#case fic

It was 8 AM on a Friday, and yet, Reid had never felt more awake. He'd always loved research and puzzles, and the Winchesters gave him plenty of both. The other members of his team didn't share the same sentiment. Morgan was nursing his fourth coffee. When Hotch entered the room, Reid perked up. 

"Good morning, everyone. We'll start things off with Garcia and JJ." Hotch said, taking a seat. He had a large coffee mug in his hand. He wasn't the only one exhausted, clearly.

Garcia pressed a button, and the projector whirred to life. A family photo popped up on the screen. Mary and John Winchester, both with huge smiles as young Dean held baby Sam. The picture of the American Dream.

"Dean and Sam Winchester, born in 1979 and 1983, respectively, to Mary and John Winchester. Mary was a stay-at-home mom, and John worked as a mechanic. Now, before he was a mechanic, John was in the Marines. He served in Vietnam." JJ began explaining, "Their lives appeared relatively normal until Sam was exactly six months old, when Mary died in a house fire. Fire department records show that the fire had no clear cause, but the point of origin was Sam's nursery."

Reid felt the slightest pang of empathy for Dean. Four years old is old enough to be forming memories. That poor kid.

"Fire department records state that when they arrived on scene, Dean, who was four years old, was standing on the front lawn holding Sam. Their father was still inside, trying to save Mary." JJ continued, "Mary's body was so badly burned that they needed dental records to positively identify her. Now, I did manage to speak to an old co-worker of John's, a Mister Mike Guenther. He owned a car garage with John Winchester before Mary's death."

"When I talked to him, he said that the family was completely ordinary up until the fire," JJ explained, the screen now showing the driver's license of Guenther, "Just a month after the fire, John packed up Sam and Dean and left Lawerance."

"It's not unusual for a family to move after a tragedy; it's a classic trauma response," Reid added, resting his chin on his hand. 

JJ nodded, pressing a button on the remote. Two academic transcripts popped up on screen. "Next, I looked into the boys' education. Based on their transcripts, Dean attended sixty-three schools from ages 6-17, when he dropped out. Sam attended a whopping sixty-eight schools from ages 6-18, then moving on to Stanford, with his full ride."

"Changing schools that often... it would certainly prevent them from being able to form friendships. That type of upbringing probably fostered intense codependence between Sam and Dean." Prentiss said, expression showing surprise at how many schools they went to. "What was it that made Dean drop out?"

"I managed to get a copy of an incident report from his last day before he dropped out; I'll put it up on the board..." JJ fiddled with the remote before an incident report popped up on screen. "Dean showed up to school with a deep cut on his inner forearm. It was stitched up, but the stitches broke open during a class. Dean didn't even say anything; one of his teachers caught him in the janitor's closet, sewing it back up himself. An ambulance was called, and Dean's father was informed."

"He didn't ask for help? He just tried to sew it back up himself?" Morgan asked, sounding almost disgusted. What kind of childhood produces a child who would rather bleed out than ask for help?

JJ sighed, nodding. "The incident report said that the teacher 'Found Mr. Winchester attempting to sew up a wound in his forearm with dental floss'. Three days after the incident, the teacher who found him tried to give Dean a card at the hospital, only to find out that Dean had been checked out AMA. Dean and Sam both never showed up at that school again."

Prentiss couldn't help feeling a little sick. "So we're looking at serious neglect on the part of John Winchester, probably abuse, too."

"Why was Child Protective Services never contacted?" Morgan asked, his tone starting to grow almost angry.

"CPS was contacted. I found thirty-three separate reports filed against John Winchester over the years." JJ answered, her voice a little bit smaller.

"Thirty-three?!" Morgan said, genuinely upset. "Why were Sam and Dean never removed from his care?"

Looking genuinely upset, JJ answered. "John always moved them before any formal investigations could happen. He would never tell anyone where he was going next, meaning that there was no way for the different PDs to be on the lookout for him."

A picture of two boys, aged around nine and five, appeared on the screen. Dean and Sam as kids.

