Criminal Minds s09e20 Episode Script

Help me Please Help me.
Please, oh, Jesus, don't let me die.
Not like this.
Not like this.
Not like You Get your barf bags ready, my creatures, because these pictures are even more not pretty than usual.
Clark Howard, till last night, in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Murder weapon left on the scene, Is that barbed wire? Indeed it is, arranged to fit like a noose.
How do you wrap that into a noose? I guess it's the same way that porcupines make love.
Very carefully.
Yeah, but the tensile strength wouldn't allow you to tie it like rope.
It can if you're strong enough, which speaks to the unsub's physicality.
And the fact that he twisted a head completely around speaks more to the unsub's physicality.
It's a redundancy in the M.
O.
, isn't it? The unsub possibly tried to hang-- Or decapitate.
Yeah, or decapitate Clark Howard.
The noose wasn't effective, so he kills him by hand.
Report says he's victim number two.
Who's victim number one? That would be Matthias Lee.
Mr.
Lee was killed when he was out hunting.
He was caught in a bear trap.
Accident, you say? I say, no, because the bear trap was launched from a makeshift projectile hidden inside a tree, and it was also lined with barbed wire, which is why Wheeling P.
D.
has invited us in.
Well, both victims were hunters, but the way they were killed, it looks like the unsub was hunting them.
And even though both men were armed and should have had the upper hand, he was skilled enough to use stealth and the environment to surprise them.
And in order to find this unsub, we're gonna have to do it on his turf, where he's got the advantage, and he's gonna see us coming.
"The past is never dead.
It is not even past.
" William Faulkner.
Two murders in two days.
Do the police have any leads on who would want these men dead? They did, until he was killed.
Wheeling P.
D.
was circling Clark Howard for the murder of Matthias Lee.
It's easy to see why.
Looking at their case histories, both men filed dozens of harassment and nuisance lawsuits against each other, including unfounded claims of burglary and trespassing.
Then, in 2011, Matthias Lee filed a civil complaint against Clark Howard "to kiss his ass.
" Clark Howard responded with a motion to go You can't actually do that with the male anatomy.
Ok, so maybe this isn't one unsub, then.
Maybe this is just tit-for-tat revenge murders.
Sure.
Clark Howard uses the barbed wire for murder number one, and then the unsub gets him back by hanging him with it for murder number two.
We need to dig deep in the family and friends, then.
That's our suspect pool.
They're gonna be reluctant to talk to federal agents.
It's not like we're very popular in this neck of the woods.
Blake, you and JJ see who you can get to come to the table.
Reid, look into where the unsub or unsubs are getting this barbed wire.
Dave and Morgan, find out what you can about the victims, what else they might have been involved in that could have gotten them killed.
I can't quite tell you why those two boys hated each other, just that they did.
According to one of Matthias Lee's restraining orders, he not only wanted Clark Howard kept 50 feet away, but the entire Howard family.
If the animosity extends to the families, how many potential suspects are we talking about? It could be all of them.
And it could be none of them.
Agent Hotchner, we see this all the time.
A fella hates another fella, then a brother gets involved.
And then a cousin.
You know, they get convinced that the reason they can't find work or can't find a woman or can't get off of oxys, 'cause of that other family.
So the mom and dad of the two victims have agreed to talk to us.
Who is that? Cissy Howard, Malachi Lee? Yes.
And Cissy would only come in on one condition.
She told me if she even smelled Malachi Lee, she would walk, and when she asked me what that specific smell was, he said, "dip and beard lice.
" Can we arrange to have them come in separate entrances? Sure can.
So we'll have Mrs.
Howard at 12:00 and Mr.
Lee at 12:30.
Won't that risk them running into each other? Exactly.
Cause of death is straightforward.
Thwack and whack, respectively.
Did the M.
E.
mark this on Clark Howard's hand? What's that? Burn marks.
Chemical burns, it looks like.
Yeah.
"Victim had burns on fingers and hands consistent with lye.
" Rossi, they're on Matthias Lee's hands and wrists, too.
It's almost like they were splashed on, as if he was cooking with it or something.
Intuition tells me these boys were making meth.
And if they were trying to make each other's lives miserable, they probably weren't just making it.
They were selling it.
I talked to 3 farmers who had 3 different strands of barbed wire stolen.
