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“ | Just enjoy the ride. | „ |
~ Rhodes as he hijacks the controls of his latest victim's car. |
Jonathan Rhodes is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "Collision Course". He is a serial killer who takes sadistic pleasure in causing car accidents by hacking into the controls of people's cars and making them run over pedestrians.
He is portrayed by Joey Jennings.
Early life[]
Rhodes is a highly intelligent but socially awkward sound engineer who suffers from symphorophilia, a paraphilia in which one is sexually aroused by causing accidents. He works at a radio station in 98.2 WUKO, a radio station in Bradenton, Florida, a jib he loves so much that he orders a vanity license plate with the station's call sign. He has a non-existent social life, and spends his free time playing first-person shooter and driving video games.
Shortly before the events of the episode, he joined a dating website called Amorous Intent, and tried to connect with several different women, all of whom ignored him. Angered and humiliated by their rejection, he began cyberstalking them and planning to kill them.
He developed a computerized system that would allow him to hack into and control cars made after 2009, and tested it on his own vehicle, a 2013 Meridian. He then hacked into the vehicle of a driver named Jim Thurtle and caused to crash into a pedestrian named Jan Gilfort, but both survived.
In "Collision Course"[]
One week after the first crash, Rhodes hacked into Marta Calderon's car and caused it to run over a college student named Todd Daberman. This time, Rhodes is successful in killing his target, and takes additional sadistic pleasure in traumatizing Calderon, who believes the accident was her fault.
He then starts targeting the women who rejected him, starting with Meredith Courtelis. He hacks into Mark Keeling's vehicle and causes it to crash into her, killing her instantly. The very next day, he hacks into Tim Dellinger's car and crashes it into Veronica Perrota, another woman who ignored his messages, killing both of them.
Meanwhile. the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) investigates the murders, profiling the killer as a white male in his 20s with poor social skills who is causing car accidents for sexual gratification by hacking into their cars' computer systems. Because the victims who died were all attractive women with dark hair, they theorize that he is using them as surrogates for a woman who rejected his advances. After Courtelis is murdered, BAU Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia and Agent Luke Alvez go through her social media and discover that she used Amorous Intent, as did all the other female victims. They also discover that Rhodes messaged all of them and was ignored, thus identifying him as the killer.
Rhodes approaches his next victim, Alyssa Miles, in person, gets into her car, and forces her at gunpoint to drive. He uses his computer system to hijack the car's system and make it go at a high speed, intending to crash it into a dead end and kill Miles and himself. However, Garcia manages to remotely override his system and stop the car, allowing Alvez to arrest him and save Miles. Rhodes is then imprisoned for life for his crimes.
Trivia[]
- Rhodes appears to be inspired by John Eichinger, a serial killer who primarily targeted women who weren't interested in him.
External links[]
- Jonathan Rhodes on the Criminal Minds Wiki