History Characters / ColdCase

Characters in ''Series/ColdCase''.
----
[[foldercontrol]]

!Main Characters

[[folder:Lilly Rush]]
!!Det. Lilly Rush
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/97728_d1627rc_full_6615.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''" It's so much easier to believe monsters do these things. Not men."'']]
->'''Played By''': Creator/KathrynMorris

* AloneWithThePsycho: In "Mind Hunters", "The Woods", and "Stalker" she has a face-off with the killer, trying to talk him down.
* BigSisterInstinct: Despite her terrible relationship with her sister throughout the series, in the finale, she goes all out to find her when Christina kidnapped by her abusive boyfriend and is ready to kill the guy. The final moments of the finale indicate that she's going to do everything she can to take care of her sister and newfound niece.
* BrokenBird: Lilly's hard exterior protects a broken interior, as she is afraid to get hurt again and refuses to let anyone in, which is a significant factor in her relationship failures.
* DamselInDistress: Has a higher tendency to be shot, kidnapped or thrown off a bridge than other characters, specially in season finales.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Lilly's parents were both alcoholics, and her father abandoned her when she was six due to his toxic relationship with her mother. Her mother neglected her, preferring alcohol over her children, forcing Lilly to take on the unappreciated role of the caretaker of the family. When she was 10, this resulted in Lilly getting violently assaulted as her mother had her sent out in the night to get her more alcohol. Once she thought she would finally be happy and got engaged, her sister and her fiancé slept together.
* TheDutifulDaughter: Despite her mother's neglect, Lilly keeps taking care of Ellen when she needs her.
* DyingDream: [[spoiler: She has one in “Into the Blue”, putting together the clues of the current case while she is drowning]].
* TheHero: Established in the pilot as TheHero of the show as she instigates the investigation of a cold case, refusing to give up or to be intimidated. She's always concerned with getting justice for the dead, no matter who they were.
* KindheartedCatLover: Lilly Rush has two cats that she adores. One of them is missing a leg, the other an eye.
* MarriedToTheJob: Her job has caused her to break off a relationship and that's only in the last seven to eight years.
* MommyIssues: Her mother, Ellen, was an alcoholic who neglected her and never appreciated Lilly for taking care of her. This has caused her to develop major trust issues, and she becomes extremely suspicious of women that remind her of her mother.
* MySisterIsOffLimits: Lilly is less than thrilled to learn that Scotty has been seeing hers.
* NoodleIncident: One reason that her relationship with her sister is so strained is that Christina stole Lily's fiancé in the 90s but the whole incident has never been fully explained.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father left the family when Lilly was a child due to his toxic relationship with her mother, later telling her he couldn't stay with Ellen and survive. She reconnected with him as an adult, by when he'd already gotten his life together and started a new family.
* ParentalNeglect: Her mother Ellen neglected her due to her alcoholism, at one point sending her out to get a drink in the middle of the night, resulting in Lilly being violently assaulted. Ellen didn't take care of her after that, and refused to take responsibility for it, even decades later.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Until Kat became a regular, Lilly was (famously) the only female homicide detective.
* TwoGirlsToATeam: After Kat joins the squad.
* TheUnFavorite: To her mother, who prefers her sister Christina despite the fact that it is Lilly who keeps taking care of her.
* VigilanteExecution: A major part of her character arc in the final season is whether or not she'd ever be willing to cross this line. She considers killing Moe Kitchener after he pulls a KarmaHoudini in court [[spoiler: but Kitchener's victim's father beats her to him]]. Then she has to talk down Diane Yates from doing this to Paul Shepard in "Bullet." In the GrandFinale, however, she finally decides to do it to [[spoiler: her sister's abusive boyfriend... only for Scotty, who in the prior episode had become accessory in the death of a serial rapist, to tell her it isn't worth it]].
* WhiteSheep: She is the only upstanding member of the family. Her mother is an alcoholic who neglected her children her whole life, her sister is involved in crimes, gets hopped up on doxy, and ends up having a relationship (and baby) with a drug dealer, and her father is an alcoholic who abandoned his family - though he, at least, cleaned up his act later in life.
* WideEyedIdealist: She really has a thing for pursuing old cases and bringing justice where everyone else considers it impossible, to the point of investigating cases that are 80 or 90 years old just because some distant descendant of the victim asks her to.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Scotty Valens]]
!!Det. Scotty Valens
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/valens_scotty_8506.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/DannyPino

* TheCharmer: Scotty is cocky but chivalrous, and always ready to flirt with an attractive woman - though his affairs often get him in trouble.
%% * FairCop
* GoodIsNotNice: He cares about justice and doing his job as much as the others, but it doesn't stop him from coming off as arrogant, combative or downright insensitive when it comes to dealing with suspects, witnesses or even victims and their families themselves. One episode had him questioning why a WholesomeCrossdresser service veteran who was repeatedly attacked for his persona doesn't just stop acting that way, only for the man to reply back, [[WhatTheHellHero "And you're a detective?"]]
* HotBlooded: Scotty's temper is his probably his FatalFlaw and has landed him in plenty of trouble. He is easily angered and provoked, especially when some of his personal issues (like mental illness) or women are concerned, leading to a number of violent outbursts.
* IdiotBall: In "Breaking News", when he learns that Frankie has lied to him about being divorced and that she's still married. He is disgusted but when he meets her later in a bar he goes to play bed bondage with her... ''in the middle of a crime investigation''.
* JerkassBall: Usually alternated between him and Vera, although other squad members have been known to hold it on rare occasions.
%%* KarmaHoudini: More often than not. While many fans consider his CowboyCop antics "heroic" and "[[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight the right thing to do]]", in reality, his actions would have him either demoted, fired or even imprisoned. Heck, other team members ended up ''taking his punishments for him instead.''
%%* LatinLover: But '''not''' to Lilly, no matter what the Fandom wants to believe. The GrandFinale shows how much they care about each other though.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: A particularly noteworthy case is Offender, where he unwittingly gives Mitch Hathaway the information he needs to deduce the identity of his son's killer. This leads to Hathaway nearly killing the murderer, and is one of the things Internal Affairs uses against Scotty during the first half of season 5.
%%* RabidCop: He's sometimes [[{{Irony}} as bad]] [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute as]] [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit UnStabler]].
* WriterOnBoard: Danny Pino wrote the episode "Stealing Home", which shows both the actor's love for baseball and his hatred of the Castro dictatorship. It is a Scotty-centered episode.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nick Vera]]
!!Det. Nick Vera
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vera_nick_4256.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"You don't mind a little dirt, do you, Rush?"'']]
->'''Played By''': Creator/JeremyRatchford

* CopCriminalFamily: When looking for suspects in an old police ledger he says: "South Philly thugs. I probably have relatives in this book."
* FatIdiot: Subverted. His appearance, and general attitude give this impression of a bumbling overweight guy, but he's actually a good detective. He once figured out that a seemingly random sequence of letters and numbers was a periodical number. Another time he cracked a case by noticing the color of the victim's luggage.
* FormerlyFit: A flashback to his rookie year showed that he was once in very good shape.
* GentleGiant: Despite being snarky, he's amazingly good with children and as Rush tells a rape victim: "He only ''looks'' like a Neanderthal."
* HeroicBSOD: In "Flashover", after realizing he had arrested wrong man who subsequently died in prison. This ends with him [[TurnInYourBadge giving up his badge]].
* HiddenDepths: Loves musicals. Can't sing, though. Also speaks Russian, though he admits he's not exactly fluent.
* HollywoodToneDeaf: Implied at the end of "Wilkommen", when his singing causes everybody around to cover their ears. And he claims to have played Danny Zuko in a ''Theatre/{{Grease}}'' play in high school...
* MaybeEverAfter: At the end of season 7 he is shown getting closer with his OldFlame Megan, possibly rekindling their relationship.
* NoodleIncident: His "woulda had a 19 year old" with Megan now, mentioned in "Ravaged".
* WhatTheHellHero: Any time he uses violence to force a suspect to confess.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Will Jeffries]]
!!Det. Will Jeffries
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jeffries_will_2577.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/ThomBarry

* BadassBaritone: Has a very deep voice and is very cool with it.
* BerserkButton: Punches Danner when he not only finds evidence that the main Danner railroaded was innocent, but also sees Danner smarmily try to justify his actions.
* ButtMonkey: If there was one teammate who could qualify as this, it's him. PlayedForDrama against suspects, who aren't ashamed to act racist towards him (in fact, the only other squad member who gets as much crap from suspects is Lilly herself, being a woman), but PlayedForLaughs among his fellow detectives, especially since he ''usually'' takes it in stride.
* CoolOldGuy: He is sixty... [[WritersCannotDoMath something]], but when he loses his temper ([[GentleGiant and that's hard]]), he loses it, as that ADA learned in "Death Penalty: Final Appeal."
* EmbarrassingOldPhoto: Vera finds a photo of him at his high school prom and distributes copies of it at the station to prove the "hottie" that accompanied Jeffries and whom he has bragged so much about wasn't hot at all. Jeffries then counterattacks distributing copies of Vera's prom, but Vera is ''delighted'' if anything.
* GeniusBruiser: Former football player and boxer. Aspiring writer (once he retires) with quite more culture than his teammates.
* GentleGiant: He's the tallest and brawniest of the men on the squad, but is also the kindest and least prone to anger and violence.
* {{Mangst}}: For his wife, who was run over by a truck in the 90s. He got better after confronting, and ultimately forgiving, the man who accidentally killed her.
* NumberTwo: To Stillman. He is placed in command when Stillman is temporarily suspended.
* OneTrueLove: Married his high-school sweetheart, Mary. She was killed in a hit and run in 1995 while changing a tire on the road.
* WritersCannotDoMath: In "Strange Fruit", he is shown to be 12 in 1963 but in “Best Friends” (aired in 2005), it's his 60th birthday. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "November 22nd":
--> '''Will''': [talking about the day Kennedy was assassinated] I was playing touch football at recess.
--> '''Scotty''': Recess? I thought you were, like, forty-five when that happened.
--> '''Lilly''': No, you're thinking of when Lincoln was shot.
--> '''Will''': Keep it up. See what happens.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:John Stillman]]
!!Lt. John Stillman
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stillman_john_4688.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/JohnFinn

%%* BenevolentBoss: Especially to Lilly. Extremely kind, supportive, and understanding.
%%* TheCaptain: Well, technically, Lieutenant.
* CoolOldGuy: Is not ashamed of calling out criminals and other witnesses when he needs to and is progressive and supportive.
* DaChief: The lead of the Cold Case unit (most of the time).
%%* AFatherToHisMen: Especially to Lilly.
%%* MarriedToTheJob: Official explanation of his divorce [[spoiler: before [[RetCon Agent Yates]] showed up.]]
%%* PapaWolf : To his daughter Janie.
%%* TeamDad: As befitting his calmness and supportiveness.
* TenMinuteRetirement: Took a forced leave in place of Scotty in season 5 but helped the squad extra-officially anyway.
%%* TheMentor: To Lilly.
%%* ShellShockedVeteran: Implied more than really shown and seems to have gotten over it years ago (mostly).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kat Miller]]
!!Det. Kat Miller
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miller_kat_3775.jpg]]
->'''Played By''': Creator/TracieThoms

%%* AffirmativeActionGirl
* EmbarrassingOldPhoto: She shows one to Vera at the end of "Stand Up and Holler."
* [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective Mom]]: Is very resistant to let her daughter meet her father despite that the guy seems to have fully recovered and reinserted into society. The actual reason is that she's embarrassed of their former relationship and protecting her daughter is just a pretext.
* SassyBlackWoman: Especially in her scenes with Vera.
* SixthRanger: Is also the latest to join the Cold Case unit, although she then becomes a fully fledged member.
* {{Tomboy}}: She describes her young self as one in “Wednesday Women”.
* TwoGirlsToATeam: With Lilly.
[[/folder]]

!Law Enforcement

[[folder:Patrick Doherty]]
!!Dep. Comm. Patrick Doherty
->'''Played By:''' Creator/KeithSzarabajka

* CharacterDevelopment: It's eventually revealed that the reason he's such a hardass in regards to John is because he was the one who sent his drug addicted son to prison for a series of petty crimes. He comes to reluctantly admit to John that his son going to prison was the best thing that ever happened to him, as it helped him get his life back on track.
* DirtyCop: He was a known associate of various crooked city officials (including [[spoiler:the killer in "Jurisprudence"]]) from his first appearance, but isn't revealed to personally be dirty until the GrandFinale, where it transpires that he [[spoiler:covered up a manslaughter committed by his son]].
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: In "Street Money" and "Jurisprudence".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Frankie Rafferty]]
!!Frankie Rafferty
->'''Played By''': Creator/TaniaRaymonde

* EnhanceButton: Most of her job as a Video Lab Tech.
* TheUnfairSex: Thinks it is OK to lie to Scotty about her marriage and cheat on her husband because they are going to divorce anyway (the guy doesn't seem to be aware of the last part, though).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Curtis Bell]]
!!ADA Curtis Bell
->'''Played By''': Creator/JonathanLaPaglia
%%* BunnyEarsLawyer
%%* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: Inverted.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Diane Yates]]
!!Agent Diane Yates
->'''Played By''': Creator/SusannaThompson

%%* {{Angst}}
* BestServedCold: The entire point of her career is [[spoiler: to find who killed her boyfriend when she was 18 and kill the murderer herself]].
* BloodSplatteredInnocents: Her high school boyfriend was murdered right in front of her, his body fell on her while she was in the backseat of his convertible, and she is shown covered in his blood.
* CowboyCop: She uses her position as an FBI agent and her former relationship with Stillman to make the PPD re-open her [[ThatOneCase One Case]] and help her investigate it. As it turns out, she's doing so completely on her own, but her supervisor has to suck it up and let her continue the investigation because his position would be the most threatened if the whole thing was uncovered.
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: [[spoiler: Lilly manages to convince her to not kill her boyfriend's murderer when she has him handcuffed, though interestingly she does so without using these exact words]]
%%* JerkAss: Oh so much.
%%* MrsRobinson
* NewOldFlame: To Stillman. She admits to Lilly that she broke up his marriage, and by the end of the series they have rekindled their relationship.
* NoWomansLand: She claims the PPD was this when she left for the FBI.
%%* ReallyGetsAround
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: She is the young woman seen in the Drive In at the beginning of her first episode]]
[[/folder]]

!Family & Friends

[[folder:Ellen Rush]]
!!Ellen Rush
->'''Played By''': Creator/MeredithBaxter

* AddictionDisplacement: Tried coffee during the short period she actually stopped drinking alcohol.
%%* AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents: To Lilly.
* BusCrash: A disputed case. While she wasn't exactly PutOnABus, her death was off-screen and her funeral never showed up on the series.
* DyingAlone: Her main fear. She's so obsessed with it that she marries four times in her lifetime. [[spoiler:Ultimately happens, as her last husband leaves her, her younger daughter is nowhere to be found and her older daughter is always working.]]
%%* IWasQuiteALooker
* KilledOffForReal: Is hospitalized and then [[spoiler:dies of cirrhosis of the liver due to her prolonged alcoholism.]]
%%* LadyDrunk
* NeverMyFault: She was the one who sent Lilly out to buy her beer late at night as a child [[spoiler: which caused her to be assaulted]], but she then claims that Lilly went out under her own volition.
* OffTheWagon: Ultimately leading to [[spoiler: her death]].
%%* TooDumbToLive
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Christina Rush]]
!!Christina Rush
->'''Played By''': Creator/NickiAycox

%%* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Well into adulthood.
%%* LongBusTrip: With [[TheBusCameBack the bus coming]] BackForTheFinale.
%%* ReallyGetsAround: Until she winds up with an [[DomesticAbuse abusive boyfriend]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mike Valens]]
!!Mike Vallens
-> '''Played By''': Creator/NestorCarbonell

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Paul Cooper]]
!!Paul Cooper
-> '''Played By''': Creator/RaymondJBarry

[[/folder]]

! Serial Killers

[[folder: George Marks]]

[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/george-col-case_2244.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:330:"You have no idea of the things a woman will beg you to do if you'll just let her live."]]

