Instead of focusing on the personal aspects of the case, Gideon tells the team to profile the killer as they would in any other investigation. While the team splits up to hunt down the killer, Dr. Reid stays behind to work on the clues -- and uncovers a personal connection that cannot be ignored and could crack the case wide open. Meanwhile, one of the team fights for their life.

An ex-profiler, who now heads up the FBI's "Innocent Images" unit, an undercover operation dealing with child pornography, enlists the team to help identify and save the young boy who is being held prisoner and sold to the highest bidder by a child pornographer. With time running out, the team races to save the child's life.

The suspects send out DVDs of their actions after each incident, escalating the crimes to include psychological attacks on the victim's families. The FBI profilers determine that they are looking for two individuals working as a team but are surprised who is ultimately responsible for the murders.

The profilers are brought onto the case when it becomes clear that the perpetrator's behavior is escalating from simple crimes for profit to abusing his captives. The team believes his motives are not based on money and must identify what is causing his behavior to become more violent in order to catch the culprit.

The team is asked to assist with the case when the rapist resumes his crime spree, this time focusing his attention on a different demographic of women. During the investigation, Elle makes a critical decision that could let the rapist go free and, ultimately, impact her career with the Behavioral Analysis Unit.

The profilers interrogate the members of a small town in mourning after a second murdered child is discovered in as many weeks. Meanwhile, Elle has trouble recovering and readjusting to the challenges of her job after being attacked in her own home.

When three college athletes disappear the night of a football pep rally, the BAU look to outsiders who didn't attend the rally for clues to the girls' abduction. J.J., originally from a small town, is instrumental in forming the profile and moving the case forward.

The Behavioral Analysis Unit must help identify and catch a serial bomber terrorizing the city of Seattle. Through their investigation, the BAU meets Professor Kent, the author of a science fiction novel that denounces technology and has become a type of guidebook for the bomber. With her help, the team attempts to figure out why these sites are chosen as targets before anyone else is seriously injured.

Source: CBS

Paget Brewster joins the cast as Emily Prentiss, a new agent assigned to the Behavioral Analysis Unit. To her surprise, she has to immediately fight suspicions of nepotism (her parents are high-powered diplomats) as she was placed in the BAU without Hotch or Gideon being notifed.

Meanwhile, the team is dispatched to Saint Louis to track down two serial killers operating concurrently but independently. The killers' M.O. and victims are vastly different from one another, yet the team discovers a surprising connection.

Gideon, Dr. Reid and new team member Emily Prentiss travel to Guantanamo Bay to interrogate the leader of the terrorist sleeper cell being held prisoner who holds valuable information that could help prevent a major national disaster. Prentiss, who speaks fluent Arabic, uses this opportunity to prove herself worthy of joining the team. While Gideon interrogates the terrorist, Reid analyzes the prisoner's body language in order to determine whether or not he is speaking the truth. While they attempt to gain information from the terrorist leader, the rest of the team works the case stateside.

Source: CBS

A troubled young man who fears that he may be a serial killer in the making describes his fantasies about killing prostitutes to Reid. When several hookers turn up dead in the Washington D.C. area, the young man becomes the prime suspect in their murders.

Source: CBS

When Morgan goes home to see his family in Chicago, he's arrested as a serial killer by a detective who used a profile that Gideon had sent to him after reviewing the case. The team flies to Chicago to find the real murderer and exonerate Morgan.

When the BAU locates the alleged serial killer in a remote desert diner, the local authorities are eager to take action, but Gideon insists that they wait when it becomes evident that the murderer is keeping another secret from them. As Gideon and Morgan attempt to ply information out of the suspect, the rest of the BAU team studies the killer's tracks to try and uncover what keeps him coming back to the same isolated town year after year.

Source: CBS

Hotchner and the BAU team fear they are facing a mission-based serial killer, or multiple killers, when a 911 phone call quoting bible passages from Revelations is placed by someone in the house just seconds before the murders occur. As the team begins their profile, Garcia discovers that the tech-savvy unsub (unknown subject) sent out a video of the murders over the Internet just hours after they were committed, which is viewed by millions of users. Meanwhile, Hotchner, Morgan and Prentiss must determine how many people are actually responsible for the murders since different voices can be heard on the 911 recording and on the video.

Source: CBS

The BAU team's hunt for a serial killer becomes personal when they discover that the unsub has kidnapped Reid and is streaming a live feed of him being beaten and tortured.

With community leaders in an affluent, predominately white New York suburb fearing the worst, Gideon and the rest of the BAU team arrive to investigate the murders of young African American teenagers who are found beaten and strangled. With little to go on and evidence that continually leads to dead ends, the team must work quickly to determine if the crimes are the result of a racially-charged serial killer before the potential fall-out from the crimes leads to even bigger problems.

Source: CBS

The BAU team travels to Houston to investigate a series of seemingly random murders at construction sites. At first, Hotch, Gideon and the team believe they are dealing with a homeless vagrant who is terrorizing a Houston neighborhood slated for revitalization. But after viewing satellite photos of the crime scenes, the BAU team realizes that the UnSub left an SOS distress signal at one of the murder locations and they begin looking for a man with a military background. Meanwhile, the team notices a distinct change in Reid's demeanor.

Source: CBS

The BAU team travels to New Orleans to track a serial killer who is again killing men throughout the city after a 15 month break. New Orleans officials believed that the serial killer that haunted the streets of the city was killed in Hurricane Katrina since the murders ended. With all of the case files and evidence missing in the hurricane's aftermath, Hotch, Gideon and the team have only one clue to go on -- a single word, "Jones," written on the wall of the lead detective's office just moments before he died in the flood waters. Meanwhile, Reid struggles with the aftermath of being taken hostage and meets up with an old rival.

Source: CBS

Hotch, Gideon and the BAU team link the arson victims together through corporate development firms accused of building on contaminated land and track their wanted arsonist through a radical environmental group that uses fire to spread their message.

Source: CBS

Agent Prentiss' mother, a foreign ambassador, enlists the help of the BAU team when a Russian immigrant is kidnapped and held for ransom. While searching for the kidnapped man, whose captors are sending the victim's body parts to the family, the BAU team uncovers ties to the Russian mob who live by a strict code of conduct.

Source: CBS

The BAU team investigates when the bodies of several missing people turn up in a remote section of the Idaho wilderness. After determining that the victims had been taken from one place and transported deep into the woods, the BAU team discovers the UnSubs they are searching for have a new sport -- hunting humans.

Source: CBS

After receiving a tip from a local detective, the team travels to Kansas City to investigate a report of homeless people mysteriously disappearing from the city's streets.

Source: CBS

Gideon takes off to hunt Frank, an elusive and prolific serial killer, without telling the BAU and the team must profile Gideon as a suspect in order to find them both.

Source: CBS

Gideon takes off to hunt Frank, an elusive and prolific serial killer, without telling the BAU and the team must profile Gideon as a suspect in order to find them both.

Source: CBS