Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Real Cases, Fictional Minds

Episode Title: Lipstick Wheel

You are listening to Real Cases, Fictional Minds, the podcast with your host(s) Jaylli Kushi.

In this episode of Real Cases, Fictional Minds, the Podcast, we discuss: Season 4 Episode 22 titled “The Big Wheel” and how it is based on the real-life case of the Lipstick Killer.

Segment 1: The Big Wheel

This episode starts in Buffalo when the BAU receives a mysterious package containing a DVD from the killer himself. In the video is footage he filmed of one of his murders, he records as he follows a woman into her home and kills her. And over the video, he has added a text message directed at the FBI saying: “Help me". The plea sets the tone for the entire case. The unsub isn't taunting them, he's begging them. The victim in the video is a woman killed quickly and efficiently, with no sign of torture or struggle. The attack is almost mechanical. But the emotional intensity comes from the fact that the unsub filmed the entire thing, suggesting he is compelled to watch his own violence, almost as if he's horrified by himself. As the team digs into the case, more victims emerge. They're all women killed inside their homes, with little to no defensive wounds, meaning he surprises them and finishes the attack rapidly. His murders are methodical, not frenzied, each one carried out with the same precision, rhythm, and emotional detachment, but the most important behavioral clue comes from his filming Style. He records from behind doors, through windows, or from angles that prevent the victims from ever seeing him. is as if he's watching life from the outside, and he will connect, repeating the cycle again and again. The team builds a profile for the unsung, a white male and is 30 to 40s, intelligent but socially isolated, living with high-functioning autism, contributing to the rigid behavioral patterns. He is killing as part of a compulsive cycle triggered by guilt, not anger or sexual gratification. So how did the BAU actually figure out who the answer was? well in the video that he sent them in the beginning of the episode, he accidentally gave them a clue. well entering the victim's home, the camera briefly caught a reflection showing part of his face. The team noticed something unusual, he had a rare eye condition. One of his pupils doesn't respond normally, something called heterochromia with a defect. It was subtle but distinctive. Because it was so rare, the BAU is able to cross-reference medical and local records to narrow down the list of placental suspects. When they found a man who matched the condition, lived in multiple crime scenes, and had a personal history consistent with the behavioral profile, the pieces fell into place. The unsub's name was Vincent Rowling, a solitary man who lives alone, works minimal jobs, and struggles with severe emotional trauma. He also has high-functioning autism, which affects his social interactions and contributes to the way he obsesses over patterns, routine, and repeated imagery. The team learns that years earlier, he witnessed his mother's death in a traumatic accident involving a ferris wheel. That moment became the core of his lifelong emotional pain. They also learn that he is secretly watching over a young blind girl named Stanley, who lives in his neighborhood. She represents the innocence of someone he wants to protect, not harm. His connection to her shows that he isn't a sadist or through a pillar. He's someone trying to balance the violence he can't stop with a desperate wish to do something good. That internal conflict is exactly why he reaches out to the bau. He isn't proud of his crimes. He's terrified of who he becomes when he kills. has been since stress escalates, his patterns become more unstable. He attempts to kill again, but this time he hesitates, and that hesitation is what allows you to track him down. Because Vincent had already been under surveillance and the team had already narrowed down his identity, they were able to track down his movements during that attempt. The moment he dated, they moved in. That hesitation exposed him, both physically and emotionally, and left him vulnerable. The case and tragically, confronted by his guilt, his trauma, and then the inevitability of being caught, Vincent has no path forward. He believes the only way to stop the wheel is the endless repetition of pain. This episode is one of Criminal Minds' most sympathetic killer episodes. Instead of a taunting Serial killer, the team gets a man who is trapped inside his trauma, someone who doesn't want to kill but can escape the cycle. This makes it a powerful episode for comparing the dramatized version of a remorseful killer to the historical case that echoes.

