| “ | Darlene, if we don't do this, who else will? | ” |
— Ellen
| ||
Ellen Russell is a killer and the dominant partner of a two-person killing team also consisting of Darlene Beckett. She appeared in the Season Eight episode of Criminal Minds, "The Pact".
Background[]
Ellen's sister gave birth to a boy named Sam, whom Ellen came to dote on. In 1994, when Sam was two years old, he was killed in a car accident caused by a seventeen-year-old girl named Brenda Enrose. Brenda was charged for DUI and was sentenced to a year in juvenile detention, though it was reduced to two months, courtesy of her father William giving donations to get her sentence shortened. The incident scarred the family for life, especially Sam's mother and Ellen. Eventually, Sam's mother sought counseling and came to obsess over her son, culminating in her suicide. Distraught, Ellen then started communicating with Darlene Beckett, whose daughter Kelly Taylor disappeared and the suspect, Mark Logan, as a result, was only sentenced to ten years in prison for raping her since it couldn't be proven that he was behind her disappearance as well. Six months prior to the episode, Mark was scheduled to be released, setting off Ellen and Darlene, and they began creating a revenge scheme to kill both Brenda and Mark, equipped with items from Ellen's workplace at a boat shop.
The Pact[]
See section on the Ellen Russell and Darlene Beckett page
Modus Operandi[]
Ellen targeted people connected with Kelly Taylor's disappearance, whom she would kill at night by chaining them to a car and then driving it at fast speeds, brutally scraping their skin off and breaking their bones. Both of her victims were subdued with blitz attacks using some blunt object. Her first victim, Mark Logan, was lured to a pre-selected location with a text message from a prepaid cellphone, while Paul Montgomery, her second victim, was attacked outside of his workplace. When she attacked the motorist, Ellen shot him once with a revolver as he drove by, causing him to drive off the road and crash down on a small hill.
Known Victims[]
- 2012, California:
- October 8:
- San Diego: Brenda Wipley (the drunk driver who killed her nephew; killed by Darlene; bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat, then dragged by a car post-mortem)
- Los Angeles: Mark Logan (the suspect in Kelly's disappearance; lured in with a text message)
- October 9, Los Angeles: Paul Montgomery (a friend of Mark Logan's; was ambushed outside his workplace)
- October 10, Los Angeles:
- Jason Nelson (Kelly's killer; assaulted, abducted, and held at gunpoint; later killed by Darlene)
- Unnamed motorist (attempted, but barely survived; was shot)
- October 8: