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Gary and Ervin Robles are the main antagonists of the Criminal Minds episode "Children of the Dark". They are a duo of serial killers who primarily target families.
Gary was portrayed by William Lee Scott, while Ervin was portrayed by Francis Capra.
Biography[]
Origins[]
Gary and Ervin were both orphaned at the Manwarings foster home when they were young. Ervin arrived with his sister, but she was taken away at an unknown time. At the foster home, both Gary and Ervin (mostly Gary) suffered horrendous abuse alongside many other children by the Manwarings. This led to both Gary and Ervin becoming extremely broken once they left, with Gary being vengeful and angry at the world for dropping him there while Ervin became traumatized and quiet.
The two would later meet up after Ervin got arrested for breaking and entering, leading the two to rob houses before coming across the Layburne Family, who's daughter had been abused, as evidenced by her bruises. Gary and Ervin, angry at the parents for abusing their daughter (as it reminded them of their own abusive childhoods), brutally murdered them before mercy-killing the daughter. This would cause them to start murdering families in a similar fashion in the city of Denver, Colorado.
Children of the Dark[]
The two are seen at the beginning, where they deceive the Halbert Family into letting them in before Gary attacks the parents and Ervin subdues the children. They then torture the parents and mercy-kill the children offscreen. This leads the BAU to get called in to investigate their murders.
They are then seen eating dinner at a restaurant where they set their sights on the Ortiz Family and attack that family later that night. However, Ervin notices how similar the daughter, Carrie, looks to his sister and let's her live, leading her to get help. The BAU realize from her that the two are "brothers" and that Ervin was probably raised in a Caucasian household. They also figure out that at least one of them has experience robbing homes. They use this to find Mr. and Mrs. Manwarings' foster home where the BAU recognize the strictness at their establishment. They later learn of Ervin's record and arrest him at his Animal Care job. He agrees to talk to Carrie, who briefly gets mad at him for killing her parents, but later sympathizes with him upon learning how he was constantly drowned as a child at the Manwarings house.
Gary learns that Ervin was caught and decides that it was time for him to exact revenge on The Manwarings for how they abused him and the other foster children. He does so by kidnapping a boy and girl who were fostered there and holds them hostage at a restaurant. He briefly puts up a fight, but realizes that he can use the kids to kill the Manwarings. He gives the boy a gun and directions to kill the two foster parents and he hands himself over to the police. The boy meanwhile attempts to shoot Mrs. Manwaring in a rage once he got home, but BAU officer, Derek Morgan (who also suffered from a abusive childhood), talks down the child and comforts him.
Individually[]
Gary[]
Gary is a Caucasian male who is believed to have suffered the worst out of all the kids in the Manwarings foster home. He is shown to be sadistic and thrill-seeking, as well as wrathful towards anyone he sees as even remotely similar to the Manwarings. He enjoys torturing the parents in the families as they are the closest thing he has towards torturing the Manwarings. Despite this and his controlling nature, he does genuinely care about Ervin and kids, albeit in a twisted way. He is also charming and manipulative.
Ervin Robles[]
Ervin is a Hispanic male who is a quiet individual and mainly just does as Gary asks. He is shown to love animals and kids and is the one who euthanizes the kids in order to kill them quickly and painlessly. Despite this, he still deeply resents parents and will attack without warning, such as the Halbert family where he became aggressive simply because the parents greeted him.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Gary and Ervin are inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
- Donald Ray Wallace, Jr., a family annihilator and repeat offender who killed an entire family in a burglary, the parents out of anger and the children out of a backwards sense of mercy.
- Kevin and Reginald Haley, two American derial killer/rapist brothers with a history of escalating crime sprees, from robbery to rape to murder. Kevin worked as a dog groomer during the crimes.
- Richard Hickock and Edward Smith, an American duo of robbers and killers responsible for the Clutter family murders, with a similar dynamic of personalities and Smith having a history in foster care.
- Anatoly Onoprienko, a.k.a. “The Beast of Ukraine”, a Ukrainian serial killer of families who grew up in foster care and has similar motives for killing the children.
- Joseph Kallinger, a serial killer severely abused by his foster parents before he would siege homes with his son to torture the families, resulting in three deaths from the violent spree.
- Peter & Paul, the main antagonists of the Austrian film Funny Games and its later American adaptation; two serial killers responsible for imprisoning and torturing families until ultimately killing them one by one, all for their own delight.
- The Manwarings are inspired by Michael and Sharon Granville, a couple responsible for adopting and battering the children in their foster home.
- Due to being raised in white households, Ervin can't speak Spanish, despite being Hispanic.
- In a weird way, they can be considered foils to Derek Morgan. Like Derek, they were orphans who suffered traumatic abuse as kids and sympathize with kids who go through similar abuse. In fact, Gary could be Derek if he hadn't devoted his life to helping people rather than seeking vengeance and Ervin can be what Morgan would be if he stayed quiet about his past and let it affect him emotionally.
External Links[]
- Gary and Ervin Robles on the Criminal Minds wiki.