William Hollister

"It's all going to be alright!"

William Hollister is a delusional serial killer and an "Angel of Death" who worked as a caregiver for psychic Elliot Wykoff and appeared in Into the Abyss in Profiler.

Background
Hollister was once kidnapped by an unidentified criminal, but psychic Elliot Wykoff helped the police find him with visions and premonitions Wykoff had, saving Hollister's life. Hollister forever indebted himself to Wykoff for what he did for him and eventually became his editor for Wykoff's books. He soon transferred to Violet Blue publishing but still worked as Wykoff's caregiver. He murdered Wykoff's wife, Diane, beforehand with her own gun to gain access to Wykoff, leaving her in a mossy bed in a drained pool and dressing and decorating her postmortem. After seeing the unimaginable spinning Wykoff went through in his profession as did the people who consulted him were after losing loved ones to murder, Hollister couldn't bare it anymore, and eventually began killing Wykoff's consultees whose loved one's murders were never solved, in hopes of ending their pain, all the while planning to murder Wykoff in the same manner.

Into the Abyss
"Elliot, please don't go, please!"

After killing Barry Langtry, whose wife was murdered, he sneaks into the retirement home of Tina Holtz, whose daughter was raped and murdered, disconnects her breathing tube, and lets her suffocated for less than a minute before murdering her too. He soon after murders Ben Hodge, who lost his wife and son in a random mugging. Later on, after the VCTF finds out he worked with Wykoff, Samantha Waters goes to speak with him, and he lies when he says he hasn't seen Wykoff in years. He later calls a lawyer to get Wykoff released. When Waters goes to see Wykoff later to talk to him and consult him about Jack of All Trades, Hollister suddenly appears and consoles him, Waters surprised he was and in the house. She soon realizes Hollister is the murderer and insists he come with her, but Hollister tries to convince Wykoff she's tricking them both. When Waters calls for backup, Hollister pulls out Diane's gun and calmly repeats everything will be okay, leading Waters to insist he put the gun down and Wykoff realizing Hollister killed Diane. Hollister continues to try and console Wykoff, holding him, gun still in hand, reassuring him he'll take away his pain and pleading him not to go. Backup then arrives, and Hollister is taken down and arrested. The ordeal unfortunately traumatized Wykoff so badly he was sent into catatonia and institutionalized, Waters remarking his recovery is at least a possibility.

Modus Operandi
Hollister targeted people he perceived if not actually saw suffering from some traumatic loss of a love one to unidentified murderers who consulted Wykoff, with the intention of killing Wykoff in the end. He stalked them before blitz-attacking the with one shot to the back of their neck using Diane Wykoff's gun, and he would leave behind lit incense, slash their cheeks into a Glasgow Smile, or "grin of death", before covering their faces with lace veils, and lay them in a coffin position with their hands and arms over their chest postmortem. He killed Diane Wykoff to get access to her husband and covered her head and torso with a laced veil placed her in a white dress in a mossy bed in a drained pool and decorated her with flowers and pine boughs postmortem. With Tina Holtz, he unhooked her breathing tube first before murdering her, and when he tried to kill Wykoff, he attempted to shoot him with a gun he held him hostage with.

Profile
The killer is an Angel of Death murdering people he believes are in immense non-physical pain and won't suffer anymore once their dead. The rituals he performed, derived from ancient cultures, are meant as sending the victims off to a better place. The murders are quick, as the killer doesn't want them to suffer, and the slices on their faces are meant to send them off happy, while the veils are meant as a shroud to protect them and their arms and hands being positioned are for them to shield themselves and to help send the off peacefully. Diane received special attention and care with her posing, redressing, and decorating postmortem and was laid someplace familiar to her because the killer knows her personally.

Known Victims

 * Birmingham: Diane Wykoff (killed for access to Elliot Wykoff and moved to a drained pool; covered her waist up with a lace veil, decorated with flowers and pine boughs, and placed in a dress and a mossy bed postmortem)
 * Dayton: Barry Langtry (wife murdered by an unidentified murderer)
 * Atlanta: Tina Holtz (daughter raped and murdered)
 * Macon: Ben Hodge (wife and son murdered by an unidentified mugger)
 * Birmingham: Elliot Wykoff (attempted; held at gunpoint; sent into catatonia from non-physical trauma)