1.11- Richard Chase

In season 1, episode 11 of Criminal Minds, the team is looking for a killer who is eating the organs of his victims. Unfortunately, this episode took inspiration from the real-life case of Richard Trenton Chase. The episode didn’t go into too much detail about the killings since it can be pretty gruesome, but it did pull a lot of inspiration from the case.

Chase is an American serial killer who killed six people in a span of a month from 1977 to 1978 in Sacramento, California. His confirmed victims are Daniel Meredith, Evelyn Miroth,  her 6-year-old son, and another woman. His nickname is the vampire of Sacramento because he is known to drink the blood and cannibalize his victim’s bodies. Growing up in an abusive household, he turned to alcohol and drugs, which played a major role in triggering his violent tendencies. He was known to harm animals, wet the bed, and set small fires. These three traits are often called the McDonald Triad; they are used to identify individuals who are at high risk of a violent future. Chase even attempted to inject himself with rabbit blood. In 1979 Chase was convicted of six accounts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. On December 26, 1980, Chase was found dead in his cell when he had committed suicide by overdose.