The Blue Paint Killer
Encyclopedia
The Blue Paint Killer is a fictional character featured in the third and fifth season of the CBS
drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
. He was portrayed by Taylor Nichols.
is mixed into the paint to slow the drying process. He waits for the female victim to touch the railing and then, with the victim attempting to wash the paint off her hand at the water fountain, he attacks her, binds and gags her, bundles her into a van and drives away from the site. He then stops the van outside an erotic boutique and sketches while his victim pleads for mercy. He draws her while he sits in the driver's seat looking at her through the rear view mirror as she struggles in the back. He then sexually assaults her before strangling her to death. After he kills his victim, he dumps her, in a black garbage bag, around Las Vegas
and sells his sketches to the owner of the boutique.
The exception to this M.O. is Jonathan Avery Haywood III, killed in "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?". As Haywood is mistaken for Kaitlin Rackish, the killer does not assault or sketch him and disposes of the body by feeding it into a wood chipper on campus.
John Mathers was a security guard who worked at WLVU in 1987, when the killings began. He was arrested and convicted in 1988 after one of his hairs was found on Charlene Roth's body. He remains on Death Row
for 15 years, until he is executed for Charlene Roth's murder ("The Execution of Catherine Willows"). However, another victim (Debbie Reston) is found on the day of the execution. Believing Mathers to be a copycat of the real killer, the CSIs tried to find the real culprit; due to a lack of evidence, however, the case goes cold.
Following another pair of murders in "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?", it transpires that Mathers and Greer are partners. They are clearly quite close, with Greer referring to his partner as "JM", although he also says that capture and execution is "the price you pay for being incompetent". It is assumed that Mathers is later posthumously pardoned for Charlene Roth's murder, as Gil Grissom
determines that Kevin Greer is the "alpha male" of the two partners, and Mathers only assaulted the first three victims, although he is not convicted of the murders of Janet Kent and Marcia Reese.
evidence which convicted John Mathers.
for 15 years; in that time Greer stopped his killing spree, so that Mathers would die and take the blame to his grave. On the day of Mathers' execution, Greer kills his fourth victim, Debbie Reston. Although he intends to kill one victim every year on that day, he does not do so in 2003 because unsuccessful LASIK
surgery had temporarily damaged his eyesight (he elected to have the surgery because Debbie Reston broke his glasses in a struggle). The following year, however, he kills Jonathan Haywood, mistaking him for his intended target Kaitlin Rackish because Haywood had long hair and Greer's poor post-LASIK night vision led him to mistake Haywood for a woman. He later tracks Kaitlin down and kills her, but the evidence that he leaves behind at the crime scene (photocopier toner from the WLVU press) leads to his arrest.
After SWAT
raids his house, Greer leaves a phone message saying that he would be waiting for Grissom at the police station. When Grissom and Brass
arrive, Greer greets them as "Gil" and "Jim", and taunts them about their search. Greer then promises to lead the officers to the location of a sixth victim, Brit Mosscoe. However, this is a ruse (Brit Mosscoe is an anagram
of "Miss October", from a calendar hanging in Greer's garage). He asks to go to the bathroom before he leaves, and although an officer escorts him into the facilities, he goes unattended into a cubicle. After Sara Sidle
calls Catherine
to inform the others of the deception, Grissom and Brass break into the cubicle and find Greer with a black plastic bag tied around his head. They tear the bag off and attempted CPR, but Greer is already dead.
Returning to the interrogation room, Grissom finds a drawing which, when folded, reveals a picture of Grissom and the word "goodbye".
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
. He was portrayed by Taylor Nichols.
Victims
- Janet Kent (1987) – an art student who was taught by, and dated, Cody Lewis
- Marcia Reese (1987) – another student at WLVU
- Charlene Roth (1988) – killed by John Mathers, who was executed 15 years later
- Debbie Reston (2002) – killed on the day of John Mathers' execution
- Jonathan Avery Haywood (III) (2004) – killed by mistake due to resemblance to Kaitlin Rackish
- Kaitlin Rackish (2004) – a student of Cody Lewis
Modus operandi
The killer applies blue house paint to railings in the fictional Western Las Vegas University campus; he chooses the railings because they are near a water fountain. Motor oilMotor oil
Motor oil or engine oil is an oil used for lubrication of various internal combustion engines. The main function is to lubricate moving parts; it also cleans, inhibits corrosion, improves sealing, and cools the engine by carrying heat away from moving parts.Motor oils are derived from...
is mixed into the paint to slow the drying process. He waits for the female victim to touch the railing and then, with the victim attempting to wash the paint off her hand at the water fountain, he attacks her, binds and gags her, bundles her into a van and drives away from the site. He then stops the van outside an erotic boutique and sketches while his victim pleads for mercy. He draws her while he sits in the driver's seat looking at her through the rear view mirror as she struggles in the back. He then sexually assaults her before strangling her to death. After he kills his victim, he dumps her, in a black garbage bag, around Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
and sells his sketches to the owner of the boutique.
