Original subtitles

Hey, where's Hotch?

Budget meeting.

Maybe he'll get us a raise.

They're cutting, not raising.

I just hope they don't take the coffee.

I'd quit.

Oh, yeah. That'll save 'em like 50 bucks a week.

He'll meet us on the plane.

Where are we going?

Last night, 3 decapitated heads

were found in front of a Sheriff's station

in the small border town of Terlingua, Texas.

3 victims at once?

Actually, they appear to be in different stages of decomposition.

M.E.Confirmed that one of the heads

is a day or so old.

The other 2 appear to have died a few months ago,

but the wound edges

suggest that they were decapitated recently.

Dirt in their mouth, ears, and nose.

At some point, these two heads were buried.

And then dug up.

OK, so why the sudden need to display them?

The need may not be so sudden.

Mexico, in 2009 alone,

10 heads in coolers,

and the people belonging to these heads

were killed just hours before they were found.

Result of a battle between feuding drug cartels.

DEA's not interested?

They asked us to take a look at it.

Considering the different decomposition,

this might not even be about drugs.

Then what do we have?

Well, the victims are two males, one female,

so no gender preference.

Staging the heads in front of a Sheriff's station...

that's aggressive.

All 3 victims are Hispanic.

And unidentified.

Terlingua has a large illegal population.

It's made IDing the victims that much harder.

He might be trying to make some type of political statement.

Volunteer border patrols do a lot of personal policing down there.

Groups like the Minutemen

prize law and order above everything else.

And those patrols serve their political agenda.

Murder would be bad for their image.

Staging the heads in front of a police station

suggests that the unsub might be local.

He'd have to have a knowledge

about how to do something like that, without being seen.

So what we have is hundreds of miles

of unincorporated desert

and an endless supply of anonymous victims

crossing the border every day.

It's a serial killer's perfect storm.

"A lion's work hours are only when he's hungry.

Once he's satisfied,

the predator and prey live peacefully together."

Chuck Jones.

Explain this to me.

The unsub hunts along the US-Mexico border.

How big is that area?

Over 5,000 square miles of desert.

He could have gone undetected for years.

So why announce himself?

Something happened recently.

What do we know about crime in Terlingua?

It's a stop-over town.

Immigrants stay only 24 hours before moving on,

but that also makes them narco-trafficking hubs.

Outside of immigration violations,

most of the arrests are drug related.

That, my pretties, is an understatement.

Anyone familiar with the Lugo Cartel

out of Baja California?

Their greatest hits... the pun being inescapable...

include multiple brutal murders,

along with importing and distributing

nearly 2 tons of cocaine

and copious amounts of heroin, between 1990 and 2009.

Now, if we get in our BAU time machine,

flash forward to now,

a super cheap, highly addictive,

and totally impure form of black tar heroin

just showed up on the streets of Terlingua,

and the DEA thinks the Lugo Cartel is directly responsible.

So they're expanding their operation.

Which is often announced by a wave of violence.

The Lugo Cartel killed 2 DEA agents last year.

We're going to need to watch our backs.

To cartels, feds are fair game.

There's even usually a bounty, so...

we're going to bring in the toys.

Be careful with those. I don't need broken MP-5s

on our budget.

Guys, here's the thing.

I don't think I technically have authorization

to carry a weapon like that.

- You don't. - You don't.

You know, we're going to have a victim pool

that is extremely hesitant to talk to us.

Prentiss, you and Morgan start with the migrant community,

see what inroads you can make.

Stress that we're only there to catch a killer.

Rossi and Reid, the ME is waiting

to show you the heads.

Maybe they can tell us something.

What's this about?

This is part of the Lugo Cartel.

Excuse us.

Federal agents. Step aside.

We're legal citizens of this country

demonstrating our first amendment rights

to a peaceful assembly,

in order to protest the unlawful arrest

of Omar Morales.

You walk around us.

Agents, Sheriff Ruiz is waiting inside.

Ignore them.

Don't do nothin' stupid, deputies.

Anytime you want to make a move, Jose,

you know where to find us.

All y'all do.

Sorry about the welcoming committee.

We didn't expect you for another half hour.

How many, uh, how many officers

in the whole department?

Including the Sheriff, 5.

There are 8 men outside.

