This ‘Criminal Minds’ Character’s Tragic Arc Is Connected to a Devastating, Yet Disturbing 76-Year-Old True Story

Many of the killers in Criminal Minds’ wide repertoire are easy to despise, from criminals who abduct children to sexual sadists who relish inflicting pain. However, occasionally we meet unsubs who earn our reluctant empathy. Some are trapped by the ghosts of their traumatic past, while others don’t quite understand what they are doing due to mental illnesses. One of the most tragic cases in Criminal Minds appeared in Season 7, Episode 3, titled “Dorado Falls,” where we meet war-veteran-turned-mass-murderer Luke Dolan (Max Martini). While he takes the lives of over 13 people and takes hostage of over 6, Dolan is a horrifying case of reacting to circumstances out of his control. What makes this case even more disturbing is the connotations it has to real life, echoing some of the details of America’s first mass shooting.

This ‘Criminal Minds’ Unsub Has a Truly Tragic Backstory

During this Criminal Minds episode, the BAU are called in after a massacre of six people in an office building, including the CEO and six employees. Throughout their investigation, they realize that their unsub, Dolan, had gone through a car accident that triggered his Capgras Syndrome. The syndrome causes Dolan to believe that his loved ones are being replaced by impostors, and upon seeing them, he doesn’t recognize them. Dolan also has a background as a war veteran, where he was a specialist soldier in the Navy SEALs and was a part of a buried covert operation dubbed “Dorado Falls.” During the operation, two civilian children witnessed the attack, and Dolan was ordered by his superiors to kill them, leaving an indelible trauma imprinted on his psyche.

As such, after the car accident, Dolan’s Capgras Syndrome led him to believe his wife and daughter had been abducted due to his association with Dorado Falls. As such, he hunts down everyone related to the operation, including the CEO, who used to be his team leader. During this period, Dolan killed over 13 innocent people under this belief, including his parents, whom he didn’t recognize, and tortured them trying to glean information out of them. By the end of the episode, Dolan launches an attack on the bureau, which the BAU manage to quell by gaining his trust, covering his eyes, and letting him hear his wife’s voice. But when his daughter runs into the room, he removes his blindfold, immediately doesn’t recognize them, and is arrested, likely fated to spend his days in a psychiatric facility, all while still under the harrowing belief that his loved ones had been abducted and replaced.

This ‘Criminal Minds’ Unsub Is Similar to a Real-Life Mass Murderer

While the team behind Criminal Minds have never stated this episode was inspired by a true story, there is a real-life case that has some jarring similarities, making Dolan’s story all the more brutal. In fact, its real-life counterpart is what is widely considered the U.S.’s first mass shooting, where a “lone wolf” type figure massacred a number of people in a single day and location. In 1949, Howard Unruh murdered 13 people and injured three others in a 20-minute armed rampage in what would be called the “Walk of Death.” He was a World War II veteran who cited petty squabbles with his neighbors as his reason for the killing spree, but was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and never went to trial. Instead, he lived out the rest of his days in maximum security at Trenton State Hospital.

The idea of a war veteran going on a killing spree due to a mental health condition is the major parallel between these two cases. However, Unruh’s diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia was essentially the go-to throwaway diagnosis at the time, as psychiatrists couldn’t exactly pinpoint the condition. While Capgras Syndrome is more of a concrete diagnosis in Criminal Minds, it has been linked to schizophrenia, and from the episode, we see how paranoid Dolan is, strengthening the parallels between the cases. But, it is important to note that many people who experience Capgras Syndrome don’t necessarily become violent or homicidal — Dolan was simply the perfect storm due to his military training and PTSD. As such, the real-world connotations of this case make the details even more devastating.

What Makes This ‘Criminal Minds’ Case Tragic?

Before jumping into the meat of Dolan’s backstory, we should remember that he took the lives of 13 innocent people — lost lives, and the impact on their loved ones will always be the real tragedy of any Criminal Minds case. At the same time, it is hard not to sympathize with Dolan’s plight, as he is reacting to external and internal forces that are completely out of his conscious control. This massacre is borne out of paranoia, trauma, and his elite training, not malicious intent. It’s a case where everyone is a victim in some way or another; one where we can’t leave feeling like the BAU saved the day, especially as it is implied that Dolan leaves his family scared and alone.

On top of the uncontrollable aspect of Dolan’s circumstances, it is a reminder of how many war veterans are given little to no support after they have been discharged. It is clear he never truly recovered from the PTSD of killing two children, not that he was allowed to mention it, since they buried the details of that classified operation. Without the proper psychological support, Dolan was essentially a ticking time bomb as he tried to assimilate back into society. Dolan’s mental health is a stark reminder of these failures in the system, leading to extreme and devastating results. Between the real-life associations with the first mass shooting and the uniquely tragic circumstances around Dolan’s backstory, this Criminal Minds case truly shakes us to our core as we close the file with no winning side in sight.