JJ took a deep breath. She couldn't imagine what John had put his sons through, and she was the one who scoured the CPS reports. JJ couldn't help but think about what had happened to Sam and Dean that wasn't reported. JJ steeled herself, continuing. "One common theme among the reports is unexplained bruises on the boys. Another thing that was consistent in the reports was motels - it looks like they lived out of them. Based on some of the reports, it seems like John would leave Dean and Sam alone for days, or even weeks at a time. Some of the reports were filed by the motel workers themselves, which is saying something."

Hotch looked disgusted. How could a person do that to their children? Hotch wasn't the only one seething. Morgan looked ready to kill. Thirty-three times, someone reported those children as being in danger, and thirty-three times, nothing changed.

"One more thing in the reports that really stood out to me was this -" JJ said, changing the screen to show a specific CPS report. "- when Sam was in the ninth grade, he wrote a very graphic story about how he, his father, and his brother had hunted down and killed a werewolf. The writing was so graphic that the teacher, Mr. Wyatt, reported it. Multiple reports mention either Sam or Dean writing in extremely graphic detail about hunting or killing monsters."

Prentiss stared at the screen in abject horror.

"As we all know, at eighteen, Sam gets himself a full ride to Stanford and moves away." JJ finished, "Moving away from their education - Dean was actually arrested when he was sixteen."

A mugshot of a boy, about sixteen, and so obviously Dean Winchester, pops up on the screen. 

"He was arrested after getting caught trying to steal peanut butter and bread from a convenience store," JJ stated. "The officers who arrested Dean contacted John, and John told them to quote, 'let him rot in jail'. So, Dean was taken to a boys' home, run by this man - Sonny Michaels."

An image of a man, his arm around Dean's shoulder, appears on screen. Dean actually looks happy.

"Dean was in Sonny's care for two months. During that time, Dean became a solid A and B student, he made friends, and he joined the wrestling team." JJ said. Another image, this one of a high school wrestling team, popped up on screen. "I actually managed to contact Sonny. He was surprisingly happy to talk about Dean. Sonny said that Dean was his greatest success story, and that he was incredibly proud of him. Sonny is actually the one who petitioned the court to drop the shoplifting charges against Dean."

"If his life with Sonny was this good, why would Dean leave?" Reid asked.

"I asked Sonny that same question. Sonny told me that Dean's father showed up one night, completely out of the blue, and told Dean he had a job to do. Sonny said that it seemed like Dean didn't want to go, but he went to be with his brother." JJ explained. 

A few moments of silence passed before JJ said, "That's everything Garcia and I could dig up on their childhoods."

"Thank you, JJ. Anyone have anything else to add?" Hotch asked, glancing around the table.

Garcia shyly raised her hand, "I just want to say, these boys never had a chance."

The room quieted at that. Garcia wasn't wrong. Neither Sam nor Dean ever had the chance to learn to be normal.

"Good morning, everyone," Hotch said, briskly walking into the briefing room. He looked unusually tense as he set down a large cardboard box in the center of the table. "Let's get started. I'm sure you've all heard of Sam and Dean Winchester."

Every person at the table tensed slightly. Nearly everyone in the FBI had heard of them. Just a few months ago, the brothers had escaped Green River County Detention Center.

Reid spoke up first, "I thought that was Henriksen's case?"

Hotch nodded, taking his seat. "It was. That is, until the Winchesters escaped Green River. Henricksen thought that Dean was responsible for the deaths of two inmates - but they were both heart attacks. There's no forensic evidence supporting his claims. Director Khan thinks Henriksen is compromised, too close to the case. He thinks that Henriksen is allowing personal bias to override fact."

Rossi hums. He's seen what happens when agents allow their own biases about a case to override facts and evidence firsthand. Hell, he's done it himself a few times.

"So, what's in the box?" Morgan asks, breaking the brief silence after Hotch finished speaking.

"During the three days the Winchesters were incarcerated, Henriksen had their vehicle. He seized everything inside. These -" Hotch says, beginning to spread the contents of the box across the table. It's dozens of passports, driver's licenses, and credit cards, "- are just some of what Henriksen found inside. There was also a massive collection of weapons and occult-type items."