None of them saw the thief, but they all swear it was the same person.
The mountain man.
Should we have Garcia look into it as a pseudonym? I'm thinking maybe we should hold off on that.
The mountain man seems to be a confluence of several local legends.
Some say he's part of the backwoods Appalachian population, others say he's a confederate holdout trying to start a second civil war to turn brother against brother, but the one thing they all could agree upon is if you go into a darkened bathroom and you chant "I hate the mountain man" 3 times, he'll pop up and kill you the next time you hear Lynyrd Skynyrd on the radio.
So you're sure the theft from the farms match the crime scenes? Yeah.
Barbed wire's actually quite specific depending on what type of livestock you're trying to keep in and what type of rustlers you're trying to keep out.
In this case, the concertina formation was exactly what was used to kill Clark Howard and Matthias Lee.
Except, we have two murders, but you talked to 3 farmers.
Yeah.
Wire number 3 hasn't been found yet.
That's not good.
No, it is not.
You gonna catch the snicklefritz that done this to my baby? Yes, ma'am.
You better.
Tell me, why did Clark and Matthias hate each other? Don't rightly know.
Some bad blood.
"I wouldn't put him out if he was on fire.
But I might light a cigarette off him.
" These are your son's words when he was questioned.
And my words to him were, Clark, if you so much as hurt a hair on Matthias Lee's head, I will smite you like Jeroboam.
You don't even know who that is, do you? Second Kings, old testament.
He followed in succession after King David.
God killed his son, his wife, and ultimately him.
So, you got some book learnin'.
Well, good for you.
Don't mean you got the sense to catch my boy's killer.
'Cause I can tell you think I'm lyin' to you.
Well, let me tell you something, Mr.
FBI man.
My son is innocent of harming that Lee boy.
'Cause his words to them cops, those were the words of stupidity and bravado.
But my words to him In my family, under my roof, my word is law.
Now, we done? Mr.
Lee, please.
All right, will you answer one question? Who do you think is behind Matthias' murder? Mrs.
Jareau-- Agent Jareau.
It's Mrs.
Jareau.
Unless that ring on your finger is some kind of lesbian thing.
I know how you all like to do it up there in D.
C.
You see, this here is a family matter.
And we would appreciate it if the federal government just back off.
Ok.
You're free to go.
I'll escort you out of the station.
Oh, hold the elevator.
Where are you parked, Mr.
Lee? Malachi? P2.
You visit your daddy's grave recently? You visit yours? Per my sweet JJ's request, I have combed through the lives of the Lee and Howard fathers.
Now, going backwards, there's nothing particularly compelling about either of their graves, but, holy cow, everything before it is.
So, gather around the campfire, my friends, 'cause this one is quite the story.
Ok, so the family forefathers, Carl Howard and Munroe Lee, specifically, grew up in the Wheeling area circa prohibition time.
And they were competing moonshine runners.
Which started a family feud.
Did it ever.
An exceptionally bloody one.
Cousins, spouses, children.
No one was spared.
How long did the violence last? Until the passage of the 21st amendment.
Once firewater became legal, they lost their bloodthirstiness-ness.
Until Clark Matthias brought it back.
The new underground market brought back old rivalries to the surface.
It's only a matter of time before the Howards attack the Lees again.
I mean, they were basically announcing it to us in the elevator.
We've got to find a way to defuse the situation or these families will tear each other apart.
That's excellent.
That is excellent.
And on behalf of my father, I want to thank you for doing business with us.
Well, I know you have your choices for product in the Wheeling area, so the fact that you're favoring us-- Maddie! Oh, please! Oh, please! Oh, God! Aah! No! Why aren't you people stopping this? We're trying to, but-- But what?! They killed my wife! Ok.
It's all right.
You know, it's obviously the Howards that are doing this.
Why? What's going on between the two families? That's none of your damn business.
It is now.
Is it crystal meth? Ohh.
I see.
Of course.
So we're just a bunch of dumb West Virginia hicks.
We must be cooking meth.
I tell you what.
You search my house and you search my bank account and you come back and tell me that I'm dealing drugs.
I thought you were smarter than that.
JJ Bad? Yeah.
Head taken clean off.
And we found the third piece of barbed wire that Reid reported stolen.
It doesn't mean this is over.
