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What I'm saying is that it's so beautiful. Ally, I... I just can't... let it live. You ever feel that way? Like there's something so beautiful... so beautiful you can't let it live to show you... to remind you of how ugly you are?
Wakeland

Terrance Wakeland is a serial killer who appears in the Season Two episode of Criminal Minds, "Fear and Loathing".

Background[]

A freelance musician, Wakeland worked as a security guard at the failing recording studio A&L in Mount Vernon, New York. For reasons unspecified, Wakeland murdered Keisha Andrews and Vickie Williams in January of 2007, recording their voices in the studio beforehand under the guise of a music producer. Wakeland made the deaths look like random hate crimes by painting swastikas on the victims' bodies to keep the authorities off his trail. Before the two murders, he had attempted to kill a girl named Gail but failed when she didn't fall for his ruse.

Fear and Loathing[]

One night, he goes out to meet talent-show winner Sandra Davis in the park. However, in the process, Wakeland is confronted by her ex-boyfriend Ken Newcombe, who he shoots in the chest. Approaching the hysterical Davis, who witnessed him killing NewCombe, Wakeland demands her to get into his car. When Davis runs, Wakeland chases after her and beats her to death, inflicting several post-mortem stab wounds to the body. After killing her and dragging her body to the curb, Wakeland paints a swastika on NewCombe's car. Having been unable to get a recording of Davis's voice, Wakeland drives around her house on a few occasions, but eventually moves on, killing another girl named Naomi Dade. Wakeland later takes Ally Hadley to the studio sometime after Dade's death, recording her singing before drugging her. As Hadley grows disoriented, Wakeland begins ranting and beating her but is incapacitated when she kicks him in the genitals before running outside. Finding Hadley weakly asking for help from a police officer, Wakeland convinces the cop that she is his younger cousin, that she had sneaked out, and gotten high on something. Claiming that he is going to take Hadley home, Terrance begins to leave with her, but is surrounded by the police and the BAU, and is arrested by Morgan.

Modus Operandi[]

David Ramsey

Wakeland at his studio.

Wakeland targeted African-American girls between the ages of 15-17, all of whom lived low-risk lifestyles and had a talent for singing. Under the guise of a music producer, he would approach his victims at places such as churches and talent shows, offering them his card. Whenever the girls arranged a meeting with him, Wakeland would have them go to a pre-selected location at night, pick them up, and have them perform at A&L Studios, keeping a CD recording of their singing, which he would keep in CD cases that he labeled with their first names, as souvenirs, and drug them with a GHB-laced water bottle before strangling and beating them. Wakeland would then finish his victims off by stabbing them in the chest, dump the bodies in wooded areas, and paint swastika symbols on their faces to make the murders look like hate crimes afterwards.

During the killings at the park where he planned to pick up Sandra Davis, he incidentally shot Ken Newcombe (her Caucasian boyfriend) in the chest with a handgun in order to get him out of the way. He then beat Davis to death and stabbed her post-mortem without being able to record her voice. Afterwards, he painted a swastika on NewCombe's car with the message "STOP" on it as well.

Profile[]

The unsub is a sexually-motivated killer who finds release in something that he takes from his victims, in his case their voices. He is a black male between the ages of twenty to thirty-five. The victims he chose are female students with no behavioral problems, a low-risk lifestyle. He is intelligent and a smooth talker, being able to make people around him feel at ease and easily gain the confidence of his targets. He may not have a lot of education, but he knows how to trick impressionable young girls. Because all of the girls are singers, he may be connected in some way to the music industry. He has a vehicle that is big enough to transport a body, which should be clean, not too old, nice enough to make a girl feel comfortable, and not too flashy; he doesn't want to attract attention to himself, so the vehicle is probably a large dark sedan. It is probable that his ruse didn't work on everybody and there is at least one woman who didn't fall for it. His ritual was interrupted when he killed Sandra Davis, and because he was not able to get his souvenir from her, it is likely that he will visit her home or any place she frequented. He might approach his victims in areas where young girls frequent, such as churches, high schools, libraries, and coffee shops.

Real-Life Comparisons[]

Wakeland seems to have been inspired by the man convicted of two and suspected of most of The Atlanta Child Murders: Wayne Williams - Both were sexually motivated African-American serial killers who were around the same age when they committed their crimes, worked in music, targeted young African-Americans mainly of one gender (Wakeland targeted African-American teenage girls, while Williams mainly targeted African American boys and adults), and killed victims via various means (including beating, strangling, and stabbing).

He may have also been inspired by Alejandro Henriquez - Both are sexually motivated serial killers who targeted young girls, were superficially charming and managed to attract their victims to secluded places where they would eventually assault them, killed them by beating or strangling them, dumped their bodies in green areas, and were active inside New York State in a relatively small community, with their murders generating wide-spread panic and consternation.

He appears to have been based on Victor Paleologus (who was mentioned and portrayed in the episode) - Both are serial offenders who targeted young women aspiring to be famous (actresses in Paleologus' case, singers in Wakeland's), approached them in public places, lured them to secluded places that posed as 'studios' under the guise of performing their talents, their first attempts were not entirely successful (Paleologus' first five attempts to kill failed, while Wakeland failed to lure his first intended victim and later had to improvise with his first killing), strangled their victims (though Wakeland did so as some form of torture and actually finished his victims by stabbing), and dumped their victims' bodies in grassy areas.

Wakeland is similar to Yevgeny Chuplinsky - Both are serial killers who worked in a profession of security (Wakeland worked as a music studio security guard, Chuplinsky was a retired KGB and Russian police force officer), primarily targeted teenaged girls (though Chuplinsky killed older women too, and Wakeland killed one man incidentally), lured their victims into their cars, killed them by stabbing or strangulation (though Wakeland also shot one and beat another), left symbols at the scenes to divert authorities (Wakeland painted swastikas to blame white supremacists, Chuplinsky left fake Satanic symbols and marks), and created public panics once the murders became known.

Known Victims[]

  • 2007:
    • January 7: Gail (intended; she didn't fall for his ruse)
    • January 19: Keisha Andrews (beaten, strangled, and fatally stabbed)
    • January 30: Vickie Williams (beaten, strangled, and fatally stabbed like the previous victim)
    • February 8: Ken Newcombe and Sandra Davis:
      • Ken Newcombe (Davis's ex-boyfriend; incidental; shot him in the chest with a handgun)
      • Sandra Davis (beaten to death and stabbed post-mortem)
    • February 9-10: Naomi Dade (beaten, presumably strangled, and fatally stabbed)
    • February 10-11: Ally Hadley (attempted, but survived; was drugged and beaten)

Appearances[]

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