Bill Ryan

Minor Character: Las Vegas
Name	Dr. Bill Ryan
Gender	Male
Family	Unnamed mother (deceased)
City	Las Vegas
Occupation	Oncologist
Pathology	Serial Killer Angel of Death Stalker
Status	Institutionalized
Portrayed By	William Ragsdale
First Appearance	Tressed to Kill

"You think you know me! You don't know me at all."

Dr. Bill Ryan, a.k.a. "The Shear Stalker", is an Angel of Death-type serial killer and stalker, appearing in season twelve of CSI:Crime Scene Investigation.

Background

Not a lot of details are revealed about Ryan's early life other than that he worked as an oncologist. While he was interning, he killed his cancer-sick mother with a morphine overdose to put her out of her misery. Finishing his medical training, he became an oncologist. One of his patients was Lucinda Kemp, an aging, cancer-sick celebrity who looked a lot like his mother. When he treated her, memories of treating his mother returned to him, which is why he became heartbroken when the treatment ended and she began hiring a wig maker, Jeffrey Fitzgerald, to make wigs for her. Bill then started sneaking up on young women in public places and cutting off lengths of their hair, eventually taking hairs from a total of 26 women. Once he had enough hairs to make short braids, he became a serial killer, recreating his victims in his mother's image and killing them the same way he killed her.

Season 12

In the episodes previous to Tressed to Kill, it is implied that he selected his targets during that time; as several women filed reports of their hair being cut off.

Tressed to Kill

After Dr. Ryan treated Lucinda Kemp, her appearance and condition triggered in his mind the memories of when he murdered his mother with an overdose of Morphine. He decided to label his victims before harming them, he would stalk his victims that closely resemble his mother. Then at the opportune time he would cut their hair and escape before they would notice some of their hair was gone. After he had gathered enough hair from women he would find one of his victims, Eva Byron was the first, then he would murder her. He beat her up, gouged her eyes out, so she couldn't see, dressed her up in his mother's old clothes, dyed her hair blonde, put make up on her and play a 1970s love song in the background. He then killed her by giving her an overdose of morphine and left a short braid of the hairs he took from the women whose hair he cut in her throat.

Morgan Brody and Sara Sidle met with him for information about Lucinda Kemp, they had no idea of his real intentions at this time; he put on a very convincing act of sympathizing with Morgan when she said she was scared of the killer. After this he carried on with his next victim, who was Paula Bingham, after he blinded her, she managed to escape and call D.B. Russell on speed dial. Bill quickly stomped on the phone, dragged Paula to the bathroom and slit her throat, he left immediately as he knew the Police were coming, he did not have time to dress her and pose her and he left the scene in a mess. He left a key piece of DNA and the CSI team managed to track him. Sara and Morgan confronted him again in the hospital, he tried to run but he was caught by the Police. When he was interrogated he felt no remorse and claimed he was doing it for his mother. He was then put in an institution due to his mental state.

Modus Operandi

"You are a very meticulous man, Dr. Ryan."
"Kind of a momma's boy, actually."
-Sara Sidle and D.B. Russell confronting Bill.

During his serial killings, Bill targeted slender brunette Caucasian women in their 20s, who were among the victims who had their hair cut by him. After breaking into their apartments, he would subdue them and tie them to a chair; his third victim was drugged with suxamethonium chloride. Once Bill had them under his control, he would blind them somehow. Eva Byron's eyes were gouged out post-mortem, while Joyce Debernardi, and presumably Paula Bingham, were blinded with ammoniac. Bill would then change their appearance so they resembled his mother by dyeing their hair blonde, attaching hair extensions made from lengths of Lucinda Kemp's old hair onto it, applying lipstick and mascara to their faces, and dressing them in vintage 1970s dresses and sunglasses. He would then kill them by injecting an overdose of morphine into their carotid arteries. His signature was leaving a short braid of the strains of hair he cut off from all of his 24 prior victims in their throats post-mortem. Before leaving, he would also set a 1970s or 1960s love song to play in the background. Later, Bill killed Paula Bingham, whose makeover was interrupted, by apparently slashing her throat.

Known Victims

• Unspecified date: His unnamed mother (killed by a morphine overdose)
• 2012:
  • February 7: Eva Byron (killed by a morphine overdose; gouged out her eyes post-mortem; The Most Beautiful Girl was played at the crime scene)
  • February 8: Joyce Debernardi (drugged with suxamethonium chloride, blinded with ammoniac, and killed by a morphine overdose)
  • February 8-9: Paula Bingham (blinded in an unspecified manner; throat was slashed; I'd Love You to Want Me was played at the crime scene)
• Note: In addition to his fatal victims, he also cut the hair of a total of 24 women.

Trivia

• Bill may be based on the real-life serial killer Harold Shipman, who was a doctor who gave his patients overdoses of morphine, as he witnessed his mother being injected with morphine by her doctor to end her suffering because she was dying of cancer.
• He was the first serial killer D.B. Russell had tried to catch in Las Vegas, and also the first criminal to have a psychological effect on Russell after he killed someone Russell swore to protect.

Appearances

• Season 12
  • "Tressed to Kill"