We profiled a series of retaliatory attacks.
Right now it's Howards two, Lees, one.
Hotch.
Mrs.
Howard.
Heard through the grapevine you're looking for an old Monte Carlo.
You know someone who drives a car like that? I know someone who don't.
Here's a copy of every vehicle registered in the Howard family name.
That's all well and good, Mrs.
Howard, but when someone's this eager to prove their innocence, it makes us wonder.
Well, it's true enough.
There's no love lost between the Howards and the Lees.
But we would never hurt a woman who did nothing but raising her babies.
We didn't do this, agent Hotchner.
You'll see.
My men are all here.
We're ready for your profile.
We need a little more time.
Oh, mama.
MamaHelp Ok, if we hit the reset button on the profile, what do we have? Well, the behavior points to one obvious theory.
Revenge murders stoking the fire of a family feud.
With the forensic evidence to back it up.
Physical evidence of methamphetamine production.
The only problem is every time we dig a little deeper into the families, that theory falls apart.
The Howards are certainly doing everything they can to prove this isn't about revenge for them.
But the unsub want the families to think that it is.
What if it's an outsider like you would see in the drug cartel model? One supplier eliminates two major competitors by getting them to fight with each other.
Except what are they fighting over? Miles Lee made a good point when I questioned him.
There is nothing in his home or bank account to indicate he was a dealer.
Ready, ready.
So Garcia and I dug a little deeper.
Take it away.
I did some peeking into both the Lee and Howard online shopping activity.
Here's what I found.
In addition to lye, they bought--are you ready? Sodium hydroxide, methanol, mixing beakers, digital scales, safety glasses, gloves, aprons-- All of which you need for meth.
But the arrest record in the community told a different story.
Neither the Howards nor the Lees are even tangentially involved.
Garcia, where were the purchases shipped? Uh, the Howards spread them out.
The other side just sent them to one address, Malachi Lee's farm.
We don't have a profile until we know what the family business is.
Let's go get some answers.
Thanks, Garcia.
Show me your hands! Don't shoot! Show me your hands! Don't shoot! On your knees! Now! Don't shoot.
You gonna blow us all sky high.
We comin' out.
Put down the weapons.
Put 'em down! I'm the one who opened fire, not my kids.
You didn't say who you were.
We thought you was the Howards.
We're FBI.
How's that? It's still private property.
You're trespassin'.
You need a warrant.
You can't go in there.
Couldn't agree with you more.
There's no ventilation.
If they were cooking meth in here, they'd all be dead from the fumes.
So what exactly are they cooking? It smells like cooking oil.
More like used cooking oil.
Waste runoff collected by restaurants and just thrown out like garbage.
I think I might know what they're up to.
I started reading about biofuel, where you take a clean-burning waste product like used cooking oil and you turn it into an ethanol gas.
I know the conversion method's similar to meth.
Yeah, but, only this stuff is legal.
And believe it or not, it's way more profitable.
Dave, wait! Why didn't you tell us this is what you were selling? 'Cause if the outsiders knew how much money we were making, we'd become targets.
You already are.
Guys, I'm a little worried I wasted my time being an expert in my field, because this biofuel thing has a massive payout.
How much money are we talking about? We're talking in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
So, it turns out the Lee and Howard families took all of their old moonshine and other suspicious manufacturing infrastructure to create highly efficient conversion methods.
Only now they're both in the process of selling them.
To whom? To a West Virginia company that wants total control of the biofuel market in the state.
Well, if our profile is right, someone didn't want to deal to go through.
Maybe the sellers are sabotaging it to drive down the price.
Yeah, but there are easier ways to do that than resorting to murder.
Someone in the community, then? Malachi kept it a secret because he didn't want outsiders to know.
The Howards would behave with the same self-interest.
Only family members would know.
It doesn't make sense.
If the unsub's a family member, he's blowing his one big chance to get rich.
Unless he were frozen out of the deal.
Garcia, run the names on the contracts against both family trees.
Done.
Anybody excluded? There's a distant cousin on the Howard side-- Caleb.
Black sheep.
In and out of jail for larceny.
Stealing from farms, specifically.
Where is he now? No known address.
It's a good bet Cissy knows.
We should pay her a visit.
Well, before you do, you should know that Caleb is on an FBI watchlist.