And that's the point, right? To show that they outnumber you.

Well, if it came down to numbers,

we wouldn't stand a chance.

Those scumbags are only a handful

of the soldiers who work for Omar Morales.

He's the head of a local narco traffic ring.

We picked him up this morning,

just outside of town.

He was headed for the airport.

Has he made a statement?

Not exactly.

Meaning?

Sheriff Ruiz won't let us talk to him.

And why is that?

Well, maybe you can ask her why.

Right this way.

FBI's here.

Eva Ruiz.

I'm glad you could make it.

Agent Hotchner.

This is Agent Jareau.

Can I get you anything? Coffee?

No, thank you.

Ma'am, how do you plan on dealing

with the small army outside?

I plan on ignoring them.

Well, we can have some of...

They'll get hot and tired and go away on their own.

They're the least of my worries.

We heard you made an arrest.

My deputies did.

But you don't agree?

Because they're wrong.

Whoever staged these heads in front of your office

is trying to tell you something.

Mm-hmm. They want me to butt out.

Of what, exactly?

I count more than 20 missing immigrants

just in the 6 months I've been Sheriff.

That's more than 3 in a month.

Almost one victim a week.

These are just names and cursory descriptions.

Is there any other paperwork?

Has there been any investigation?

No one will make an official report,

but I believe somebody around here

has been killing for a long time.

Want a laugh?

I left Brooklyn North Homicide

to slow down.

I picked the wrong part of the country

to semi-retire.

This place is swimming in dysfunction.

It's a game of survival, and I can't trust anyone.

Ma'am, you've got 4 deputies.

Who I expressly told to leave Omar Morales alone.

You can see how well they follow orders.

Then you're sure this isn't the Lugo Cartel?

Murder to send a message

is the way these guys communicate.

Come with me.

You know, contrary to popular belief,

decapitation is not that easy.

Hmm. You don't often hear popular and decapitation

in the same sentence.

You need to strike on the weakest point of the spine.

It's normally between the C3 and C7 vertebrae.

There are multiple strikes,

but they don't show any hesitation.

I realize you didn't have much to work with here,

but outside of the obvious,

was there anything unusual about these victims?

Well, the second victim appeared to have been blind,

if not completely, then he had cataracts bad enough

that it was difficult for him to get around.

What about the other two?

No.

The most recent victim is older.

So is the first one, the woman.

Well, I only had their teeth to go by,

so it would take some time to get an accurate age,

but, yeah, I'd agree. They were older.

We're looking for something that we call a signature.

Something that all the victims shared,

some physical mark, something postmortem.

Well, I don't know if this is what you mean,

but they all had sand residue in their noses and throats.

Could that be from being buried?

Possibly. But the trachea and the nasal passage,

they were kind of torn up.

If I had the lungs here,

I'd guess that they were full of sand, as well.

You mean like they breathed in the sand?

Forcefully enough that it lacerated the passages.

They were running.

This is Agent Hotchner, from the FBI.

Nice suit.

You know how much misery that guy is responsible for?

Yeah, I've heard some of the things this cartel's capable of.

Your boss gonna talk to him?

He's gonna try.

Good luck.

What kind of message is this?

It's funny?

Kind of, yeah.

A competitor moves in on your business,

is that what you would do?

Hypothetically?

Yeah.

I'd gut him from crotch to chin,

then leave his intestines open for the animals,

after I sent his left hand to his wife,

his eyes to his mother,

and his tongue to his kids,

with a note saying that their papa had died wetting himself.

A coward.

This ain't no message.

Hypothetically.

That's an interesting defense,

saying that you would do worse.

A defense? You asked me a question.

You think I need a defense, charge me with something.

What do you know about the heads

that were left outside the Sheriff's station last night?

Seriously?

You're a man who likes to be in control.

You have a small army standing guard outside.

They protect you because you've convinced them, somehow, that they need you,

and you don't know what's going on in your town?

You didn't tell him?

Tell me what?

You're looking for Santa Muerte.

The Saint of Death.

Sheriff, what exactly is Omar talking about?

Every job has a patron saint.

Cops have Saint Jude,

Doctors have Raphael the Archangel.

But if you're a drug dealer or a killer,

who do you pray to?

The Saint of Death.

