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Leonard Keane is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior episode “Nighthawk”. Leonard is a spree killer of men resembling his son Matthew Keane, a spree killer whose crimes eventually led to the collapse of his family’s life.
Leonard is portrayed by William Sanderson.
Biography[]
Background[]
Leonard lived in Salt Springs, Oklahoma, with his wife Elaine and son Matthew. Matthew killed five women in 2005, his parents none the wiser in spite of him keeping the remains of of the women in the house. After Matthew was tracked and arrested, the case received extensive media coverage, and even Leonard participated once in an interview with Matthew. Leonard kept memorabilia of Matthew’s life in his car to hold onto happy memories, from photos to Matthew’s little league baseball bat. In spite of Matthew being murdered in prison, the public jeered at and protested the Keenes during and after Matthew’s trial. The worst campaign was by Michael Nolan, the father of Melanie Nolan, the last woman Matthew killed. Michael destroyed Leonard’s car and sent monthly letters with the message “WHY HER AND NOT YOU” to Leonard, marking the day of the month Melanie was murdered. Leonard filed for a restraining order, but Michael constantly violated the terms to continue harassing the Keenes. Their lives entirely collapsed: Leonard drowned in legal debts, he was constantly ostracized at his job in construction work, and Elaine had a mental collapse requiring her psychiatric commitment. As Leonard couldn’t maintain his life, he himself struggled to keep his sanity and hallucinated Matthew everywhere he went. When he saw a random man, Patrick Birdwell, on the streets, Leonard, holding Matthew’s aluminum bat by sheer coincidence, stalked Patrick around because he resembled Matthew, causing Leonard’s hallucinations to go into overdrive. When Patrick got back to his car, Leonard, finally snapping, smashed the window, yanked Patrick out of the car, and bludgeoned Patrick to death so violently his face was no longer recognizable. Now becoming more unhinged and desperate, Leonard began finding men around the town who resembled Matthew to take out his problems on by the exact same M.O. of violent murder, killing a college student and security guard shortly after Patrick’s murder. His killings are more targeted, shown in when he smashes lights and uses rises to get into cars, before his ultimate goal of murder is attempted. The Red Cell Team was dispatched once the murders escalated.
Nighthawk[]
Leonard ends up fired because of his increasing outbursts, so he goes searching for another man to kill. He sees Daniel Harrison jogging in the woods and bludgeons him to death too in a blitz attack after following him, but things change when his mother Valerie, who joined the jog but lagged behind, calls on the phone. Racked with guilt, Leonard remorsefully tells Valerie he killed Daniel, then covers Daniel with leaves out of sympathy because he flashes back to Matthew in happier times. Leonard changes his course of action and goes to the facility Elaine’s at. After attempting a mercy killing by smothering her with a pillow, hallucinations of Matthew stop Leonard. He then sees another man resembling Matthew, but also a man resembling Leonard himself. Wanting to take his self-hatred out on the older man, he kills him.
By this point, Leonard has been identified as the killer, from his progressing profile and the escalating crimes matching the weight of his life history covered in massive publicity from Matthew’s case. Leonard himself has decided he’s done and going after his ultimate target: Michael Nolan. He figures he’ll end his problems with an ultimate defeat and get revenge in one attempt. Beforehand, he calls Agent Sam Cooper to talk and say his goodbyes. When Leonard asks if Cooper believes in forgiveness, Cooper realizes where Leonard is headed. Leonard breaks into the home of Michael and tries to kill him, but Michael has a gun and holds it on Leonard. When the agents arrive, Leonard is goading Michael to shoot him, lying killing is a family thing for him and he only just discovered it. But Cooper successfully gets Michael to stop the standoff peacefully, and Leonard is immediately arrested. Leonard is incarcerated and, at his age, presumably does shortly thereafter. Before then, he gives a final interview, recalling how he and Elaine treated the injuries of a wounded nighthawk, then set the bird free to fly away. Matthew watched, and Leonard recalled it was the happiest his saw his son, which how he would remember Matthew for the rest of his life.
Trivia[]
- Leonard is inspired by multiple real-life and fictional criminals
- John List, a mass murderer responsible for killing his family due to a lost job, depleting finances, and a poor marriage.
- William Foster, the main antagonist of the film Falling Down, a spreeing man with anger issues that came to a head shortly after divorce, losing his kids, and being fired from his job at military contracting. One of his weapons was a baseball bat, which was stolen, not a belonging of his or his family’s.