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If you shoot me, you save her, but then I can't tell you where I buried all those other girls over the years. But if you don't shoot me, I'm gonna kill her.
~ Thomas Yates holding a hostage.
I'm back, Dave, and I'm feelin' like my old self again.
~ Yates taunting David Rossi.

Thomas "Tommy" Yates is a recurring antagonist in Criminal Minds. He is a misogynistic serial killer who murders women and mutilates them post-mortem. He is the nemesis of FBI profiler David Rossi.

He was portrayed by Adam Nelson.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Yates is the product of the rape of his mother Georgina, who died giving birth to him. He was raised in Seattle, Washington by his grandmother Trudy, a cruel woman who blamed him for Georgina's death and mercilessly beat, starved, and humiliated him throughout his childhood. He was expelled from two schools for starting fires and committed his first murder at the age of 15, stabbing the school bully to death. He served three years in juvenile detention, and another seven in prison.

As an adult, he drifted around the country as a day laborer, working a series of menial jobs. He also began murdering women to release his long-simmering rage toward his grandmother. His signature was to tear out his victims' wombs - a response to Trudy's repeated insult that he should never have been born - and vocal chords with a knife. He targeted women in high-risk lifestyles, such as prostitutes, and low-risk ones, such as housewives. He tortured and starved his victims for days to inflict as much pain upon them as possible.

His murders were investigated by FBI criminal profiler David Rossi. Over the years, Yates became obsessed with Rossi, believing him to be the only person who had ever understood him and made him feel special.

In "Profiling 101"[]

In 2009, Yates returns to Seattle after Trudy is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and puts her in hospice care. He also starts killing again after a four-year hiatus, murdering a prostitute named Rochelle Jenkins. Rossi, now the head of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), recognizes his signature and reopens the investigation.

Yates kidnaps soccer mom Grace Powell from the same building where he had killed one of his first victims 17 years earlier. BAU technical analyst Penelope Garcia searches for criminal records in the area and finds the police report of Georgina's rape. From there, she learns of Yates' abuse history and arrest record, and Rossi becomes convinced that he is the killer. The BAU interviews Trudy and finds Yates' address, where they arrest him in the act of torturing Powell.

The BAU interrogates Yates for two weeks, but he refuses to confess to his crimes. He is nevertheless convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to death. He calls Rossi from prison and offers to identify his victims and give him their locations, in return for getting his sentence commuted to life imprisonment and being transferred to another facility. He gives Rossi the names of 40 victims as a sign of good faith, even though he has killed more than 100. He has other conditions, as well: he will only talk to Rossi, and will only divulge one name a year on Rossi's birthday. Rossi reluctantly agrees in order to give the victims' families closure.

On his birthday in 2011, Rossi tells the story of the hunt for Yates to a criminology class. He then meets with Yates, who gives him a victim's name and mockingly sings "Happy Birthday" as Rossi leaves.

In "The Storm"[]

In 2016, an anarchist terrorist group invades the federal Supermax prison that houses Yates in order to break out their leader, Eric Rawdon. In order to distract the BAU and the SWAT team backing them, Rawdon sabotages the prison's security system, automatically releasing the prisoners in the "serial killer wing", including Yates. Ultimately, however, the BAU manages to foil the prison break, returning the prisoners to their cells - except for 13 of them, including Yates, who escape.

Yates does not physically appear in this episode, but his involvement in the prison break is confirmed in a later one.

In "Profiling 202"[]

A year later, Yates calls Rossi on his birthday from a pre-paid cell phone, and tells him he has kidnapped a woman, Jody Wilson. He gives Rossi her location, but by the time the BAU gets there, he has killed her and disappeared. Rossi talks with Wilson's mother and shows her a picture of Yates, whom she recognizes as her daughter's boyfriend, "Johnny".

Rossi and the rest of the BAU team notes that, unlike Yates' other victims, Wilson did not lead a high-risk lifestyle and was not starved, and that he dated her for months before killing her. Rossi theorizes that Yates did not date Wilson in order to lure her into his power, but as an attempt to have a normal, healthy relationship for the first time in his life. When the reality of a relationship did not match up to his idealized picture of one, he killed her - not as part of a sadistic sexual fantasy, but out of frustration. They then realize that Yates will find another victim as soon as he can.

Yates calls Rossi again that night, and makes veiled threats against Rossi's ex-wife, daughter, and grandson. He then tells Rossi that he has kidnapped a prostitute, Regina Franklin, and tells him where he will be able to find her body after he kills her. When Rossi and his team arrive at the crime scene, they are greeted by reporters; Rossi theorizes that Yates also told them where to find the body in order to humiliate him.

Rossi examines Yates' prison medical records, which reveal that he has terminal lung cancer from years of smoking. He fears that Yates will accelerate his killing routine so he can "go out with a bang".

Yates abandons his car and steals a van, in which he picks up prostitute Stephanie Weatherly. He starts coughing up blood, but he is still strong enough to kidnap Weatherly at knife point. He calls Rossi and tells him that, unlike the others, he is never going to find Weatherly. He takes her holds her prisoner for three days, starving and torturing her the whole time, and then takes her to Rossi's house, planning to kill her and literally leave her on Rossi's doorstep as a final taunt to his archnemesis.

Before he can kill her, however, Rossi approaches him with his gun drawn, having figured out his plan. He tells Rossi that he has to choose between shooting him and saving Weatherly or sparing him and letting her die so he can find out where the other victims are buried. Rossi tries to disarm Yates, who declares that he will not die in prison and moves to stab Weatherly. Before he can hurt her, however, Rossi shoots him three times in the chest, killing him.