I've learned that crossing the desert to get here,

you lose track of the ways you can die.

So, if someone close doesn't make it,

sometimes it's easier to blame a superstitious figure.

Well, Omar doesn't seem like he believes what he's saying.

I didn't say he believes it.

I said it's who people are blaming.

What people?

Look, Santa Muerte has been coming up more and more.

The illegals I send back. The coyotes I arrest.

Some of the drug traffickers, they're afraid.

Afraid of a saint?

I handled a homicide once

where my only witness was this 4-year-old girl.

And she told me her mom and dad got killed by a dragon.

Turns out the bad guy wore a green rain suit with a pointy hood.

To the kid it looked like a dragon.

So when hundreds of people are talking about the same monster,

it's a sure bet something's going on.

They just don't know what to call it.

So they call it Santa Muerte.

I told you we should have kept that bastard locked up.

And I'm telling you for the last time, Boyd,

go back on patrol.

No decomposition. It's a new victim.

He's becoming more focused on you, Sheriff.

Sheriff, may I have a word with you?

It's clear that this is personal.

It always was.

How's that?

Look, I have no idea how many of these people

have gone missing over the years,

but one thing is clear.

I'm the only one who seems to give a damn.

That's as personal as it gets for me.

We're here because we care.

Well...

all I've got is a bunch of stories and superstitions.

What if it isn't even happening?

Sheriff, I can't tell you how long this has been going on,

but something's definitely happening now.

And from the way the unsub is acting,

it's obvious that you've touched a nerve.

Whoever he is, I think you've probably talked to him.

I've talked to anyone who will listen.

Drug dealers, immigrants, business owners...

Well, one of them is your Santa Muerte,

and he's feeling the pressure.

When we get back to the station,

I want to go over every single interview you've done.

How? Who are we even looking for?

We have a profile to give you and your deputies.

We're searching for a personality type called a human predator...

In the classic sense, a hunter.

All the victims we've been able

to conclusively tie to him

have been older or handicapped in some way.

This suggests he waits for someone to separate from the pack,

looks for the weakest.

Like a lion or something.

Except a lion hunts food.

This type of predator hunts power.

It's not about serving a need,

and everything is a means to that end.

We also believe that he makes his victims run through the desert

in order to weaken them.

He may not be capable of taking them on in their strongest state,

despite their age or infirmity.

This suggests that he's possibly handicapped in some way himself.

Certainly weak, maybe small or even thin.

And an unsub who creates chaos and then attacks

typically carries this through to all aspects of his life.

He's unlikely to be in a relationship.

If he is, it's an abusive one.

This guy gets off on control.

He will have tried to stay very close to the investigation.

He's well aware that the Sheriff

has started looking into the missing illegal immigrants.

How do you know that?

It's probably why the decapitations started,

as a countermeasure.

He's trying to throw off the investigation.

It's typical in an organized offender like this.

Cary Stayner, the Yosemite Killer,

drove more than 50 miles to dump cigarette packs

and driver's licenses at intersections, to throw off suspicion.

Start by looking back at everyone you've talked to

in connection with these killings.

We need to start with people

who are familiar with the immigrant journey.

Like who? Advocates? None of them will talk to us. I've tried.

Well, the coyotes want this guy caught.

He's hurting their business.

And if the advocates really care about the immigrants,

they're gonna want to find whoever is responsible, as well.

There's one guy who could help.

He runs an outreach program called Libertad.

Where can we find him?

Clyde, you want to take them over to meet Richard Corral?

My lucky day.

These FBI agents want a word with you.

See the limp?

Hey, baby girl, I need you to run a check on someone for me.

What is wrong with you, Clyde?

None of my clients will trust me

if I've got federal agents walking around here.

Well, maybe you shouldn't spend your time

helping illegals sneak into the country.

They only want a better life.

Well, then, they ought to come in the front door.

Uh, gentlemen, another day?

Mr. Corral,

we understand your hesitation,

but we aren't here about immigration, we're here about murder.

Do you know anything about the heads

that were left in front of the Sheriff's station a few days ago?

Everyone does. My clients are terrified.

Clients.

Deputy...

Another man was murdered last night.

an immigrant.

We need to figure out how this man

finds his victims.

Sheriff Ruiz said you know

more about these people's journey than anyone.

