 |
Jafar says: Read my lips and come to grips with the reality! This article is a stub and is in need of expansion. You can help Villains Wiki by expanding it. |
  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | That's the lamest attempt at bonding I have ever seen. You smell that? Antiseptic. My mother smelled like that. Obsessed with germs. She washed her hands with ammonia. Mine too. My one regret—I didn't make her my first victim. Put her under a little stone cross years ago. | „ |
| ~ Howard Epps describing his backstory, also his clue to Koskoff's remains. |
| “ | These murder investigations take a long time. Then there's the appeals. And since I should have been dead a half an hour ago, it's all gravy from now on. | „ |
| ~ Epps to Amy, Booth and Brennan. |
Howard Epps, or The Manipulator, is a major antagonist of the 2005 FOX crime TV-series Bones.
He was a serial killer who hunted blonde female victims in their late teens, murdering them with a tire iron. One of his lawyers believe that he was framed for a young girl's murder, yet the evidence later revealed him to be guilty on multiple other murders.
An acknowledged Howard about the Jeffersonian team, attempted to sabotage their investigation and outright murder them by using his decapitated ex-wife as a sacrificial lamb, before falling to his death after Booth and Dr. Brennan cornered him against a balcony.
He was portrayed by the late Heath Freeman.
Biography[]
Howard Epps was raised by his mother Marianne, who had a glandular condition that made her obese. She would constantly abuse his son whenever he went out with women, whom she saw were "loose," bathing him in ammonia and physically abusing him regularly. He grew to hate her and nurtured violent fantasies of torturing and killing her; and would later say that his one regret in life was that he did not make her his first victim.
Howard went on to become a serial killer, bludgeoning young women with tire irons, which he would then bury alongside them. Howard was eventually arrested for murdering a girl named April Wright, a crime for which he was sentenced to death. Howard was estimated to possess an intelligence quotient of 180, showing his capability to obscure the aftermath of his murders, and getting away with them until hours later.
Plead to Exoneration[]
To be added.
Howard's Game[]
After Howard's duration extension for his execution to be tried for the other murders the Jeffersonian and FBI teams discovered, he got in contact with his accomplice Gil Lappin, a mail carrier who would later partake in his orders to continue murdering blonde late teens and adding his own twist in Howard's modus operandi by torturing them. Lappin's actions made Booth revisit Howard in the visiting room, because the Jeffersonian team discovered that victim Lauren Hathaway was murdered the way it was done to other victims: the tire iron, upside-down burial, and bound hands and feet. Lappin jumped in as a bystander who just discovered the remains of Hathaway that Howard murdered, to divert suspicion away that he was ever a killer accomplice, unbeknownst to both the Jeffersonian and the FBI.
During his stay, his wife Caroline Mapother-Epps met him in the visiting room, where she planned to have a child with him. Caroline would later meet Booth and Brennan just after she exited the room, stating how proud they were able to keep him alive. Howard's clue about temptations and how to murder his mother, are a clue to a second set of remains, which were only a week old. Those remains are identified being Sarah Koskoff's, and Lappin's victim.
More to add.
Escape and Hunt[]
A few weeks later, Howard was presumably rescued by a decorated firefighter named Donald Kent, whom he stole his uniform to blend in as a fireman, and indirectly caused a large riot in prison. Booth, upon discovering this information, had the prison on total lock-down and the thirty mile perimeter closed from the penitentiary. Upon his escape, Howard discreetly called Brennan by a telephone booth, leaving some clues and stating that everything after falls under Brennan's hands. Booth and Brennan quickly arrived to the location, but discovered a clue appearing to be bone dust in a small container. Meanwhile, Howard shipped an extracted human heart towards Angela, knowing that she'd receive it, and that Hodgins once referred to her as "the heart of the operation" in the D.C. Sentinel article.
The bone dust originated from Caroline Epps, which was discovered with the spices from a curry restaurant in Little India, and where her head is located and no body. Booth and Brennan brought the head back to the Jeffersonian Institution, determining where to find the rest of Caroline until Booth was informed about Howard interacting with Parker in Hillside Park through a carnival token embedded in Caroline's ear. Howard left another clue that involves Parker, but not Parker Booth specifically, which involved a random building listed as Parker & Parker Leather Goods in Parker St. where it contained the rest of Caroline's remains. Dr. Saroyan the saws Caroline's forehead, and accidentally nicked a fragile glass capsule containing methyl bromide powder, causing biological contamination and poisoning her to the hospital, affecting both Booth and Brennan.