-> '''Played By''': Nick Price (1972) and Creator/JohnBillingsley (1985-2005)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS2E9MindHunters Mind Hunters]]" and "[[Recap/ColdCaseS2E23TheWoods The Woods]]"

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: How Lilly defeats him.
* BreakingSpeech: In both of his episodes. In the second one, ''everything'' he says is either a this or a VillainousBreakdown.
* ChildByRape: It's implied this is why his mother hated him so much.
* CrazyPrepared: Details are spelled out in the next entry.
* DeconstructorFleet: George manages to deconstruct ''the very same show'' in his debut episode ("Mindhunters").
** He was the first SerialKiller to appear in the series, and as such he didn't have any relation with his victims, unlike other previous killers.
** He killed more than once and he '''[[ForTheEvulz liked it]]'''. His weren't the usual "rage of the moment" killings that make half of the show, but executions planned to the minimal detail.
** He knew the cops would eventually come after him and likely planned his response to their interrogation years before it happened. Instead of being caught by their usual methods, he mocked them and researched the detectives extensively to use their weaknesses against them.
** Unlike other perps, he knew (and lampshaded) when to shut his mouth and that he could walk out any time he wanted since the police did not have definitive evidence against him.
** He was a rather low-profile guy nobody paid attention to, so nobody remembered him and/or could identify him when the police asked about him years later. This also helped him to commit crimes while [[RefugeInAudacity working as a caretaker for the Police Department]].
** Since he gets away with the crime, his first episode is the first (and one of the very few) to not feature the victim's ghost appearing at the end.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** OK, his definition of "strong woman that deserves to be stripped down, hunted for miles and beheaded like an animal" is flexible enough to include a 14-year-old, but once he decides on a target, he goes after that target and no one else. In one occasion, he postponed his plans until a mother was separated from her daughter so he didn't have to threaten or physically harm the child.
** During interrogation, he implies that he did in fact threaten to harm the little girl if her mother didn't come with him, so it's more likely that he simply didn't want any witnesses or the hassle of trying to deal with two victims at once.
* EvilPlan: In "The Woods". [[spoiler: He deliberately uncovers the house where he hid the skulls of his victims so the PPD will reopen his case and his mother's, then kills the one woman that escaped him and does not bury her body to drive off the police's attention to the forest, knowing Stillman will not let Lilly go with them for fear of her being targeted by George, while correctly predicting at the same time that Lilly will not give up but go alone to the house to investigate herself. There he confronts her, takes her hostage and tries to break her resolve]].
* EyeScream: He extracted the eyes of his victims and replaced them with black glass eyes used in taxidermy when mounting deer.
* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: His hobby.
* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: How he captures his victims. A favorite tactic of serial killer Ted Bundy.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Shot dead by Lilly.]]
* LonelyFuneral: [[LampshadeHanging It's mentioned]] by Lilly in the start of the Season 3 premiere "Family" that the only people who showed up for his burial after he was KilledOffForReal were the coroner and the gravedigger.
%%* ManipulativeBastard
* MeaningfulName: This [[IncrediblyLamePun Marks man]] is a proficient marksman.
* MommyIssues: He was raised by a crazy woman who blamed him for her (non-existent) blindness and sold him out to a rapist to spare herself of the harm.
* NotSoDifferentRemark: Thinks this of Lilly Rush because of some similitude in their backstories (both were raised by terrible single mothers and attacked at a young age due to their mothers being selfish; he also wanted to join the police but failed the psychological test) and wants her to admit it. However, Lilly thoroughly refutes this.
* OffWithHisHead: After shooting his victims, he cut of their heads and took them to his mother's home.
* OminousWalk: Arguably, what he likes more than killing.
* ThePerfectCrime: Technically not the first killer in the show to walk away free, but certainly the first who beats the main characters' interrogations and whom the team would like to jail but can't.
* RapeLeadsToInsanity: Was revealed to have been raped in "The Woods" as a child by an intruder, and it's also why he murders his mother.
* SelfMadeOrphan: His mother was his first kill.
* SerialKiller: Pretty much. He buried at least nine victims' heads in his mother's front yard.
* StartOfDarkness: "The Woods"
* SuicideByCop: Makes Lilly shoot him after she discovers his DarkAndTroubledPast.
* TragicVillain: Yes, he's a total bastard but it isn't his own fault he had a abusive mom, or that said mom allowed him to be raped by a pedophile to save herself.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: His MO is nearly identical to Alaskan serial killer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hansen Robert Hansen's]]; one of the main differences is that Hansen targeted prostitutes, most of whom he raped.
** CompositeCharacter: Besides Hansen, Marks also has characteristics in common with serial killers Edmund Kemper (his first kill was his mother, who was abusive and locked him in a dark room when he was a child, and he passed most of his young years ripping dolls apart) and Charles Albright (he had an interest in taxidermy and extracted the eyes of his victims). And as mentioned above, impersonating a police officer to get close to his victims was Bundy's M.O.
* VillainousBreakdown: When Lilly realizes George was raped as a kid and uses it against him, he goes from SmugSnake to screaming madman.
* WorthyOpponent: He thinks Lilly is the one and only cop that deserves to confront him.
* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: In an especially creepy variant, he constantly talks about this ''hypothetically''. It nearly pushes Vera and Scotty to attack him in "Mindhunters", and they ''just'' restrain themselves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Roy Brigham Anthony]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/roy_brigham_anthony.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"God's work can be brutal."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Alex Ball (1977) and Creator/BarryBostwick (2005)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS2E21CreaturesOfTheNight Creatures of the Night]]"

A psychotic strangler who, due to a highly controversial plea bargain, was set to be released in 2005.

* AffablyEvil: Roy is a nice, if awkward, fellow... so long as you do not push his BerserkButton. During his first meeting with Lilly and Scotty, he is nothing but genial, always referring to Lilly as "ma'am."
* BerserkButton: Disrespecting the Lord.
* BurgerFool: While in Philadelphia, he worked as a busboy at a greasy spoon called the Franklin Grill.
* ConfusionFu: Roy killed people in uniforms at night, but otherwise acted with complete randomness due to being driven to kill by hallucinations, and that, coupled with Roy being grounded enough to still do things like lie to protect himself, baffled investigators to such an extent that the only way that they could get him was through a desperate "sweetheart deal" PleaBargain.
* CreepySouvenir: He took a "trinket" from all of his victims, with the first being a gold charm that he took off of Mike Cahill.
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Roy's aunt, Louise, loved him, and it broke her heart when he ran away and became a SerialKiller.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Even though his father, Edward, was implicitly abusive, Roy still loved him, and he becomes agitated when Lilly suggests that his victims were surrogates for Edward. He also appeared to care for his Aunt Louise.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He will lie and kill, but is adamantly against sex outside of marriage, which made him want to propose to Kelly Witkowski, even though the two of them had only ''just'' met after Roy moved from Utah to Philadelphia.
* FreudianExcuse: Roy targeting people in uniform is indicated to stem from deep-seated resentment of his father, a strict military man who, in his only scene, is shown treating Roy more like a subordinate than a son, at one point nearly backhanding a flinching Roy.
* TheFundamentalist: A devout, homicidal Mormon.
* GunManWithThreeNames: He was for some reason almost always referred to as either Roy or Roy Brigham Anthony, rarely just Roy Anthony.
* HasAType: Non-sexual variant; he only killed people in uniform, starting with doorman Mike Cahill.
* HearingVoices: He thinks that they come from God.
* InsaneEqualsViolent: He initially only harmed himself, but his aunt's unwitting encouragement caused him to become a SerialKiller.
* JustFollowingOrders: Roy claims to be "just obeying orders" when confronted with photographs of his victims when he first speaks with Lilly and Scotty.
* KnightTemplar: Roy believes that his killing people is justified because he does it at the behest of voices which he believes originate from God.
--> '''Roy:''' God's work can be brutal.
* LightIsNotGood: He is shown wearing white in literally every flashback to him as a young man in 1978.
* LonersAreFreaks: According to his aunt, Roy had no friends, and barely interacted with anyone other than her and his co-workers at the Franklin Grill.
* TheMentallyDisturbed: He suffers from auditory and visual hallucinations, committed self-harm in an attempt to suppress them, and eventually began killing people because he was convinced that he was being told to by God.
* MissionFromGod: Roy is convinced that God is directing him to kill people, and that he has no say in the matter, proclaiming, "He shines a light on someone's face and I don't have a choice."
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: Brigham Young, a pioneering Mormon.
* NoodleIncident: An unknown incident involving a girl in Provo led to Roy's father shipping him away to live with his Aunt Louise in Philadelphia.
* ObviouslyEvil: During his first interview with Lilly and Scotty, Roy outright admits that he still suffers from hallucinations, and that he intends to resume killing people as soon he gets out of prison, casually stating, "I have a lot of work to catch up on."
* PleaBargain: In 1980, he confessed and pleaded guilty to murders that he was strongly suspected of but could not be conclusively linked to, and in exchange he only got twenty-five to life, with his exemplary behavior while behind bars making it very likely that he would be released in 2005.
* ReligiousBruiser: A religious fanatic, he killed all of his victims with his bare hands, and was shown to tower over almost everyone at 6'4.
* ReligiousStereotype: Roy and his family were weird, naïve, and uptight Mormons who had no social circle outside of themselves, as well as an obsession with purity and virtue and nothing but disdain for "heathens." Aunt Louise also believed that, like Joseph Smith, Roy could hear the voice of God.
* SelfHarm: Whenever the voices in his head became too overwhelming, Roy would hurt himself in an attempt to suppress them, including by burning himself on the stove at the Franklin Grill.
--> '''Roy:''' It was either hurt him, or me.
* SerialKiller: With nine confirmed victims, he is the show's second most prolific serial killer, after George Marks.
* SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny: He had "impure" thoughts about a girl in Provo, as well as Kelly Witkowski, and was ashamed of them, as his religious beliefs precluded sex outside of marriage, with the frustration that this caused him further fueling his psychosis, leading to an obsession with "pure" girls like Kelly.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The circumstances surrounding his near-release, despite him being a confessed serial killer, were inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Eugene_Watts Carl Eugene Watts]].
* WellDoneSonGuy: This is the impression given by the flashback showing Roy with his father, Edward.
--> '''Roy:''' When are you coming back for me?\\
'''Edward:''' That depends... on how well you obey the rules.\\
'''Roy:''' Oh, I'll obey, sir! I promise!
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ramon Delgado and Martha Puck]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ramon_delgado.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"What we have is special. We are Bonnie and Clyde. And it feels good, right?"]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/martha_puck.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I'm not cool. But I believe in love that changes your life from black and white to color."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Creator/BrunoCampos (Ramon) and Emily Nelson (Martha)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS4E9LonelyHearts Lonely Hearts]]"

A con artist couple, Ramon would seduce and swindle lonely women, who he would then murder with the help of his partner, Martha.