The exception to this M.O. is Jonathan Avery Haywood III, killed in "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?". As Haywood is mistaken for Kaitlin Rackish, the killer does not assault or sketch him and disposes of the body by feeding it into a wood chipper on campus.
John Mathers
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
for 15 years, until he is executed for Charlene Roth's murder ("The Execution of Catherine Willows"). However, another victim (Debbie Reston) is found on the day of the execution. Believing Mathers to be a copycat of the real killer, the CSIs tried to find the real culprit; due to a lack of evidence, however, the case goes cold.
Following another pair of murders in "What's Eating Gilbert Grissom?", it transpires that Mathers and Greer are partners. They are clearly quite close, with Greer referring to his partner as "JM", although he also says that capture and execution is "the price you pay for being incompetent". It is assumed that Mathers is later posthumously pardoned for Charlene Roth's murder, as Gil Grissom
Gil Grissom
Dr. Gilbert "Gil" Grissom, is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by William Petersen. Grissom was a forensic entomologist and the night-shift supervisor of the Clark County, Nevada CSI team, investigating crimes in and around the city of Las Vegas...
determines that Kevin Greer is the "alpha male" of the two partners, and Mathers only assaulted the first three victims, although he is not convicted of the murders of Janet Kent and Marcia Reese.
Cody Lewis
Lewis (David Lee Smith) is an art professor at WLVU who dated the first victim, Janet Kent, and taught art to Kaitlin Rackish and several of the other victims. He was originally in the frame for the 1987–88 murders but was later exonerated by the same DNADNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
evidence which convicted John Mathers.
Kevin Greer's background and story
Kevin Greer worked at the WLVU's campus press from 1983 to 2004, and was the only employee of the press to have worked there for more than 10 years when he was caught. He also had a job writing explicit comic books for a sex shop, under the pseudonym of Zippy T. He commits the first murder at the approximate age of 16 prior to the events of "The Execution of Catherine Willows", estimated from the show's chronology to be in 1987. In 1988, John Mathers is arrested and placed on death rowDeath row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
for 15 years; in that time Greer stopped his killing spree, so that Mathers would die and take the blame to his grave. On the day of Mathers' execution, Greer kills his fourth victim, Debbie Reston. Although he intends to kill one victim every year on that day, he does not do so in 2003 because unsuccessful LASIK
LASIK
LASIK or Lasik , commonly referred to simply as laser eye surgery, is a type of refractive surgery for correcting myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism...
surgery had temporarily damaged his eyesight (he elected to have the surgery because Debbie Reston broke his glasses in a struggle). The following year, however, he kills Jonathan Haywood, mistaking him for his intended target Kaitlin Rackish because Haywood had long hair and Greer's poor post-LASIK night vision led him to mistake Haywood for a woman. He later tracks Kaitlin down and kills her, but the evidence that he leaves behind at the crime scene (photocopier toner from the WLVU press) leads to his arrest.
After SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
raids his house, Greer leaves a phone message saying that he would be waiting for Grissom at the police station. When Grissom and Brass
Jim Brass
James "Jim" Brass is a fictional character from the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by Paul Guilfoyle. Jim appeared in every episode, with exception of "Felonious Monk" from season two, "Gum Drops" and "The Unusual Suspect" from season six, "Leaving Las Vegas" from season...
arrive, Greer greets them as "Gil" and "Jim", and taunts them about their search. Greer then promises to lead the officers to the location of a sixth victim, Brit Mosscoe. However, this is a ruse (Brit Mosscoe is an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
of "Miss October", from a calendar hanging in Greer's garage). He asks to go to the bathroom before he leaves, and although an officer escorts him into the facilities, he goes unattended into a cubicle. After Sara Sidle
Sara Sidle
Sara Sidle is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by actress Jorja Fox. Sidle is a forensic scientist and one of the core characters of the show, which revolves around a crime scene investigation team from Clark County, Nevada that investigates...
calls Catherine
Catherine Willows
Catherine Willows is a fictional character on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, portrayed by Marg Helgenberger, who has received two Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nominations for the role...
to inform the others of the deception, Grissom and Brass break into the cubicle and find Greer with a black plastic bag tied around his head. They tear the bag off and attempted CPR, but Greer is already dead.
Returning to the interrogation room, Grissom finds a drawing which, when folded, reveals a picture of Grissom and the word "goodbye".
Related pages
- CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationCSI: Crime Scene InvestigationCSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
- List of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation characters