With Friends Like These: [s6e19]
Early theories suggest a "pack" of killers, but Hotch quickly realizes it is one single, highly disturbed individual leaving the same shoe prints at every crime scene. The unsub is Ben Foster (played by Bug Hall), a paranoid schizophrenic who believes he is being pursued by the ghosts of three friends he killed in a fire when he was a child. These "ghosts" (Matt, Tony, and Yolanda) now haunt him, acting as "imaginary foes" that force him to kill to get them to stop nagging him.
Ben’s "friends" urge him to attack a nurse, Karen Heywood, after an awkward supermarket interaction. [S6E19] With Friends Like These
Ben takes children hostage, but in a rare moment of clarity and mercy, he does not kill them despite his "friends" demanding it. The BAU eventually catches him, and he is shot after charging them with a knife. Review: "With Friends Like These..." Early theories suggest a "pack" of killers, but
Spencer Reid is deeply affected by the schizophrenic unsub, fearing his own mental health issues and struggling with the team's loss of Prentiss. Ben’s "friends" urge him to attack a nurse,
The BAU realizes the overkill is a desperate act to burn energy so Ben can sleep and get a reprieve from his hallucinations.