Apparently, he was part of an underground organization that wanted the, quote, "real south to secede from the false south.
" End quote.
Last reported seen deep in the Appalachian woods.
Oh, my God.
The mountain man.
The legend Reid heard from the farmers.
According to them, he was part of the Appalachian population and he wanted to start a second civil war.
They were describing the unsub and we didn't realize it.
I believe in the God of mercy, in the God of compassion.
But that's not the God I need right now.
I am praying to the God of Vengeance.
The God of Anger.
The God of locusts and boils and floods.
Someone is hurting my family, God.
And I need your power to help me smite my enemy.
Thank you.
Oh, I got you, you son of a bitch.
Her car's still here, but she isn't.
Between this and the break-in, the unsub must have come for her.
He's never kidnapped a victim before.
Why didn't he kill her on the spot? Especially considering she pulled the trigger.
This wasn't a surprise like the previous murder.
She was ready for him.
It didn't do any good.
He still took her.
But to where? Go ahead, Garcia.
I just made a one step forward, two step braha kind of discovery.
Caleb Howard is on the radar, just under a different name.
Sam Caplan.
And, my friends, he is not the mountain man anymore.
Excuse me, I'm looking for Sam Caplan.
Uh, who's asking? The same people who'd like to talk to Caleb Howard.
Who are you? What do you want? Why do you have me here? Is this about money? I'll give you money.
You just name your price.
I don't want your money.
What do you want? I want you to say hello.
To who? To you? To her.
Well, do you recognize her? That's my mama.
I was the mountain man.
I mean, I had joined every movement to the right of the klan, but that's not me anymore.
Can you account for your whereabouts the past week? Oh, yeah.
One of my kids is on a suicide watch, so I've actually been sleeping in the building.
I had my phone pre-dialed to 911 just in case of emergency, and I butt-dialed it once or twice.
You're more than welcome to run the record if you'd like.
I'm more curious why you go by Sam Caplan now.
Well, when I was younger, one of the reasons I would rob a farm or get drunk or join one of those stupid causes was because I thought that's just what Howards did, you know? You raise hell and ask questions later.
I think it was because I didn't like myself very much.
You don't have to change your name for a fresh start.
In this town, you do.
In this town, family is--is destiny, and, well, I was embarrassed by mine.
This whole time, my team thought you were disowned by your family, but I guess it was the other way around.
Yes, ma'am, that's right.
Uh, one more thing.
We're trying to find your aunt Cissy.
Do you have any idea where she might be? None.
Do you remember the last time you talked to her? Yeah.
Right before I took her advice and signed the papers to become Sam Caplan.
She made the suggestion.
Cissy Howard married into the Howard family, right? But what was it that she said to Malachi in the elevators? You visit your daddy's grave recently? You visit yours? We thought that was in reference to the family feud.
But she wasn't born into the family or their feud.
Exactly.
And Garcia couldn't find any documentation for this woman.
She invented herself Now, add in that she gave her nephew the idea to change his name, and her middle name is Magdalene Magdalene Lee, Malachi's sister.
Went missing almost Now it all makes sense.
"You visit your daddy's grave recently?" "You visit yours?" It's the same dad.
That woman raised me from a baby.
She fed me, she clothed me, she taught me how to hunt.
She's real lovely.
Yeah, she was smart.
She kept me away from other people 'cause she knew they wouldn't understand.
Then I started asking questions.
How come I don't look like the others, mama? How come I don't look like you? And while her body was wasting away from the cancer She told me About a deal she made.
About a deal she made out here in these woods.
You? Yeah.
Now, I'm going to decide whether you live or die.
But that depends on how much you confess.
What it must have been like to see your sister in the elevator after all this time.
What's it been, 50 years? And you never ran into her in town? No, I did not.
Once she run off, she was dead in my folks' eyes.
Why'd she leave? Or was she forced out? Well, I don't think that's really your business.
No, but it is my business, when your children are dying and I seem to care more about stopping it than you do.
You don't tell me that you care more about my kids than I do, you understand that? I just lost my son.
Then help me.
Why did she leave? She got in a family way.
She shamed my folks.
How old was she? She was 16.
But girls in your family have conceived younger.
Why was it shameful? It was your child.
Wasn't it? I didn't-- I didn't force her or nothin'.
We was kids.
