile ring led by Gerald Wintergreen and Josiah Landesman.
- Series 3 has no definite arc villain and is only focusing on separate criminals on each episode.
- Whilst Roy Morton serves as the arguable main antagonist in Series 4 (and not being a part of Freemasons), his role is limited in Thursday Family's subplot, instead of having a part in the Series 4's main storyline, which surrounds Morse's rigged sergeant exam. The Freemason members are responsible for Morse's rigged sergeant exam, but it never specified who was directly responsible. They are never seen or personally confronted, and thus they only serve as overarching antagonists of Series 4.
- Eddie Nero is the center of Thames Valley's drug crisis for being the most powerful mob leader in the region at the time. While Cromwell Ames aims to challenge Nero in a bitter rivalry throughout the whole season, his vital influence only started to spark in the last two episodes, and he was still less powerful and influential than Nero, thus making Ames the Series 5's secondary antagonist.
- Alan Jago was responsible for killing George Fancy in the Series 5 finale, before exploiting the drug crisis and Nero's assets for his own gain, causing even worse drug abuse, murder, drug overdose and incidents throughout the series. He is also behind the Cranmer House's collapse by working with Clive Burkitt and George McGryffin as their benefactors.
External Links[]
- Carl Sturgis on the Pure Evil Wiki.
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 Villains
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