Yeah.

How many places are there to cross?

For every tunnel we find,

there's 12 more we don't know about.

And once they've made it?

Runners keep documents in the trunks of their cars.

Passports, fake Social Security numbers, green cards.

It's a big business.

Especially in border towns.

Do you know these runners?

They change all the time.

If immigrants don't find you, where do they go?

Safe houses.

It's supposed to be where they can find rest,

water, food.

Supposed to be?

It's more like a prison,

until their families can pay off the coyotes.

Where are these safe houses?

Are you kidding?

They come and go faster than the tunnels.

OK. Thank you for your time.

Sheriff, we could use a hand with the geographical profile.

We're trying to locate likely safe houses.

Your team travels all around the country, right?

That's right.

My last year in homicide, I handled 36 murders.

I was one of 20 detectives in my unit.

Do the math.

Don't ask me how many I solved.

I'm sure you did the best you could.

There really isn't anywhere to go

where people aren't killing each other, is there?

Likely safe houses?

Even if we could find a safe house,

you really think someone who just crossed is gonna talk to us?

Well, there's a good chance that last night's victim didn't cross alone.

Someone may be missing him.

If last night's illegals are still at safe houses,

we can find the route they used

and we'll know the unsub's hunting grounds.

The whole point of a safe house is it's a secret.

If I could find them, I'd shut them down.

All right, if it's a first stop,

we should start with homes that are closest to the border.

I could pull land deeds. Might take a while.

We've got something faster.

- Garcia. - Sir.

We're looking for illegal immigrant safe houses, in Terlingua.

Mm-hmm. What are the parameters?

Start with homeowners and renters with criminal records.

Uh-huh. That's a start. Give me more.

Morgan said they're always moving. Look for homes

with short-term leases.

And spikes in utilities.

If they're housing illegals,

there'll be a higher usage of power and water.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

I'm crossing with all Texas utility companies.

And I have 3. And I just sent the addresses to your phones.

Thanks, Garcia.

If you're looking for a gift to get me,

one of her would be greatly appreciated.

We're pretty sure they broke the mold.

Yeah.

You know, we're not going to get very far

if you keep arguing about illegals with everyone.

This place used to be different.

How do you mean?

I don't know.

Different.

Got it, sir.

We're gonna split up possible safe houses.

The closest one to us is 10 minutes from here.

They ain't gonna be happy to see us.

You got a cell phone?

- Yeah. - Give me the number.

Deputy, we're at the back door. Go ahead and knock.

Police! Open up!

Uhh! Uhh!

Nice.

I played a little strong safety in college.

No idea what that means.

FBI. We got a few questions for you.

No hablo Ingles.

FBI. Tenemos algunas preguntas.

In here?

You keep them in a stable?

You got him?

Yeah.

Go.

His mother.

Prentiss.

Gentry! We need backup and medical units!

Now, you're gonna listen to me.

If you don't want to talk to me, that's fine.

I don't care.

But you're facing rape, kidnapping,

weapons charges, and numerous counts of federal conspiracy

to smuggle and harbor illegal aliens.

This is your last chance to help yourself, my friend.

He doesn't look concerned.

It's because the whole border situation is chaos.

He has as much chance of just getting deported

as he does of doing prison time.

I'll make some calls, see if I can pull some federal strings.

Who's gonna pull the strings when you go home?

Her husband was sick and he stayed behind.

Just like the others.

Can he have soda?

Yeah. Yeah, of course.

Come on, big man, let's get a soda.

I thought I sent you home an hour ago.

Yeah, uh, something's bugging me.

That young boy says he remembers seeing the sun

when he crossed the border.

They crossed at night.

Yeah, I know. It got me thinking.

There's a big mural on the side of an old barn.

It's of the sun.

How far out?

About 15 minutes.

Want to take a ride?

Sure.

Don't think I've been out this way.

I used to ride out here when I was a kid.

Horses?

ATVs.

Never been on one of those.

Yeah, you gotta be careful with them.

You can wreck pretty good.

Growing up, all I ever had was a bicycle

If I could keep it long enough, before it got stolen, to ride it.

Good reason to hate the city, right?

One of them.

There.

It looks a lot like the kid described.

Santa Muerte and the sun.

That's good police work, Boyd.