Garcia silently stared at the pile in disdain. The paper trail on those would be insane. The others were similarly surprised at the sheer volume of false identification and credit cards. Reid's eyes flickered over them carefully, taking in the names, dates of birth, and pictures on them. 

Hotch cleared his throat, drawing the room's attention away from the cards and back to him. "We all know that Henriksen fell into a bias. To avoid doing the same, I'm going to have us build up the profile on the Winchesters a little differently from usual. I'll give you all a basic briefing on the Winchesters. The very bare bones, the necessities to know about them. We're going to go through their lives chronologically and build the profile from there. I know that it's unorthodox, but we cannot afford to contradict ourselves over and over again. We'll look at independent events, then bring them all together to see the big picture. Understand?" 

JJ and Prentiss share a look. Unorthodox indeed, but if that's what it'll take to catch a pair of murderers, that's what they'll do. The rest of the team appear to react similarly.

"Alright, go get some coffee. We'll meet back here in fifteen for the briefing." Hotch said firmly.

-

Reid already had a cup of coffee that morning, but another one couldn't hurt, especially with the case the team had now. Morgan was sitting on his left, nursing his own cup. The rest of the team looked similarly apprehensive. Who wouldn't be? These boys have made the FBI's Most Wanted List more than once.

Everyone could tell that this case had Hotch rattled; even JJ, who wasn't even a profiler, could tell that Hotch was unsettled. She couldn't help but worry, just a little. Hotch was one of the best profilers that JJ had ever known (other than Rossi or Gideon - not that she'd ever say that to either of them), and if this unsettled him... she didn't want to think about it.

When Hotch entered the room again, Garcia straightened up in her seat. She handed Hotch the remote to the projector. Hotch nodded at her, murmuring, "Thanks, Garcia."

Hotch pressed a button, and two mugshots appeared on the projector behind him. "These are our suspects. On the left, Dean Winchester, born January 24th, 1979. He was arrested for credit card fraud, grave desecration, armed robbery, kidnapping, and multiple counts of murder. And on the right, Samuel Winchester, born May 2nd, 1983. He was originally arrested in connection with his brother, but was later arrested on suspicion of armed robbery, kidnapping, grave desecration, and murder."

Prentiss raised her eyebrows, but didn't say a word. 

"On November 2nd, 1983, the Winchester family's house burned down, killing Mary Winchester." Hotch continues. The images on the screen change to the burnt-out skeleton of a house next to an old family picture of a blonde woman with green eyes holding a baby. "After Mary's death, John Winchester - Sam and Dean's father- uprooted the family. John moved the boys around constantly for their entire youth, never staying anywhere longer than two months. Dean doesn't finish high school, dropping out at 17. However, Sam manages to get himself a full-ride at Stanford, where he studied pre-law."

The images change again, this time an image of the younger Winchesters' student ID from Stanford. Morgan can't help but whistle, muttering, "Where did it all go wrong for that kid? He had a full ride to Stanford."

"I'm getting to that," Hotch said, flipping the screen again. Another burnt-out building appears on screen. "By all accounts, during his years at Stanford, Sam was incredibly well-adjusted. He had excellent grades, he had friends, he was stable, and he had a girlfriend. Then, on November 2nd, 2005, his campus dorm burns down, killing his girlfriend, Jessica Moore."

Reid spoke up, "November 2nd? That's the exact same day that their mother died, isn't it?"

Hotch nodded, "The day before the fire, Dean was arrested for impersonation of a federal officer, but he escaped custody after a bogus 9-1-1 call that was most likely made by his brother. After the fire, Sam dropped out of Stanford. He told his friends he needed a break after Jessica's death."

JJ nodded along, feeling the slightest pang of sympathy for Sam. 