Trivia[]

  • Yates is inspired by multiple real-life criminals:
    • The late Henry Lee Lucas, a.k.a. "The Confession Killer", Yates' primary inspiration, a serial killer/rapist with a similar history of childhood domestic violence, as well as confessing to hundreds of murders worldwide, despite many being disproven.
    • The late Carroll Cole, a serial killer of women who had a similarly abusive mother and a record of having killed a boy before his murder spree.
    • The late Arthur Shawcross, a.k.a. "The Genesee River Killer", a serial killer/rapist of female prostitutes who had an abusive family and a previous record of serial arson, and who was released after serving time for the murders of two children.
    • Sean Vincent Gillis, a.k.a. "The Other Baton Rouge Killer", a serial killer/rapist with an absent parent, was raised by his grandparents, had a failed relationship with a woman, and killed various women by means of violent butchery and mutilation while watching news coverage of true crime.
    • Paul Michael Stephani, a.k.a. “The Weepy-Voiced Killer”, a compulsive serial killer of women who called the police in sobs to report his crimes, arrested after a failed murder attempt on a sex worker. Stephani confessed to all his crimes from prison when he was dying from melanoma.
    • Buffalo Bill, the main antagonist of the book and movie adaptation The Silence of the Lambs, a serial killer with a sense of self-hatred who killed women he held captive and starved, mutilating them after they were murdered and scattering then throughout the U.S. He was also shot and killed by an FBI agent at a final standoff.

External Links[]

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Season 9
Alan and Judith Anderson | Anton Harris | Carla Hines | Cesar Jones | Charles Johnson | Clifford Walsh | Colin Bramwell | Daniel Milworth | Daria Samsen | David Wade Cunningham | Eddie Lee Wilcox | Edward Ray Stokes | Eric Carcani | Ian Little | Jesse Gentry | Joe Bachner | John Nichols | Justin Mills | Leland Duncan | Marvin Caul | Michael Feehan | Michael Hastings | Michelle Fader | Nicole Jones | Owen McGregor | Ronald Underwood | Sam Russell | Sheila Harrison | Sue Walsh | Tanner Johnson | Tivon Askari | Wallace Hines | Wayne Gulino | William Harding | Woodsman Killer


Season 10
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Season 11
Al Eisenmund | Andrew Meeks | Antonia Slade | Benjamin Wade | Betty Wilson | Brian Cochran | Chazz Montolo | Claude Barlow | Dana Seavers | Edgar Solomon | Eric Rawdon | Flora Martin | Flora Martin's Rapist | Giuseppe Montolo | Jacob DuFour | James O'Neill | Jillian Carter | John Bradley | Johnson | Joseph Berzon | Leonard Ennis | Lester Turner | Matthew Franks | Michael Clark Thompson | Michael Lee Peterson | Ms .45 | Mitchell Crossford | Mr. Scratch | Patrick Sorenson | Paul Larson | Randy Jacobs | Robert Boles | Sam Burnett | Skull Tattoo Man | The Bomber | The Chemist | The Sniper | Tommy Larson | William Cochran | William Duke Mason | William Taylor


Season 12
Alan Crawford | Bea Adams | Ben Davis | Bryce Jarvis | Calvin Shaw | Cormac Burton | John David Bates | John Malone | Jonathan Rhodes | Kevin Decker | Kyle Ecklund | Lindsey Vaughn | Lionel Wilkins | Mark Tolson | Mr. Scratch | Ms .45 | Sara McLean | Stuart Barker | The Bone Crusher | The Crimson King | The Day/Night Killer | The Henson Twins | The Womb Raider | Zeke Daniels


Season 13
Asclepius | Caleb Sands | Cheryl Kaline | Desi Gutierrez | Gabriel Merza | Irene Jacobs | Jake Logan | Jess Carney | Josh Martin | Justin Franco | Kevin Peck | Kevon Winters | Lawrence Coleman | Leonard Hagland | Linda Barnes | Lindsey Vaughn | Lucky | Marcus Manning | Mark Henshaw | Mary Meadows | Melissa Miller | Michelle Gorman | Mr. Scratch | Mr. X | Sal Capilano | The Believers | The Horseman | The Central Park Ripper | The Messiah | The Neon Terror | Wick Rollins | William Lynch


Season 14
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Season 15
Beaumont Unsub | George Kyle Peters | Grace Lynch | Hayes Cullinan | Juliette Weaver | Lindsey Vaughn | Louie's Gang | Louis Chaycon | Ms .45 | Roberta Lynch | Sebastian Hurst | Shelby Mattson | The Manner Street Killer | The Chameleon


Criminal Minds: Evolution
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Books
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Suspect Behavior
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Beyond Borders Season 1
Abu Hakim Al Badi | Antonio Cayetan | Curtis Miller | Hasina | Klahan | Marion Codwell | Natalie Knox and Nick Jamison | Neith Ghannam | The Butcher of Paris | Paul Ntombi | Pretorius | Rafael Acosta | Samraj Sabah | Saraphina Labeau | The Tuareg Brothers | Xavi and Simon Alonso | Yukio Aito


Beyond Borders Season 2
Al Gui | Bangladeshi Unsub | Bishop | Brunswick Mission Church | Damien Andrews | Elijah Ward | Lee Geon-woo | Giannis Petrou | Ian Wilson | Ivan Kozar | Linda Barnes | Metal Fang | Michael Huang | Nazmi Dushku | Onario Alighieri | Rosa Fernandez | The Gonzalez Sisters | The Monster of Florence | The Sticker | Scott Davis | Yoo Su-bin |


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