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| “ | My name's not Robert. Not Robert. | „ |
| ~ Vincent before murdering Michelle Watson. |
| “ | Forgive me. | „ |
| ~ Vincent's last words. |
Vincent Rowlings is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "The Big Wheel". He is a serial killer with obsessive-compulsive disorder who murders women who remind him of his deceased mother.
He was portrayed by Alex O'Loughlin, who also portrayed Michael Carter in Feed.
History[]
Early life[]
Vincent Rowlings was born on May 5, 1974 and the only child of Sid and Kim Rowlings. The Rowlings family appeared to be very rough and unstable, with Kim cheating on her husband with another man. On June 5, 1983 Sid returned home from work and found Kim with her lover. He forced him out and murdered Kim in a fit of rage after she told him she hated him and herself. Vincent (who was hiding in a corner and recorded the murder with his camera-glasses) waited until Sid fled the scene and ran to his mother's side and stayed with her for almost a day. He never showed the police the film and replayed it to himself repeatedly (so much so that the video began to degrade in quality). Vincent was only nine at the time.
As a result of this trauma, Vincent suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as a violent hatred of women; he blamed his mother for the murder-suicide and resented her for "leaving him" by dying. As an adult, his OCD and his violent pathology fused, and he began killing random women who resembled his mother. From June 1998 to April 18, 2007, he killed 10 women, the last of whom was Joyce Walcott, the mother of a blind boy named Stanley Walcott. Stanley witnessed the murder, but Vincent spared him. Vincent also recorded these murders and replayed them over and over, both as a means of reliving the experience and as a compulsive ritual.
Vincent became an assistant at a mentoring program and later met Stanley again through foster care. Vincent became a mentor to the boy, who taught him the echo-location technique he used to find people, which eventually became another one of Vincent's OCD rituals. His relationship with Stanley briefly quieted his homicidal urges, and he did not kill anyone for an entire year.
"The Big Wheel"[]
In March 2009, Vincent is informed by Stan's foster mother Kate Charlotte that they would be moving to California. Heartbroken and enraged, Vincent begins killing again, murdering Michelle Watson and Alice Steadman within a week. He sends a video of Michelle's murder to the police, and then kills Alice after she discovers what he has done. He later runs into Stanley and tells him will happen if he steps on the cracks in the sidewalk.
Vincent later runs into two gangbangers, Jay and Carl, while walking down a street. Jay tells him that it's "my street" and tries to rob him. But Vincent only responds by stabbing him and Jay shoots him once in the body before dying. Carl watches in horror and is later arrested, giving Vincent's description to the police. Vincent runs home and tends to his wounds with bread and plastic. He also replays the video of his mother's death.
Vincent takes Stanley to a carnival that night. While driving there, Stanley tells Vincent that the police interviewed him about his mother's murder and how he wished the killer had killed him, as well. Vincent tells Stanley that the killer must have seen something within Stanley and how he should never wish to die (also revealing how he witnessed his own mother die). They make it to the carnival and ride the ferris wheel (hence the episode's name) and it stops at the top at Vincent's request. The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), who had talked with Kate earlier and by now had figured out Vincent's identity, background and his location, arrive at the carnival to arrest him. At the top, Vincent finally asks Stanley for forgiveness before dying of his wounds. Stanley was devastated from the realization Vincent killed his mother Joyce, let alone he inserted himself into Stanley's life and was near him the whole time.
Victims[]
- Emily Flynn: Stabbed 23 times; killed on an unspecified day in June 1998.
- Vanessa Bright: Stabbed an unknown number of times; killed on May 6, 1999.
- Hillary Habner: Stabbed eighteen times; killed on March 4, 2000.
- Cindy Stagnal: Stabbed an unknown number of times; killed on an unspecified day in April 2001.
- An Unnamed Woman: Stabbed an unknown an unknown number of times; killed on an unspecified date in 2002
- Erin Whiteburg: Stabbed 8 times; killed on April 18, 2003.
- Maddy Portman: Stabbed a dozen times; killed on April 20, 2004.
- An Unnamed Woman: Stabbed an unknown number of times; killed on an unspecified date in 2005.
- Tina King: Stabbed an unknown number of times; killed on May 17, 2006.
- Joyce Walcott: Stabbed 23 times; killed on April 18, 2007.
- Michelle Watson: Stabbed only once; killed on March 21, 2009.
- Alice Steadman: Stabbed only once; killed on March 28, 2009.
- Jay: Stabbed only once; killed on March 29, 2009.
Rituals[]
Vincent suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some of his compulsive rituals include:
- Must open doors at least twice.
- Sometimes close doors repeatedly too.
- An obsession with color coordination
- Must brush his teeth in front of a mirror covered in plastic
- His sandwiches must be cut diagonally
- They also cannot have crust
- Steering wheel of his car must be covered in plastic
- Must not step on cracks on the sidewalk
- Cannot touch foreign objects without a napkin covering his hand
- If he does he must wash or sanitize his hands
- Soap bars can only be used once and must be thrown away afterwards
- Must circle items twice
- Must sometimes repeat certain sentences to himself.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Vincent is inspired by multiple real-life and fiction killers:
- The unidentified "Atlanta Ripper", a serial killer of numerkus black-American women in Atlanta, Georgia for years, rememebred for an M.O. of violent stabbings.
- Earle Nelson, a.k.a. "The Gorilla Man", a serial killer/rapist of women across the U.S. and Canada, having lost his parents at a young age and displayed ritualistic behaviors most of his life. When he killed one woman, he also murdered her infant son.
- William Heirens, a.k.a. "The Lipstick Killer", though Heirens reported he falsely confessed under torture. The serial killer of two women and a girl wrote a message on a wall imploring the police to catch him.
- Matthew Sepi, an Iraq War veteran who shot two men dead in what was determined to be self-defense after cornering him on gang territory.
- Mark Lewis, the main villain of Peeping Tom, a serial killer of women who captured their last expressions of fear when they were murdered.
- Frank Zito, the main villain of Maniac, the 1980 original slasher film and its 2012 adaptation, a serial killer of women reminding him of his mother whose urges are curbed when meeting a woman he falls in love with, until she realizes his crimes and dies in the process of defending his actions and escaping justice.
- Much like Jonny McHale, another criminal hunted by the BAU, Vincent had an almost superhuman tolerance to pain, barely reacting at all to being shot at close range.
- In the Behind the Scenes program for Vincent, it is revealed that his surname was initially planned to be "Anderson".
- Vincent's OCD is presumably a reference to the fact that the actor who plays him, Alex O'Loughlin, suffered from OCD as a child.
- Vincent's driver's license gives his date of birth as May 9, 1979.
External links[]
- Vincent Rowlings at the Criminal Minds Wiki