* AmbiguousSituation: It is unclear if Martha was right about Ramon wanting to kill her, especially since it is clear that Ramon actually did love Martha.
* AssholeVictim: Martha was initially assumed to just be someone who Ramon had swindled and killed, but then it turned out that she became his accomplice and encouraged him to become a SerialKiller. Despite this, her and Ramon's serene-seeming "ghosts" are still shown at the end of the episode, with Ramon appearing to Stillman, and Martha to Lilly.
--> '''Kat:''' Well, this is a big, fat waste of time. Solving a murderer's murder.
* AwfulWeddedLife: We get a glimpse into Ramon and Martha's life together, and looked far from perfect, with Martha sulking while Ramon, having found another mark, asks her, "This loser's into ferns. You know anything about that?"
* TheBigBoard: Ramon kept a rented storage unit full of big boards containing information on all of his marks, including Martha.
* TheBluebeard: Ramon would marry desperate women at quickie chapels, take all of their money, and then have them killed by Martha.
* CarFu: Once he was done with them, Ramon would set his victims up to be run over by Martha.
* CarpetOfVirility: Ramon, something that is most apparent in the shirtless photo of him that is examined by Scotty.
* TheCasanova: Ramon got with and used ''nineteen'' women through video dating services, all of whom were insecure and easily swayed; a more confidant woman, like Martha's roommate, Stephanie, could immediately tell that Ramon was a {{Slimeball}}.
* CommonLawMarriage: Though Ramon eventually did end up proposing to Martha.
* ConMan: Ramon seduced and swindled women out of their money and valuables using video dating services, and took Martha (who was initially just another mark) along as an accomplice after meeting her in 1989.
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Martha was an orphan, which is part of the reason why her case went cold so fast after she was murdered back in 1989.
* CreepyMortician: Martha worked as mortician's assistant before becoming a SerialKiller.
* {{Cuckold}}: Martha bemoaned having essentially become one, stating, "I've become a terrible person. And for what? So that I can pretend to be your sister while some girl who thinks she's your wife climbs all over you?"
* DestructiveRomance: Martha refused to dump Ramon even after finding out that he was criminal, and together the two entered an unstable relationship in which they became {{Serial Killer}}s.
* DissonantSerenity: During her first date with Ramon, Martha cheerfully described how, when she was four, her mother had a fatal stroke, and she spent two days alone with her corpse before a neighbor found her and called 911.
* DrivenToSuicide: Ramon shot himself when the IRS finally caught-up with him, and also due to apparent despair over Martha.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Martha became paranoid that Ramon was going to kill her, and while he may have considered it at the time, the circumstances of his suicide (he shot himself while watching her video dating tape) indicate that he really did love Martha.
--> '''Lilly:''' Her face was the last thing he wants to see before the lights go out? Got to be more than a con. Maybe it's a love thing.
* FatAndSkinny: Martha (fat) and Ramon (skinny).
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: While Martha did convince Ramon to start killing people, she was portrayed as the more sympathetic of the two, eventually becoming overwhelmed with guilt over what she had become, which led her to turn on Ramon.
* FemaleFighterMaleHandler: In a way, as Martha was the one who actually killed the women who were seduced and had their money taken by her sugar daddy, Ramon.
* FlowerInHerHair: Martha wore a big red flower in her hair so that Ramon would spot her immediately during their first date at The Perfumed Rose.
* FreudianExcuse: Martha's mother dropped dead from a stroke when she was four, and she spent two days alone with the corpse before being found, with it being implied that Martha's childhood was unpleasant even before this, as she felt that her mother was "''finally'' happy" when she died on Martha.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Martha realized the error of her ways, and enlisted Eugenia Karpathian to help her kill Ramon. Unfortunately, Eugenia was still in love with Ramon, and she killed Martha.
* HeelRealization: While examining an heirloom that she and Ramon had taken from one of their victims, Martha started crying, and stammered, "I've become a terrible person."
* HotGuyUglyWife: Ramon was a handsome LatinLover who fell in love with the dowdy, overweight, and awkward Martha.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Ramon, during his first date with Martha, was obviously creeped out when she cheerfully described how, as a child, she spent two days alone with her mother's dead body before a neighbor found her and called 911.
--> '''Ramon''' ([[StunnedSilence after a very long, awkward pause]]): That's sad, Martha.
* InLoveWithLove: Martha was a self-described "sappy romantic" who spent all of her time reading ChickLit and who stuck by Ramon even after realizing that he was con artist when she walked in on him right in the middle of stealing her TV.
* InLoveWithTheMark: Ramon was a con artist who just wanted to steal from Martha, but then he fell in love with Martha.
* InLoveWithYourCarnage: Ramon's love for Martha appeared to have truly bloomed after she began helping him with his crimes, as he noticeably acted much more affectionate towards her after she described to him how she conned Buella Stiffler.
* InstantDeathBullet: Martha dropped dead immediately after being shot by Eugenia.
* InsuranceFraud: Afraid that Ramon was going to kill her, Martha took out a life insurance policy on him in preparation for killing him first, though before she could do anything she herself was murdered by Eugenia Karpathian.
* InTheBack: Martha was killed when she shot in the back with a .45 by Eugenia Karpathian.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: Martha, a woman who was complicit in five murders, was herself killed by a woman named Eugenia Karpathian.
* LadyMacbeth: While Ramon was already a criminal when he met Martha, she was the one who encouraged him to graduate from con artist to SerialKiller.
* LatinLover: Ramon, who used it to his advantage by seducing and swindling women like Eugenia Karpathian.
* LineOfSightName: Martha's alias, Serena Montagne, was taken from a RomanceNovel.
* TheLostLenore: Ramon still pined for Martha after her death, and committed suicide while watching the video dating tape that she made back in 1989.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Martha was so desperate for love that she stuck by her boyfriend even after finding out that he was a con artist, and convinced him to stay with her by encouraging him to become a SerialKiller.
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Ramon and Martha killed all of their victims by making them look like hit and run accidents, one in New Jersey, one in New York, and the other three in Philadelphia.
* TheMourningAfter: Ramon never got over Martha, and killed himself while watching the video dating tape that she made back in 1989.
* NerdGlasses: Martha wore giant spectacles, and considered herself to be "not cool."
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: The two were based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Fernandez_and_Martha_Beck Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck]], an American serial killer couple who were active during the 1940s.
* NoHonorAmongThieves: Ramon might have been planning to kill Martha, who decided to kill him first by trying to shoot him with a .45.
* OutlawCouple: The two are even compared to Bonnie and Clyde by Ramon.
* PosthumousCharacter: Ramon committed suicide just prior to the events of the episode, while Martha was murdered in 1989.
* RelativelyFlimsyExcuse: Martha was Ramon's lover, but pretended to be his sister while he was seducing and swindling other women, so their flirtatious behavior around each other creeped out Reverend Love.
* RetiredMonster: While Ramon continued to committ financial crimes after Martha's death, there is no indication that he killed anyone else after 1989.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines: While the two were based mainly on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Fernandez_and_Martha_Beck Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck]], the concept of financially-motivated serial killers disposing of their victims via staged hit and run "accidents" was taken from the then-recent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Widow_Murders Black Widow Murders]].
* SecretDiary: The flashbacks that are shown from Martha's POV are framed as Lilly reading passages from Martha's diary, which she had hidden in the jacket of one of her {{Romance Novel}}s.
* SerialKiller: The two swindled and killed five women over the course of several months in 1989.
* ShrineToSelf: When he notices that Ramon's home is full of pictures of himself, Scotty muses, "Guy's got a little crush on himself."
* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Martha. As Kat put it, "The novels got to her head."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Malik]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/malik_6.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I was the smallest, the weakest, but they didn't care. And now I take everything from them."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Steven Wash Jr. (1986) and Jamil Walker Smith (2007)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS5E8ItTakesAVillage It Takes a Village]]"

A highly unstable African-American man who kidnapped, tortured, and killed any young Black boys who managed to beat him at an arcade game called ''Defector III.''

* AGodAmI: "They were laughing. Yet Theseus knew his day would come. That fed him. It was his source of strength. It gave purpose to his miserable life. Made him invincible. Immortal. God. He found them, one by one. And he did exactly what they had done to him."
* ArcNumber: 17. The numbers of the storage units that he rented all added up to it, and it turned out to have been the number of the shower room that he had his finger traumatically cut off in while at Pritchard House.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: He used the alias Theseus "Theo" Gamble.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Lilly caused him to realize that he had become like the very boys who had victimized him, a revelation which caused him to be DrivenToSuicide.
* BodyInABreadbox: He placed the bodies of all of his victims in freezers, which led to his undoing when one of them broke down in 2007.
* BullyHunter: He sees himself as this, when in reality is his victims are just completely innocent children, with the realization of this causing him to be DrivenToSuicide.
* BullyMagnet: He was small and weak as a child, and so was easily pushed around by bigger and tougher boys at Pritchard House.
* CallingCard: He cut off the left index fingers of all of his victims, in reference to how he had his own cut off by older boys back in 1986.
* CassandraTruth: He told a doctor what Grimes was doing to him and the other boys at Pritchard House, and while the story did unnerve the doctor, he did not do anything about it, so Malik and the other boys remained at Grimes's mercy at Pritchard House.
* ColdBloodedTorture: He starved his victims and forced them to stand in a small square for days, causing them to develop shin splints and abrasions under their feet, and slashed their faces before finally killing them via SlashedThroat.
* ConnectTheDeaths: All of his victims were taken from arcades that contained a game called ''Defector III.''
* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: He says that he had no one, without any elaboration, which is why he ended up in a JuvenileHell.
* CreepyHighPitchedVoice: He had an odd, almost child-like voice, and that, coupled with his small stature, caused him to be mistaken for a child by a few people, including a witness named Byron.
* DrivenToSuicide: Lilly making him realize that he had become the exact type of person who had victimized him and who he (deludedly) believed he was punishing caused him to kill himself, making him the final of his five intended victims instead of Tyrell Hobbs.
* EyeObscuringHat: He is shown wearing one of these in all of the flashbacks to him doing things like renting a storage unit and abducting Shemar.
* {{Fingore}}: He cut off the left index fingers of all of his victims, in reference to how he had his own cut off by older boys back in 1986.
* FreudianExcuse: He ended up in a notoriously brutal JuvenileHell called Pritchard House, where the worst counselor's preferred punishment was a collective one in which one boy's actions would lead to their entire ward being forced to stand in place in small squares for days at a time, something that was especially hard on the runty Malik. When Malik sassed the counselor, he reacted by giving the other boys who were being punished for Malik's troublemaking carte blanche to do whatever they wanted to him, so they beat him down and crudely amputated one of his fingers using a piece of mirror that one of them had fashioned into a SinisterShiv.
* GigglingVillain: He giggles creepily in a few flashbacks, and when he is first confronted by Lilly and Scotty.
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: This plays during the finale, when he is cornered by Lilly and Scotty.
* HeelRealization: Lilly caused him to realize that he had become just as bad as the boys who had victimized him, causing him to commit suicide after releasing Tyrell Hobbs.
* JuvenileHell: Pritchard House, the Hellish juvenile facility that he ended up in 1986. It is more infamously known as "The Pit."
* MeaningfulRename: He renamed himself after Theseus, a Greek hero who, as Stillman simplistically put it, would "do to bad guys what they did to others."
* MisplacedRetribution: Instead of going after his childhood bullies or even people who were similar to them, he targeted completely innocent children who were able to beat him at a game called ''Defector III.''
* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: No one noticed the pattern of young Black boys disappearing until the bodies of the victims were unearthed in 2007. One police officer even ignored one boy's father's request that they put out an Amber Alert for his son, on the basis that the boy had probably just run off and become a [[{{Gangbangers}} Gangbanger]].
--> '''Lorraine Henderson:''' I spoke to detectives, over the years. Didn't nobody mention to me that there were other boys missing. Why? They had to know that monster was out there. Didn't they?
* MistakenAge: His slight build and CreepyHighPitchedVoice led an arcade owner named Byron to assume that he was only about 14 or 15.
* TheMostDangerousVideoGame: He chose his victims using ''Defector III'', a ''Franchise/MortalKombat''-style arcade game that resonated with him because the losing fighter's death animation entailed being knocked into an abyss called The Pit, and his FreudianExcuse involved being a loser in a JuvenileHell that was nicknamed "The Pit."
* NoFullNameGiven: He is only known as Malik.
* NotTheFirstVictim: After Shemar Reynold's body was found in a storage unit in 2007, the detectives discovered that the person who had rented the unit had rented three other units under the same name, leading to the discovery of three more victims, with the earliest one being from 1999.
* ObviouslyEvil: Unlike a lot of the show's other villains, it is apparent right from the start that there is something definitely wrong with Malik. A man who he rented a storage unit from could not remember much about what he looked like, but he did remember that Malik came off as seriously "touched" [in the head]. Unfortunately, ChildrenAreInnocent, so they did not really see anything too "off" about Malik.
* OffscreenVillainDarkMatter: No explanation is provided for how he is able to afford all of his storage units, freezers, cameras, etc.
* PetTheDog: He lets Tyrell Hobbs go after being talked down by Lilly.
* PsychoKnifeNut: He was a serial killer who used a knife to slash the faces of his victims before killing them via SlashedThroat. He would also slice off their left index fingers, in reference to his own left index finger having been cut off back in 1986.
* PunishmentBox: He forced his victims to stand in a square that was drawn on the floor for days, a punishment that he and other boys were also subjected to in Pritchard House.
* RageQuit: He gets angry if he does well and ''wins'' at ''Defector III'', with there being a flashback where he is shown abruptly quitting and storming off after beating a boy named Corey.
--> '''Malik:''' I thought you were a winner, man. [...] You lost. You wasted my time.
* RedRightHand: He always wears gloves to cover up his missing finger, which was sliced off back in 1986.
* {{Sadist}}: He viciously tortured his victims, and filmed it, with Lilly musing that one of the films ending without the victim's murder even being shown means that the killer does not even care about killing, all that really matters to him is the ColdBloodedTorture.
* SerialKiller: He kidnapped, tortured, and murdered four (nearly five) young boys in a spree that lasted from 1999 to 2007.
* SlashedThroat: He slit the throats of all of his victims before subjecting them to {{Fingore}}. He also kills himself this way in front of Lilly and Scotty.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: He hangs out at arcades, spying on any boys who play a game called ''Defector III.''
--> '''Malik:''' I don't play just anybody. Only those who know how to dominate.
* SnuffFilm: He filmed his victims' torment, and we see some of the footage that was shot of Shemar Reynolds. The footage cutting off just before Shemar's death led Lilly to conclude that the killer does not actually care about the act of murder, just ColdBloodedTorture.
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Lilly gets him to let Tyrell Hobbs go by pointing out that he has become like the very boys who had victimized him, a revelation which caused Malik to be DrivenToSuicide.
* TortureCellar: He turned rented storage units into these, soundproofing them and filming his victims being tortured in them before eventually finishing them off via SlashedThroat. He would then clean the place up and leave the body of the victim in a freezer, one of which was finally discovered in 2007.
* VideoArcade: He would troll these for young boys, taking any who managed to beat him at a game called ''Defector III.''
* WhereItAllBegan: He took his fifth and final intended victim to the abandoned JuvenileHell where he was beaten down and had one of his fingers cut off back in 1986.
* WouldHurtAChild: His victims were all children, the youngest of whom was only 9.
* WrongGenreSavvy: He sees himself as a modern day Theseus, righting wrongs by punishing those who deserve it by using their own methods against them, when in reality his victims are just innocent children and he is nothing but a demented SerialKiller.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Alessandro Rossilini]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alessandro_rossilini.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"At first, I thought I'd gone mad. Then I realized it wasn't me, it's the world that's gone mad."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Creator/KimCoates
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS5E12Sabotage Sabotage]]"

A bomber with anti-modernization sentiments who began terrorizing Philadelphia in 1999.