Hey, what do you think about that profile the FBI gave?

- What do I think? - Yeah.

He may not be capable of taking them on in their strongest state,

despite their age or infirmity.

They said the guy was a coward.

Anyone kills that many people has gotta be a real bad-ass.

Well, where I come from, preying on people who can't defend themselves

makes him a punk-ass.

A coward.

Putting a man's head outside your house

hardly seems like a coward.

Something wrong with your leg, Boyd?

Yeah, I busted it up pretty bad when I was a teenager.

Can't hardly run anymore.

Ooh, it hurts like a bitch every time it's gonna rain now.

He's possibly handicapped in some way himself.

Certainly weak. Maybe small or even thin.

I didn't know you had a bad leg.

You didn't know anything about me.

Excuse me?

You just came from New York and took over,

sticking your nose in things that were going just fine.

You're talking about the missings?

The missing.

Now, how could someone be missing

if they ain't supposed to be here in the first damn place?

They're gonna blame it all on Omar.

I can get rid of that son of a bitch

and you.

Why, Boyd?

Why? Huh.

Why not?

You won't make it.

I gotta try.

Yeah, I know.

Where are all the deputies?

Maybe they found another head.

No, the Sheriff would have contacted us.

Have you heard from her this morning?

No, sir, I wasn't expecting to, though.

JJ, come with me.

10-4, unit 3.

Keep us posted on your progress.

What's going on?

It's the Sheriff. She's missing.

She never came in this morning.

Her cruiser's missing, too.

The whole department's looking for her.

Did she say anything to you? Was she working on something?

She was gone before we left here last night.

- Gone where? - I thought she went home.

Have Garcia trace her cell phone.

See if she had any incoming calls last night.

This is Boyd.

Oh, God.

I found her.

God, she's all...

just get me some help.

Hurry.

Deputy.

What he did...

It's the Sheriff?

Yeah. Yeah, it's her.

This isn't the same. This is angry.

And overkill.

It's a completely different MO

and a new victimology.

He goes from impossible to identify illegal immigrants

to a law enforcement officer?

We're profiling a guy who picks on the weakest in a crowd.

I didn't know her that well, but weak doesn't seem to fit the Sheriff.

It's also not random.

How so?

It's what Omar Morales said he would do to a body

to send a message.

He'd tear someone up like that?

That's exactly what he said he would do.

The evisceration, the hand, the tongue.

He told Ruiz and I when we first came into the interrogation room.

We're the evidence team.

Right here.

Is it her?

What's left of her.

Is there anything in the car?

Nothing that would indicate where she was headed last night.

There's no notebooks, no log.

Her body is mutilated in exactly the way

that Omar Morales, the drug trafficker,

said he would mutilate a body.

We did profile the unsub would be someone close to the investigation.

But only Ruiz and I heard him say it.

So Omar looks good for this?

Except why would he kill the one person in town

who didn't think he was the unsub?

Garcia says there's no activity

on the Sheriff's cell past 9 PM.

Does anybody remember who was at the station last night when we arrived?

The station?

The Sheriff's body was mutilated exactly the way

the drug trafficker said he would do it.

Oh, no, all of it? The tongue, too?

You heard that?

Yeah, I was at the window when you were talking to him.

There was a speaker on the wall.

Was anybody else there?

Yeah, Deputy Boyd.

Deputy Gannon, where's Deputy Boyd?

Him and Gentry went to pick him up.

- Pick up who? - Omar Morales.

Hey!

How do you want to play this?

Boyd!

Don't do something stupid, Jose.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, take it easy.

We can work this out.

Boyd! What the hell are you doing?

This ain't gonna stick, you know.

Aah!

Ronny, what did you do?

He had a gun.

What?

He had a gun.

Ronny, he ain't got no gun.

I had to shoot him.

He killed two cops.

What?

Gentry.

Gentry, this is Agent Prentiss.

If he's near you, please don't say anything.

We think the unsub may be Deputy Boyd.

Gentry, are you there?

Reid, JJ, stay out here and stay alert.

Yeah.

It's Gentry.

Does this look legit to you?

Omar took shotgun hits.

Gentry only has a pistol.

There's no powder residue on Omar's hands, either.

Oh, my God. What if he heard me?

Gannon, where would Boyd go?

