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| “ | I'm a fan of your work. | „ |
| ~ Richard Slessman attempting to play mind games with Gideon. |
Richard Slessman is a supporting antagonist in "Extreme Aggressor", the pilot episode of Criminal Minds. He is a depraved ex-convict who is serial killer Tim Vogel's submissive partner-in-crime.
He was portrayed by DJ Qualls.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Slessman was orphaned at age 13 when his parents were killed in a fire. He grew into a sociopath who harbored violent fantasies of rape and murder. He was too weak and cowardly to act of them, however, so he fuelled his fantasies with books about serial killers and forensic science. Paranoid and socially inept, he was frequently ignored by others, particularly women, which fed his misogyny. For all his serious character flaws, however, he was very intelligent, and was adept at playing Go, one of the most difficult games ever invented.
As an adult, he was arrested for theft and went to prison, where his physical and psychological weakness made him a target. Tim Vogel, a guard at the prison, sensed Slessman's submissiveness and protected him from other inmates so he would "owe" him later on.
After Slessman was released, Vogel forced him to become his accomplice in rape and murder. Slessman's job was to lure women by sending them self-deleting emails offering to buy items they put up for sale. The victim then would meet Vogel, who would then kidnap them and rape and torture them for a week before finally killing them. Slessman was intimidated by Vogel, but also derived a sense of power from helping him, using him as a conduit for the violent urges he was too weak to act out himself.
In "Extreme Aggressor"[]
After Vogel kidnaps Heather Woodland, Slessman plants a virus on her work computer that reads, "For heaven's sake stop me before I kill more, I cannot control himself", a quote from serial killer William Heirens. Jason Gideon, the head of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), theorizes that two people - one dominant, the other submissive - committed the crime, and that the submissive partner planted the email to draw attention away from the dominant partner while he kidnapped and murdered Woodland. The profile eventually leads Gideon and the rest of the BAU team to Slessman's grandmother's house, where he lives with her, and they arrest him.
When Gideon questions him, Slessman says he is a fan of Gideon's books, and that he is looking forward to Gideon writing about him. Gideon sees through Slessman's bravado, however; he realizes that Slessman is the weaker partner, and is pretending to have committed the murders to protect his partner and create an image for himself as a criminal mastermind.
Eventually, Gideon goes to the prison where Slessman did his time to learn about Slessman's deceased cellmate, Charles Linder, hoping more information will lead him to the killer. He talks to Vogel, and notices that his keychain has the symbol for the car that Woodland's kidnapper drove. He then realizes that Vogel is Slessman's dominant partner, and the killer. Although Slessman refuses to tell the BAU team anything about Vogel, they are able to stop him and save Woodland. Slessman then goes to prison for his part in the murders.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
- Richard Slessman on the Criminal Minds Wiki