Segment 2: The Lipstick Killer

The person known as the “Lipstick Killer” was William Heirens. He was convicted of 3 murders in Chicago in the mid 1940s. He was given the nickname by the press after a chilling message was found written in lipstick at one of his crime scenes. William George Heirens was born on November 15th, 1928, in Evanston, Illinois. Although he was not abused at home physically, it was emotionally harsh on him. He later said he grew up feeling Unwanted, alone, and he was afraid of confrontation. In school, he was a star student, but he was also socially awkward and had a hard time making friends. Around the age of 13, a burglary habit began, he would break into houses, but rarely steal valuables. The only thing he stole was food and small items because he claimed his family was struggling financially. By the age of 15, he developed a signature burglary style. He would enter residents' houses while they were asleep or away, he would take small items or sometimes nothing at all, he would search almost their entire house, and leave with almost no trace. At 17 years old, he went tothe University of Chicago, while attending classes, he would continue committing burglaries at night. His double life forms an important psychological profile. While he was still in college on June 5th, 1945, he murdered 43-year-old Josephine Ross in her own apartment. She was found with multiple stab wounds, and her head was wrapped in a dress, which was covering some of the wounds. Her apartment had been ransacked, but no valuables were reported stolen. Her wounds had been covered with adhesive tape, and her body was washed in the bathtub. On December 10th, he murdered his second victim named Frances Brown. She was 33 years old, and her murder was the source of the “Lipstick Killer” name. She was found with a gunshot to her head and a stab wound so deep that a bread knife was left embedded in her neck. The killer again washed her body in the bathtub after he killed her. Later, police believed that this indicated remorse. On the wall, the killer wrote his first message in Lipstick, “For heaven's sake, catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself.” That actually reminds me of another real case — the Happy Face Killer. In the early 1990s, a long-haul truck driver named Keith Hunter Jesperson murdered women all across the country while on the road, taking advantage of his constant travel and isolation to hide his crimes for years. After his very first murder, he tried to confess by writing a message on the wall of a rest-stop bathroom, literally describing what he’d done and signing it with a smiley face, which is how he ended up with his infamous nickname. When that didn’t get the attention he wanted, he started mailing long, bragging letters to the media and police, filled with details only the killer could know. His need to be recognized — to make sure everyone knew it was him — is a pretty wild parallel to these cases where killers leave messages behind. Okay, now back to this case, his third victim was his youngest, 6-year-old Suzanna Degan. She was kidnapped from her bedroom, and police found a ransom note that demanded $20,00, and it ordered the parents not to call the police or the FBI. It ended with “Burn this for her safety.” Later, it was found that modern handwriting analysis concluded that Heiren's handwriting did not match the ransom note. The police also found a ladder was placed beneath her window, and a trail of evidence suggested that the killer moved the body parts on foot. When Suzanne was found, she was found dismembered, her body parts placed in 5 separate sewers and catch basins near her home. Back to one of Heiren's first burglaries, he broke into an apartment building and stole small items. Some residents noticed suspicious activity and reported it. A neighbor and building superintendent provided descriptions that matched a suspect seen in multiple burglaries. The police tracked him down to a boarding house in Chicago that he had broken into. On June 26th, 1946, he was arrested for burglary when he was 17 and taken to the police without a lawyer or any parents present, and they held him for several days. While in custody, police began treating him as a prime suspect in the murders. He was interrogated for 6 straight days without access to a lawyer of his parents. He later claimed he was beaten, starved, and prevented from seeing his family. During that time, authorities administered sodiumPentothal, which is a so-called truth serum, to him without a warrant and reportedly without consent from either of his parents. Under the influence, he allegedly spoke of an alternate personality named George, as though that Persona was responsible for the killings. After confessing to the murders, he was put on trial, but shortly before, under pressure from prosecutors and facing the possibility of the death penalty, he pleaded guilty to the three murders. You were sentenced to three life terms for the murders. You served his time at various Illinois state prisons, while in person, he earned a college degree. William remained incarcerated until his death. On March 5th, 2012, at the age of 83, he died at a hospital after being found unresponsive in his cell at Dixon Correctional Center.

Before the police arrested Heirens, they were investigating a man named Richard Russell Thoomas, a drifter already jailed in Arizona for another kidnapping. He was in Chicago and the surrounding area at the time of Suzanna's kidnapping. Police questioned Thomas shortly after she was kidnapped and found dead. While in custody and being interrogated, he confessed to the crimes, but later retracted his confession, claiming that it was coerced. William Heiren's story remains one of the most infamous and controversial in American criminal history, a chilling reminder of how fear and justice can collide in ways that echo for decades.

Segment 3: Compare and Contrast

After looking at both Vincent Rowlings in The Big Wheel and the real-life William Heirens, you can really see how Criminal Minds took inspiration from real events but made it its own story. Both killers had this uncontrollable compulsion and left messages that showed their desperation, but the show added trauma and personal conflict to make it easier to understand why Vincent did what he did. The real case is messier and more confusing — Heirens’ motives and guilt are still debated — but the show turns that into a story that makes sense while still being creepy and serious. It’s a big reminder of how different real life can be from TV, even when the story seems similar.

Sign Off: Some killers hide in fiction, others walk among us… until next time on Real Cases, Fictional Minds

Tangent:

Music Credits:

1. Intro/Outro: Deep Breath by KonovalocMusic
2. Transition: From the Underworld by KonovalocMusic

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