5 Unsubs Who Got Away in Criminal Minds Who Make Fans Furious

Criminal Minds has aired over 300 episodes in 15+ years. In that time, only a handful of unknown subjects, dubbed UNSUBs, avoided capture by the elite Behavioral Analysis Unit. Criminal Minds regularly depicts some of the most heinous crimes on television, easily topping even the most brutal episodes of other similar series with the same genre and format. The brutality of its UNSUBs makes the capture of them that much more satisfying.

On the rare occasions where the UNSUBs are not captured, fans are left with a lingering sense of dread. However, the nature of an unsolved case is a grim reality for criminal investigators. These 5 UNSUBs are still left lurking in the shadows of Criminal Minds.

Shane Wyland Eluded Capture in “Into the Woods”

“Into the Woods” follows the BAU as they take on the case of a pedophile and serial killer who uses the sprawling Appalachian Trail as his hunting ground. This UNSUB has claimed 12 victims by the time the BAU is brought onto the case, making him a major threat. The sheer length and breadth of his hunting ground make catching him a monumental task, but he has kidnapped two children, so the motivations are high. The UNSUB is revealed to be a sadistic pedophile named Shane Wyland, and he hides brother and sister Robert and Ana Brooks in an old mine shaft he has turned into a makeshift camp. Fans are heartbroken as he molests Robert, and the scared siblings make a plan of escape that Ana uses next time they’re mobile. The police later recover Robert when Wyland trades him temporarily to an old friend for drugs and cash.

While the children are recovered alive, the UNSUB himself disappears back onto the trail and hasn’t been seen since. With Wyland ill from a degenerative knee ailment that impaired his ability to navigate the trail, it’s entirely possible that he has since died, and his body has not been found. He is mentioned again in Season 12 when dismembered corpses are found on the Appalachian Trail, but he is not the UNSUB responsible for those victims. An UNSUB as brutal and sociopathic as Shane Wyland being left to harm more children is a horrific thought, and the BAU finally catching him in an episode of Criminal Minds: Evolution would be a fitting and overdue resolution.

The Mountain Man in “Blood Relations” Remains at Large

“Blood Relations” was directed by series star Matthew Gray Gubler, who plays the genius SSA Dr. Spencer Reid. Gubler’s episodes are known to include classic Gothic elements, and “Blood Relations” is no exception. The episode sees a serial killer targeting two rural West Virginia clans with generations of bad blood between them. Using barbed wire, the UNSUB kills its victims in brutal fashion and is sowing seeds of discord all over the small town, even evoking belief in an old local legend of a “Mountain Man”. When the BAU begins investigating, they uncover a shocking secret about the UNSUB’s origins.

The elders from the clans, Malachi Lee and Cissy Howard, are revealed to be siblings and incestuous lovers. Cissy gave birth to their unnamed son in the woods with the help of a hermit medicine woman. The woman took in the boy after Cissy abandoned him due to the circumstances of his conception and his resulting birth defects. The unnamed UNSUB learned the truth about his birth parents before his adoptive mother died, and he began to target the Howards and the Lees, who are his estranged family members. The BAU rescues his final intended victim, his mother Cissy Howard, but the Mountain Man remains uncaptured. He is last seen in Kentucky at the end of “Blood Relations”, robbing a couple but leaving them alive. The fact that the Mountain Man was never captured frustrated fans, especially since he killed his victims in such a brutal fashion.

The Man With the Skull Tattoo Haunts William Taylor in “Awake”

In “Awake,” the BAU team is on the hunt for a brutal serial killer using various torture techniques on his victims. After acquiring more pieces of the puzzle, the team identifies the UNSUB as William Taylor. Taylor is abducting commuters and torturing them for information on his missing daughter. Taylor’s daughter Tatiana was abducted from his car while he slept at a rest stop. All Taylor remembers is a man with a skull tattoo on his hand knocking on his window moments prior, telling him his car taillight was out. Racked with guilt, Taylor now forces his victims to stay awake for long stretches while he interrogates them, believing they could be the man he saw.

A shocking twist at the end of “Awake” reveals that Taylor had recently learned that Tatiana’s body was found in the desert, and that he is suffering from sleep deprivation. This can lead to hallucinations and delusions, which William experiences by believing his daughter is still missing and not deceased. Sleep deprivation brings into question the validity of his beliefs about the man he believes took his daughter. Taylor was shot and killed by the BAU, and dies with the delusion that his daughter is still alive. The ending scene sees a man with a skull tattoo at another rest stop as he interacts with a sleeping mother and daughter in the same way he interacted with the Taylor family. This man is never seen again, but the implication that Taylor was right all along and his daughter’s killer is still out there leaves Criminal Minds fans’ stomachs tied in knots.

Marcus Talbot Hid a Secret from the BAU in “Out of the Light”

Marcus Talbot was an original suspect in “Out of the Light”. Talbot worked as an art teacher at the local art school and had a history of peeping on teenage girls in similar settings, as well as photographing them. Talbot even had history with the abducted teenager Marcy Owens, as he worked at a summer camp that she had attended. His previous perverse behavior made Talbot the prime suspect when the bodies of assaulted and murdered teenage girls were uncovered, as well as a live victim who died from her injuries in a local hospital.

Talbot even had history with the abducted teenager Marcy Owens, as he worked at a summer camp that she had attended. Talbot clearly had secrets, and gradually more and more evidence was uncovered that pointed to him as the killer and captor of a missing teenager the BAU was hoping to find alive. However, not all of this evidence fits with the behavior of Marcus Talbot. Soon the BAU realized Talbot was the wrong predator they were looking for, and was being framed by the true UNSUB.

The true UNSUB was revealed to be a truly sick man named Robert Bremmer. He was killed by SSA Aaron Hotchner when the BAU came to arrest him, and his teenage victim was recovered alive. This left Talbot off the hook for the murders he was being framed for. However, this doesn’t mean that Talbot was an innocent man. The closing scene of “Out of the Light” sees Talbot developing photos in his darkroom of a captive Marcy, presumably taken by Bremmer. Talbot’s access to these photos implies that he and Bremmer were working together in some capacity. With this new knowledge, Talbot got away with some truly heinous crimes. With Bremmer dead, Talbot is free to continue to indulge in his heinous behavior, leaving fans irate as Talbot slipped through the BAU’s clutches.

Taras Yudin Escaped Justice for Abducting and Torturing a Politician’s Wife in “Rock Creek Park”

Taras Yudin is not a typical Criminal Minds UNSUB. Russian mobsters Taras Yudin and Roman Azarof were hired to abduct Sophie Troy, the wife of Congressman Benjamin Troy. After abducting her, they ask for a hefty ransom, and the BAU are put on the case to help recover Sophie Troy alive. The BAU considers several suspects, including political enemies of Congressman Troy. The BAU correctly identifies the Russian Mob as being involved in the kidnapping plot. However, they were acting at the behest of the Congressman’s own mother, Dinah Troy.

Dinah Troy hired Russian mobsters Roman Azarof and Taras Yudin to kidnap Sophie Troy in order to boost her son’s popularity and political capital. Roman and Taras were in it for the money and had no qualms about brutalizing Sophie and cutting off her ear to prove to her husband and the FBI that they were serious. When the BAU corners Dinah, she gives up Roman and Taras when the BAU threatens her son’s career aspirations. Taras then turns on Roman and murders him after he learns Roman assaulted their housekeeper, Fana, with whom Taras was romantically involved. When the FBI swoops in to save Sophie, Taras escapes and is never seen again. While “Rock Creek Park” is a great Criminal Minds episode, Taras’s escaping justice is frustrating and makes the episode feel unfinished.