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| “ | Are you ready, Sarah Jean? Gonna ride the lightning, baby! | „ |
| ~ Jacob Dawes just before being executed. |
Jacob Dawes is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "Ride the Lightning". He is a serial killer on death row who is trying to make sure his wife and unwilling accomplice, Sarah Jean, dies with him.
He was portrayed by the late Michael Massee, who also portrayed Funboy in The Crow, Gustav Fiers in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Ira Gaines in 24, Spellbinder in The Batman, and Michael Williams in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Dawes was emotionally and sexually abused by his mother as a child and grew up to be a sadistic sociopath with a violent sexual obsession with teenage girls. He began torturing, and murdering teenage girls around 1985, possibly raping them as well. His wife, Sarah Jean Mason, knew about the murders, but did nothing to stop him. He murdered at least 18 girls before a guilt-ridden Sara Jean turned him in. When the police arrived at their house, Dawes ordered Sarah Jean to kill their two-year-old son, Riley, dismissing the boy as a dead weight who would slow them down. Unbeknownst to him, however, she gave the boy to the Sheffields, a family she cleaned for. Dawes and Sarah Jean were then arrested after the police found 12 bodies buried under their house. They were both sentenced to die in the electric chair.
"Riding the Lightning"[]
On the eve of Dawes' and Sarah Jean's execution, the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) interviews them to find out if they are responsible for any other murders. Dawes toys with BAU Agents Aaron Hotchner and Jennifer Jareau by insisting that they play cards with him before he tells them anything. He promises to tell them about a murder he was not convicted of if they win; if he wins, he gets to smell Jareau's hair. They reluctantly agree, but when Hotchner wins, Dawes tells him that there are no other victims. Hotchner and Jareau then realize that he is determined to take Sarah Jean with him when he is executed, as he considers her his possession and thus refuses to let anyone else "have" her.
Meanwhile, Supervisory Agent Jason Gideon tries to get Sarah Jean to turn against Dawes, convinced that she does not deserve to be executed. Sarah Jean is still emotionally bound to Dawes, however, so she refuses to say anything against him. Gideon changes his strategy and has Agents Derek Morgan and Elle Greenaway track down Riley, now a teenager, and bring him to see his mother to remind her of what she has to live for. Sarah Jean does not want to burden Riley with the knowledge that his parents are murderers, however, and convinces Gideon to call off his agents. While she resigns herself to her fate, however, she does tell Gideon about the murder that Dawes is hiding.
As Dawes is strapped into the electric chair, he gloats that he has won because he will be taking Sarah Jean with him. However, Hotchner enters the death chamber and shows him a picture of Riley, showing him that he has not completely broken Sarah Jean after all. He tells Dawes that he has lost, provoking an enraged Dawes to yell "No!". Moments later, he is put to death, defeated. Sarah Jean is executed later that night as well, and Riley never learns of his true parentage.
Trivia[]
- Dawes is inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
- Fred West, a serial killer of women and girls he raped and tortured to death with his wife Rosemary West, all of them buried and walled up at their house property. Contrary to Dawes’ execution, Fred hanged himself to prevent Rosemary’s arrest, but she was still imprisoned. Sarah Jean disappearing their son is a reference to the Wests raping and killing their daughters.
- Raymond Fernandez, an American serial killer and one of “The Lonely Hearts Killers” with his wife Martha Beck, executed before her by electric chair for killings of women and at least one child they later buried as part of increasingly violent cons, suspected of some dozen or more murders.
- David Parker Ray, a.k.a. “The Toy Box Killer”, a serial kidnapper, rapist, torturer, and killer of women across Arizona and New Mexico, who’s suspected of killing dozens of women with accomplices, one accomplice being his life partner, and was investigated and interrogated in prison. Unlike Dawes, Ray didn’t die from execution, instead from a heart attack after a year in prison.
- Anthony Allen Shore, a.k.a. "The Tourniquet Killer", a serial killer/rapist of women and girls in Texas making confessions to more crimes while on death row, with debatable validity and honesty
External Links[]
- Jacob Dawes on the Criminal Minds Wiki
