The one thing to remember about Criminal Minds is that very few of the episodes leave a viewer feeling good about the world around them. Many of the unknown subjects they chase are the worst examples of humans, and what is scarier is that some of them are based on real people. Even the actors were often affected, as Mandy Patinkin famously left because of how the show left him feeling after filming.
What makes some of the unsubs end up ingrained in a viewer’s memory is when an actor takes the horrific nature of the character and gives it a life that sends shivers down a viewer’s spine. Through 15 seasons, Criminal Minds created some of the most unsettling unsubs.
Updated on July 31st, 2021 by Amanda Bruce: Through the darkest part of humanity, Criminal Minds spent nearly two decades exploring what makes humans tick. It did that through the unknown subjects that committed awful crimes and the committed FBI agents pursuing them. While the Behavioral Analysis Unit always ultimately saved the day – even if it took a long episodic arc to do it – some of the unsubs will live on in the minds of fans forever.
15 Nathan Harris (Anton Yelchin)
Nathan is one of the most compelling unsubs of the entire series. That’s because he’s not actually an unknown subject. After listening to a lecture, he approaches Spencer Reid directly about his concerns.
Nathan believes that he meets all of the criteria for a budding serial killer, and he doesn’t know how to stop himself. It’s heartbreaking to see someone so sure that they’re going to turn into a killer. Ultimately, he ends up in a mental health facility for treatment, but his terror and Reid’s compassion make him stand out amongst the unsubs in the series.
14 Jeffrey Charles (Cameron Monaghan)
Most of the unsubs throughout the run of Criminal Minds are adults – and men at that – reflecting the statistics of captured serial killers in the real world. That’s why the ones who break the mold in the series tend to be incredibly memorable.
One of those is Jeffrey Charles. That’s because he’s a child. Jeffrey has an intense dislike for other kids his age as a result of his father being a guidance counselor, and very little patience to deal with them. He takes a baseball bat to them in the woods outside of his small town, showcasing a lot of anger for one of the youngest unsubs in the series.
13 Anita And Roger Roycewood (Beth Grant And Bud Court)
It’s hard to separate these two since the husband and wife worked as a pair. The duo abducted children on a yearly basis, using the kids they held captive to help them abduct even more victims. Working in a crematorium meant they also had easy means to dispose of bodies.
What’s most memorable about this pair isn’t their methods though; it’s that their motivations are never revealed. Criminal Minds is always very good about delving into the traumas of the unsubs and just what the stressors are in their lives that send them down their dark paths. The Roycewoods, however, never had that revealed, making them some of the darkest of unsubs.
12 Stanley Howard (Michael O’Keefe)
Stanley Howard is the kind of unsub who preys on his victims’ deepest fears. He knows exactly what they are because he also happens to be their therapist.
Dr. Howard is someone in the position to help people. He’s supposed to be someone people can trust with their secrets. His ability to take those secrets, bring them to life, and literally scare people to death, makes him a deeply disturbing character in the show.
11 John Curtis (Mark Hamil)
Part of the memorability factor for John Curtis is that he’s played by Mark Hamil. Hamil is a pop culture icon as a result of the Star Wars franchise, but he’s also made a career out of playing against type. He’s voiced the Joker in a slew of animated Batman projects, for one. For another, he’s one of Criminal Minds‘ most memorable villains.
The show labels Curtis as a narcissist, but he spends his time copying other serial killers. This unsub doesn’t have a single method of preference. As the Replicator, he’s willing to try them all, which made him incredibly difficult to catch.
10 Adam Rain (Brad Dourif)
Most fans know Brad Dourif as the voice of the killer doll Chucky in the Child’s Play movie series. When he showed up on an episode of Criminal Minds, it was clear he was not an innocent bystander. Adam Rain was a serial killer who was also a collector.
He appeared in the Season 8 episode “The Lesson.” Rain had the bizarre modus operandi of using his victims as marionettes until they died – and then he began again, finding replacements.
9 Floyd Feylinn Ferell (Jamie Kennedy)
Jamie Kennedy is not the first person that movie fans think of when they consider serial killers. He was always known for comedy and his awkward role as a movie fan in the Scream movies.
However, in the Season 3 episode “Lucky,” Kennedy appeared as a cannibalistic serial killer. He would capture and “tenderize” women before killing and eating them. He was such a memorable and weird Criminal Minds unsub that he returned in Season 13 as well.
