the great war, spencer reid [ 2 ]

006. hashtag

"Local teenager Tara Harris found murdered inside her home last night." Penelope states.

"Looks like a blitz blow to the forehead, then the unsub stabbed Tara before slitting her throat." JJ says.

"And he didn't stop there. He then used her phone to upload that image to all of her social media sites." Hotch states.

"He staged a selfie?" Derek asks.

"Tara took a lot of her own selfies. Maybe the unsub's creating images to mock her." Spencer suggests.

"Maybe he's got something against vanity." JJ says.

"Which could mean he has self image problems." Bedelia says.

"He feels ignored in his every day life." Spencer adds.

"What if it was Tara that ignored him? This could be his retribution for rejection." Rossi says.

"All I know is if this guy's into selfies, we've got a larger problem on our hands. They're all the rage these days." Penelope says.

"Ugh. I know. CNN even does a column dedicated to selfies of the week." JJ scoffs.

"It's all I can do to stop Meg from posting them." Kate says. "I mean, don't people understand the dangers of putting their lives out there like that for everyone to see?"

"If everybody's doing it, the unsub only has to look to the internet for a sea of potential new victims." Spencer says.

"Unless Tara was just a one off, this could be personal. What makes you think it'll go serial?" Derek asks.

"Show him." Hotch says and Penelope shows the tweet.

"He issued a taunt." Derek says.

"He thinks he's just getting started." Hotch says.

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"Post has gone viral. It's already received over a million hits and retweets." Penelope informs.

"That's exactly what the unsub wants." Hotch says.

"The "Fear me" taunt certainly speaks to the killer's arrogance." JJ says.

"Yeah, or vulnerable narcissism. He feels like crap so he boasts to the world how great he is." Kate says.

"Recent studies have linked the excessive taking of selfies to narcissism, addiction, even mental illness." Spencer says. "Maybe the unsub had a misconstrued bond with Tara."

"He wouldn't be the only one. I've gone over her subscriber numbers. She has over 200,000 followers." Penelope states.

"Isn't that a lot for a 16 year old?" Rossi asks.

"Yeah. It's massive. She was on her way to iCelebrity status." Penelope says.

"Yeah, what was she doing to get all those followers?" Kate questions.

"She posted pictures daily, videos daily. Mostly high energy, long winded rants. She know how to toe the line between right and raunchy." Penelope says.

"Maybe the unsub was attracted to her. Stabbing is typically a substitution for sex." Bedelia says.

"Well, let's not rule out jealousy. There's an unfortunate number of people who attach their self worth to the amount of friends following them online." JJ says.

"I don't think the blow to the mirror was coincidental. I think she was looking at herself when she was attacked." Hotch says.

"He's commenting on her vanity, which explains the selfie. He's making a statement." Rossi says.