Roadkill (Season 4, Episode 23)
Premise: The BAU hunts a killer in Bend, Oregon, who uses his truck to run down people who drive red coupes along a deadly highway.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 4, Episode 23
- Unsub
- Ian Coakley (Craig Baxley Jr.)
- Location
- Bend, Oregon
- Starring
- David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), Aaron “Hotch” Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster), Jennifer “JJ” Jareau (A.J. Cook), Penelope Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness), Kevin Lynch (Nicholas Brendon)
- Opening quote
- “I’m not sure about automobiles. With all their speed forward, they may be a step backward in civilization.” (Booth Tarkington, read by Hotch)
- Closing quote
- “The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still, small voice of conscience.” (Mahatma Gandhi, read by JJ)
- Guest stars
- Dale Midkiff as Gil Bonner, Timothy Carhart as Detective Quinn, Jim Meskimen as Dr. Ridgeway, James Nardini as Paul Makely, Tracey Leigh as Mrs. Burke
- Director
- Steve Boyum
- Writers
- Dan Dworkin & Jay Beattie
Summary
The Case
“Roadkill” takes the BAU to Bend, Oregon, where a killer uses a truck as his weapon. Maria Delgado, a 23-year-old triathlete, was run down while jogging near a stalled construction site, and Shannon Makely, a 43-year-old broker, was hit on a remote road after her car broke down; both were backed over after the first impact. An oil stain where the truck waited and a coolant line cut through Shannon’s grille show planning. The agents profile a man who feels physically damaged and uses the truck for power and as a shield, and Shannon’s husband recalls a truck with blacked-out windows on their street. Then Victor Costella, a podiatrist, is crushed in a parking garage. A cigarette butt field-stripped as soldiers are taught suggests a military past, and the team finds the link: every victim drove a red two-door coupe on Route 7, a deadly highway locals call “Suicide 7.”
The team concludes the unsub was disabled in a Route 7 crash and blames the driver of a similar car. Gil Bonner, a roofer who has been drinking, walks in claiming he caused that crash by swerving into a truck’s lane in December 2007, but no such accident is on record. At a rehabilitation center, Dr. Ridgeway points to Ian Coakley, a paraplegic former Army National Guard mechanic who filled his therapy pages with drawings of red cars, a different model each time. In September 2007 Coakley’s car flipped on Route 7, killing his wife, Sheila, and he lost his memory of the crash. Parts for his old truck lead to a Bend address with bloody grilles and photos of each victim, plus one more: Garret Burke, out on a club bike ride.
The Team
Kevin Lynch tells Garcia he is up for a classified NSA job overseas and wants her to apply too and leave the BAU. At the end he reports the position vanished after someone hacked the project database. When Garcia mentions Karachi, a city he never named, he lets it pass, and they agree he couldn’t have gone without her and she couldn’t have left her home.
The ending
Spoiler: Among Sheila’s unpacked things, photos show her car, which Coakley crashed, was a red coupe, and the team realizes there was no other car; he likely fell asleep at the wheel and has shifted the blame. After a crash during the pursuit, Coakley is cornered, admits there was no other red car and drives off a cliff. Bonner is later told that on the night he remembers, he ran a man in a Volkswagen off the road, causing damage but no injuries. He will answer for leaving the scene, but he hurt no one, and he goes home with his daughter.
Why it stands out
- The episode closely resembles Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971), in look and in story.
- Timothy Carhart guest-stars as Detective Quinn of the Bend police.
- The team cites the real killers Bittaker and Norris, sexual sadists who nicknamed their vehicle “Murder Mac.”