"A few months after he dropped out, Sam and Dean are back on the radar again in St. Louis. Two women were raped, beaten, and killed," Hotch explained, the image on the screen flashing to crime scene photos, grisly and bloody, "Dean was caught torturing a third woman, Rebecca Warren. Dean managed to flee the scene after injuring two S.W.A.T. agents, but was later found shot in the chest, dead, at the crime scene. The body was identified as Dean Winchester and buried under that name."

"So, Dean... died?" Prentiss asked, tilting her head.

"Not quite," Hotch said, the mugshots flashing on the screen again. "About a year after the St. Louis murders, Dean is caught standing over the body of Karen Giles."

An image of a woman pops up on the screen, next to a picture from the medical examiner of her corpse.

"Wait, if Dean didn't die in St. Louis, who was buried there?" Morgan asked, sipping his coffee again.

"One of the many mysteries of the Winchester case," Hotch said flatly, continuing his briefing. "Sam was arrested shortly after Dean."

"Karen Giles' husband, Anthony, was killed in his office a few days before Karen." Hotch continued, "During the interrogation, against the advice of his lawyer, Dean chose to confess. During his filmed confession, he actually blamed the Giles murders on a 'vengeful spirit' and claimed that the St. Louis murders were committed by a 'shapeshifter who looked like him'. More importantly, while Dean was 'confessing', Sam managed to escape custody."

When Hotch mentioned Dean blaming the murders on supernatural creatures, Prentiss briefly thought that the boys may be delusional, but upon learning that Sam escaped during the confession, that thought disappeared. "So, most likely, they aren't delusional killers. They seem way too organized and strategic for those to be signs of a genuine delusion."

Reid nodded, "I agree. It's highly unusual for genuinely delusional killers to work in a team, let alone a team this organized."

"Yes, it's likely that Dean was saying that as a distraction for Sam to be able to escape." Hotch explained, "After Sam's escape, the details get a little hazy. Detective Pete Sheridan took Dean from the station without orders to transfer him. Somehow, there is an eventual altercation between Sheridan, the Winchester boys, and Diana Ballard, Sheridan's partner. During this altercation, Sheridan was shot and killed, and the Winchesters escape. It's still unclear how that situation unfolded."

Rossi's eyes narrow. As if Dean Winchester miraculously coming back from the dead wasn't enough, he and his brother were regular Houdinis.

"It's after Baltimore that Henriksen was initially brought in. He first made contact with them after they took control of a hostage situation in a Milwaukee bank. During this time, the Winchesters killed two people." Hotch said, changing the images to show the body of an African-American man and the body of a young caucasian woman. "The woman was found with part of her arm skinned. The coroner ruled that the skin was removed pre-mortem."

Garcia gasped, which Hotch ignored, continuing to speak. "SWAT was sent in, but the Winchesters managed to subdue two agents and steal their uniforms to flee undetected."

"I'm sorry, but they managed to subdue two fully armed SWAT agents?" Morgan asked, genuinely surprised at the level of combat skill the brothers seemed to have.

"Yes, they did. The agents were knocked unconscious and restrained, but were left alive." Hotch responded. "And finally, Sam and Dean Winchester were arrested after tripping a motion-sensor alarm at a museum in Little Rock. They were arrested and incarcerated in the Green River County Detention Center. Three days after their incarceration, they escaped. Any questions?"

"Yeah, a lot," Morgan said sarcastically, finishing off his cup of coffee.

"The identities on these cards are what you're all going to be responsible for. We need to figure out where they went and what they did under these names. I'll assign each of you a set to work through. Unfortunately, we aren't sure if all of these aliases were actually used, so some of these are basically useless. However, this is the best start we'll get. " Hotch explained, getting nods from those sat around the table, "Garcia will be there to help you with any tech support you'll need. Prentiss, can I get you to dive into Sam Winchester's time at Stanford? Thank you. I'll also need someone to work with Garcia on investigating their childhood more thoroughly. JJ, you'll work on their adolescence with Garcia."

The team steeled themselves for the hours and hours of research they were all sure to have. 

"Alright. If anyone has questions, come see me. We'll reconvene with what we learn on Friday." Hotch finished.

One by one, the members of the BAU filed out of the conference room. This was just the beginning.