"What should I tell them? Anything? What have I got to gain? They're pinning us for seven murders, Amber..."
Anthony Paul "Tony" Canardo is a serial rapist, abductor, and the submissive member of a two-person killing team led by his wife, Amber Canardo. He appeared in Season Two of Criminal Minds.
Background
Tony's mother was a drug addict who gave him up when he was four. She later got him back when she became clean, but was incarcerated for prostitution when he was eleven. After that, he bounced around under the care of Social Services, growing up to become a criminal (exactly what he was convicted of is never specified). After being released from prison on March 26, 2003, Tony met a woman named Amber Brooks, married her, and became her new submissive partner in the murders of young girls (Amber's first partner had died, possibly by her hand). During a stint in jail, he met Joey Davin, who would later, probably unknowingly, aid him and Amber in their murders by disposing their victims' cars outside state lines. He and Joey worked together at a car body shop until they were both fired; Tony because he had too much control over Joey and because he wasn't very competent.
The Perfect Storm
Tony first comes on the BAU's radar after Joey is shot and killed when they come to his house to question him about his involvement. When Garcia goes through prison records, she learns that the two were cell mates. When Morgan goes to talk to him outside his and Amber's home, Tony assaults him with a baseball bat, but is subdued. In custody, Tony remains defensive when questioned by Hotch (who, along with the rest of the BAU, believed him to be the leader and Joey to have been the submissive) and denies killing anyone, not denying that Joey was involved. They send Amber, who has feigned being physically abused by Tony, to the room to get him to talk. Inside, they subtextually argue about the murders and the fact that Tony was only part of the latter ones (Amber had her current boyfriend aid her in the killings before she met and married Tony). On her instruction, he (falsely) tells about a storage space to which Joey allegedly brought the victims.
While Hotch and Morgan went to the storage space, Amber leaves to finish off their last victim. When Elle goes through Tony's background, she is surprised that he is the dominant. Gideon and Reid go through video footage of Amber talking to Tony and the way he watches the crime scene photos. Their suspicions are confirmed when Garcia calls, having separated the audio on one of their torture videos, and tells them that Amber can be heard giving Tony instructions and verbally abusing the victim. Gideon confronts Tony, who initially remains adamant that he and Joey were the killers. He caves when he learns that the DNA evidence proves that Amber had killed men before they met and the fact that she is letting Tony take the fall for the murders and tells them about the cabin in the woods where they kept their victims. Tony then went to prison for his involvement in the murders.
Modus Operandi
Tony and Amber would abduct their victims together. After taking the victims to the cabin, they would torture them with beatings, burning, bludgeoning, cuts, and flagellation. Tony would also rape them (since Amber was physically incapable of doing so herself) with her videotaping him and giving him instructions from behind the camera. After Amber killed the girls by strangling them, initially manually with her boyfriend, but then by ligature when she was working for Tony, he would dispose the bodies semi-naked and placed in demeaning positions in the wilderness after wrapping the victims' pelvises and chests in colored plastic film. Tony and Amber then had an unknowing Joey dispose the victims' cars.
Profile
Tony was initially profiled to be the leader of the team, but it is gradually revealed that, beneath his "tough guy" exterior, he is actually deeply insecure, especially in his relationship with Amber. The BAU realized that he wasn't the leader in part because of his upbringing, during which he'd had absolutely no security or stability and shouldn't therefore have the confidence to commit serial murder.
Known Victims
Note: All the women on this list were abducted by Tony and Amber, then killed by the latter. Tony raped and tortured them and disposed of the bodies.
- Unspecified date in 2004: Amanda
- Unspecified dates in 2004 to 2006:
- Abbey Roxford
- Madison B. (full surname unrevealed)
- 2006:
- August: Bonnie Mossenberg
- October 1: Laura Clemensen (killed by Amber on October 6)
- October 5: Frank Clemensen (Laura's father; indirectly killed; suffered a fatal heart attack after watching the DVD of Laura's torture)
- October 6: Tiffany Spears (abducted and presumably raped; was rescued the next day after his arrest)
- October 7: Derek Morgan (assaulted with a baseball bat)
Appearances