Aaron Hotchner quotes from Criminal Minds

Hotchner

I read the Jessica Davis report. I know you found the remains last week.

Twenty years, never seen anything like it. Can't get the image out of my head. I joined the Bureau to rescue people, not to stand over another dead kid today.

Garcia

Another seven seconds I was able to decipher, but it's seven more than we had.

Hotchner

What are we looking at?

Garcia

Surveillance footage I retrieved off the second camera on the first floor. It shows Katie exiting the arcade, follows her movements through the crowd. She went north.

Hotchner

Until she disappears.

Garcia

Criminy, I still can't make out who she was with.

Hotchner

Seven seconds...

Garcia

All the images I could find, sir.

Hotchner

...is all that it takes for a child to disappear.

You do believe she's alive?

Hotchner

Unless I have evidence to the contrary, I very much consider her to be alive.

I wouldn't have called them in if i believed otherwise.

[To Hotch] What do you believe?

Hotchner

I believe you spent all morning... going over and over in your head about the last time you saw her. And asking yourself, "How could it happen, why did it happen?"

Hotchner

Sheriff, someone around here must know who Goehring's partner is.

Rossi

We should try Goehring's pals, the militia. Maybe they can help.

Militia leader is Harris Townsend, he owns a bar called the Horse Post.

Rossi

I'd suggest sending Morgan.

Morgan

What? All due respect, Rossi, but you've got an entire team to pick from. You're choosing me? Are you serious?

No offense, but, do you really want to do that?

Hotchner

Take J.J with you.

Rossi

They know we're here. But you're the last face they expect.

JJ

So killer satanic cults don't exist, but satanic serial killers do?

Rossi

Lasciate ogne speranza voi ch'intrate.

JJ

Huh, thanks for clearing that up.

Reid

Eh, it's from Dante's Inferno: "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here."

JJ

So that was a "yes"?

Hotchner

A big "yes".

Rossi

All right, let's cut the crap! You need to be straight with us. Right now. Look at me, not them!

Garcia

I am not hiding anything...

Rossi

You got shot! Most people get shot for a reason!

Rossi

Eyes here!

Morgan

Ease up Rossi!

Rossi

You got a room full of people here, willing to believe that an FBI agent is trying to kill you! We need to know everything you do on company time that we don't know about!

Morgan

Come on, man!

Garcia

It's nothing bad...

Rossi

What? Spit it out!

Garcia

It's nothing bad! It's just... I counsel victim's families and they know where I work, so sometimes they ask to look into their cases for them.

Rossi

What does that mean?

Garcia

Just means that the cases, the unsolved ones, I tag them, so whoever investigates them knows that the FBI considers them a priority.

Hotchner

You're not authorized to do that.

Garcia

I know! I was just trying to help.

Hotchner

Ever since we had Jack, I always dread it when you bring me a case involving kids.

JJ

Why are you telling me this?

Hotchner

Every case we work, every case we don't work comes across your desk.

JJ

Yeah.

Hotchner

And most of the victims are women. And most of them are about your age. It's okay if you lose it every once in a while. It reminds people that we're human.

Agent Hotchner?

Hotchner

Yes.

Prentiss

What is it?

Hotchner

Haley's filing for divorce. I've been served.

Rossi

I have interviewed hundreds of killers. All types of crazy motives for doing what they did. They all share one thing in common, all of them: it's in their eyes!

Hotchner

'Till what they hold most precious is gone... and then they're lost. Just like the rest of us.

Rossi

When I interviewed Bundy, he had a theory about pornography. He said "If you wanna stop people from becoming like me, don't burn Catcher in the Rye."

Hotchner

"Burn 'Hustler'." I read your books, too, Dave.

Hotchner

With four known victims, we should start by re-interviewing friends and family. We're looking for a white male in his thirties to forties. And with his knowledge of circuitry and wiring, we think that he's either an electrician or an electrical engineer.

Rossi

It's a job that may give him access to a victim's home or workplace, the opportunity to observe his targets.

Prentiss

They're attractive, professional women. He sees them as strong, righteous, unobtainable. So he seeks to tear them down, to reduce them to base sexual creatures and punish them.

Hotchner

He's a true sexual sadist. A typology we refer to as anger-excitation, meaning he becomes sexually aroused by the suffering of his victims.

Rossi

Killing these women is an afterthought. Their pain is what he's after. And he takes his time, to exact maximum stimulation.

What about his trophies? He keeps their clothes, right?

Prentiss

Yes. We believe he's using them for rehearsal fantasies. By dressing as his victims, he can relive the torture. It's during this time that he most likely pleasures himself in order to reinforce his association between suffering and gratification.

Hotchner

And when he becomes dissatisfied with this, he seeks out a new victim.

Rossi

Keep in mind he's been this for a long time, and he's been thinking about doing it most of his life. He'll continue to evolve, finding new ways of challenging himself, increasing his stimulation threshold. There are no boundaries for this man.

Hotchner

Agent, I don't know how you usually do things, but you need to let my team know if you're planning on holding a press conference.

No, I... it wasn't a conference. It was just an announcement.

Hotchner

I think you know what I mean.

We're sending half the cops in the city out to canvass. The story would have leaked. I was just putting a reassuring face on the situation.

Hotchner

Your face.

I'm the case agent.

Hotchner

And you're also outranked by every member of my team.

Meaning what, you vote me off the island?

Hotchner

Nothing tears a case apart faster than an agent trying to make his or her name on it.

Hotchner

It's unacceptable behavior. Why do you keep defending her?

Rossi

Because I know what she is. She is me, twenty years ago.

Hotchner

She is nothing like you, Dave.

Rossi

Come on Hotch, I know what people think. I took serial killer's mass market. Now everyone knows their names, but not the victims, right? Somewhere along the line, I put myself first. I admit it. I can't go back and change it. But it's not too late for her.

Hotchner

I need a favor.

Rossi

Of course.

Hotchner

I need some personal time, no more than a day.

Rossi

Take all the time you need.

Hotchner

[about his divorce from Haley] I need to talk to Jack. I've lost her, but I'm not gonna lose him. I need to try to... tell him what's going on. I don't know how much he's going to understand, but...

Rossi

All he needs to understand is that you love him.

Rossi

How'd it go with Jack?

Hotchner

I just told him that I wasn't going to be around as much.

Rossi

How'd he take it?

Hotchner

He gave me a hug, and he said that everything was gonna be all right.

Rossi

Smart kid. Like his dad.