  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | Let me tell you what's gonna happen today. I'm gonna give you one last choice to make: Either you're gonna die, or the baby's gonna die. It's your decision. Who am I gonna kill, Ellen? Tell me. | „ |
| ~ William Cochran making Ellen Connell choose between her life and a baby's. |
William Cochran is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "The Night Watch". He is a serial killer who frames his ex-wife for a series of murders to punish her for accidentally letting their son die.
He was portrayed by Johnny Sneed.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Cochran was once an art teacher at the Glenbury College of Art and Design, where he fell in love with his student, Ellen Clark, with whom he had a son, Charlie. When Charlie was an infant, Clark took him with her to sketch a lake near their home, and was too distracted by the sketch to keep a proper eye on the boy. Charlie wandered away for her to the lake, where he drowned. Cochran and Clark were both devastated, and their relationship fell apart when Cochran began drinking heavily to numb the pain. Before she left, Clark gave him half of Charlie's baby blanket as a memento.
Soon afterward, Cochran lost his job after drunkenly attacking another teacher. He went to jail several times for disorderly conduct, and was often homeless. Finally, he moved to Georgia to put his life back together, getting a job as a handyman. However, he went over the edge upon seeing that Clark, who had developed a new career as the anonymous street artist Morpheus, used her half of Charlie's blanket in one of her art pieces; he felt that she was disrespecting their son's memory. Wanting revenge, he decided to destroy her reputation and career by framing her for a series of murders modeled after Morpheus' artwork, with the end goal of killing her and himself.
"The Night Watch"[]
Cochran begins the series of murders by going to Detroit, Michigan and killing activist Russell Pearson, who had been protesting a controversial property development. He uses Pearson's body in an intricate tableau that resembles Morpheus' work, even copying the signature that Clark includes in her paintings. The following day, he kidnaps eight-month-old Corinne Wallace from her home, leaving a spray-painted Morpheus signature in her crib.
After the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) questions Markus Ivey, one of Morpheus' competitors, Cochran tips him off to the location of Morpheus' newest work - where Cochran then kills him and hangs his body in the middle of a giant display meant to resemble Corinne's baby mobile. He then kidnaps petty criminal Corey Marlin, who had been secretly helping Clark create her artwork, and tortures him for her location before finally killing him. Finally, he finds Clark and takes her at gunpoint to the motel where he has been hiding out with Corinne.
Meanwhile, the BAU profiles the killer who is trying to discredit Morpheus, which is what leads them to question Ivey. When Ivey is murdered, however, they realize that the killer is either Morpheus or someone connected to him, leading them to Marlin. After he is murdered, Connell contacts BAU Supervisory Agent Aaron Hotchner while disguising her voice and identity and insists that she did not commit the murders, emphasizing that she would never hurt a child. Hotchner deduces that Morpheus is a woman who had lost a child herself, and asks technical analyst Penelope Garcia to research women in the area with artistic backgrounds who had lost children. Garcia finds Clark and, with her, Cochran, whom Hotchner realizes is the killer.
Cochran accuses Clark of insulting Charlie's memory with her artwork, even as she insists that she meant to honor him, as well as a homeless child who had died in the neighborhood. Cochran then blames her for Charlie's death, and gives her a choice: He can either kill her, or Corinne. Clark at first refuses to participate, but then says he can kill her when he prepares to shoot Corinne. He takes Clark to the roof, where he bursts into tears as he prepares to kill her, lamenting that he misses Charlie. Just then, the BAU arrives to arrest him, and Cochrane takes Clark hostage. He apologizes to her before pulling them both over the ledge to fall to their deaths onto his last art piece - a street mural with the legend "R.I.P. Morpheus".
Trivia[]
- Cochran is inspired by Andrew Cunanan, a Filipino-American spree killer of men, starting with his romantic partners, which included mutilation and torture and related to his past lifestyle, motivated by revenge and jealousy. Cunanan killed fashion icon Gianni Versace in his final murder before committing suicide.
External Links[]
- William Cochran on the Criminal Minds Wiki