* AllForNothing: He lost the legal battle for his childhood home, but it amounted to nothing anyway, as the company that bought the land went bankrupt soon afterward, so now the land where the house once stood is just a dirty lot with a withered sign announcing that Pixelerator Media will be moving in in 2001.
* BigBrotherBully: Even though his younger brother, Luke, idolized him and offered him financial support, Alessandro had nothing but contempt for him, which led the two of them to have a falling out in 1999.
* CainAndAbel: After he lost everything, Alessandro came to hate and resent his brother, Luke, who he tried to destroy by killing Luke's wife, Beth, and their daughter, Mia.
* CallingCard: His bombs are all disguised as ornate music boxes that play the song ''John Henry.''
* ConnectedAllAlong: It was initially believed that Alessandro only went after Luke Ross because he saw Luke as a MorallyBankruptBanker, but then it is revealed that Luke is actually Alessandro's brother, Luciano Rossilini.
* CreepySouvenir: When the team find Alessandro's lair, they discover a wall with a bunch of newspaper cutouts relating to the attacks on Curt Fitzpatrick, Gene Schmidt, and Roderick Poole.
* DespairEventHorizon: He tried to live a normal life even after losing everything, but finally snapped when a big box store employee refused to give him a refund for a shower radio because the warranty had expired, all the while apathetically informing Alessandro that it would be cheaper to just buy a new one rather than send it back to the manufacturer in Taiwan.
--> '''Alessandro:''' What the Hell kind of product is that?\\
'''Curt:''' Disposable.
* DisproportionateRetribution: He killed Curt Fitzpatrick because of Curt's flippant response to Alessandro's attempt at getting a refund for a broken shower radio from Big Box Electronics.
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Despite their falling out, Alessandro's brother, Luke, still cared about him, and even insisted that Alessandro was "not a violent man."
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: His father, as well as his daughter, Sophia.
* EvilLuddite: In Alessandro's eyes, rampant modernization has corrupted society, and created an apathetic and withered CrapsackWorld.
* FamilyExtermination: He tried to kill his brother's family, the Rosses.
* GriefInducedSplit: Alessandro and his wife, Helen, divorced after the death of their daughter, Sophia.
* FiringDay: We get a flashback to the day Alessandro lost his job at Kinetic Corp. due to the company deciding to restructure and start outsourcing to cheaper workers in Bangalore.
* FreudianExcuse: He lost his job due to outsourcing, his daughter due to being unable to get her decent healthcare due to his lack of insurance, his marriage due to his daughter's death, his childhood home due to a company that ended up going bankrupt and doing nothing with the land due to the tech bubble bursting, and his relationship with his brother due to Alessandro lashing out at him due to viewing him as a MorallyBankruptBanker.
* HarassingPhoneCall: He calls his targets posing as a credit card representative to learn about their habits and routines, and then taunts them, like he did with his sister-in-law, Beth.
* ICanSeeYou: While talking to his brother's wife over the telephone, Alessandro taunts her by saying, "I hope you and your husband are enjoying your new purchases. Love the blue curtains, by the way."
* IHaveAFamily: In a flashback, we see Alessandro pleading with the boss who had just fired him, telling him, "I have a wife, a kid. A mortgage."
* IHaveNoSon: During their last conversation, Alessandro told Luke, "You're not my brother."
* IronicEcho: Alessandro reveals to his brother, Luke, that a bomb is going to kill Luke's family by paraphrasing Luke's earlier line, "Not everything's meant to last forever."
* GoingPostal: His second attack was against his old workplace, Kinetic Corp.
* LackOfEmpathy: Despite criticizing society for this, Alessandro repeatedly gives the impression that he cannot fathom that other people can simply be incapable of doing what he wants them to and that, coupled with his self-centric whining about about how others cannot understand his pain and have to be made aware of the state of the world that caused him it, causes him to come off as a myopic hypocrite or, as Kat put it, an "angry sociopath."
--> '''Alessandro:''' Your best isn't good enough!
* LineOfSightName: He took the name "Carl Baxter" from a random convict after noticing that the man had forearm tattoos that spelt out the names "John" and "Henry."
* MadBomber: His bombings are a means at getting back at [[InherentInTheSystem the system]], though in practice they are just ShootTheMessenger.
* MessOfWoe: Alessandro's apartment is a dark, squalid mess full of junk, bomb supplies, fast food containers, and a wall full of {{Creepy Souvenir}}s.
* MoralMyopia: In a flashback, Alessandro is shown treating his brother, Luke, like complete crap, and yet he gets angry and disowns Luke after Luke finally becomes fed-up with his brother's constant self-righteous belittlement and condescension and declares that he will no longer be financially supporting Alessandro.
* MotiveRant: "It never stops, never stops, never, never. At first, I thought I'd gone mad. But then I realized it wasn't me, it's the world that's gone mad. You become numb, disconnected, conditioned to accept every... every indignity. Disposable. It's never anyone's fault. Never. I'm just doing my job, it's not personal, it's just business. People have to answer for what they do. I gave them all a chance again and again. But you can only get pushed down so far before you have to stand up and tell them you have value. Sometimes you have to wake people up. Make them realize how we've all been diminished. Oh, no one's innocent. No one. We're all.. we're all complicit. In this... this mess. People need to be made to understand [about loss]."
* MusicalAssassin: His bombs are all disguised as ornate music boxes that play the song ''John Henry.''
* MythicalMotifs: He is obsessed with--and sees himself as something akin to--the folk hero John Henry.
* NiceToTheWaiter: An employee of the library that he frequented had nothing but good things to say about him, and described him as "such a nice man."
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: He was inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski Ted Kaczynski]], better known as the Unabomber.
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: He waxes on about the evils of modernization and the system's exploitative treatment of the working class, and yet all of his targets were just people who he had some petty personal grudge against, like the floor manager who not give him a refund for a defective product and the doctor's aide who was simply unable to do anything to help Alessandro's sick daughter, Sophia.
* OffTheGrid: In 1999, he began living as a squatter in an old apartment building, with any amenities that he used only being low-cost and free public ones, like the payphones in the 20th Street Station and the computers in the Philadelphia Public Library.
* OminousMusicBoxTune: ''John Henry.''
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: His four year-old daughter, Sophia, died of a treatable form of cancer because the Rossilinis had lost their health insurance and could barely get by with just Medicaid.
* PreciousPhoto: During the final showdown, Alessandro reveals that there is nothing in the music box that he is holding but an old photograph of his daughter, Sophia.
* RailroadPlot: Along with his daughter's illness, he was also rendered destitute by waging an exhaustive and ultimately pointless legal battle to try and save his family's old home from a company called Pixelerator Media.
* RevengeByProxy: Instead of going after his brother, Luke, directly, he targeted Luke's wife, Beth, and their daughter, Mia.
* SerialKiller: He only killed two people, but wounded over a dozen others, and tried to murder his own niece, Mia, and her mother, Beth.
* SerialKillingsSpecificTarget: He targets specific people, but attacks them in public, high-traffic places (like a department store and a gym) in order to "make it seem random."
* ShootTheMessenger: The targets of his attacks all represented the faceless establishments that he was actually angry with, like big box stores, corporations, banks, the medical and insurance industries, etc.
* SinisterWhistling: While leaving the scene of the fourth bombing, he casually whistles ''John Henry.''
* TraumaCongaLine: He lost his childhood home, his job, his daughter, and his marriage, and then ruined his relationship with his brother, Luke.
* UngratefulBastard: Even though his younger brother, Luke, was helping him out financially and doing his best to try and support him and make him see reason, Alessandro had nothing but contempt and disdain for Luke, which led to the two of them to have a falling out in 1999.
* UnsatisfiableCustomer: Implied, as Curt Fitzpatrick's response to seeing Alessandro standing in the store's return line was an exasperated, "What's the problem ''now'', sir?"
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: He was fired from his job because all of the knowledge and skills that were required for his field of work had become a "commodity" and people in other countries could do the same job for "one-fifth the salary."
* WesternTerrorists: In motive, though in practice he is more of a SerialKiller.
* WhereItAllBegan: The final standoff with Alessandro takes place in his father's greatest achievement, the 20th Street Station, which Alessandro spent much of his time admiring as a young boy living in Germantown.
* WouldHurtAChild: His final intended victim was his own young niece, Mia.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: John Smith]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/john_smith_9.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Once hope is gone, dying is just a formality."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Field Cate (1983) and Creator/DamonHerriman (2007-2008)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS5E15TheRoad The Road]]"

A mysterious man who, after being pulled over for erratic driving in West Virginia, was connected to the unsolved disappearances of several women, with the latest being Brenda [=MacDowell=], a Philly native who went missing in 2007.

* AndYourLittleDogToo: In a flashback, John shows Colleen Legarth footage of her newborn baby while telling her, "Pretty little girl. Maybe she'd like it here, too, someday."
* ArbitrarilyLargeBankAccount: He paid $6000 in cash all at once for the house in Newark where he imprisoned Colleen Legarth, and bought four other properties in Detroit, Atlanta, Queens, and Philadelphia all within about a year or two of each other in the early to mid-2000s.
* BeneathSuspicion: "I'm not the guy you look at and think "rapist." I'm more like the guy you see at the dentist's office. No reason to fight me."
* BreakTheHaughty: He targets women who he sees as being completely happy and content with their lives, seemingly all just because he sees their joy and any kind of resilience that they have displayed as arrogance, at one point even telling Brenda, "Real stunt you pulled there at the end of the marathon. Never seen a girl so ''pleased'' with her damn self."
* BreakThemByTalking: He destroys his victims mentally, and screws with Lilly and, to a far lesser extent, Scotty, while being extradited back to Philadelphia.
* BuriedAlive: His victims are entombed in {{Creepy Basement}}s.
* {{Claustrophobia}}: He suffers from it, to the extent that the deputy who arrested him had to have him taken out of a holding cell because just being in it was making John go "nuts."
* CreepyBasement: He bought cheap, dilapidated houses, the squalid basements of which he converted into dungeons for [[BunkerWoman Bunker Women]].
* CruelMercy: Lilly refuses to take the bait and kill him, and leaves him to be carted off to prison, where he will suffer for the rest of his life from his {{Claustrophobia}}.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: He imprisoned Brenda near a church, the daily bells of which were loud enough for Brenda to hear even while underground, which gave her a means to keep track of the passage of time and help her preserve her sanity, with John apparently not realizing this until he mentioned it to Lilly.
* DrivenToMadness: He psychologically torments his victims over the course of several weeks or months, crushing their hope and driving them insane to the point of causing DeathByDespair, with one victim's cell being a RoomFullOfCrazy.
* EnfantTerrible: As a child, he came across a woman who had fallen into a well, and when she begged him for help, he just leered down at her and gave her a SpitefulSpit.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Played for black comedy and as a BrickJoke. John was pulled over and arrested after he made an illegal turn, and when he notices that Scotty never uses his turn signals, he sardonically quips, "Cops drive however they want."
* EvilLaugh: He gives one while being beat up by Scotty.
* ForTheEvulz: John, unlike the show's other serial killers, is never given an explanation for why he is the way he is, with it being implied that he was simply born bad, as a flashback to his youth showed him taking absolutely demented delight in taunting a drowning woman before watching her give up hope and die back in 1983.
* HeartbeatSoundtrack: This plays as he is entombing Brenda.
* HiddenDepths: While he only uses video editing gigs to find victims, he is apparently still very good at the job, even being described as the "best" by an ex-boss in Philadelphia.
* HopeCrusher: It is not imprisoning, controlling, or killing women that gets him off, it is bringing them to the DespairEventHorizon.
--> '''John:''' Who are you when it's taken away? The job. No one. Like them. Even the one who had God.\\
'''Scotty:''' Monica. The singer.\\
'''John:''' She gave up the easiest. She couldn't understand how God could leave her in that room so alone. I saw it in her eyes. The moment she realized there was no God. That if God was anything, he was the greatest con man of all. Once hope is gone, dying is just a formality.\\
'''Scotty:''' You sealed her in there alive?\\
'''John:''' First, I took the door off its hinges. She was free to go, run. I wouldn't have stopped her.\\
'''Lilly:''' But she wasn't looking for a way out anymore.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: John's attempt at goading Lilly into killing him by, among other things, revealing what Brenda's supposed last moments were like, caused Lilly to realize that John had imprisoned Brenda near Ascension Church in Kensington.
* InstantSedation: He incapacitated his victim with a chloroform-soaked rag, though it failed to work right away on Brenda.
* JerkassHasAPoint: When Lilly says that he lied about the dead woman in Newark being Brenda, John points out that he never said that the woman was Brenda, the team just assumed that it was her and he went along with that while not confirming or denying that the woman was Brenda.
* FauxAffablyEvil: On the surface, he is polite and good-mannered, but underneath it he is a twisted, sociopathic SmugSnake.
* JustOneLittleMistake:
** He was caught when he was pulled over for making an illegal turn while driving away from where he had entombed Brenda. He also took a cigarette that he was offered, and the spit that he had left on it ended up matching the DNA sample that was taken from the blood that was found at the site of where he took Brenda.
** His stolen car wracked up a number of parking tickets, which helped the team find what was left of Colleen Legarth. This, coupled with details that he let slip during his EvilGloating, allowed the team to discern that he was a serial killer and a video editor whose job history they used to find the bodies of his other victims in Detroit, Atlanta, and Queens (though, in this case, Lilly guessed that John wanted the other victims to be found).
* LaserGuidedKarma: He sealed women away in homemade dungeons after driving them mad, and is going to spend the rest of his life losing his own mind in prison due to his {{Claustrophobia}}.
* MonsterMisogyny: All of his victims were women, and while being extradited back to Philadelphia, he focused almost entirely on Lilly while paying only lip service to Scotty.
* MotiveMisidentification: Scotty kept assuming that John was somehow motivated by sex, something which John mocked him for, though it was admittedly a sound assumption, given that John held women captive for months in {{Creepy Basement}}s.
* MrSmith: He gives his name as "John Smith."
* MurderByInaction: As a child, he came across a woman who had fallen into a well, and when she begged him for help, he just leered down at her and gave her a SpitefulSpit.
* NightmareFetishist: As a child, he witnessed a woman give up all hope and let herself drown in the well that she had fallen into back in 1983.
--> '''John:''' It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw.
* NotTheFirstVictim: The team realize that they are dealing with a serial killer when the dental records of the woman whose body was unearthed in Newark are matched to Colleen Legarth, and not to Brenda [=MacDowell=].
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: "If I wanted to have sex, I could pay for women off the streets, in bars. Common as roadkill, ''filth'' like that."
* RefugeInAudacity: He approaches his victims and gets close to them by simply acting like they somehow already know each other, like when he pretended to be a paralegal who worked at the same law firm as Brenda.
* SayingTooMuch: He let slip that Brenda was imprisoned near a church that, every morning, played "Through the Night of Doubt and Sorrow." Lilly realizes that this means that Brenda is in Ascension Church in Kensington
* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: He imprisoned his victims in homemade dungeons that were hidden beneath insular ghettos where no one noticed or cared about what was going on around them, though one neighbor did remember him because he was the "only cracker on the block."
* SerialKiller: He abducted, imprisoned, psychological tortured, and killed four women, and nearly a fifth named Brenda [=MacDowell=].
* SherlockScan: He realizes that Lilly and Scotty want something, like a confession or a body, from him because they are taking the long way back to Philadelphia, and he surmises just from the way that Lilly talks that she is probably from Kensington.
* SmugSnake: He is slimily pompous, in both the present and in flashbacks, up until his VillainousBreakdown.
* TheSociopath: He is outright described as one by Jeffries.
* SoftSpokenSadist: His tone is mostly laidback and casual up until his VillainousBreakdown.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: He studies his victims very meticulously, to help capture them, and also so that he can psychologically torment them with intimate personal details of their lives once he has them locked up in one of his {{Creepy Basement}}s.
* StrawNihilist: He feels that life is meaningless and one big charade, and that the things that make it worth living are just "delusions."
--> '''John:''' Death's the only thing that's real. It's the purest thing you'll ever see.
* SuddenlyShouting: When Lilly and Scotty begin needling him over how he got caught while theorizing what could have rattled him enough to make him screw-up, John angrily proclaims, "I don't make mistakes!"
* SuicideByCop: He tried to goad Lilly into shooting him, as spending the rest of his life in prison would be Hell for him due to his {{Claustrophobia}}.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: He is repeatedly described as being generic and unassuming, something which he prided himself on, with the only reason that a former neighbor recognized him being because John was the "only cracker on the block."
--> '''Deputy Huffard:''' He's polite, good manners. Wouldn't have picked him out of a crowd.
* TheSpook: His ID is fake, his car is stolen, his wedding ring is a prop, he pays for everything in cash, his fingerprints and DNA are not in any database, and the only name that the investigators have to go on is the one that he gave them, "John Smith."
* TheUnreveal: We never learn his real name, or any other personal details about him except that he was warped even as a child back in 1983.
* VillainousBreakdown: Brenda's refusal to break rattled him to such an extent that it led to distracted driving that got him noticed and caught by Deputy Huffard. And after Lilly and Scotty realize that Brenda is still alive, John's smug attitude begins deteriorating, starting with him SuddenlyShouting, "I don't make mistakes!"
* VirtueIsWeakness: He calls his victims "vulnerable" and "weak" because they fell for his {{Wounded Gazelle Gambit}}s.
* WhereItAllBegan: Instead of leading Lilly and Scotty to Brenda, he takes them to the old abandoned well where he first saw a woman die back in 1983.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: After luring Brenda outside, he got her to come close by pretending to be an acquaintance with car trouble and a pregnant wife at home who needed Brend's cellphone to call AAA.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Caroline Hargreave]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caroline_hargreave.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Is that what this is all about, me outliving my husbands? It happens all the time. Men are the weaker of the species."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Creator/ChandraWest (1974) and Jane Daly (2010)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS7E12TheRunawayBunny The Runaway Bunny]]"

A wealthy woman who had her lawyer, Wilson Katz, hire a private detective named Harry Denton to find her runaway stepdaughter, Michelle "Bunny" Hargreave, in 1974. After Harry's remains are found buried beneath an office building in 2010, they are traced back to Caroline, who the team discover is a BlackWidow.

