FBI season 8, episode 18 focused on Maggie, Scola, and Eva as they investigated multiple murders of women and their children. The details match a case that occurred 24 years prior, a case her friend Peter personally worked on. Was this a copycat, or did the South Shore Ripper actually come back?
In this case, a mother and son were abducted before being held captive and starved before being stabbed multiple times with a specific type of blade. When Maggie told Peter about the murders, he was adamant that his work with the Behavioral Analysis Unit led to the correct suspect, Howard James Metcalf.
How did the team catch a killer on FBI season 8 episode 18?
Metcalf had set fire to the house where he committed the murders in an effort to get rid of evidence. He then killed himself in prison, taking information about the case to the grave. Maggie tried to get Peter to consider the option that he was either wrong about the case or there was a copycat. It did end up in an argument, but they still worked to figure out who was comitting the current crimes.
They spoke with Abel Shaw, who had been the only survivor of Metcalf’s to live his life. He appeared haunted by what happened and only told them he could remember a fishy smell. The team looked back at old suspects, believing they found one who had dated Metcalf’s first victim and could be the killer.
However, upon making their arrest, Maggie determined he was playing mind games with them and wasn’t their actual killer. Maggie and Peter made a new profile of their suspect, but it still went back to Metcalf.
Maggie slowly began to figure out that whoever the killer was, they felt shame and remorse, burying their victims instead of discarding them like trash. They knew intimate details only the previous killer knew, and Maggie had a breakthrough. She realized Abel was the one actually committing the murders.
Abel had watched his mother die, but the real choice to make was whether the son would be the one to kill her. He eventually did commit the crime and had been triggered when his wife told him they were having a baby, which was a boy. Abel was attempting to recreate what happened to him, finding a boy who would be willing to stab his mother to death.
He had abducted a mother and son right before being apprehended but refused to tell them where. However, Maggie got him to talk by suggesting that he couldn’t go on without knowing if his plan worked. This allowed them to find the victims in the back of a van, finding them both barely conscious but alive. The little boy could not go through with hurting his mom, and they were both rescued.
This was an interesting route to take after we last saw Peter when Maggie lost her sister. Even though they both had an argument about their own perspectives on the case, they were able to get through it in order to find their killer and save lives.
FBI airs Mondays on CBS at 9/8c. More episodes are available on Paramount+.
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