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Minor Character: New York
Name	Leonard Brooks
Gender	Male
Family	Jennifer Brooks (mother; deceased) Unnamed father (deceased) Jimmy Clark (foster brother; deceased) Rachel Moore (foster sister)
City	New York
Status	Incarcerated
Portrayed By	Rob Morrow
First Appearance	Reignited

Leonard Brooks is a serial arsonist and later serial killer who appears in the ninth season of CSI: NY.

Background

Brooks had a happy childhood until a few days after his ninth birthday, when his father died. After that, his mother, Jennifer Brooks, a burn ward nurse, started drinking and abusing him, usually in the basement of their house, where there was a furnace. She eventually adopted two foster children, Rachel Nelson and Jimmy Clark, the latter of whom took part in the abuse to keep Jennifer from abusing him too. At the age of twelve, Brooks started setting fires, his first being in a dumpster on 59th Street.

In adulthood, now a frequent arsonist, Brooks was initially suspected of committing at least ten fires, though he was only convicted of the last one. He was caught because he realized someone was still in the building he had set on fire. He even ran back in to try and save her, suffering burns to his arm in the process, and administered CPR, but couldn't resuscitate her. In prison, he was interviewed by psychology student Eva Mason, an arsonist in her own right, who became obsessed with him over time. After his release, he tried to keep his addiction to fire in check, but eventually started purposely harming people who had wronged him in the past.

Biography

Season Nine

Reignited

Having just been released from prison, Brooks becomes the prime suspect of an arson attack on the same building he had set on fire many years before since the M.O. fit his old one perfectly. The fire also kills a fireman. The perpetrator turns out to be Eva Mason, who had interviewed Brooks in prison and become obsessed with him.

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Where There's Smoke...

After the events of the previous episode, Brooks begins targeting his family and getting revenge on them for hurting him when he was a child.

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Modus Operandi

Brooks started his fires using a chemical compound of potassium permanganate and glycerin. He used wax paper and dryer sheets as fuel, laying them out in neat rows in hallways to spread the fire. He also painted fire gel on the walls to spread the flames further and disabled the sprinkler system by cutting off its OS&Y valve. His intentional murders involved elaborate setups with fire accelerants and chemical reactions which would kill his victims slowly and painfully while he watched from nearby.

Known Victims

Arsons

• Unknown date (aged twelve at the time): A fire in a dumpster on 59th Street
• ?-1997: Nine suspected presumably victimless fires. Named ones include:
  • 1992: A building on Hudson Street
  • 1993: A building on 8th Street
  • 1994: A building at the corner of Thompson and Spring Street
  • 1995: A building on Prince Street

Murders

• 1997: Unnamed woman (killed by accident in a fire; tried to revive her)
• 2012:
  • Jennifer Brooks, a.k.a. "Rita Lowman" (his mother; trapped in an elevator and broiled alive)
  • Jimmy Clark (his foster brother; poisoned with caesium and burned alive from within)
  • Rachel Moore (his foster sister; attempted; abducted, tied to a chair, covered with fire gel and attempted to burn alive)

Quotes

• "How did that make you feel?"
  "Safe. Like nothing or nobody could hurt me. I made those flames dance, I was in control. But after that there was no going back. I was never gonna be scared again."
  -Leonard during an interview about his first fire.

Appearances