* TheBadGuyWins: She gets away with everything, and is last shown taunting Lilly and Stillman.
* BigFancyHouse: She lives in a virtual mansion, complete with a pond full of koi that were "flown in direct from Kyoto."
* BitchInSheepsClothing: She paints herself as an aloof, but caring woman who only wanted her stepdaughter, Bunny, back, when in reality she is a remorseless BlackWidow who wanted to have Bunny WrongfullyCommitted.
* BlackWidow: She poisoned her first husband, Melvin Grover, in 1964, and her second husband, Stan Hargreave, in 1974.
* CaringGardener: She initially seems to be this, having a large collection plants and flowers, but then it is revealed that she is a BlackWidow.
* ClassyCravat: She wears one of these during her second interview with Lilly.
* ColorMotif: The color red is emphasized in all of her flashbacks, which otherwise verge on MonochromePast.
* CrocodileTears: She sheds these when she first talks to Lilly and Scotty about Bunny.
* DestroyTheEvidence: She cremated her poisoned husbands, Melvin and Stan.
* DoesNotLikeMen: "Men are the weaker of the species."
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: By her attorney, Wilson Katz, who has UndyingLoyalty towards Caroline.
* FoundTheKillerLostTheMurderer: Wilson Katz is arrested for killing Harry Denton, but his boss, Caroline, gets away with murdering Melvin Grover and Stan Hargreave.
* HandshakeRefusal: She ignored Denton's outstretched hand when they first met back in 1974.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: Stan's daughter, Bunny, suspected that Caroline had poisoned her father, so Caroline was going to have her WrongfullyCommitted.
* IceQueen: While watching Caroline's second interview with Lilly, Kat even remarks, "That's one cold bitch."
* InsuranceFraud: She got a big life insurance payout when her first husband, Melvin Grover, died of "food poisoning" back in 1964.
* MasterPoisoner: She cultivated foxglove, which she disguised as primrose, in order to extract its digoxin, which she used to poison Bunny's father, Stan.
* NotTheFirstVictim: She did not just kill Stan Hargreave, she also killed her earlier husband, Melvin Grover.
* ThePerfectCrime: Stan was a middle-age man with heart troubles, so it was easy for Caroline to poison him using digoxin that she had extracted from foxglove, getting away with it by having Stan cremated, with the only loose end being Stan's suspicious daughter, Bunny, who was ultimately unable to do anything to Caroline. She later had the remains of her first husband, Melvin, exhumed and cremated, to eliminate another loose end, after having Wilson Katz deal with the suspicious Harry Denton.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: After asking if Lilly has anything to go on besides her outliving her husbands, Caroline scoffs that such a thing is not unusual, as "Men are the ''weaker'' of the species."
* RagsToRiches: She was a "white trash" prostitute and petty criminal from Tulsa who climbed her way up to high society by becoming a BlackWidow.
* RetiredMonster: She used her ill-gotten gains to live a quiet life of luxury, which she was shown to still be enjoying in 2010.
* SerialKiller: She poisoned two of her husbands, and then had Harry Denton killed by Wilson Katz.
* SmugSmiler: She has a hoity smirk plastered on her face throughout her second interview with Lilly.
* SmugSnake: She is pompous throughout her second interview with Lilly, only faltering when Bunny is revealed to still be alive, and even then she quickly recovers, and goes right back to being smug towards Lilly.
* ThatManIsDead: When Lilly brings up her past as Mandy Mae Smith, Caroline claims, "I'm no longer that person."
* TheVamp: She had her attorney, Wilson Katz, completely wrapped around her little finger, so much so that he killed Harry Denton for her, and refused to act against her when he was arrested for Harry's murder in 2010.
* WickedStepmother: To her second husband's daughter, Bunny, who she was going to have WrongfullyCommitted.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: She does nothing to help Wilson Katz, her undyingly loyal attorney, when he goes down for killing Harry Denton.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Paul Shepard]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shepard_paul_554.jpg]]

-> '''Played By:''' Jonathan Brett (1978-1980) and Creator/JBBlanc (1998-2010)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS7E18TheLastDriveIn The Last Drive-In]]" and "[[Recap/ColdCaseS7E19Bullet Bullet]]"

* BadBoss: When an employee doesn't lock up Paul's store, allowing vandals to get in, Paul fires the guy despite his apologies and offer to help repair the damage. Then, after being exposed as a SerialKiller and with nothing left to lose, Paul goes back and kills the poor guy.
* BeardOfEvil: A villain with a very prominent one.
* BerserkButton: The phrase "Nobody cares." His first kill is a random customer on the last night before his father's drive-in theater closes down, who tells him that "nobody cares" about such businesses anymore as TechnologyMarchesOn. Paul's father had recently committed suicide over losing the business, and Paul saw the man as practically dancing on his grave with that comment (not that the customer had any way of knowing this, of course). His subsequent victims are killed for a variety of reasons, but merely using the phrase in Paul's vicinity is enough to put a target on someone's back.
* ClashingCousins: As an adult, Paul fights with his cousin Tom for not giving him a rent extension ([[GreenEyedMonster as well as out of envy for Tom's wife getting pregnant while Paul and his own wife are unable to conceive]]) and eventually kills him.
* ColdSniper: He is a pitiless rifle marksman, although his skill fades as he becomes panicked.
* CrazySurvivalist: Paul's father Bill had shades of this - he was skilled hunter, kept an underground bunker stocked full of various items, and wrote a ranting manifesto outlining both his personal philosophy and the people whom he feels were responsible for ruining his life. Paul uses the latter bit as a hit list.
* DisproportionateRetribution: A serial perpetrator of this. In his mind, ''anyone'' connected to either his father's suicide or the failure of his video rental store deserves to die, even if their parts in the events were honest mistakes or just being the bearer of bad news.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: His father Bill was his personal hero, and he's blissfully in love with his wife Claire. His victims are people he blames for either Bill killing himself, or for his and Claire's own business failing.
* FreudianExcuse: His father's suicide.
* GeekyTurnOn: He and his wife Claire (who is WAY out of his league in terms of looks at least) fell in love due to a shared taste in obscure movies.
* JustOneLittleMistake: Probably shouldn't have kept that incriminating magazine subscription.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: As mentioned, his goal is to kill off the people he sees as responsible for his family's financial struggles.
* SerialKiller: His nine victims make him the second-most prolific killer on the show, behind George Marks with eleven.
* SeriousBusiness: ''Literature/EastOfEden''.
* ShootTheMessenger: Five of Paul's victims were targeted solely for this reason. One is a bank secretary who took phone calls about his dad's loan (and who his dad had already harassed into quitting her job with abusive phone calls). The second two (although one survived) were men who worked for repossession who took away his dad’s car because he fell too far behind in the payments, which, as they stated, was their job (although the one he killed also mocked Paul's dad and got into a fight with him). The other two both told him that, as TechnologyMarchesOn, "nobody cares" about businesses like Paul's video store or his father's drive-in.
* UglyGuyHotWife: Paul is overweight, bespectacled, and about fifteen years older than his conventionally attractive wife.
* VillainousBreakdown: When the police began closing in, he devolved into a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spree_killer spree killer]].
[[/folder]]

! Other Villains

[[folder: Carl Healey]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carl_healey.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I wish that we could have met under different circumstances."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Creator/JoelBissonnette
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS1E3OurBoyIsBack Our Boy Is Back]]"

A serial rapist investigated by Detective Nick Vera who, after five years of inactivity, returned to terrorize Philadelphia in 2003.

* AmbiguousSituation:
** He either purposely killed Gail Chimayo because she fought back and could have identified him, or he accidentally asphyxiated her while trying to stop her from calling out to Larry. In his letter, he just says that she "died on me."
** Lilly assumes that Carl's letter was as much a cry for help to stop him as it was a taunt, though it is unclear if this was the case, as Carl himself does not confirm it as he is being arrested by Lilly and Scotty.
* ApologeticAttacker: He apologizes to his victims, and claims to have joined the military in a failed attempt to suppress his "demons."
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: He calls cats useless animals, and is shown kicking one in the flashback to him raping Nicole.
* {{Catchphrase}}: "I wish that we could have met under different circumstances."
* CreepyHairlessAnimal: A human example; he regularly removes all of his body hair, and one of his victims describes how it was unsettlingly "soft and smooth, like a woman's."
* CriminalMindGames: He announces his return by sending a letter to the Philadelphia PD.
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: His girlfriend, Bridget, was quite fond of him, admitting that she never got over him even after he moved while also asserting that he was "a good person" when interviewed by Lilly and Vera.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: He left a cigarette at one crime scene, was remembered by a witness partly due to his chain smoking, and is shown smoking in literally every present day scene, including when he is arrested by Lilly and Vera.
* HasAType: He targets accomplished and intellectual women due to frustration over being "trailer trash" with an illiterate mother, a streetwalking sister, and a girlfriend who is clear cut case of DumbBlonde.
* LeanAndMean: He squeezes through his victims' windows, even barred ones, and was described as being like "some kind of spider" by Vera.
--> '''Carl:''' I used to slide down the laundry chute at my best friend's building. You can't believe how narrow it was. I'd get into the neighbors' houses and steal things. It was like the one thing that I was really, really good at, getting into small places.
* SerialRapist: He had four confirmed victims, and murdered one named Gail Chimayo.
* SimpletonVoice: He has a Southern-ish accent, presumable to emphasize his background as a LowerClassLout who grew up in a TrashyTrailerHome.
* StalkerWithACrush: He hangs out at places like bookstores, coffee shops, libraries, museums, etc. in search of smart-seeming women, who he then follows home, scoping out their residences and keeping an eye out for pet cats (which he takes as an indication that they live alone).
* ThatOneCase: For Detective Nick Vera. The episode is the first one in which the victim's "ghost" appears to a detective other than Lilly.
--> '''Vera:''' This case became a health issue for me.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: He was inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Graves Troy Graves]], a serial rapist and murderer who was active in both Philadelphia and Fort Collins.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Josh Freely]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/josh_freely.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I'm gonna have to take care of that pretty little girl all by myself. You just wait for the knock on the door, Rosie. When you least expect it."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Creator/DonMcManus
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS1E8FlyAway Fly Away]]"

A pedophile who used his job as a social worker to prey on the daughters of single mothers, one of whom, Rosie Miles, ended up in a coma after she jumped out of a window with her daughter, Toya, in an attempt to get away from Freely.

* AttemptedRape: Rosie discovered what he really was when she walked in on him about to molest Toya.
* DepartmentOfChildDisservices: As malignant an example as you can possibly get, as he was a pedophile who used the authority afforded to him by his position to take little girls from their mothers, who he contemptuously saw as nothing but "welfare queens" and "trailer park trash."
--> '''Lilly:''' You were like God to these women. You had the power to give. To take. And you did.
* TheDreaded: Just the sound of footsteps that she thought were Freely's was enough to make Rosie jump through a multi-story window with Toya. Lilly and Scotty also find a creepy drawing of him made by Toya.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: He honestly seemed to think that everyone looked down on the women who he victimized as much as he did; while being interrogated, he bluntly says to Lilly and Scotty, "Like anyone gives a damn. Trailer park trash. Welfare queens. Like you care what happens to them."
* KickTheDog: He takes obvious perverse pleasure out of taunting Rosie over how he is going to take Toya away from her, telling her, "I'm gonna have to take care of that pretty little girl all by myself. You just wait for the knock on the door, Rosie. When you least expect it."
* NotMeThisTime: While guilty of many crimes, he turned out to have had absolutely nothing to do with Rosie and Toya's defenestration (Rosie herself did it).
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: He calls Rosie "damaged goods" and a "drunk, dumb bitch" and dismisses all other women like her as being nothing but "welfare queens" and "trailer park trash."
* SerialRapist: He had nine confirmed victims, and nearly a tenth in Toya.
* ThatOneCase: For the unseen Detective Billy Markins.
* VillainousBreakdown: He is last shown alone in the interrogation room, crying as he is identified by a ''very'' long line of victims who have been gathered by Lilly.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: When we first meet him, Freely comes off as a straitlaced, if slightly callous ("Most of these girls will give it up for a Big Mac and supersize fries") social worker, and just someone who is doing a tough but necessary job, with nothing about him raising the suspicions of either Lilly or Scotty.
* WouldHurtAChild: As a pedophile, this is a given.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Miguel Maldonado]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/miguel_maldonado.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Scooter ain't his no more."]]

-> '''Played By''': Luis Garcia
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS3E6SavingPatrickBubley Saving Patrick Bubley]]"

A vicious Latino gang leader who became embroiled in a blood feud with the Bubleys after he stole a scooter from the family's youngest son, Patrick.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: When Cedric Bubley brings up how Miguel killed Vaughn, an apathetic Miguel just asks, "Vaughn? He [[Series/FamilyMatters Urkel]]-looking like you?"
* DisproportionateRetribution: He shot Vaughn Bubley simply because Vaughn had annoyed him by trying to take back his younger brother Patrick's scooter, Web D.
* TheDreaded: According to Stillman, Miguel is "untouchable" because ''everyone'' fears him, even his own cousin and second-in-command, Jesus.
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Even though Miguel treated his girlfriend, Letecia, like complete crap, Letecia was still unflappably attached to Miguel.
* FamilyExtermination: He and his gang killed all but two of the Bubleys.
* {{Gangbangers}}: The leader of the O's, a gang that operates out of Fairhill.
* GanglandDriveBy: This is how he killed Quincy Bubley.
* GangstaStyle: This is how he shot Vaughn Bubley.
* HumanShield: He used his own girlfriend, Letecia, as one when they were confronted by Cedric Bubley.
* ISurrenderSuckers: He pretended to give Patrick Bubley's scooter back to Patrick's older brother, Vaughn, but then turned around and shot Vaughn.
* KickTheDog: All of his scenes are just a parade of these, from stealing a scooter from a small child to turning the boy's mother into his drug-addicted sex slave by dangling the whereabouts of one her son's bodies over her head to using his own girlfriend as a HumanShield.
* ObviouslyEvil: As the leader of an extremely dangerous gang with a known feud with the Bubley family, Miguel is one of the few ''Cold Case'' culprits whose guilt is readily apparent from the beginning. However, he's also an expert at [[ShameIfSomethingHappened intimidating witnesses to his crimes]], so the episode's conflict instead consists of trying to find someone actually willing to testify against him before the last Bubley, Patrick, tries to continue the CycleOfRevenge that killed his brothers. [[spoiler: In the end the police are able to persuade Miguel's second in command, who is in love with his boss' abused girlfriend, to flip on him for her sake]].
* {{Sadist}}: He is outright described as one by Stillman.
* SelfServingMemory: He used his own girlfriend, Letecia, as a HumanShield against Cedric Bubley, but when Maeve Bubley came to him begging to know what he did with Cedric's body, Miguel asked her if Cedric was "the same boy who put a gun on my girl."
* SexSlave: He got Maeve Bubley hooked on drugs in order to turn her into one of these when she came to him begging to know what he did with the body of one of her sons, Cedric.
* SillyReasonForWar: "Four boys dead. All over a scooter."
* SmugSnake: He is insufferably smug in all of his scenes up until he is finally jailed for killing the four Bubleys.
* TheSociopath: He stole a scooter from a young boy, shot the boy's brother when he tried to get it back, used his own girlfriend as a HumanShield when he was confronted by another one of the boy's brothers--who he then had killed--and got the mother of his victims hooked on crack and turned her into his SexSlave when she came to him begging to know what he did with the body of one of her sons, Cedric.
* ThatOneCase: Vaughn Bubley was Lilly's first homicide case, so she becomes driven to get justice for him and all of the other Bubleys.
* VillainByProxyFallacy: He had nothing to with Luther Bubley's death, but is held accountable for it anyway since Luther died in an incident that involved the O's, who Luther had attacked as RevengeByProxy against Miguel.
* VillainsOutShopping:
** Miguel's gang is introduced messing around with Patrick's scooter in Yin's Market.
** Miguel was eating dinner in a restaurant with his girlfriend, Letecia, when the two of them were confronted by Cedric Bubley.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: John Harding]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/john_harding.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"The five stages of dying. The first is denial. Then anger. Then bargaining. Depression and acceptance."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Hallock Beals (1968); Scott Vickaryous (1980); Creator/ZeljkoIvanek (2006)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS3E16OneNight One Night]]"

A man with multiple sclerosis who showed up at the precinct one night with a dirty shovel, which he claimed to have buried two teenage boys alive with, one a few hours ago, and the other in 1980.