Howard called Brennan once again, wanting updates on the ordeal, but Howard already knew who he specifically targeted, so he just wants Brennan to tell him who was affected by the methyl bromide, that being Saroyan, in exchange for the powder name Brennan needed. Since he had black hair while targeting blonde women in the past, he dyed his hair blonde while targeting brunettes, showcasing the inverse of his modus operandi, specifically the goal to target Brennan, who has brunette hair. However, Howard escalated his rage when Brennan mentioned his mother Marianne to be placed under custody and incarceration, so he ensured himself to Brennan that he is the mastermind and not her, before hanging up. Howard also set a pressure-triggered bomb inside Caroline's chest prior to Booth and Addy's entrance, with the methyl bromide bag setting the trap, destroying the building whole; both Booth and Addy fortunately survived the explosion, along with everyone else involved.
The plaster dust mixed with methyl bromide gave the Jeffersonian team clues to where Howard would eventually strike next to kill Brennan, as well as the racemic epinephrine cure that can treat methyl bromide. Howard then trespassed Dr. Brennan's apartment complex with a crowbar, approaching silently before making a move while Brennan was in the shower. Unbeknownst to him, Brennan surprised him with a comically large revolver from a mall.
Demise[]
Howard was surprised that both Booth and Brennan caught him unexpectedly, and it was due to the plaster dust where he sought to strike next. When Booth tried easing Howard in civil means, that being him to disarm his crowbar, Howard threw his crowbar towards Booth, fortunately missing him and hitting the lamp before trying to escape by the balcony. It was then that Booth had caught him from falling to his death, but the injuries sustained from the explosion rendered him weak enough to lose his grip. Howard then travels down by a few stories, where he impacted to the ground, killing him.
Although it was the case where Howard's rampage and influence ended, it posthumously affected Booth, given how he was an Army Ranger and sniper that took other people's lives, and Howard being his 50th. Following that event, Booth visited psychiatrist Dr. Gordon Wyatt, because he had subconscious issues where he shot at an ice cream truck, to discuss his own responsibility of Howard's death. Therefore, Wyatt concluded to Booth that there was nothing he could do to save Howard, and it was an accident that can't be prevented.
Personality[]
Howard Epps is described as an intelligent mastermind who seeks out hunting women who appear as in-dominant, and even by his mother's standards he garnered his delusions from. His trauma from daily parental abuse changed his personality to one with misogynistic tendencies, where he took more interest in pornography embedded and displayed on TV, magazines, as stated by Angela that he favored them more than his married wife-now-ex Caroline. With these ideals, Howard targeted blonde female victims in their late teens or mid-twenties, since it's who he observed from the media he requested from Caroline. This occurrence was situation-ally distorted by murdering Donald Kent, who is different from his preference, but it was only to escape prison once the latter presumably rescued him out of the cell. In Season 2, he transitioned and inverted his modus operandi to target brunettes, especially Caroline and Dr. Brennan, while dying his hair blonde.
Howard also displays envy, as not only is he willing to kill Brennan for outsmarting him, but also he never decided to leave his ex-wife Caroline alone by decapitating her once she divorced him. The entire game he organized was a plan to make Dr. Brennan feel remorseful for her actions, and blaming her for the death of killer accomplice Gil Lappin, who was nearly about to torture and kill Helen Majors in their encounter with Lappin. Next, Howard indirectly harmed most of Brennan's friends, and blaming her for them once he realized Brennan's friends were investigating him. Despite Majors being a young child, Howard confirmed his misogyny by stating that she doesn't exist as an "innocent woman."
However, unlike his killer accomplice Lappin, Howard does not show any sadistic tendencies, as he murdered most of them quickly with a tire iron of his choice. It was only then he gained those tendencies once he decapitated a conscious Caroline, with Brennan describing him as one who now tortures his victims. Despite his ammonia abuse, he also had an attachment to his abusive mother, which is shown when he kept his rage upon calling Dr. Brennan, yet the latter used his mother as a leverage, and because Howard used to send her letters thinking that he feels responsible for his mother's incarceration.
