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| “ | Shut up. Don't pretend that you care. | „ |
| ~ Covey menacing his victims. |
Johnny Ray Covey is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "Nanny Dearest". He is a serial killer who murders women who work as nannies, seeing them as surrogates for his childhood nanny, whose negligence caused the death of his younger sister.
He is portrayed by Christopher Amitrano.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Covey was born into a well-off family in Los Angeles who frequently left him and his toddler-aged sister, Amanda, in the care of a nanny named Griselda Vasquez, a cold, selfish woman who physically and emotionally abused both the children.
In 1980, when he was seven years old, he found his sister drowned in the bathtub after suffering an asthma attack; Vasquez had neglected to watch her, and so could not save her in time. Amanda's death was ruled an accident, but Covey blamed Vasquez. His parents both died not long after, leaving him with nothing but an obsessive desire for revenge against Vasquez.
In 2007, however, Vasquez died of breast cancer, denying Covey his chance at revenge. Driven over the edge, he began stalking women who worked as nannies and killing them, using them as surrogates for Vasquez. He would kill one victim a year on the same day - May 13, the anniversary of Amanda's death. He would kidnap the women and the children they were watching, using his dog, Roscoe, as a lure for the children. He would then force the women to say that they did not care about the children before raping, torturing, and killing them. He would then release the children, unharmed.
By the time of the episode, he had killed four women. A fifth victim, Tara Rios, escaped before Covey could kill her.
"Nanny Dearest"[]
Covey kidnaps another nanny, Gina Mendes, and the child she is babysitting, three-year-old Phoebe Payton, who reminds him of Amanda. He fills a bathtub with scalding water and holds Phoebe over it, acting out a delusion in which he is saving Amanda from drowning.
The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), who had already been aware of the "Nanny Killer"'s crimes, profile the killer as a man in his late 30s who lives in Los Angeles and kills on a strict yearly schedule, as all his other victims had been murdered on the same date every year. They posit that the killer kidnaps, but does not physically harm, the children because he is trying to fill a void created by the loss of a child, while he murders the women because he sees them as surrogates for a woman he holds responsible for that loss. They hold a press conference in which they deliver the profile, and Rios contacts them and describes her kidnapper, particularly his dog. Technical analyst Penelope Garcia uses this information, along with the team's profile, to find Covey.
Meanwhile, Phoebe suffers an asthma attack, triggering Covey's memories of Amanda's death. He allows Mendes to cradle Phoebe in her arms and sing her a lullaby, until he rips her from Mendes' arms. He attacks Mendes, intending to rape and kill her, when suddenly the BAU arrives to arrest him. He holds Mendes at gunpoint, and ignores Agent Derek Morgan's attempts to talk him down. When Roscoe runs in to protect his master, Covey uses the distraction to run into the street, with Agent Jennifer Jareau in pursuit. He hides behind Jareau's car and shoots at her, but she returns fire, shooting him in the head and killing him instantly.
Trivia[]
- Covey is inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
- Robert Napper, a.k.a. “The Plumstead Ripper”, a British serial rapist and later serial killer with years of criminal history, from voyeurism of his sister, groping, and serial rape to the rapes and killings of mothers in front of their children, one child killed with her mother once Napper escalated in his violence.
- The “February 9 Killer”, a Mexican serial strangler of Latin American women in the U.S., who wasn’t caught for more than a decade, until a suspect was recently arrested.
- Andrew Urdiales, a serial killer of women in multiple states, having taken a break between murders after a woman escaped an assault and attempted rape by Urdiales.
- David Parker Ray, a.k.a. "The Toy Box Killer", an American serial rapist and suspected serial killer of women who, with accomplices, were raped, tortured, including by Ray's dog, and mutilated in various ways to kill or scar them. Only one woman was found to have been killed by an accomplice of Ray, while other women escaped or narrowly lived after the extreme violence Ray subjected them to.
External links[]
- Johnny Ray Covey on the Criminal Minds Wiki
