The Instincts 4.6

Spencer works through recurring nightmares that he's had since he was young while the team investigates a missing boy in Las Vegas. Read the BeeSight recap and review to find out what happened on the sixth episode of the fourth season of the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds and join in the discussion.

BeeCap

The Criminal Minds team searches a dark house. Spencer finds a door to the basement and enters. He finds a body and Emily confirms that it is the 6 year old boy that they were looking for. Spencer then looks over and sees a baby, then wakes up suddenly. He tells the crew about his dream. Hotch says that a baby in a dream usually represents the dreamer. He suggests that Spencer may just be stressed out about going to Las Vegas and asks if he wants to take a break from the case. Spencer tells the team he will be fine.

The team goes over the details of the case. They find that a 5 year old boy named Ethan Hayes was abducted in front of his house while his mom ran back inside for her keys. They say that the boy was only alone for a minute when he was taken. Ethan's body was found one week later in the desert. His death was caused by being smothered. Ethan was given a haircut and his nails were clipped which suggests that the killer showed remorse.

The gang then looks at the details of their current case. A 6 year old boy named Michael Bridges who went missing while he walked down the block to his friend's house. They believe that the abductor is the same person due to the fact that the killer called the parents while the child was missing, but never asked for a ransom. The killer just calls to tell the parents that it is their fault their child was taken. Since Michael has been missing for a day, the team figures they have six days to find him before he is killed.

Elsewhere, a child is laying in a bed looking scared. A person walks in with a pillow, approaches the bed, then sets the pillow down next to the child's head.

The team arrives in Vegas and JJ and Hotch talk to the local detective, Det. Ashby (played by Shashawnee Hall). They tell him that they will probably be able to triangulate the calls from the kidnapper. They ask him to have all police vehicles removed from in front of the Bridge's house so the kidnapper doesn't see them and stop contacting the parents.

Hotch and JJ then meet with the Bridges. Mrs. Bridges (played by Kari Matchett) says that she doesn't want to know what happened to the other boy, she only wants to know about finding Michael. Hotch asks if it was normal for Michael to walk to his friend's house alone. Mrs. Bridges thinks they are trying to blame them for Michael's disappearance, but JJ assures her that they are only asking because if it was normal, the kidnapper could have been watching Michael for a while. Mr. Bridges (played by Reed Diamond) says that he let Michael walk to his friend's house a few times because he was concerned that they were being to protective of him. He says that they fought over it, but Michael felt so proud to be able to go on his own, so they thought it was okay. Mrs. Bridges becomes upset and leaves the room. Mr. Bridges tells the detectives that he wants to know what happened to the other boy.

Derek and Spencer meet with the medical examiner (played by Greg Watanabe) who tells them that he found that Ethan's belly was empty and his intestines were clear. The detectives ask if he was being starved. The medical examiner tells them that he thought so at first, but when he checked the fluid in the boy's eyeballs, they didn't show any depletion of nutrients. The detectives ask if he was on an IV and the examiner says he couldn't find any needle marks. He tells the detectives that he has no idea how the nutrients were supplied to the boy.

David and Emily search the desert scene where Ethan's body was found. Emily recalls that there was no sweat on the boy's clothes and thinks that the killer changes his clothes in addition to grooming his hair and nails. They think it would have taken a long time to groom the boy, so the killer must have come during the night. They suspect that the killer parked far from the scene to avoid being seen. Since Ethan was found close to the road instead of further in the desert, they think the killer wanted to see the body one last time before leaving, like a funeral.

Hotch finds out that Ethan's funeral will be tomorrow. Ethan's parents have agreed to let them attend. He asks Michael's parents to attend because he suspects that the kidnapper will be in attendance and might become startled by seeing them there.

Mrs. Bridges goes into Michael's room. JJ talks to her and reassures her that it is not her fault that Michael is missing. The phone then rings and Garcia announces that she's ready to trace the call. The detectives ask Mrs. Bridges to answer, explaining that the most emotional person is the best one to talk to the kidnapper. She grudgingly takes the phone. The kidnapper tells her that she is a bad mom. Hotch feeds Mrs. Bridges lines, but the kidnapper quickly hangs up. Garcia says that the call was made from a mobile phone within the city limits.

Derek and Spencer are asked to stay with the Bridges through the night. Spencer falls asleep on the couch and dreams that he is in a basement with the dead boy, then finds himself pulling leeches off his body. He wakes up screaming and Derek tries to calm him down. The Bridges run downstairs and yell at him for scaring them. Derek assures them that everything is okay and tells them to go back to sleep. Spencer explains that he just had a nightmare and he's really sorry. Mrs. Bridges asks if he dreamed about Michael and Spencer says no. She confides that she's afraid to close her eyes because she's afraid she will see Michael be killed. Derek asks Spencer what is scaring him so much. Spencer says that it must be that boys are dying and there's nothing he can do to stop it.

The next morning, Mrs. Bridges says she can't go to the funeral. The detectives convince her that there is a good chance that the kidnapper will be there and her presence is vital to them finding Michael. The team then assembles a profile of the kidnapper. They say it is a male in his mid 20s-30s, he's middle class, white, and may arrive in a four wheel drive vehicle. They say that Ethan's killer displays obvious signs of remorse, so there is a good chance he will be at the funeral.