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| “ | No. I don't know Steven! I don't know Steven! Why do you want Steven?! Steven is stupid! He's... he's disgusting! He's filthy! Steven is filthy! He is filthy! | „ |
| ~ Steven Fitzgerald losing contact with reality. |
Steven Fitzgerald is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "Heat". He is a serial killer and identity thief who murders gay men in order to "destroy" his own homosexuality.
He was portrayed by Michael Graziadei.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Steven was raised in a strict, religious household in Oakland Park, Florida. His father, David, sensed that his son was gay and tried to "beat it out of him", telling Steven that it was for his own good and that he, David, hit him in order to keep him from giving in to his "filthy" sexual urges. Steven believed his father's sermons and grew to hate himself for his sexuality. It is also implied that he suffers from borderline personality disorder.
When Steven was an adult, his sister Sarah, who was estranged from the family, tried to save him from their father by giving him money to move out of David's house. Steven took the money and went on vacation in Miami, where he met and slept with a gay man named Robert Feeney. Overcome with self-hatred, Steven murdered Feeney and stole his identity. Steven was eventually listed as missing and presumed dead, allowing him to move freely as "Feeney". He murdered four other gay men, stealing their identities as well in order to stay one step ahead of the police.
"Heat"[]
Steven kills his latest victim, Detective Charles Luvet, and steals his identity in order to check into a hotel. There, he meets a gay tourist, Deacon Rogers, who tries to seduce him. In response, Steven hits him and calls him "filthy", and then begins speaking in Rogers' Texas accent. Confused, Rogers tries to embrace Steven, who overpowers him and strangles him to death. A busboy walks in on Steven killing Rogers, but Steven tells him he is a police officer and that Rogers was mugged before running off. He steals Rogers' car and picks up German hitchhiker Michael Aldredge, eventually killing him and assuming his identity.
Meanwhile, the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) begins investigating Luvet's murder, and soon discovers the other murders Steven committed. They profile the killer as a closeted gay man who hates his own sexuality, and who kills gay men in order to destroy his own identity. At first believing Steven to be one of the killer's victims, they speak with David and Sarah to learn more about him. From their accounts of Steven's conflicted sexuality, abuse history, and recent travel schedule, realize that Steven is in fact the killer.
Steven goes to the hostel Aldredge had been traveling to and checks in using his victim's identification. BAU Agent Derek Morgan arrives at the hostel with local police officer Trina Lopez in tow, having found Aldredge's body and learned where he was going, and thus where his killer would feel compelled to go. Morgan calls out to Steven, who does not respond; Morgan then calls him "Michael", which gets his attention. When Morgan and Lopez try to get him to surrender quietly, Steven becomes agitated and starts yelling that "Steven" is "filthy" and "stupid", two of his father's favorite taunts. Morgan tells Steven that Sarah loves and misses him, which calms him down enough to give himself up. He is then institutionalized for life.
Trivia[]
- Steven is inspired by multiple real-life and fictional killers:
- Joseph Richard Parsons, a murderer of a gay man who posed as his victim even after his conviction by stealing his driver's license.
- The Doodler, an unidentified serial killer of gay men at public venues across California.
- Larry Eyler, a.k.a. "The Highway Killer", a gay serial killer who murdered other gay men because he hated his own sexuality.
- Andrew Cunanan, a gay spree killer and the murderer of Gianni Versace, killing and carjacking men he seduced across the country whe his life was falling apart.
- Peter Moore, a Welsh serial rapist and later serial killer of various men across the nation, trying to lie in court a nonexistent lover committed the murders.
- Martin Asher, the main antagonist of the book and subsequent film Taking Lives, a serial killer who murders men after stealing their identities.
External Links[]
- Steven Fitzgerald on the Criminal Minds Wiki
