The telephone rang at the FBI behavioural analysis unit at Quantico. On the other end of the phone was retired Sergeant Malone from the Wisconsin police, with a strange tale of a serial killer that he believed had been active since the 1950’s.
He was convinced that the “Unsub” had committed the first murders in Wisconsin, but had since moved on and that there was a conspiracy of silence which went all the way up to the White House!
Hutch gathered the team together and flew to Wisconsin and met the sergeant, then went to the scene of the first disappearance at 565 North Clinton Drive, Milwaukee.
The first case concerned a teenage boy by the name of Chuck Cunningham who disappeared during the mid 1950’s. Chuck, a student at Marquette University on a basketball scholarship, was the eldest son of Howard and Marion Cunningham.
Here’s a photo of the family along with his friends, Potsy, Ralph and Fonzie. Chuck disappeared from the house one day and the mystery was that nobody cared, or even wondered where he had gone, or why
No body was ever found, but the strange thing was that the family never reported him missing. In fact they never mentioned his name again. They just seemed to carry on like he didn’t even exist. The police only became involved when members of the public reported the strange goings on.
Sergent Malone remembers questioning the family at the time and he remembers the guilty looks on their faces, especially the mother and the lodger Arthur Fonzerelli.
He did notice the troubled look on the face of Chuck's younger brother Ritchie. He remembers pulling Ritchie aside, and speaking to him out of earshot of the other family members. Ritchie told Malone that he was having problems dealing with the disappearance of his brother.
At first, he tried bringing the subject up with his dad and Fonzirelli. He said that they were firm with him and kept repeating over and over "That’s how things are here, just keep your mouth shut."
He was consoled by his mother, but she said pretty much the same thing, "Ritchie, they are right that IS how things are here, Just try to forget about him and get on with your life".
Sgt. Malone said that he forgot about the case for 20 years, but was reminded when a series of disappearances started happening under similar circumstances at nearby Point Place in Wisconsin.
The disappearances were the same in the Cunningham case. This time it was the Pinciotti family. This time it was two daughters that had disappeared.
Once again the family didn’t report the disappearances. It was the calls from members of the public which once again led the police to investigate.
At the time of the disappearances the Pinciotti family consisted of Bob and his first wife Midge, together with three daughters, Donna, Tina and Valerie.
Bob Pinciotti, the father, was questioned, but he just shrugged his shoulders saying “They just disappeared, I ‘aint got nothing to say”
Donna, the surviving sister just recalled her dad telling her one day “"They’ve gone, that’s how things are here, just keep your mouth shut."
The police questioned the family next door, the Foremans, who the neighbours said were very close to the Pinciotti family.
The Foremans said that when they moved there in the early seventies. They remembered Bob saying that he had a daughter called Valerie, and Donna remembering that she had a sister called Valerie but The Forman's had never actually seen her.
They did however remember sister, Tina, who simply disappeared without a trace
Malone noticed the same look on Eric Forman’s face that had seen with Richie Cunningham. He questioned Eric on his own and Eric told the same story as Richie. He too was troubled by the disappearances and that his dad and Bob next door had told him in no uncertain terms "That’s how things are here, just keep your mouth shut."
Seargent Malone’s suspicions were further aroused when he was leaving the Forman residence and saw Grandma Foreman, who he could have sworn was the same person as Mrs Cunningham.
So the Criminal minds team went to work on the case.
As no bodies were ever found they profiled the victims. Dr Reid pointed out the similarities between the victims was that they were dull, boring and uninteresting people demonstrated by the fact that no one cared when they disappeared.
Garcia noticed some similarities in the cases. Donna Pinciotti was accepted at Marquette University where Chuck went, although for some reason she decided to turn the scholarship down.
Howard Cunningham, Chuck’s father, had sold his hardware store and was in fact the family doctor in Point Place.
In addition, someone called Peter Griffin, a family guy of Rhode Island, had made a cryptic statement on TV.
"Let us contemplate the mystery of Richie's older brother Chuck, who ascended the stairs with his basketball and never came down again."
Garcia was also pursuing a lead regarding a Mandy Hampton, a “Spin doctor” at the West Wing of the White House who had disappeared in a similar manner, as did Ben the son of Ross Geller, one of a group of friends in New York. Once again, no one was talking.
What shocked Garcia was not so much that people had disappeared from these locations, but that people seem to have been replaced.
Garcia checked the driving licence images of the people who frequented the properties and it showed that the Foremans’ daughter Laurie had seemingly changed into another person.
In addition, regular visitor Jackie Burkhart's mother Pam seemed to trade in her former self for an upgrade.
This information shocked the team, but there was more to come. This was happening nationwide. The Ewing family from Dallas had their mother replaced. Detective Brass of CSI Los Vegas had his daughter replaced, as did comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s friend George Costanza’s dad in New York,
Agent Morgan asked Garcia “Is there an occult element to this phenomenon baby doll”?
Garcia came back quickly. “Well perhaps, the first reported case was in fact in the 1960’s. Darren Stephens of 1164 Morning Glory Circle. Westport, Connecticut, the husband of a practicing witch called Samantha appeared to turn in to somebody else”.
As more information flashed up, Garcia could not believe her eyes as she looked at her computer screen. “Oh my God….Sir I don’t know how to tell you this…but…er…WE are replacements”!
“Garcia what are you talking about”?
In 1989 we were known as “Unsub” and not “Criminal minds” and seven other people were ….well….er….us!
Rossie thought about it for a bit and said “I guess that’s why they call you Hutch”!
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