‘Criminal Minds’ Most Terrifying Killer Is Still Unmatched

When a present is on the air so long as Criminal Minds has been, it provides you numerous unhealthy guys of the week. Some are extra memorable, like Season 4’s Mason (Garret Dillahunt) and Lucas (Paul Rae) Turner or Season 8’s John Curtis (or The Replicator), performed in two episodes by the good Mark Hamill. However others are inclined to fall to the wayside, which is unlucky as a result of a few of these tossed apart are the worst of the worst. They is probably not flashy. They could not have an enormous physique rely. They’re positively monsters, although. And wouldn’t you recognize it? Essentially the most terrifying killer within the sequence is a type of usually forgotten ones: Season 3’s Stanley Howard (Michael O’Keefe).

Who’s Stanley Howard in ‘Legal Minds’?

Dr. Stanley Howard had a tough childhood. Persistently locked in closets and berated by an abusive mom, Stanley developed an immobilizing concern of the darkish that has remained with him into maturity. Nevertheless, on the surface, his grownup life appears completely satisfied. He married Jane (Stephanie Venditto), adopted a toddler, and have become a psychiatrist because of his mom’s affect. It feels like an effective way to show a trauma into a greater future for others, doesn’t it? He desires to assist others with their fears and therapeutic from abuse. He even began his personal charity for abused youngsters. What an amazing man!

Besides, there’s a dark side to the good doctor. After leaving his follow, he started placing flyers out beneath an workplace known as The Goodman Institute, a spot that helps folks overcome their phobias. Gaining a revolving door of younger folks new to the town and saddled with huge fears, Stanley would sit with them for a couple of classes to determine what they have been afraid of and earn their belief earlier than having them take part in an excessive and lethal type of publicity remedy.

Associated

‘Criminal Minds’ Profiling Technique Isn’t Just a Gimmick

Generally subtlety could be highly effective.

The Concern Issue is Excessive With Stanley Howard

That is likely one of the greatest causes Stanley is such a terrifying killer. Being murdered is horrifying beneath any circumstances, however being killed particularly by your greatest concern, which is weaponized by an individual you thought you possibly can belief, is especially merciless and cold-blooded. All through the episode, we see Stanley try three of his murders, although fortuitously, his final sufferer, Missy (Danielle Sapia), survives. Each feels extra horrific than the final, particularly when it comes to Stanley’s reactions. The primary has him locking a claustrophobic lady, Jenny (Jennifer Keyes), in a field, and as she screams, he merely closes the sliding door over the window and spreads magazines on high of the field. The second is drowning the hydrophobic Patrick (John Bobek) by releasing the protection hook he was holding and watching as he goes beneath. Lastly, he buries Missy alive. Every time, he exhibits no regret or every other emotion. He merely picks up his journal and writes a couple of notes on the sufferer’s anxiousness degree. It’s all very scientific, and that is confirmed when Stanley tells Hotchner (Thomas Gibson) that the victims donated themselves to science earlier than leaping off of a constructing.

Nevertheless, it’s not simply using concern and psychology that makes Stanley so terrifying. It’s that he’s a physician. Once we step into a physician’s workplace, be it for our thoughts or physique, we place belief within the individual caring for us. We belief they’re good, need to be moral, and uphold their Hippocratic Oath. We belief that they care about our well-being and received’t do something to jeopardize it, particularly not deliberately. As a physician, although, Stanley breaks each assumption we maintain in regards to the folks we’re supposed to search out reliable. He’s malicious. He’s hidden in plain sight, disguised as knowledgeable. He has entry to the deeply private elements of his sufferers, which he makes use of in opposition to them. It wouldn’t be shocking if Missy may by no means speak to a different therapist once more with out the concern of being hurt again. We concern betrayal. And Stanley is the proper instance of our worst concern coming true.

‘Legal Minds’ Stanley Howard is Much like Some Actual Killers

If all of that wasn’t sufficient to make your pores and skin crawl, then maybe understanding that Stanley is actual will. Okay, possibly not actual, however he is perhaps inspired by some real-world serial killers. There’s, sadly, no scarcity of examples of docs utilizing their careers for evil as a substitute of fine. In reality, one such legal, Christopher Duntsch, even acquired a docuseries, Dr. Death: The Undoctored Story, in 2021. Nevertheless, Duntsch didn’t function the identical means Stanley did; as a surgeon, he purposely botched surgical procedures and escaped suspicion by transferring to completely different hospitals. There are dozens of different examples of killer docs, so it isn’t a stretch to assume that the writers of Legal Minds had a few of these docs in thoughts when creating Stanley.

Nevertheless, the killer that bears essentially the most resemblance to Stanley is the Cleveland Torso Murderer, or the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run. The Cleveland Torso Assassin, in contrast to Stanley, was by no means caught for the twelve murders attributed to them. This killer focused folks they possible thought wouldn’t be missed – not in contrast to Stanley, who focused individuals who lived alone and had no close by pals or household – and had twelve victims of each genders, as did Stanley. The entire Cleveland Torso Assassin’s victims have been discovered close to our bodies of water, as have been Stanley’s (apart from Missy.) The Cleveland Torso Assassin was regarded as a physician, given the state of the victims, and Stanley was able to be profiled as somebody with a psychiatry background because of the causes of loss of life aligning with widespread phobias. Whereas there was no affirmation that Stanley was based mostly on this killer, there are such a lot of similarities that it appears excess of coincidence. It makes Stanley much more terrifying to assume that he may have been based mostly on a killer who was by no means caught; how lengthy would he have continued to kill if he hadn’t been came upon?

There are so many choices for Legal Minds’ most terrifying killer. In any case, the sequence has 324 episodes and much more when you rely​​​​​​​ Criminal Minds: Evolution. Nevertheless, it’s usually those we least anticipate who’ve essentially the most impression, and that’s why Dr. Stanley Howard edges out the competitors. Utilizing folks’s phobias to kill them, bringing the concern of dastardly docs to the forefront, and sharing hanging similarities with a assassin whose id will possible by no means be found, Stanley is an unholy mixture of nightmares wrapped up in a very nondescript package deal that enables him to mix in with the group. Hopefully, he didn’t spawn any copycats for our friends on the BAU to trace down as a result of he’s one killer that doesn’t must evolve to be horrifying.

Criminal Minds

Legal Minds follows the elite group of FBI profilers within the Behavioral Evaluation Unit (BAU) as they analyze and monitor down the nation’s most harmful serial killers and criminals. Led by skilled brokers like Jason Gideon, Aaron Hotchner, and later David Rossi, the group delves into the minds of the perpetrators, utilizing psychological profiling and investigative methods to anticipate their subsequent strikes. Every episode options intense and sometimes chilling circumstances, whereas additionally exploring the non-public lives and challenges confronted by the group members.

Launch Date

September 22, 2005

Solid

shemar moore , Joe Mantegna , Kirsten Vangsness , Paget Brewster , Thomas Gibson , Matthew Gray Gubler , A.J. Prepare dinner , Mandy Patinkin , Lola Glaudini , Rachel Nichols , Jennifer Love Hewitt , Aisha Tyler

Principal Style

Crime

Seasons

17

Community

CBS

Streaming Service(s)

Paramount+

Franchise(s)

Legal Minds

Showrunner

Erica Messer

Develop

Legal Minds is streaming on Paramount+ within the U.S.

Watch on Paramount+