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| “ | There's nowhere to go. I'm not going back in there. | „ |
| ~ John Myers just before committing suicide (in American Sign Language). |
John Myers is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "The Silencer". He is a deaf serial killer who escapes from prison to kill his former cellmate and his family.
He was portrayed by Troy Michael Kotsur.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Myers was born deaf, and raised by his abusive mother, Julie. His mother forbade him to have any friends or to have a life outside of her, so he spent most of his childhood alone, reading books in several different languages. As a result, he is highly intelligent, but has a deep-seated hatred of women.
When he was 14, his mother was paid $650 to have him fitted with an experimental cochlear implant that left him a sunken jaw and a permanent buzzing in his ears. Finally, after suffering years of abuse at his mother's hands, he snapped and killed her, sewing her mouth shut before beating her to death. He was never suspected of the crime, and he and his two brothers went into foster care.
As an adult, he became a serial killer, preying on women who reminded him of his mother; he sewed their mouths shut before beating them to death, just as he did to his mother. He was eventually arrested after being stopped for a traffic violation. The officer found a silenced pistol in Myers' car without the proper registration, and arrested him for illegal possession of a firearm. He had no registration or identification, so authorities simply called him "John Doe", as they never learned his real name.
He was given a relatively short sentence for the weapons charge, but was soon given a life sentence after killing two of his fellow inmates. He spent all of his time in solitary confinement, and retained his sanity by listening to another inmate, Danny Tucker, tell him stories of the outside world. He becomes fixated on Tucker's stories about his hometown of Sweetwater, Texas, which he says is renowned for its honey. Myers becomes convinced that, if he could go there, it would soothe his pain and put his childhood demons to rest.
"The Silencer"[]
Myers has a seizure as a result of an allergy attack, and prison medical authorities put him in an ambulance to transfer him to a hospital. The ambulance driver gets into an accident, however, leaving only Myers and a prison guard alive. Myers kills the guard, sews his mouth shut, and leaves a piece of paper with the message "Gazing through to the other side" written on it in his mouth. He then kills a gas station owner, leaving behind a note that reads, "Waiting on the taste of honey, smell of summer". Finally, he kills a motorist and steals his car, but spares the man's infant, who is sleeping in the backseat; he feeds the child and leaves him, warm and comfortable, in a place where he will found and cared for.
The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is called in to investigate "John Doe"'s escape. They had previously investigated the "Silencer" murders, but are at first unaware that Myers and "the Silencer" are one and the same. The BAU agents theorize that "John Doe" is from the area, targets middle-aged brunette women because they remind him of an abusive parent, and sews their mouths shut because he was belittled as a child by that parent for having a speech impediment. From his messages, they deduce that he wants to travel to a place near the prison known for honey production, and narrow it down to Sweetwater. Finally, after interviewing Myers' jailers, they realize that he is going to contact Tucker, who has recently been paroled.
Technical analyst Penelope Garcia researches records of children in the area with abuse histories and cross-references them with prison records and medical records involving disfigurements and speech impediments; eventually, she finds Myers, and the BAU pieces together that he, "John Doe", and "The Silencer" are all the same person.
Meanwhile, Myers arrives in Sweetwater, but is dismayed to find that most of the town is abandoned, and that the businesses selling honey have all been shut down. Enraged, he resolves to kill Tucker as punishment for lying to him. He breaks into Tucker's house and holds him and his wife and children hostage. Before he can kill them, however, the BAU burst in and try to arrest him. Agent Alex Blake, who is fluent in sign language, tries to communicate with Myers that they do not want to harm him, but Myers signs back that he will never go back to prison, and commits suicide by shooting himself in the mouth.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Myers is inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
- Seisaku Nakamura, a.k.a. “The Hamamatsu Deaf Killer”, a Japanese serial killer who was born deaf, intelligent, and abused by his family, resulting in a killing spree that included attacking his family and killing one relative.
- Henry Lee Lucas, a.k.a. “The Confession Killer”, an American serial killer abused by his mother, who he later killed before his other murders.
- Allan Legere, a.k.a. “The Monster of the Miramichi”, a Canadian murderer eventually turning to spree murder once he escaped a hospital and attacked two guards.
- Richard Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, the two murderers of the Clutter family motivated by robbing them after finding out about their seemingly idyllic home.
- John Myer's actor, Troy Kotsur, is deaf in real life since birth. However, he does not use a cochlear implant.
External Links[]
- John Myers on the Criminal Minds Wiki
