Catching Out

The team investigates a series of murder robberies that are occurring up and down the California coast. Read the BeeSight BeeCap to find out what happened on the fifth episode of the fourth season of Criminal Minds on CBS and join in the discussion.

BeeCap

A man jumps off a train and wanders through a neighborhood. He then takes a shower and washes the blood off his body. He puts a plastic bag to his mouth and starts huffing chemicals. We see through his woozy eyes the bodies of two people. The man then gets into the bed and watches TV. He then leaves and jumps aboard another train.

Derek is in a coffee shop putting cream and sugar into his newly purchased beverage. He looks up and sees an attractive woman in line ordering a brownie. He throws his coffee away then gets into line behind the woman. He strikes up a conversation about having sweets for breakfast. She explains to him that she's celebrating, but doesn't want to say what because she may jinx herself. She then calls Derek out on throwing away his coffee to get back in line behind her. She then says, "Have a nice day, Derek."

Derek returns to headquarters and tells his co-workers about his strange encounter. He insists that he's never seen her before. JJ interrupts with news of a serial killer on the west coast. She says that six people have been killed so far in their homes. The houses were also robbed and the same DNA has shown up at each residence. The victims have all died from blunt force trauma to their heads and the homes show evidence that the killer stays in the homes for a while using the shower, bed, and kitchen after the murders. She says he's already being called the Highway 99 killer. Emily says he sounds more like Goldilocks the serial killer.

The team learns that the murders have taken place in 4 different homes within 5 weeks back and forth along the California coast. They think the man could be homeless or may travel for work. They rule out the killer being a truck driver since no one in the areas of the killings reported seeing trucks parked nearby. They contemplate that the killer may travel for a corporate sales job. They then get a call learning of a new murder.

The detectives fly to Sacramento where they work with the local police. Hotch convinces the sheriff to retract the Highway 99 moniker explaining that using that name could cause the search to become too narrow. He reminds the officer that the Green Lake Killer in Seattle got away with his crimes for so long because the search was limited to the specific area. Hotch also tells the officer that there are too many people involved in the search which could cause too much confusion. The officer reluctantly agrees to the name change and the reduction of personnel on the case.

The team goes to the new murder scene. They notice the house has no dog, alarm system, or outdoor lighting making it a vulnerable target. They look inside the house and Derek finds a back with nail polish remover. He explains that the killer likely is addicted to inhaling chemicals. They try to figure out what mindset the killer is in and David figures the killer begins with intense rage, then uses the time in the house to decompress.

Emily talks to a neighbor who says she saw the male victim on his balcony at about 5:30 that morning. Emily asks if she's sure she saw him and the neighbor says she thinks so, but it was dark. Emily then tells the woman that the victim was killed around 1:30 a.m., so she likely saw the killer.

They notice that the killer puts on the victim's clothes, then ultimately changes outfits with the male victim. They think that this move is supposed to represent an equalization between the killer and the victim. The killer uses the house, pretending that it's his own. He then takes things from the house and leaves. Derek says that information plus the drug choice makes it likely that they are looking for a homeless person.

The team tries to figure out how a homeless person could cover so much ground over a relatively small period of time. David then realizes that the killer probably uses the train to get around. Spencer looks at the map and sees that all the victims' homes were within one mile of the train tracks. They interview the train yard security guard and learn that hobos often jump on and off the train and will usually get into fights with each other over territory.

Emily follows the tracks for a while and finds that a great expanse of the tracks runs along farmland in small towns. Spencer calls Garcia and asks her to look into all unsolved murder/robberies in the farmlands close to the train tracks. The detectives are assembled and told that the killer is likely a physically fit hobo in relatively clean clothes who is probably covered in bruises from hobo fights and train jumping. He will also have a dry, red rash around his nose and mouth from huffing chemicals and will probably smell like human filth and paint thinner.

David and Derek go to a hobo hangout and ask the men if they know anyone who has been robbing houses and pawning stolen goods. The men give the detectives no information. One man starts carving symbols into a tree and Derek asks what they mean. He is told that the hobos have a secret code and the symbol the man was carving means that there are cops at this location.

Back at the headquarters, JJ tells Spencer that her baby has been kicking a lot lately. He cites statistics and she tells him to feel for himself. He tells her it feels weird and freaks him out. Emily asks Spencer if he's planning on having any genius babies, but he doesn't answer.

Garcia calls in with her findings that the killer's DNA was found in 3 other small towns, far from Highway 99. She also found that at each of the murder scenes, the town had a sharp increase in the harvest of a particular crop. The team thinks that they may be looking for a migrant farmer. They are then made aware of a new murder.