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| “ | You may think you've seen the last of me, but death cannot take me from you. I will be born again. Today you make me a legend. | „ |
| ~ Ryan's last words. |
Cortland Bryce Ryan, AKA The Angel Maker, is the overarching antagonist in the Criminal Minds episode "The Angel Maker". He is an executed serial killer who seemingly returns to life a year after his death.
He was portrayed in flashbacks by Neil Hopkins.
Biography[]
Ryan was a narcissistic psychopath who was obsessed with the Heavenly Waters constellations, believing the souls of his victims would go there after they died. In 1998 he began killing women who excited him sexually, intending to kill nine victims to correspond to the Heavenly Waters. He would break into women's homes, rape them and beat them to death with his fists. As they died he would open all the windows in the house to let their souls out. He would then use a screwdriver to stab the pattern of the Heavenly Waters into their stomachs. Before leaving he would cross their arms over their chests, hence his nickname of "The Angel Maker". He managed to kill six women over a period of ten months before he was apprehended.
Ryan was convicted and sentenced to death. During his nine years on death row, he got a number of obsessive female groupies and fans due to his manipulative tendencies. They included Chloe Kelcher, one of the jurors in his trial. Ryan, a narcissist, loved the attention and used a code he learned from Aryan Brotherhood members on death row with him to write poetic letters to his fans. He also made origami figures that were put up for auction as serial killer memorabilia. The figures, alongside Ryan's personal belongings, blood and semen, were smuggled out of the prison and distributed by guard Sid Rutledge. Kelcher obtained some of his semen and used it to impregnate herself, but the child died at birth.
On 16 September 2009, Ryan was executed by lethal injection. During the execution the catheter dislodged twice, with the result that Ryan took over an hour to die. In a video message recorded just before his execution he vowed that he would be born again.
"The Angel Maker"[]
Exactly one year after Ryan's execution, Kelcher, now suffering from psychosis, decides to continue his mission. She digs up Ryans's grave, steals his body and refrigerates it in her house. Afterwards she begins killing women, raping them with foreign objects, stabbing them to death and puncturing their stomachs in the appropriate patterns with a screwdriver before planting Ryan's semen samples, obtained from Rutledge, at the scene. The executioner's refusal to talk about Ryan's execution due to the issues surrounding it leads local authorities to suspect that Ryan survived his execution and is behind the murders. The FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit eventually identify Kelcher when she only has one victim left to kill and save her intended victim; however, she completes Ryan's mission by stabbing the pattern into her stomach and committing suicide by cop.
Another one of Ryan's fans, Shara Carlino, takes advantage of Kelcher's killing spree to emulate Ryan by killing a woman in the same way as him, but is stopped and arrested.
Trivia[]
- Ryan is inspired by multiple real-life serial killers:
- Gerald Parker, a.k.a. “The Bedroom Basher”, a serial killer/rapist of women in their bedrooms by means of bludgeoning them to death.
- Ted Bundy, American’s worst serial killer with a history of fans.
- Alfred Gaynor, a serial killer with controversial sales of art and his own bodily fluids from prison.
- Ryan’s execution and its disastrous playout are inspired by real-life executions, successful and botched:
- Raymond Landry, whose execution similarly was drawn out from his IV line shooting out of his arm, albeit more violently than Ryan’s.
- John Wayne Gary, a.k.a. “The Killer Clown”, a serial killer/rapist whose botched execution resulted in the curtain closing similarly to during Ryan’s execution.
- Aileen Wuornos, a.k.a. “The Florida Highway Killer”, a serial killer of men with similar last words before her execution.
External links[]
- Cortland Bryce Ryan at the Criminal Minds Wiki