I don't know.

This is no time to be covering up.

He killed your boss and Gentry.

I'm not covering. I don't know the guy that well.

No one does. He's a loner.

My liege.

Garcia, Deputy Boyd is our unsub.

He has a police radio. Can you track it?

Yeah. What's his unit number?

Call the Sheriff's station.

Get the serial numbers from the dispatcher.

OK, I'll get back to you.

We profiled him as a hunter.

Well, now he's the hunted.

He'll go someplace he feels safe.

Someplace he knows he can control.

Home?

No, I think a preplanned location.

Sir, I've got him. He's heading northbound.

Interstate?

No, he is not on a road at all.

He's driving through the desert.

Keep tracking him, Garcia.

He's running.

Not home for sure.

He lives in a trailer out West of town.

So where's he running to?

Morgan, Prentiss, Reid... Deputy,

you take them to his house, see what you can find.

I need your radio.

- What are you gonna do? - Keep him busy.

Deputy Boyd, this is Agent Hotchner, with the FBI.

I know you can hear me.

You have no place to go.

This is my desert. You think you can find me out here,

yeah, well, come on out.

Cocky little bastard.

The trouble is he's right.

We don't know anything about this desert.

Hope they can find something.

Oh, God.

Well, we're definitely in the right place.

Just breathe through your nose, like normal.

Smell is the weakest sense. In a few more minutes, you won't even notice it.

What about the taste?

I think that's in your head.

All right, spread out.

Let's find out where this guy's headed here.

Boyd, this doesn't have to end any worse than it already is.

Is that right?

Turn yourself in. I'll tell the judge you cooperated.

This is Texas, Agent.

You think the judge gives a damn whether or not someone cooperated

when he's handing out the death penalty?

Now, don't get me wrong.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

That's the only way to deal with someone like me.

You think he's suicidal?

Or he's bluffing.

What's North of here?

A whole lot of nothing.

He's not panicking.

There's something out there, and he's headed for it.

Oh, God.

I found where the source of that smell is coming from.

Ohh...

Oh, my God.

Well, this is where he decapitated them.

Guys, come look at this.

I'm ready for that smell weakness to kick in anytime, Reid.

Listen. "Golden Harvest Grain and Feed

suffered another setback today

in a ruling over the death of foreman Fred Boyd."

"Boyd survived by his son, Ronald."

Didn't the last victim's child say that he saw the sun when he crossed?

Yeah.

Golden Harvest, that's out North of town.

Sir, I... I lost him. The signal's gone.

He smashed the radio.

Garcia, I need a satellite photo of the last place that the signal showed.

There's something out there that's not on the map.

Yes, sir, I'm already working on that.

Let's head North.

Hotch, there's an old grain and feed barn

north of town called Golden Harvest.

Boyd's father was killed there.

Garcia's searching for an exact address right now.

OK, right. We'll see you there.

His victims.

Reid, I want you to stay with the crime scene, all right?

I'll call the state and local bureau offices.

They'll be here as soon as they can.

Try not to shoot that inside the car.

You mean try not to deafen you?

Exactly.

There's his vehicle.

You take the side door. I'll take the front.

Watch the windows up top.

Do you have a shot?

I can't see anything.

- Prentiss, look out! - I got him, I got him.

- You all right? - Yeah!

No!

Are you out of your mind?

You blew out my eardrum.

What did you want me to do? He was coming right at us.

I told you I had him.

He was shooting at us, Emily.

Well, you could have given me a heads-up.

The loaded MP-5 and the lunatic shooting at us wasn't enough? Come on.

The state's sending out a crime scene team.

It's going to be hard to identify the bodies

without missing persons reports.

I called that advocate, Richard Corral.

He's contacting families with missing relatives.

He's gonna try and get some DNA.

That'll help.

This is a mess.

It would have been a bigger mess without Sheriff Ruiz,

and it would still be happening.

Did she have any family?

I already have Garcia checking into it.

I'm going to call Brooklyn Homicide,

talk to some of the guys I know there.

They'll honor her shield.

That's good. An ex-NYPD Detective would like that.

Let's go home.

"Many persons have the wrong idea

of what constitutes true happiness.

It is not attained through self-gratification

but through fidelity to a worthy purpose."

Helen Keller.