She loved me.
And I loved her.
Anybody else in the family know? No.
What happened to the child? There was this shack.
We used to go there when We wanted to sin.
Am I right? And this is the place.
This is where I was conceived? Yeah.
That's right.
Thought nobody's catch you, didn't you? My mama did.
You liked her looking at you.
You liked it, didn't you, whore? But she knew.
You can't cheat the laws of God and the laws of nature forever.
When did you know about me? What if we tell mama and daddy? They'll kill us.
They'll kill us both.
You gotta understand, we were young.
So we come up with a plan.
It wasn't a good plan.
But it was the best two teenagers could do.
You'd keep the baby.
Yeah.
Oh, my God! It hurts so bad! Am I dying? Ohh Something's wrong.
I can't stay here for this.
Where are you going?! Malachi! Come back here! And you ran.
Yes, I did.
I ran.
I ran like a coward.
Please Help me.
Someone help me.
Oh, God.
Oh, God You.
I had no money.
I had no resources.
I wasn't ready to be a mother.
But she was.
So she said she'd help me.
We made a deal.
She'd keep my secret And she got to keep him.
After I gave you up, I rambled the state for 2, 3 years.
Then I heard one of the Howard boys was looking for a wife.
So I put myself where he could see me.
I never told him what I'd done, where I'd come from.
Once he made a decent woman out of me, I prayed to God for a fresh start.
And he gave it to me.
No! No, no, no! We ain't done with me yet.
On the night I was born Did you name me? No.
Did you kiss me good-bye? No.
Did you even hold me? Did you?! Yes.
Please Just let me look at him.
Oh My Oh--my sweet Jesus, he's-- He's What's wrong with him? He's perfect.
You never even thought about me, did you? I tried not to.
But I knew.
I knew I would pay before my maker for what I'd done.
You were right.
No! You said if I told you the truth-- I said I'd decide.
And I have.
I'm gonna send you to hell myself.
The shack Malachi described fits the geographic profile of the unsub's hunting zone.
What are we walking into? We've already been shot at by the locals once.
According to Garcia, the census counter out there encountered an Appalachian woman living in a cabin, but she refused to give any information.
The woman must have raised the unsub out there.
That's how he knows the area so well.
It's his backyard.
That's exactly where he would have taken Cissy.
Wait.
Wait For what? You kill me here, they'll find you.
They'll know everything you did.
Why would you help me? 'Cause I need to pay for my sins.
But I want you to live.
Uhh! Man down! Man down! Fall back! Fall back! Bloodhound has the scent.
Ok.
We gotta split up.
We can cover more ground.
Let's go.
I have eyes on Cissy.
He's got her rigged to a tree.
Do not approach.
She could be bait.
I'm on my way.
Blake! Blake! Blake?! Blake! Blake, can you hear me?! Blake! Blake! Start shooting! Start shooting! Where?! Everywhere! Where's the body? Where is he? This is SSA Rossi with the BAU.
We need to drag the lake.
How you doing? My hair smells like a dirty sock.
Butother than that I'm fine.
Ok.
How are you doing? I just--I couldn't breathe.
We put 30 bullets into that water.
Ok.
He's dead, Alex.
He's dead.
We can still press charges against Malachi Lee.
He opened fire on federal agents.
My humble opinion-- it's a waste of time.
A jury of his peers don't take kindly to government attacks on their homes.
You talk to the families? We explained how Malachi was instrumental in the recovery of Cissy.
Only that just raised more uncomfortable questions than we could answer.
I would not want to be that poor son of a gun for all the money in the world.
Magdalene It should have been me he killed.
It should have been us both.
Something you two want to tell us? Where did you find this place? Well, believe it or not, my parents used to bring us here when we were kids.
Your parents? They brought you here? Yeah.
This place is certainly out of the way.
You are gonna love it.
No one is gonna bother us.
No phones.
No Internet.
No dry cleaning, no takeout.
No calls from your boss.
Good point.
You need to wait.
Oh, no, no, no.
Come on.
Oh, this is worth waiting for.
Sandy? Sandy.
Sandy? Aah! Aah! Oh, my God.
What is wrong with you? What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? What are you doing? You're so sexy when you're scared.
Well, uh, you're sexy when you-- You have 3 seconds to give me the keys to your car.