Accomplices[]
| Gil Lappin | Accomplice who mimicked Epps' techniques while Epps was in prison. |
Victims[]
Confirmed[]
| Unnamed victim | Unknown cause of death; likely bludgeoned. |
| Tami Randal | Bludgeoned. |
| Lauren Hathaway | Bludgeoned. |
| April Wright | Bludgeoned. |
| Donald Kent | Murdered, and burned for his uniform. |
| Caroline Mapother-Epps | Decapitated; her head used as a methyl bromide trap, and her whole body as a bomb. |
Attempted[]
| Henry Gerber | Stabbed, yet survived and paralyzed from the waist down. |
| Helen Majors | Attempted by Gil Lappin, but was saved by Dr. Temperance Brennan. |
| Camille Saroyan | Attempted to poison with a methyl bromide trap set in Caroline's head, yet cured later. |
| Zack Addy | Attempted to blow up with a bomb in Caroline's body, yet saved by Seeley Booth. |
| Seeley Booth | Attempted to blow up with a bomb in Caroline's body. |
| Dr. Temperance Brennan | Attempted to murder. |
By Proxy[]
| Sarah Koskoff | Hung upside down, tortured, and bludgeoned to death by Gil Lappin. |
Gallery[]
Season 1[]
Season 2[]
Quotes[]
Season 1[]
| “ | Booth: I'd ask how you were doing, Howard, but I guess we both know the answer. Epps: Agent Booth... did you come to apologize? Booth: I'm not the one who beat a 17-year-old girl to death. Your attorney wants me to look you in the face. Epps: Why? Booth: She thinks you're innocent. Epps: Well, she's right about that. I didn't kill anybody... unlike you. The girl who got murdered was smart. She was pretty, she was from a good family. Someone has to die for that, and I'm all they got. Booth: Okay. I looked you in the face. Epps: I read it can be hell. They say it's like going to sleep but you're on fire, and you're paralyzed so you can't scream. I mean, that's all you got sometime, you know? The scream. |
„ |
| ~ Booth's first interaction with Epps, also Epps' introductory dialogue. |
Season 2[]
| “ | Agent Booth. What took you so long? And where's Dr. Brennan? | „ |
| “ | You know, those hack doctors at the prison infirmary did a miserable job setting my wrist. It aches all the time, and I don't have a full range of movement. And let me tell you, when you're stuck in a prison cell for 23 hours a day, there's really only one thing you can do to pass the time. And I need my wrist. | „ |
| “ | Dr. Brennan: For all your faults, Mr. Epps, you were never interested in letting your victims suffer. You didn't torture them. You're not that kind of man. She's an innocent child. Epps: She's a young woman, and there's no such thing as an innocent woman. |
„ |
| ~ Epps' own beliefs. |
| “ | Epps: Who shot him? It was you, wasn't it? You shot him? Did he take long to die? Did he suffer? This is better than I hoped. I thought it would be you. How did it feel? Dirty, yes? But there's also a rush. Pleasure. Part of you liked it. Dr. Brennan: This whole game was to have us kill someone? Epps: Who's gonna tell Lappin's mom? She loves him very much, you know? Without her son, she'll be completely alone in this sad world. |
„ |
| ~ Epps trying to guilt-trip Dr. Brennan for killing Gil Lappin. |
| “ | Dr. Brennan: Brennan. Epps: I'd forgotten how nice it was to breathe fresh air. Dr. Brennan: We will find you, Howard. Epps: We'll see. I can't tell you how nice it is to be out of that stupid orange jumpsuit. I mean, I have an I.Q. of 180, for God's sake, and they had me dressed like a pumpkin. Dr. Brennan: You burned a man alive. Means to an end. Epps: Everything is a means to an end, Dr. Brennan. Dr. Brennan: I thought it was just women you were after. Epps: I felt the need to grow as a human being. Dr. Brennan: What is it you want? You must want something or you wouldn't be calling. Epps: I want you to know, that everything that happens from here on in, is your fault. Dr. Brennan: Wh-What's going to happen, Howard? Epps: I can't answer all your questions. Use your head, Dr. Brennan. Use your head. |
„ |
| ~ Epps' conversation with Dr. Brennan since escaping imprisonment. |
Trivia[]
- He's the first serial killer and villain of Bones to have a recurring appearance in the entire series, followed by Heather Taffet who appeared later in Season 2 after Epps' second total appearance.
- He appears to be inspired by many real-life serial killers, Edmund Kemper and most notably Ted Bundy. Kemper inspired Epps' abusive backstory, and Bundy inspired Epps' modus operandi where he targeted blonde instead of brunette women as Bundy did in real-life. Following this, he also shares many traits with different serial killers, yet those that are not aforementioned.
External Links[]
- Howard Epps on the Bones Wiki
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Doppelgängers Serial Killers Mass Murderers Rapists Others | ||