| “ | He was always breaking my stuff. I'm not going to miss that. | ” |
— Danny about Kyle
| ||
Danny Murphy is a young killer who appeared in A Shade of Gray.
Background
A boy with an affinity for building model planes, Danny lived in Cherry Hill, New Jersey with his parents and younger brother, Kyle, whom Danny absolutely loathed due to him being "a baby" and because of his habit of breaking his toys. Possessing an explosive temper, Danny once killed a puppy that his parents brought home for no reason, apparently making it look like the animal had died some other way after killing it. One night on April 20, 2009, while up in the middle of the night working on one of his planes (a World War II-era B-25 Mitchell bomber) Danny was found by Kyle, who told him their parents would be mad if they found him up this late. When Kyle then asked to see his new plane, Danny told him he could look at it but not touch it. While gone for only a few seconds, Danny returned to find that Kyle had accidentally smashed the plane and, in a fit of rage, killed his brother in an unspecified manner.
Discovering what he had done, Danny's parents, Dan and Sarah, having just lost one son and finding the thought of the other being taken away unbearable, made it look Kyle was the latest victim of a murderous pedophile named Hugh Rollins, who had been abducting, raping, and murdering young boys in the area. Their friend, Detective Bill Lancaster, helped out with the plan. Too preoccupied with Kyle's death and trying to cover it up, Sarah, Dan, and Bill failed to notice how disturbingly nonchalant Danny was throughout the entire affair, rationalizing he simply did not understand what was going on when the boy's odd behavior is noticed.
A Shade of Gray
"I told you not to touch it! You never listen!"
-Danny before murdering Kyle.
News of Kyle's disappearance eventually reaches the media, and the BAU is subsequently called in to help investigate it and the other abductions. Danny appears on a televised plea made by his parents for their son's safe return. When Prentiss questions the family, she asks Danny if anyone suspicious has been around and tries to talk to either him or Kyle; Danny answers with a no before asking his father if he can go play, which Dan allows. The pedophile, Hugh Rollins, is later caught, but it becomes apparent that Kyle, whose body is eventually found in the woods, is not one of his victims. As a result, Prentiss confronts the Murphys and brings them into the local police station, where Lancaster has just falsely confessed to killing Danny.
As his parents are questioned, Danny is left in the break room with Prentiss, who takes note of the fit of rage the boy goes into after being unable to open a bag of chips and the bored demeanor he has during a rerun of his parents' heartfelt plea for Kyle's safe return. Talking to the boy, Prentiss realizes Danny is Kyle's actual killer and that his parents and Detective Lancaster are trying to cover it up so Danny won't be taken away. After Kyle's autopsy report is brought to her by JJ, Prentiss leaves Danny with her and confronts the Murphys and Detective Lancaster. She asks if they know everything that Danny did to his brother. She then reveals that Danny stuffed model plane parts down his brother's throat and that Danny also killed their puppy earlier. Prentiss then tells them that Danny is a textbook sociopath in need of help, causing Dan and Sarah to break down. Afterwards, it was presumed Danny was soon institutionalized.
Profile
Danny was described as a sociopath by Prentiss, which she stated made him incapable of feeling anything, such as empathy or guilt, most notably remorse (however, he is capable of feigning emotions, such as when he stated he was sorry after killing Kyle). This was shown when Prentiss asked him how he felt after killing his brother and Danny's answer was a deadpanned "like I would get in trouble". He is also quick to anger and easily frustrated, as shown when he was unable to open a bag of potato chips and then began hitting the bag out of rage.
Modus Operandi
Since Danny only killed one person, his younger brother Kyle, the term "M.O." is somewhat misused. He killed him in a fit of rage in an unspecified manner, though parts of one of Danny's model planes, which Kyle broke, were forced down his throat. This may have been the cause of death, but it is not specifically stated, though suffocation or strangulation is most likely, given this fact. The two blows to Kyle's head, with the first being more hesitant, were dealt by Detective Bill Lancaster in his attempt to make Kyle's death look like the work of Hugh Rollins.
Real-Life Comparison
Kyle's murder may have been inspired by media speculation that JonBenét Ramsey was murdered by her brother Burke in a fit of rage, and that the Ramsey parents misled the authorities into believing that an intruder was involved in order to not lose their remaining child. Some followers of this theory believe that a toy train set was involved in some fashion, much like how Kyle's murder involved a model plane that belonged to Danny. However, it should be noted that while Burke Ramsey testified before a grand jury, he was never considered or treated as a suspect in his sister's murder.
Known Victims
- April 20-21, 2009: Kyle Murphy
Notes
- At the age of nine, Danny is the youngest killer to ever appear on the show.