* AffablyEvil: He is almost unflappably calm and polite, lets his victims choose a happy personal place for them to be buried in, reassures them that their deaths will be painless, and apologizes to Mr. and Mrs. Jablonski for what he did to their son, Steve.
* ApologeticAttacker: He falsely reassures Steve that he did not put anything in his beer, then admits that he actually did, blasély stating, "I'm sorry I lied."
* BadSamaritan: He captured Steve Jablonski when Steve asked him for a lift while he was stuck trying to change a tire on his Cadillac.
* BaldOfEvil: By 2006, he has gone bald, though he was no less evil than when he still had hair back in 1980.
* BuriedAlive: What he did to Steve Jablonski (who died) and Justin Bradley (who survived).
* CallingCard: He forced Steve Jablonski to write his own will, which he then sent to Mr. and Mrs. Jablonski. He does the same thing with Justin Bradley, having him write a will to be delivered to his friend, Valentino.
* DyingAlone: His greatest fear, and part of the reason why he turned himself in to the Philly PD.
* TheEeyore: He has a dour demeanor, is almost perpetually watery-eyed, and speaks in a slightly shaky CreepyMonotone.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: While he is completely estranged from his family, when he realized that he would be dead soon, he still called his ex-wife to tell her about it, and to say goodbye to her and, through her, their sons, Jack and Stan.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** When asked why he had Steve Jablonski write a will, John replies with, "People should have the chance to put their affairs in order. To make sense of their lives. To say goodbye."
---> '''Jeffries:''' [[SarcasmMode Now, that's real stand-up]].
** He is clearly disgusted when Scotty pegs him as pedophile who had a sexual interest in Steve and Justin.
* EvilCripple: He has MS.
* EvilOldFolks: He is even called "grandpa" by Justin.
* EvilTeacher: He is a high school teacher, though it has nothing to do with his motive or MO.
* FateWorseThanDeath: How he feels about his MS.
* FreudianExcuse: Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis turned him into a resentful TeenHater.
* MistakenForPedophile: Assuming that he has been abducted by a sexual predator, Steve offered himself to John (who was clearly put off by it). And when Scotty assumes that he is a pedophile, an irritated John adamantly declares, "You're way off base."
* MrSmith: He introduces himself as "John Doe." The lack of originality is noted by Lilly.
* RealNameAsAnAlias: John Doe's real name turned out to be... John Harding.
* ReluctantPsycho: He was wracked with guilt over what he did to Steve Jablonski, and after he does the same thing to another boy, he turns himself in to the Philly PD.
* TheResenter: Being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis caused him to both envy and hate young men with their whole lives ahead of them who think that they will live forever, leading him to abduct and bury Steve and Justin.
* TheSpook: His fingerprints are not on file, he has no ID or any form of identification on him, and insists on only being referred to as "John Doe." He is eventually identified as John Harding.
* SuddenlyShouting: He loses his cool when Scotty gets under his skin by accusing him of being a pedophile, shouting that he did not choose his victims because he was sexually attracted to them, he choose them because, "the little bastards think they'll live forever!"
* UsedToBeASweetKid: We get a flashback to John's happiest memory, him as a carefree young man, hanging out with his friends at the river, in 1968.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: "You look at me and you see a quiet, simple man. So did he. Didn't believe me when I told him he was gonna die."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Cameron Coulter and Neal Hanlon]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cameron_coulter.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I am the destroyer, the apocalypse, the widow maker. I am a rifle, I am a gun. Look down the barrel of my hate, we're gonna have some fun."]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neal_hanlon.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Let him bleed."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Creator/KyleGallner (Cameron) and Creator/WillRothhaar (Neal)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS4E1Rampage Rampage]]"

A pair of teenage outcasts who committed suicide after shooting up the Woodland Valley Mall in 1995.

* AlasPoorVillain: At the end of the episode, during the usual "ghost" scene where a victim or victims appear, Cameron and Neal are shown instead, and when Cameron's parents notice them, the two look away sadly, with Cameron looking teary-eyed, indicating that, at least in death, the two are ashamed of what they did at the Woodland Valley Mall.
* AttentionWhore: The two got Barry Lewis to tell them about the mall's security cameras not so that they could avoid them, but so they could know which ones were dummies and which ones were real and thus could help them achieve FameThroughInfamy.
* AxCrazy: Neal's artbook is full of violent and demonic imagery, while Cameron's journal contained the poem, "I am the destroyer, the apocalypse, the widow maker. I am a rifle, I am a gun. Look down the barrel of my hate, we're gonna have some fun."
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: The two shot themselves after shooting up the Woodland Valley Mall.
* CruelMercy: Cameron was all set to finish Barry off, but Neal stopped him, telling Cameron to let Barry "bleed." Barry ended up surviving, albeit as a paraplegic, thanks to Tina.
* TheDividual: The two are never shown apart and are largely interchangeable outside of the scene with Tina, where Cameron came off as the more dominant of the two, despite his father's earlier assertion that he was just a follower who went along with Neal.
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Cameron's parents loved him, with Mr. Coulter at one point sadly stating, "everyone forgets, that day we lost a child, too."
* FalseFriend: The two pretended to befriend one of the mall's security guards in order to learn about the building's security features, and then remorselessly shot him during the rampage in 1995.
* ForTheEvulz: Their motive was a combination of this and FameThroughInfamy.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: The two were bullied, but otherwise appeared to have had entirely normal lives, with it being made clear that being teased had little to nothing to do with what they did, they were just misanthropic time bombs who were liable to go off at any time, and did when they were egged on by Tina (though the fact that they already had loaded guns on them when Tina approached them makes it questionable exactly how much influence she even had on them).
* GreaterScopeVillain: The two are long dead by the events of the episode, the focus of which is the search for a possible "third shooter" spurred on by the discovery of an old camcorder in one of the vents in the Woodland Valley Mall.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: In a minor comedic moment, Cameron was clearly weirded out when a rambling and disheveled Tina approached him and Neal, muttering, "Girlfriend's seriously tweaked."
* InvisibleParents: While Cameron's parents are supporting characters in the episode, Neal's are never shown, not even in flashbacks, and are said to have moved to Georgia in 2004.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Their first victim was Zack, a JerkJock who had bullied them, sexually assaulted Tina, and beat-up Davie and Dayton when they tried to help Tina.
* LonersAreFreaks: Their only friend was Dayton Moore, who abandoned them when all three of them started attending Lakefield High.
* MisanthropeSupreme: They are introduced calling the mall the "ninth circle of Hell" and the "sweaty armpit of suburbia" full of "tweakers, preps, horny housewives, and morons galore."
* MurderSimulators: According to Dayton Moore, the two used an online game called ''"[[GoryDeadlyOverkillTitleOfFatalDeath Renegade Massacre]]"'' as "practice" for shooting up the Woodland Valley Mall.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Their {{Online Alias}}es were "The Destroyer" (Cameron) and "The Apocalypse" (Neal).
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: The two are obvious stand-ins for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} massacre.
* PosthumousCharacter: They killed themselves in 1995, a full decade before the case was reopened in 2006.
* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: They were White boys who used a lot of slang like "dawg" and "home slice."
* PutTheLaughterInSlaughter: "The survivors say they busted a gut the whole time they were mowing folks down."
* SarcasticConfession: No one believed that the two of them would go through with committing a mass shooting, even though they bragged about it 24/7.
* SnuffFilm: The two wanted to be caught on camera killing people, and gave a camcorder to Tina so that she could record them shooting everyone in the Woodland Valley Mall.
* SoundOnlyDeath: Their suicides are portrayed this way, unsurprisingly, given that they blew their own heads off with high-powered firearms and the show is only rated TV-14.
* SpreeKiller: They were mass murderers who shot and killed fifteen people at a shopping mall, making them the killers with the second highest body count in the show after Paul Chaney from "[[Recap/ColdCaseS1E15DiscoInferno Disco Inferno]]."
* StoryboardingTheApocalypse: Neal's sketchbook contained detailed drawings of the planned mall massacre, right down to a drawing him and Cameron shooting each other with the caption, "The End."
* TeensAreMonsters: While the show had plenty of other teenage murderers, Cameron and Neal stand out due murdering ''fifteen'' people in a massacre that they committed ForTheEvulz and to achieve FameThroughInfamy.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: As Lilly put it, they looked "so normal."
* UsedToBeASweetKid: At the end of the episode, we are shown happy pictures of Cameron with his parents, who had earlier claimed that, growing up, Cameron was always "polite" and "well-behaved."
* VillainousFriendship: At the end of their shooting spree, the two smiled at each other and said their goodbyes while clasping hands and hugging before shooting themselves in the head in front of the cowering Tina.
* WouldHurtAChild: When trying to decide who to shoot first, the two play "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" with a little girl and Zack.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The two used Barry Lewis to learn about the mall's security features, and then shot him when they finally snapped and went on a rampage in 1995.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Lauren Williams]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lauren_williams.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"You can say what you want. No one will ever compare with me. Not for you. Not ever."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Donna Mills
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS4E13Blackout Blackout]]"

The matriarch of the wealthy Williams family, she drowned in the family pool during a blackout that occurred during her grandson Matt's birthday in 1996. In 2007, new evidence came to light indicating that she had been murdered, which was unsurprising, as she was hated by all of the other Williamses.

* AbusiveParents: She molested her own son, Tad, and makes it very clear that she sees him and her daughter, Ginny, as nothing but disappointments, something which she [[NeverMyFault blames]] entirely on her ex-husband, Stan.
* TheAlcoholic: Her blood alcohol level at the time of her death was about three times the legal limit, yet she appeared to be only slightly buzzed when she died, indicating an incredibly high tolerance level that was built-up over years of being a LadyDrunk.
* AssholeVictim: She was a shrewish RichBitch who molested her own son, Tad, and then tried to do the same to her grandson, Matt.
* AttemptedRape: Her attempted molestation of her own grandson, Matt, was interrupted by Tad.
* BitchAlert: In the span of a few minutes, Lauren criticizes Ginny's hair and calls her husband "The Unmentionable One."
* BlackAndGrayMorality: While Lauren is definitely worse than her ex-husband, Stan, Stan himself is still an adulterous jackass who dates women who are less than half his age, abandoning one of them after realizing that she had children, all the while blaming all of his problems on Lauren, even though, as Lauren and Tad pointed out, they got equal shares in the divorce, with Stan squandering his all on his own without any help from Lauren.
* BlamingTheVictim: She holds Tad equally culpable for what she did to him when he was 13.
* BoomerangBigot: She treated Diane like some kind of bumpkin for coming from a modest town like Tinley, even though Lauren herself is from Garth, Pennsylvania.
* BrokenPedestal: For her daughter, Ginny.
--> '''Ginny:''' I worshipped you when I was a little girl. Wanted to be just like you.
* CallingTheOldManOut: She got this from both of her children during the blackout in 1996.
* TheDreaded: Everyone falls silent and becomes uneasy as soon as Lauren drops in on the other Williamses.
* EvilMatriarch: Of the Williamses.
* GruesomeGrandparent: She was killed after she started trying to molest her own grandson, Matt.
* FinancialAbuse: She used this to try and control her daughter, Ginny, and, through her, Ginny's son, Matt.
* {{Fingore}}: One of her nails was ripped off while she was being drowned by Ginny.
* FirstNameBasis: She tells Diane and Matt to just call her Lauren, the latter during their near-TwoPersonPoolParty.
* HatedByAll: Everyone hated Lauren, with the only one to be even slightly sympathetic to her after her death being Diane.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She accused her ex-husband, Stan, of being a pedophile, when she herself was secretly one, having molested her own son, Tad, before attempting to do the same to her grandson, Matt.
* IWasQuiteALooker: While still attractive by 1996, it is noted that Lauren was nowhere near the beauty queen that she used to be, with Ginny stating, "When her looks faded, she had nothing to fall back on."
* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Her death was initially ruled to be an accident, but new evidence led to it being reclassified as a homicide in 2007.
* MrsRobinson: A very dark one, as she molested her own son, Tad, when he was thirteen, and tried doing the same to her grandson, Matt.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: When the blackout hits, Stan announces, "It means we're gonna get cozy, have a nice family gathering... plus one."
* {{Narcissist}}: As Ginny put it, "You've never loved anyone in your whole life except yourself."
* ParentalIncest: She molested her own son, Tad, when he was a boy, and tried to do the same to her grandson, Matt.
* PassiveAggressiveKombat: She engaged in a lot of this with her family during the blackout in 1996.
* PosthumousCharacter: She was killed in 1996, and her case is reopened in 2007.
* PostRapeTaunt:
** When Tad insults her while confronting her over how she molested him, Lauren snaps back, "You can say what you want. No one will ever compare with me. Not for you. Not ever."
** When Ginny told her that her power over the family was fading, Lauren smugly replied, "You might ask your precious son about that."
* ProudBeauty: Though she has fallen victim to IWasQuiteALooker.
--> '''Lauren:''' Poor, plain Ginny, always afraid I'm going to steal her men away. Like moths to a flame. That's the power of beauty. That's the power you'll never understand.
* RagsToRiches: She was a beauty queen from the podunk town of Garth, Pennsylvania who married a wealthy industrialist named Stan Williams.
* RichBitch: "I know how difficult this must be for you, Diane, being in a house with no electricity. A reminder of your childhood, dear. You are from Tinley, Arkansas, aren't you?"
* SourOutsideSadInside: "My mother was the most unhappy woman I've ever known. The only thing that gave her pleasure was making other people as miserable as she was."
* SympathyForTheDevil: By 2007, Diane has come to consider Lauren more pathetic than anything else, and admits that she now finds Lauren's behavior during their time together understandable, as Lauren spent twenty years married to a {{Jerkass}} like Stan before he dumped her for "newer models" like Diane.
* TwoPersonPoolParty: She tried to have one with her own grandson, Matt.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: She is afraid of the dark, with the only person who knew this being Ginny.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Mitch Hathaway]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mitch_hathaway.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"I'm gonna take out a piece of garbage every day till you solve the murder of my son Clayton Hathaway."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Rick Ravanello (1987) and Creator/MitchPileggi (2007)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS4E19Offender Offender]]"

A grieving father who was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of his own son, Clay, in 1987. After getting out of prison, he began killing a sex offender a day, and announced that he would only stop once the police found out who really killed Clay.

