Cindy Hemmet

Cindy Hemmet a.k.a. Vanjour is an underage, delusional serial killer and an "Injustice Collector" vigilante working alongside Rick Webster who appeared in Cycle of Violence in Profiler.

Background
Cindy Hemmet grew up in a violent household, with her father physically abusing her mother on a regular basis, and she was always a witness. As she grew older, she started to try and protect her mother more, physically fighting her father off more and harder. To escape her dangerous life, she turned to a comic book series, Vanjour, written by Evie Long and about a vigilante who strikes down abusers with a flaming sword and leaves behind crystals in their hands to leave their spirits at peace. She and her mother had to move once the abuse got worse, an a restraining order was even taken out against her father. She eventually befriended and then dated Ryan Wilson, a young artist who wanted to keep Vanjour alive after only five issues; he even painted a mural of Vanjour on the wall of her room at her request. She soon began to associate with and then take on the persona of Vanjour to give her the strength to fight her abusive father, even purchasing swords like Vanjour. Once her father found them, he continued the abuse, and her parents went into counseling against her wishes. One night, as he was beating her mother, she grabbed a sword and slashed him across his chest how Vanjour would, sending him to intensive care. The charges were dropped, but she still resented her parents, as well as other abusers she saw in her community. With the help of Wilson, she created a hit list of local abusers and had Wilson make renderings depicting Vanjour killing them, planning to end with murdering her parents. She then acquired a flaming sword and several crystals and began her murders.

Cycle of Violence
She first kills Hillary Reed, a wife and mom responsible for battering her two sons, outside her apartment complex before she murders Steve Kidwell, an FBI agent responsible for battering his wife, Shelley Murphy, whom Ryan called the police for before the episode's events. More motivated, Cindy moves to Erica Smoot, the school nurse whose negligence let the Reeds' abuse continue to happen, along with constantly berating kids at school. When Ryan and Evie are suspected and brought in, she murders James Jerrod Paul, a teen dropout and drug dealer known for beating kids in the neighborhood to make them afraid of him. It clears Ryan and Evie of suspicion, but narrowing the profile and still focusing in the school singles the search out to her. They find the police report on the assault on her father, then they go to question her mother. Her mother tells about her daughter's fear of her father and resentment toward her mother for counseling, as well as her mother's own resentment that she was hit over Cindy. They go to her room and see the mural, the chain she put her sword on, and lastly the drawings Ryan made for her. After Ryan's arrested and he admits her last intended crimes, killing her parents at the opera house, the VCTF and other armed forces race to stop her, surrounding her by surprise but cautiously on the stage. As she holds the flaming sword she used in the murders inches from her bound and gagged parents, she speaks in the language of Vanjour's lore of "killing to purify and save, so bad people can't hurt others anymore". Samantha Waters tries to talk her down, telling her Vanjour is a guise to take her away from being in pain and feeling alone. Eventually, it's distracting enough Bailey Malone grabs her and other agents smother the sword. She's then taken into custody and likely institutionalized along with Ryan.

Modus Operandi
Hemmet targeted people in her community who abused and exploited vulnerable, innocent people. Ryan Wilson would choose the victims and make renderings of Vanjour killing them, and she would then follow their habitual routines to find the perfect moment to attack. She killed them by slashing and branding an "X" across their chests with a flaming sword, and she left a crystal in their hand postmortem. When she tried to kill her parents, she tied and gagged them at her father's workplace, the opera house, and attempted to kill them the same way she committed her other murders.

Profile
The weapon's particularly long, like a machete or sword, used to compensate and help the killer feel stronger. The crystals in the hands of the victims are used for purification, the fire on the sword for branding to signify power and might with its own life force. Considering the victims being secret or ignored abusers, it's assumed the killer is a victim of abuse themselves. Gender's not exclusive, so the killer could easily be a woman. Not only is the killer a woman, but once the connection was made to children's literature, specifically comic books, more specifically Vanjour, it was finally established the killer was a child, a teen girl at the high school who chose victims in the vicinity of her home area because it was her comfort zone and as far as she could reach regarding her murders.

Known Victims

 * Hillary Reed (battered her two sons)
 * Steve Kidwell (an FBI cadet; battered his wife)
 * Erica Smoot (the school nurse; harassed children and neglected the Reeds' abuse)
 * James Jerrod Paul (a dropout teen; dealt drugs and attacked others in the neighborhood)
 * The Opera House:
 * Marty Hammet (her father; battered her mother; assaulted with a flaming sword to his chest; later bound, gagged, and attempted to kill; was rescued)
 * Linda Mannet (her mother; was in counseling with her violent father; bound, gagged, and attempted to kill; was rescued)