Patrick Butler

CRIMINAL
Name	Patrick Butler
Gender	Male
Birth Date	August 7, 1984
Pathology	Bank Robber (originally) Serial Killer (later) Cop Killer (later) Rapist
Signature	Two distinct signatures: Breaking seven of a victim's fingers Shoving socks into a victim's mouth
Modus Operandi	Varied (usually shanking)
No. of Victims	5 killed 1 assaulted
Status	Deceased (murdered)
Portrayed By	Isaac Keys
First Appearance	Lockdown

"They gonna figure it out. And they gonna find you, you son of a bitch."

Patrick Butler was a convicted bank robber-turned-serial killer who murdered several people inside a prison in Lockdown.

Background

Butler was a bank robber who robbed five banks in three different states using a toy gun. He was arrested and initially sentenced to five years in Reagan Federal Penitentiary, but the sentence was bumped up to twenty years after he killed another inmate. He was one of many inmates forced by Captain Dale Shavers, the head of security, and several other prison guards to participate in a "fight club". Butler eventually befriended a new inmate named Devon White, also a participant, and was implied to have been in a homosexual relationship with him. One night, the two of them were pit against each other in a fight, during which Shavers handed him his baton. Butler used it to beat Devon, although the blows proved to be unintentionally fatal. In the aftermath of the incident, some of the guards disposed of Devon's body in a furnace, while Butler was left traumatized by the ordeal. Eventually, he, along with several other inmates (presumably ones who were also forced to participate in the "fight club") began a series of killings, targeting people connected to Devon's death and Shavers and his gang. They were assisted by a prison guard, Tom Polinsky, who had stumbled upon the fight club activities by accident and was forced to stay silent about it, though was ambivalent towards Shavers' intentions.

Lockdown

After the group killed two prison guards and an inmate who was Shavers' informant, Butler's cell is searched by Shavers and two of his accomplices. They find shivs and socks in a hidden box, and Shavers orders Butler to be taken to solitary confinement (which is located at the same hallway where Devon died). There, he is confronted by Shavers, who demands to know who else is involved. Butler assaults him, but is quickly overpowered by him. When Shavers demands information, Butler mocks him and tells him the BAU (who are investigating the deaths) will find out about the fight club eventually. Shavers tries hitting him with his baton, but Butler assaults him again. He is overpowered a second time and then bludgeoned to death.

Modus Operandi

Butler and his accomplices targeted people connected to Shavers, his gang, and the fight club. Officers Rudy Hightower and Keith Rivers (both of whom were coincidentally married Caucasian men with children) were stabbed in the neck with shivs, while Randall Jefferson Jones had his arms and legs tied together with duct tape, was raped (as a reference to his previous crimes as a serial rapist) and then boiled alive in scalding water. Signatures for all three of the murders were that socks were stuffed down the victims' mouths prior to their deaths, and that seven of their fingers would be completely broken (as a reference to cell 34, a solitary confinement cell where Devon died). It is unknown as to how he exactly killed the first inmate. No specific details have been mentioned about his bank robberies, other than he used a toy gun.

Profile

The unsub is a male inmate aged in his 30s to 40s, who may be working with other inmates. He may be targeting prison guards because of the uniforms they wear and to him, it may not matter which guard he kills. Putting socks in the mouths of the victims could be a warning to be silent of something or to act as a gag to keep them quiet before killing them. It would be very difficult to kill the guards while inside the prison, which reinforces the theory that there is more than one unsub. Multiple unsubs committing the murders inside a prison suggest a gang could be responsible, specifically the leader, but this may not even be related to gang activity. The leading unsub would need to know what areas of the prison are covered by the surveillance cameras. The murder of Keith Rivers suggest the unsub waited for him to get into the hallway or lured him into it and would have needed help to lift his body up on the second shelf of the closet where he was found. The unsub's murders could be personal in nature and he may have had something against the guards he killed.

The latest victim, Randall Jefferson Jones, was killed for giving information about the inmates to the guards, explaining the shift in victimology and the high level of violence in his death. Jones also being raped may have been some form of revenge for repeated sexual assaults against missing inmate Devon White. The unsub would have needed privileged status and lived in the same cell block in order to get to Randall. His latest murder was incredibly bold and may have been either a taunt or a message to the BAU. One of the guards is definitely involved in the murders, possibly not willingly, since the inmates would have needed access to disable the surveillance cameras and the lights in the hallway to the shower where Jones was killed in; they would have also needed a key to open and close the closet Keith Rivers was placed in. The unsub's signatures of the murders (stuffing a sock in the mouth and breaking seven fingers) may relate to a specific event relating to Devon being involved in the prison guards' sadistic fight clubs.

Real-Life Comparison

Butler is partially similar to Christopher Scarver. Both were African-American serial killers who, during their time of imprisonment, killed two inmates (at least one by bludgeoning), one of which was convicted of serial crimes.

Known Victims

• Unspecified dates and locations: Five victimless bank robberies
• Liberty, Texas:
  • Post-2009: Unnamed inmate (killed by unknown causes)
  • December 2014:
    • Devon White (reluctantly clubbed with a baton under Dale Shavers' orders)
    • Officer Rudy Hightower (broke his fingers and shanked him in the neck)
  • 2015:
    • March 2: Officer Keith Rivers (shanked in the neck like the previous victim; broke his fingers post-mortem)
    • March 3: Randall Jefferson Jones (tied up, broke his fingers, raped, and boiled alive in scalding shower water)
    • March 4: Captain Dale Shavers (assaulted)

Notes

• Butler, an inmate, is a serial killer who was completely active inside of a prison. This is a criminal scenario that is completely unseen and unique in real life.

Appearances

• Season Ten
  • Lockdown
• Season Twelve
  • Assistance Is Futile (referenced)