* AntiVillain: Mitch was wrongly convicted of raping and murdering his own son, whose case he forces the Philly PD to reopen and make their top priority by murdering {{Asshole Victim}}s.
* CriminalMindGames: He keeps calling Scotty during his spree, and left a note with his first victim bluntly explaining his motive, "I'm gonna take out a piece of garbage every day till you solve the murder of my son Clayton Hathaway."
* DeathFlight: A non-vehicle variation, in that he took his victims up to the roofs of tall buildings and then threw them off of them, with Ernie Grabowski landing on a CarCushion.
* FrameUp: After raping and killing Clay, Cliff Burrell planted photographs of his own son, Johnny, on Mitch. This ended up being irrelevant to the investigation, though, as Tara Hathaway (the one who found the pictures) never came forward with them, in a misguided attempt to protect the Burrells.
* HadToComeToPrisonToBeACrook: Mitch was an average, everyday man when he went to prison, and after he got out, he became a hardened VigilanteMan.
* MiscarriageOfJustice: Mitch was wrongly convicted of the rape and murder of his own son, Clay, in 1987, and only exonerated in 2007.
* MurderSuicide: How he intended to end his spree, by killing himself along with Clay's real killer, Cliff Burrell.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: His victims were registered sex offenders, like Harold Dixon (who molested half a dozen boys) and Ernie Grabowski (who practically brags about how he groomed boys into giving him "consent").
* SpreeKiller: While he had the mentality and methodology of a SerialKiller, Mitch killing a person a day while evading the authorities, who were fully aware of his identity, makes him closer to a SpreeKiller.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: He secretly follows Scotty throughout the investigation into who really killed Clay.
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Mitch is talked into surrendering peacefully by his pleading ex-wife, Tara.
* ToughLove: While Mitch did love his son and was not abusive towards him, he was also not quite one for coddling, and raised Clay to believe that the best way to overcome something was to just "walk it off."
* TraumaCongaLine: His son was raped and murdered, he was blamed for it, his wife left him because of it, and he spent twenty years in prison before finally being exonerated in 2007.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The concept of a vigilante using the sex offender registry to find victims was taken from double-murderer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Marshall_(murderer) Stephen Marshall]].
* VigilanteMan: He killed pedophiles in order to spur the Philly PD into finding the one who killed his son, Clay.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: All Mitch wants is justice for the son who he failed to protect back in 1987.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Becca Abrams]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/becca_abrams.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Losers are so pathetic. Spend all their time projecting their ugliness onto other people. It's sad, really."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Creator/AnnaLynneMcCord (1997) and Creator/LaurenWoodland (2007)
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS4E20StandUpAndHoller Stand Up and Holler]]"

A cruel cheerleader who was involved in the death of another girl named Rainey Karlsen back in 1997.

* AccidentalMurder: While she did force feed Rainey a can of beer that was laced with GHB, she had no intention of killing her, and was totally unaware that Celeste had added an excess amount of the drug to the beer before she poured it on Rainey.
--> '''Becca:''' What's wrong with her?! She only had one beer!
* AlcoholicParent: Her mother would give her practically anything, so long as she asked "during cocktail hour."
* AlphaBitch: Of Birmingham High School back in 1997.
* BetaBitch: She had an unnamed one who was just credited as "Cheerleader #1."
* BitchAlert:
** As Rainey is auditioning for the cheer squad, Becca tells her not to bother concentrating, as it "makes you look like you have a giant bloomer wedgie."
** When Lilly and Jeffries first talk to the grown-up Becca, she interrupts the interview to tell one of the beleaguered reunion workers, "Don't you think we should maybe actually ''center'' the centerpiece?"
* BitchInSheepsClothing: This is emphasized the first time Rainey and Celeste have lunch with Becca. Becca, under the pretense of being friendly, brings up how "stupid" it was that she used to mock Celeste's overeating by calling her "The Black Hole." When Celeste meekly replies that she now buys size 6s from The Gap, Becca just says, "Ugh, I'm so pissed at them. They totally resized all their clothes to make fat people feel good. I mean, just 'cause everyone else in America weighs 5,000 pounds, don't punish me."
* TheChainOfHarm: It is implied that Becca did not make-up the cheer squad's hazing rituals, and that she herself was subjected to them back in 1996.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Her main reason for "befriending" Rainey was because she was insecure about her boyfriend Casey's interest in Rainey, leading her to want to "control" Rainey. Ironically, Casey did not care about Becca at all, even as a teenager, at one point calling her an "old jock mattress."
* CondescendingCompassion: "Losers are so pathetic. Spend all their time projecting their ugliness onto other people. It's sad, really."
* CruelCheerleader: The show's quintessential example, along with Jane from "[[Recap/ColdCaseS1E6LoveConquersAl Love Conquers Al]]."
* FemaleMisogynist: She gets called out as one by Joe after he spots her enforcing PopularIsDumb on Rainey, with Joe mentioning how ironic it is that people always say that men keep women down when he just saw a woman tell another one to just look pretty and act stupid under the threat of making it so that she would no longer be InWithTheInCrowd.
* ForceFeeding: She force fed Rainey a can of beer that was laced with GHB, though she admittedly did not know that a nigh-lethal amount of the drug had been added to the drink by Celeste.
* FreudianExcuse: Her mother was all but stated to be a LadyDrunk, and when she spots Celeste crying after playing the "game" where a cheerleader has to roll a pair of dice to see how many football players she has to have sex with, whether she wants to or not, Becca tells her, "Quit your sniveling. Last year I rolled a 12."
* FutureLoser: By 2007, she is unable to hold down a job, has had two divorces, going on three, and is desperately trying to relive her glory days through the reunion at Birmingham High School.
* GirlPosse: She had two sycophants, one without dialogue, and the other credited as just "Cheerleader #1."
* InformedAttribute: While Becca is repeatedly implied to be promiscuous, no actual details are given, and the most we get is her acting slutty to get a good grade on a presentation from Mr. Pruit.
* ItsAllAboutMe: When first interviewed about Rainey's death, Becca blasely states, "Look, you can imagine how bad it looked for ''me'' when she turned up dead."
* LackOfEmpathy: Despite being put through a similar ordeal herself, she still set Rainey and Celeste up to be sexually assaulted by the football players, and when Celeste began crying after ten of the boys had their way with her, an annoyed Becca just told her to stop her "sniveling."
* LameComeback: After Rainey calls her out on how pathetic she is during Mr. Pruit's class, Becca's only response is a very awkward, "Someone needs to take a chill pill, bokay!"
* {{Manchild}}: When shown in the present, she still acts exactly like the bitchy teen that she was back in 1997.
* OhCrap: Her reaction after she rants (i.e. confesses) to Lilly about what she did to Becca.
* PopularIsDumb: She actually encourages the people in her entourage to avoid doing well academically, at least publicly, because "[[InsaneTrollLogic you look stupid if you look smart]]."
* RapeAsBackstory: She mentions offhandedly that she was pressured into having sex with (or just outright raped by) a dozen football players back in 1996.
* RefuseToRescueTheDisliked: While Rainey is overdosing, Becca runs away while telling Celeste to deal with Rainey.
* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: She is as much of a petulant, selfish brat as an adult as she was as an AlphaBitch back in 1997.
* SextraCredit: While she does not have sex with Mr. Pruit, her idea of a class presentation for him is to just give a SupermodelStrut and say, "Friction. It's a real downer. How do you fix it? Lubrication."
* SpoiledBrat: After mentioning that her parents will give her either a Beemer or a boob job, but not ''both'', Becca then unironically states, "My parents just like to deny me things."
* TotallyRadical: "Someone needs to take a chill pill, bokay!"
* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: An abuser of this, something which Lilly throws back in her face with the IronicEcho, "Don't move a muscle... bitch."
* ValleyGirl: She sounds like one as an adult, but strangely not so much as a teenager back in 1997.
* YouAreFat: Her default insult when it came to Celeste.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Linda Boyka]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/linda_boyka.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Nachalnik just means boss. Could be anyone."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Brenda Wehle
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS4E22Cargo Cargo]]"

The head of a [[TheMafiya Mafiya]] sex trafficking ring that is centered in Philadelphia, her illicit activities (which she oversees under the name "Nachalnik") came to light after the team reopened the case of Mike Chulaski, a longshoreman who was murdered in 2005.

* BadBoss: Kiril became a dead man walking after he screwed-up selling Lena to Mike.
* TheBaroness: She is a cold, intimidating Russian woman, and a top-level [[HumanTraffickers Human Trafficker]].
* CigaretteBurns: Her trademark way of punishing girls who were too spirited was to burn their feet with cigarettes, something which Kateryna mimicked to make it look like Nachalnik had killed Mike.
* ColdBloodedTorture: She had any girls who copped an attitude tortured, usually via CigaretteBurns.
* TheDreaded: ''Everyone'' fears Nachalnik.
--> '''Kiril:''' You talk about Nachalnik, you disappear.
* FearsomeFoot: When we finally meet Nachalnik, the camera shows their approaching feet before moving up to reveal Linda.
* FramingTheGuiltyParty: Kateryna killed Mike, and then made him look like a victim of her abusive, murderous pimp, Nachalnik.
* GreaterScopeVillain: She did not kill Mike, but she is still the overarching villain of the episode, with the nightmarish things that Kateryna endured under Linda's ownership being what drove her to snap and kill Mike.
* HumanTraffickers: She falsely promises desperate young Eastern European girls jobs in America, and then puts them to work as {{Sex Slave}}s.
* TheMafiya: She runs a sex trafficking branch of it that is centered in Philadelphia.
* NotMeThisTime: She turned out to have had absolutely nothing to do with the murder of Mike Chulaski.
* PragmaticVillainy: Lena was valuable, but also a hassle, so when the opportunity to get rid of her and make money doing it came up, Linda agreed to Mike's offer to buy Lena, despite previously threatening to kill Mike.
* RedBaron: A mysterious, elusive human trafficker who is initially known only as "Nachalnik" (the Russian word for "Boss").
* SamusIsAGirl: Everyone assumed that Nachalnik was a man, but "he" turned out to actually be a woman named Linda Boyka.
* TheSpook: The FBI has been working for years to take down Nachalnik, but has had little luck, as she is ''very'' good at covering her tracks, with no one even knowing her gender until the team stumbled onto her identity while investigating the murder of Mike Chulaski.
* SmugSnake: She is dripping with smarm throughout her interrogation, believing herself to be untouchable, and even mocking Stillman for believing that being in police custody will protect Kiril.
* TheQueenpin: She runs an Eastern European sex trafficking ring out of Philadelphia.
* TomTheDarkLord: The fearsome "Boss" is revealed to actually be named Linda.
* VillainsOutShopping: She was in the middle of reading a book and drinking tea when Mike came back to buy Lena.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: She operates a small community center that is dedicated to helping immigrants, but it is just a front, the main purpose of which is recapturing girls who have escaped from Nachalnik.
* WouldHurtAChild: Two of the girls that were shown in one of her brothels looked to be even younger than Lena, who herself was only 15.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Ed Marteson]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ed_marteson.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Always, Romeo."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Joe Reegan
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS4E24Stalker Stalker]]"

A young man who, under the username Romeo, became obsessed with Kim Jacobi after starting an online relationship with her, unaware that he was actually talking to Kim's mother, Emily.

* AxCrazy: After Kim remembers that he was the one who killed her family, Ed snaps and takes her hostage while ranting, "You're not gonna take her from me. Not again. I'll kill her before I let you do it. I'll kill all of you!"
* CameraFiend: He obsessively photographed Kim, and camera flashes and snaps are used for all of the episode's FlashbackEffects.
* TheCracker: He hacked the Jacobi's computers to show slideshows of Kim, and was described as a "hacker pain in the ass" by Kat.
* DestroyTheEvidence: After the attack on the Jacobis, he smashed all of their computers in a failed attempt to keep the police from finding out about the online relationship between him and Kim (actually Emily).
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: Ed has literally only one innocuous scene (the pre-credits one, to boot) prior to TheReveal.
* DramaticIrony: When Emily Jacobi tried to pull a TakeMeInstead, Ed shot her while saying, "I don't want you." Emily was the one who Ed had fallen in love with online, not Kim.
* FaceFramedInShadow: This is how he appears in every flashback prior to TheReveal.
* FamilyExtermination: He killed every member of the Jacobi family except for Kim (though not for lack of trying on his part).
* FrameUp: After massacring the Jacobis, he made it look like Mr. Jacobi had committed PaterFamilicide.
* FreudianExcuse: It is implied that the reason why he is so warped is because his own family was abusive, going by a flashback in which he states, "No one ever rescued me from my family, but I'm gonna do it for you because I love you, Kim."
* HarassingPhoneCall: When Emily stopped communicating with him online, Ed started calling Kim.
--> '''Ed:''' I know you wanted to call someone and cry, but there was no one to call.\\
'''Kim:''' How'd you know I wanted to call someone?\\
'''Ed:''' Because. I'm watching you.
* HostageSituation: He accompanies Kim to the precinct for her follow-up interview, and when Kim realizes that Ed was the one who killed her family, Ed whips out a gun, grabs her, and shoots Stillman and Lilly.
* IfICantHaveYou: "You're not gonna take her from me. Not again. I'll kill her before I let you do it."
* IJustWantToBeLoved: His implicitly abusive upbringing has left him desperate for love, and he shoots Lilly while asking her, "You don't think somebody could love me, huh?"
* InTheBack: Scotty killed Ed by shooting him in the back, though he was too late to stop Ed from shooting Lilly.
* IRejectYourReality: When both Lilly and Kim reveal that Kim was not the one who he had an online relationship with, Ed adamantly refuses to believe it, and remains convinced that it was Kim who was in love with him all of the way up until he is killed by Scotty.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Noticing how dysfunctional Kim's family was, he decided to kill all of the other Jacobis in order to "free" Kim.
* LovingAShadow: He thought that he was in an online relationship with Kim Jacobi, when in reality he was just being catfished by Kim's mother, Emily.
* MadeOfIron: Ed tanks being shot by a police sniper, and manages to shoot both Stillman and Lilly before finally being taken down by Scotty.
* NotGoodWithRejection: When Kim unsurprisingly freaked out after Ed murdered her family, he shot her too, though she survived and only fell into a ConvenientComa.
* OrderliesAreCreeps: He got a job as an orderly or a male nurse in order to stay close to the comatose object of his obsession, Kim Jacobi.
* PetTheDog: He ultimately lets Kim go, [[BaitTheDog but]] then he shoots Lilly.
* ShootTheHostageTaker: A police sniper does this, but Ed survives the shot, and retaliates by shooting Stillman.
* SomethingAboutARose: He sends roses and love notes to Kim, both before and after killing the rest of the Jacobis.
* SpreeKiller: He killed three (nearly four) members of a family in 2006, and a few months later caused a HostageSituation at the police station, during which he shot and nearly killed Stillman and Lilly.
* StalkerWithACrush: For Kim Jacobi, unaware that he had actually been seduced by Kim's mother, Emily.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Ed was an EMT-turned dedicated nurse to Kim Jacobi... who he is revealed to have put into her ConvenientComa after killing the rest of the Jacobis.
* WouldHurtAChild: He shot Kim's younger brother, Stewart.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Margot Chambers]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/margot_chambers.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"We reached the end of the line, baby. But with this, not only do we disappear, we do it rich. Then you can buy any kind of normal you want."]]

-> '''Played By:''' Creator/MonetMazur
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS5E5ThickAsThieves Thick as Thieves]]"

A prolific con artist who, with the help of her son, Spencer, committed crimes all over the country before being shot in the face and falling into a coma in 1989.

* AbusiveParents: "Mom beat the crap out of her daily, yeah, Margie would watch the old movies to escape."
* AssholeVictim: She was a prolific con artist whose actions drove a man to suicide, who got her comeuppance when she tried to browbeat her son into helping her murder his own girlfriend in order to commit InsuranceFraud.
* BoomerangBigot: Margot called Kylie trailer trash... even though she grew up poor in a TrashyTrailerHome.
* ConMan: She had a long rap sheet for offenses like fraud and check kiting, used her own son as a HoneyTrap, and tried commit InsuranceFraud by murdering an IdenticalStranger named Kylie Cramer.
* ConspicuousConsumption: The characters realize that there is more to "Jane Doe" than they thought when they discover that she had high-end breast implants that, at the time of her shooting, were worth at least $15,000.
* DidntSeeThatComing: She outright said this when she was betrayed by Spencer.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: When confronted by Spencer and Kylie, Margot pleaded, "I did it all for you... because I love you. You're the only one who matters. The day you were born, I swore you'd have a better life. You're my only reason to live, Linus. You're my son. And I'm your mother."
* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Spencer was ultimately unable to go through with shooting his mother, and when Kylie shot her instead, Spencer broke down, and cradled his half-dead while sobbing, "Mama? Mama? Say something. Please. I'm sorry, mama." When Margot fell into a come, Spencer visited her every year to drop off expensive gifts, and when she finally died, he was caught visiting her grave by Lilly.
* FakeBoobs: Despite already being beautiful, Margot got breast implants, which were used to identify her once she finally died in 2007.
* FakingTheDead: She was going to fake her own death by murdering Kylie Cramer as part of an InsuranceFraud scam that would pay out three million dollars to her and Spencer.
* FalseFriend: She pretended to befriend Kylie Cramer to set her up to be killed by her and Spencer.
* FalseRapeAccusation: Margot and Spencer used this as part of their con, having Spencer seduce rich women who would bail him out of his bad relationship with Margot, who he would claim to be unable to leave on his own without her accusing him of rape and DomesticAbuse.
* FateWorseThanDeath: She was shot in the face at point-blank range in 1989, but surprisingly did not die, instead lingering on in a persistent vegetative state, unable to move, walk, talk or do anything else of independence until her death in... 2007.
* FoodSlap: She threw her drink in Spencer's face during a staged argument that they had in front of Melissa Canter.
* FreudianExcuse: Margot grew up poor trailer trash, was regularly beaten by her mother, and found a form of escapism in old films, the glamourous women of which she idolized and wanted to be like, with her favorite being Creator/AudreyHepburn in ''[[Film/Sabrina1954 Sabrina]].''
* GaspOfLife: The episode starts off like any other, with the victim going about their day before being shown dead... except here they used this to pull a BaitAndSwitch.
* GoodTimesMontage: Margot is introduced sipping champagne, buying flashy new clothes and jewelry, driving a sweet car, and applying for membership at a fancy club before she is shown being found half-dead by the Philly PD.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: She intended to have a woman, who [[IdenticalStranger bore a striking resemblance to her]], killed in an attempt to collect life insurance on herself for OneLastJob. Spencer, having fallen in love with the woman in question however, informed her of Margot's plot instead, causing the woman and Spencer to devise a plot of their own against Margot.
-->'''Stillman:''' So Margot the double-crosser got double-crossed.\\
'''Lilly:''' Beaten at her own game.
* IncestSubtext: Margot and Spencer's relationship was... unsettlingly close and possessive, leading to a totally understandable case of RelativeError.
* InsuranceFraud: She planned on faking her own death for a three million dollar life insurance payout that would be given to Spencer.
* KillAndReplace: This was her plan for Kylie Cramer.
* LackOfEmpathy: When confronted by a man who blamed her for ruining his brother and driving him to suicide, Margot just shrugged and said, "He had fun while it lasted."
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Margot and Spencer were essentially slightly less bloodthirsty versions of murderous mother-son con artist duo [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sante_Kimes Sante and Kenny Kimes]].
* RagsToRiches: Margot was born poor trailer trash, but used con artistry to become a RichBitch.
* RealNameAsAnAlias: While she used different last names, her first name was always Margot.
* RelativeError: Everyone assumed that Spencer was Margot's boyfriend, and they only learned that he was actually her son when it revealed by Lenny Delpy.
* TeenPregnancy: Based on her and Spencer's ages, the team assume that Margot must have had him when she was around 14.
* PosthumousCharacter: She finally died in 2007, and the episode centers around finding out who shot her back in 1989.
* ThePowerOfHate: Jeffries jokingly suggests that the reason why Margot hung on for so long was to spite Spencer and Kylie and prevent them from claiming her multi-million dollar life insurance policy, which ended up expiring three years before Margot finally croaked in 2007.
* SawStarWarsTwentySevenTimes: She was obsessed with the film ''[[Film/Sabrina1954 Sabrina]]'', with her son (who she named after a character from it) mentioning that she "must have seen it a thousand times."
* TheSpook: After being shot, Margot became a no one from nowhere until her death eighteen years later, when the serial numbers on her breast implants were traced back to Doctor Jeremy Fincher.
* TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain: Margot was shot in the head in 1989, and survived... until 2007.
--> '''Abby:''' This woman suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, resulting in a massive stroke. Bullet fragments dormant in the brain accelerated the process.\\
'''Lilly:''' You saying almost twenty years dying in a hospital bed is accelerated?\\
'''Abby:''' I'm saying the bullet killed your victim. Just took some time doing it.
* UnusualPopCultureName: Spencer's birthname is actually Linus Larrabee, Creator/HumphreyBogart's character in the film ''[[Film/Sabrina1954 Sabrina]].''
* VillainousMotherSonDuo: She was a con artist whose partner was her own son, Spencer.
* YouGotGuts: When Spencer and Kylie showed up to kill her, Margot admitted, "I didn't think you [Spencer] had it in you. Honestly, I didn't see it coming at all. Work of art, darling. And who knew you [Kylie] had a brain?"
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Major Moe Kitchener]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/moe_kitchener.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"The more you push, the less I have to lose."]]

-> '''Played By''': Creator/DanielBaldwin
-> '''Episode(s):''' "[[Recap/ColdCaseS6E22TheLongBlueLine The Long Blue Line]]" through "[[Recap/ColdCaseS7E14Metamorphosis Metamorphosis]]"

A retired U.S. Army Officer employed as a physical training instructor at the Pennsylvania Military Institute, he helped cover-up the accidental death of one of the institution's first female cadets, Kate Butler, in 2005. While Kate's killer was arrested, Moe managed to make bail, and became a thorn in the side of the Philly PD, especially Lilly.

* TheAlcoholic: He was shown drinking on campus, and appeared to spend all of his free time drinking at a dive bar, at one point leaving it so loaded that he was unable to walk straight, which led to him getting a DUI thanks to Lilly.
* AmbiguousSituation: A lot of his backstory and how he was involved in covering-up Kate's death comes from Lilly's DyingDream, so how much, if any of it, is true to life, is unclear, including whether or not Lawrence Gardner is really dead, as his death is not mentioned after Lilly recovers, and yet he is still conspicuously absent during Moe's PerpWalk.
* ArcVillain: His storyline started at the end of Season Six, and lasted until mid-Season Seven.
* AssholeVictim: Moe was a scumbag, so no one really cares that he was murdered, though Hank Butler does mention that VengeanceFeelsEmpty.
* BailEqualsFreedom: Moe being granted bail reduction is treated like this, especially by Lilly.
* BodyInABreadbox: The footlocker that he transported and buried Kate's body in, which was traced back to the Pennsylvania Military Institute.
* CarFu: He tried to kill Lilly by ramming her car off of a bridge using a car borrowed from the Pennsylvania Military Institute.
* CrimeAfterCrime: He covered-up Kate's death, and when her body was discovered, he tried to kill Lilly, and then framed and killed Lawrence Gardner.
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: He killed Lawrence Gardner in order to frame him for killing Kate and trying to kill Lilly.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: It is revealed to actually be "Maurice" in "Jurisprudence."
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: "I take my mother to mass on Sundays."
* FaceDeathWithDignity: He is completely stoic while being held at gunpoint by Hank Butler, not begging or resisting, and merely saying, "Sorry, Hank. It wasn't personal."
* FauxAffablyEvil: He initially acts cordial towards Lilly and Scotty, especially compared to Commandant Murillo, but is gradually revealed to be a despicable SmugSnake.
* FollowingInRelativesFootsteps: He is a fourth generation alumni of the Pennsylvania Military Institute.
* FoundTheKillerLostTheMurderer: The team gets Kate's killer, but they are unable to nail Moe.
* HaveYouToldAnyoneElse: He asks Ryan this when Ryan comes to him after accidentally killing Kate.
* IShallTauntYou: As Lilly upped her harassment of him, Moe started taunting her, hoping to goad her into doing something that would get her more than a slap on the wrist from Internal Affairs or the DA's Office.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: After evading justice for many episodes, he is shot to death by Hank Butler, the father of the girl whose death he helped cover-up, at the end of "Bombers."
* LackOfEmpathy: He cared more about his family's military academy of choice than he did about the lives of its cadets, even ending his MotiveRant by stating, "Excuse me if I forgot to shed a tear for Hank Butler's daughter."
* TheNeidermeyer: While no worse towards the new recruits than the other faculty members and the older cadets, it is made clear that he cared more about the academy itself than its student body, going by his callous behavior towards Kate, Lawrence, and Ryan.
* NothingPersonal: He tells Hank Butler, whose daughter's death he covered-up, this before being shot by him in "[[Recap/ColdCaseS7E14Metamorphosis Metamorphosis]]."
* PerpWalk: Everyone present turns their backs on Moe and Ryan as they are being perp walked out of the Pennsylvania Military Institute.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: During his MotiveRant.
--> '''Moe:''' Do you know how many congressmen have graduated from P.M.I.? Twelve. Six senators, eight four-star generals. Those courts ordered us to change the way we do things here. Now here we are.\\
'''Scotty:''' Stuck installing women's latrines and tampon dispensers.\\
'''Moe:''' There are over sixty women's colleges in this country. Do you see any men banging down the doors trying to get in? [[SuddenlyShouting The value of a separate education is that it is separate!]]\\
'''Lilly:''' Sound bitter, Moe.\\
'''Moe:''' Because of this catastrophic experiment ,an army of lawyers and press stand ready to shut down the institution I love, the one thing I share with my father and his before him.
* SmugSmiler: Especially when it comes to Lilly.
--> '''Lilly:''' He smiled at me. The bastard ''smiled'' at me, boss.
* StupidCrooks: Moe's attempts at covering-up his involvement in Kate's death were incredibly sloppy, and he displayed a staggering amount of shortsightedness when he tried to kill Lilly, attempting to do it with an academy car that only he used, and afterward not even bothering to try and hide the damage that was done to it when he returned it to the academy after using it to attack Lilly.
* VigilanteExecution: He is shot in the head by Kate Butler's grieving father, Hank.
* VillainHasAPoint: Moe is a smarmy asshole, but he was not wrong to file complaints against Lilly and call her out when she began stalking and harassing him while he was on bail, doing things like calling in favors to get Moe's car booted and sabotaging Moe getting a bank loan after he was dismissed from the Pennsylvania Military Institute.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: His lack of previous legal entanglements, stature in the community, laudable service record, and the judge also being ex-military led to Moe being granted what amounted to BailEqualsFreedom.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Implied, as he called the Pennsylvania Military Institute the "one thing I share with my father and his before him."
[[/folder]]

* VillainByProxyFallacy: He had nothing to with Luther Bubley's death, but is held accountable for it anyway since Luther died in an incident that involved the O's, who Vaughn had attacked as RevengeByProxy against Miguel.

* AmbiguousSituation: He either purposely killed Gail Chimayo because she fought back and could have identified him, or he accidentally asphyxiated her while trying to stop her from calling out to Larry. In his letter, he just says that she "died on me."

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Their online monikers were "The Destroyer" (Cameron) and "The Apocalypse" (Neal).

* FemaleMisogynist: She gets called out as one by Joe after he spots her enforcing PopularIsDumb on Rainey, with Joe mentioning how ironic it is that people always say that men keep women down when he just saw a woman tell another to just look pretty and act stupid under the threat of making it so that she would no longer be InWithTheInCrowd.

* VillainsOutShopping: She was in the middle of reading and drinking tea when Mike came back to buy Lena.

* FreudianExcuse: It is implied that the reason why he is so warped is because his family was abusive, going by a flashback in which he states, "No one ever rescued me from my family, but I'm gonna do it for you because I love you, Kim."

* ContinuityNod: As Lilly leaves, he screams "Don't you walk away!" as George Marks did in "Mind Hunters".
* CruelMercy: [[spoiler: Lilly refuses to take the bait and kill him, and so he's carted off to a small prison cell. Keep in mind, he's a severe [[{{Claustrophobia}} claustrophobic]].]]
* EnfantTerrible: If a flashback is anything to go by.
* EvilGloating: One of his main modes of torture to his many victims.
* ForTheEvulz: His background is never elaborated on, no FreudianExcuse or anything is ever offered. He just really gets off on breaking people.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: He imprisons his latest victim within hearing distance of a church that rings its bells every Sunday, enabling the woman to retain her sanity by keeping track of the days. Therefore, she won't snap like his previous victims, rattling him so much that he makes the error that gets him caught. Then, his attempts at getting Lilly to give up like his other victims backfires when he [[IdiotBall TELLS]] Lilly the name of the hymn the woman was humming even as he entombed her and left her to die. Sure enough, Lilly not only realizes the woman's still alive, she realizes where the woman's being held because she grew up in that neighborhood and remembers the church.
* JustOneLittleMistake: The only reason he was caught was because a local sheriff spotted him driving somewhat erratically.
* IdiotBall: His plan was foolproof, he just couldn't stop talking to Lilly.
* LaserGuidedKarma: A severe [[{{Claustrophobia}} claustrophobic]] who's modus operandi is to lock up women until they're driven mad. [[spoiler:He ends up arrested and will remain locked up in prison for a very long time.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: As we never learn his real name, which only added to his creepiness.
* MindRape: Half his MO.
* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: The other half of his MO.
%%* SerialKiller
* SmugSnake: Really believes Lilly isn't going to find Brenda. [[spoiler:She does.]]
* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:It fails.]]
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: A former neighbor only remembered him because he was the only white guy in the neighborhood. Even the cop who arrested him describes him as polite and well-mannered, "I wouldn't have picked him out of a crowd". He himself states, "I'm not the guy you look at and think 'rapist'. I'm more like the guy you see at the dentist's office," indicating that his average Joe appearance is what made it so easy for women to fall into his traps.
* VillainousBreakdown: His latest abductee's refusal to break disturbs him so much that it leads to the one little mistake listed above. After Lilly saves the last one he completely loses his control.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Lures his latest victim in by (a) claiming to have car trouble, (b) claiming to be in a rush to get home and bring his pregnant wife the junk food she's craving, and (c) acting miffed that the woman doesn't recognize him--he claims to be a paralegal at the law firm where she works, "Big shot lawyer like you wouldn't recognize some low-level guy like me." Thoroughly roped in, she gets into the car of her own free will (to test the engine) and is taken prisoner almost immediately.

* LackOfEmpathy: "My mother was the most unhappy woman I've ever known. The only thing that gave her pleasure was making other people as miserable as she was."