8 Billy Flynn (Tim Curry)
Billy Flynn remains one of the most twisted Criminal Minds unsubs for a couple of reasons. He is based on a real-life serial killer in Richard Ramirez, also known as the Night Stalker.
He was the unsub in a two-part Season 5 finale, a serial killer who used blackouts in Los Angeles to make it easier to pursue his victims. He traveled the country, killing people at random, and got away with it for a long time, often leaving one survivor who could never ID him.
7 Tobias Hankel (James Van Der Beek)
Tobias Hankel was a serial killer from Season 2 of Criminal Minds and was almost the downfall of Dr. Reid. Played by James Van Der Beek, Hankel was labeled a delusional schizophreniac with multiple personalities. He was a happy child until his mother left, and his father became abusive and often tortured him. He developed multiple personalities to protect himself.
He appeared in two of the best Criminal Minds episodes, “The Big Game” and “Revelations,” and ended up abducting Reid and drugging him, causing the addiction that plagued Reid for a long time. This also haunted Reid because he saw some of himself in Tobias and couldn’t save the serial killer from his demons.
6 Benjamin Cyrus (Luke Perry)
Benjamin Cyrus was such an important figure in Criminal Minds that even years after his death, he returned to haunt Reid and the BAU team.
Loosely based on David Karesh, Luke Perry portrayed Cyrus as the leader of a cult-like community that ended up in a hostage situation that led to several deaths. Cyrus was such a revered figure for his people that they regrouped years later to frame Reid for murder as revenge for the downfall of their leader.
5 Cat Adams (Aubrey Plaza)
Cat Adams was another memorable unsub because she was not someone who initially appeared to be a villain. She first appeared as a date for Reid, as the BAU was trying to bring her down in the episode “Entropy.”
Aubrey Plaza, usually better known for her comedic roles, played this serial killer hitwoman on Criminal Minds. She set her sights on Reid after her arrest and set up a master plan to destroy him in the two-part Season 12 episodes “Green Light” and “Red Light.” Cat returned one more time to try to ruin Reid’s life in Season 15, the only unsub to appear in different cases in multiple seasons.
4 Henry Grace (Jason Alexander)
The unsubs that remain the most memorable on Criminal Minds are the ones who dig deep into one or more of the members of the BAU. For Rossi, one of his toughest unsubs to crack was Henry Grace. He was memorable, at first, because it was Jason Alexander in a role against type.
Henry Grace was a prodigy whose brother was a serial killer that Rossi caught and arrested. Because his brother’s arrest ruined his life, he made it his life goal to ruin Rossi’s life as well. He admits to killing seven women and has five others who will die. His entire goal is to get into a battle of the minds with Rossi, with his episode containing some of Criminal Minds’ most memorable quotes, while the team raced to save the women.
3 Frank Breitkopf (Keith Carradine)
In Season 1, Gideon had a nemesis that was there to push his buttons and drive him to the limit. This serial killer was Frank Breitkopf, played by Keith Carradine.
He was a former mass abductor and prolific serial killer who appeared in the two-part Season 2 finale of Criminal Minds. He escapes and takes his own life before Gideon can arrest him, but the entire event scarred Gideon, leading to him quitting the BAU.
2 Mr. Scratch (Bodhi Elfman)
Mr. Scratch is the nickname for Peter Lewis, a serial killer who first appeared in Season 10 of the series and then later escaped in Season 11. He went on to become a thorn in the side of the team, targeting them in Season 12 and finally meeting his end in Season 13, one of the longest-lasting unsubs on the show.
His first murders were accomplished via hypnosis, forcing his victims to do it for him. It was Mr. Scratch that led Hotch to quit the BAU and leave for his team’s safety.
1 The Reaper (C. Thomas Howell)
Arguably, the most memorable unsub was one that lasted for a multi-episode arc. This was George Foyet, who was also known as The Reaper. Loosely based on the Zodiac Killer, The Reaper was a serial killer from 1995 to 1998, and while this was Hotch’s first case in the BAU, it was a failure. No one caught the killer because he agreed to stop killing if the chief detective in charge stopped investigating him.
Eleven years later, the detective told Hotch before he died that he believes the Reaper is still out there watching them. Once he died, The Reaper began to kill again. C. Thomas Howell played this terrifying Criminal Minds unsub in Season 3 and, in the following season, killed Hotch’s wife before the BAU head beat him to death.
