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| “ | I gave you every clue. You and your partner couldn't save those people. Their blood is on your hands. You failed... you failed, you f*ck. | „ |
| ~ Richard Thompson to Lincoln Rhyme. |
The Bone Collector is a copycat serial killer in the book The Bone Collector, and the 1999 film of the same name. His identity and motive are both different in the book and the film.
Biography
The Bone Collector (The Book)
Dr. Peter Taylor (real name Colin Stanton) was the identity of the Bone Collector, and was Lincoln Rhymes Doctor. Peter had lost his family, and had blamed Lincoln for letting it happen as he was investigating the case. Under the name Peter Taylor, he planned on killing Lincoln on their first meeting, but when finding out that he in fact wanted to die, he needed a reason to keep him alive.
Using inspiration from a 19th Century serial killer called James Schneider (AKA The Bone Collector) who had lost his family as well when they where gunned down by police officers, he used the identity as an alias and began copying the killings in the book, believing his own victims to be those of Schneider. Also, Schneider is German for "Tailor", where he got the idea for his alias.
Peter kidnapped a business couple, and killed the man and had the woman killed with Steam. His third victim was a German immigrant who he believed to be Hanna, one of Schneider's victims. He tied her up and cut her down to the bone and left her for the rats, but she was saved on time. His fourth victim was an old man, who he chained up by the pier to be drowned, but he was saved. He then kidnapped a mother and daughter. Although he made a "deal" with her to free them as long as he can cut the flesh from her right foot, he decided against it after her three-year old daughter was crying. He tied up the mother in a burning church, and left the child to be devoured by wild dogs outside his home. But both of them where saved by Lincoln's assistant Amelia Sachs. Peter later when to Amelia's home, and gagged and bound her and buried her in her garden, but she was found on time by other police officers.
He then went to confront Rhyme at his town house, and killed his guard and fellow office Polling, and told Rhyme he was going to kill his friends in front of him. When he got too close to, Lincolm grabbed into Taylor's neck with his teeth tearing at his artery. Taylor then bled to death.
The Bone Collector (1999 Film)
The killer's real identity was Richard Thompson (real name Marcus Andrews). He was a forensics cop in Syracuse who had planted false evidence framing six people, one committing suicide, and thanks to a detective Lincoln Rhyme, he was sentenced to six years in prison, where he was brutalized everyday due to him being a cop.
Years later, Lincoln got into an accident which left him paralyzed neck down, and Richard became his technician (unknown to Lincoln that he was the officer he sent down many years before). Richard began abducting victims in a taxi and leaving clues in order to see if Lincoln can solve the whereabouts of the victims before they meet their grisly demise, with the help of officer Amelia Donaghy. Richard used inspiration from a book called The Bone Collector, which details murders in New York many years before.
His first two victims are a couple Alan and Lindsey Rubin. Richard kills Alan leaving him on a Civil War-era railroad bed with clues to his kidnapped wife's whereabouts. Richard takes her to an underground steam junction where he handcuffs her and tapes her mouth in front of a pipe. It is too late and when the officers arrive, she is killed by steam. Richard left clues where she died.
His third victim was a student, who he bound and gagged and gutted in a warehouse, leaving him for the rats. By time Amelia arrived, he was dead after been eaten alive by the rats. The next two victims were an old man and his granddaughter, and tied them up in a pier for them to drown. Luckily Amelia came across the Bone collector book in a library and managed to find them, but unfortunatly the grandfather died.
Richard then went onto kill Lincoln, and murdered Lincoln's nurse Thelma and Captain Howard Cheney (Michael Rooker) before revealing himself to be the murderer to Lincoln and his motives. He then planned on completely paralyzing Lincoln, making him a "vegetable". But Lincoln manages to make the bed collapse onto Richard's hand crushing it, and bites into his throat. Richard goes to stab Lincoln, but Amelia arrives on time and shoots and kills Richard.
Gallery
Trivia
- Leland Orser portrays Richard. In scenes when the killer is masked, he is played by Michael Rooker, who played Captain Cheney, in order to confuse viewers and incrase tension. This causes continuity errors, and Michael is built differently to Leland, and when the killer is masked he is shown to have blue eyes, whereas Richard has brown eyes.
- In the opening credits, Richard's real name Marcus Andrews can be seen in a newspaper clipping for a few seconds about him being convicted for placing false evidence on crime scenes.
- The Bone Collector has continued to being referenced in Lincoln Rhyme series, being that as one of Lincoln and Amelia's biggest adversaries and (of course) their first big case together. He was referenced to in The Cold Moon in which one of his previous victims (who was a terrorist) returned to New York in a planned terrorist attack. The Bone Collector was directly referenced to in The Skin Collector in which Amelia and Lincoln originally believe a new killer is following in his footsteps. The case was also featured in a crime book. It also appears Lincoln may still feel guilt over what Stanton had become as in The Skin Collector he is asked if Stanton had any possible children to continue his legacy, and Lincoln remembered that Stanton had none because they were killed due to his own carelessness.