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| “ | It's fate! Some are chosen, and some are not. | „ |
| ~ William Harding on how he chooses his victims. |
William "Bill" Harding is the main antagonist of the Criminal Minds episode "Fatal". He is a terminally ill serial killer who is obsessed with Greek mythology, and who chooses his victims at random to give himself the "power of the Fates" before he dies.
He was portrayed by Brian Baumgartner.
Biography[]
Early life[]
When Harding was six years old, he and his friend Randy Hartway got lost in the snow during a camping trip; William was rescued, but Randy froze to death. This incident resulted in Harding being diagnosed with PTSD, and he was hospitalized and put on antidepressants. A sympathetic nurse gave him a book about Greek mythology to help him through his trauma, and he became obsessed with the legend of the Labyrinth, which reminded him of the wilderness that he and Randy were lost in. He learned everything he could about Greek myth, particularly the Three Fates, which he felt were responsible for his plight.
As an adult, Harding worked as a shipyard clerk, and cared for his ailing mother. In 1994, tired of his mundane existence, he made plans to travel to Greece, but his boss and friend Wick Griffith worried that the trip would bankrupt Harding and that his mother might well die while he was gone, so he got him drunk so he would miss his flight. Unbeknownst to Harding, the shuttle to the plane crashed, killing everyone aboard. He bore a grudge against Griffith for years afterward, convinced that his friend had cheated him out of the life he deserved.
In 2014, Harding finally retired, but was soon afterward diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma, and given three to six months to live. Driven over the edge, he began poisoning people at random to give himself the power of the Fates. He would troll for victims while sitting at his neighborhood coffee shop, selecting people whose apparent happiness made him angry and jealous. He would then write down their license plate numbers and find where they lived from DMV records, send them letters announcing their deaths, and poison their food and drink with arsenic. By the time of the episode, he has murdered three people.
"Fatal"[]
Harding's latest intended victim, Janice Cheswick, panics after receiving his letter and calls the police, who then contact the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). The BAU's Supervisory Agent, David Rossi, profiles the killer's pathology and warns Cheswick not to eat or drink anything she may have recently bought or ordered, including a bottle of wine she had recently purchased. Frustrated, Harding breaks into Cheswick's house and strangles her to death while Rossi is forced to listen over the phone.
Later that night, Griffith visits Harding and confesses to sabotaging his trip to Greece 20 years earlier. Harding takes his rage out on Bonnie Tyler, a nurse at the hospital where he received his diagnosis, planning to poison her takeout. Ultimately, however, he changes his mind, deciding to punish the true target of his anger: Griffith.
He shows up at Griffith's work and offers him a drink, which he has poisoned. He tells Griffith that he is dying and condemns him for ruining his trip to Greece 20 years earlier, threatening him with a fireplace poker. Just then, however, the BAU appears to arrest him, having deduced his guilt thanks to their profile of the killer and technical analyst Penelope Garcia digging up his medical records. They tell Harding that Griffith in fact saved his life, which motivates Harding to lower his weapon and allow himself to be arrested. The BAU saves Griffith's life by taking him to the hospital, while Harding presumably dies in jail of his mesothelioma.
Trivia[]
- Harding is inspired by multiple real-life serial killers:
- The “Chicago Tylenol Killer”, an unidentified serial killer and mass poisoner of various residents of Chicago, profiled as angry and alone, along with a suspect sending letters to take advantage of the crisis for extortion purposes.
- Charles Albanese, a serial killer of his family members using arsenic in the interest of gaining their inheritances for his hopes of an ostentatious lifestyle.
External Links[]
- William Harding on the Criminal Minds Wiki
