| Gretchen Tucker | |
|---|---|
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| Vital statistics | |
| Name | Gretchen Tucker |
| Profession | Construction company owner |
| Gender | Female |
| Notability | Serial killer |
| Played by | |
| First appearance | “Wish You Were Here” |
| Latest appearance | “Wish You Were Here” |
Gretchen Tucker is a serial killer targeting men who wouldn't tell her that they loved her.
History
Gretchen was the daughter of the owner of C.J. Tucker construction who left her the company and thirty million dollars when he died. Gretchen eventually married a man named John Price who she would later claim wooed her. However, they eventually got divorced and John never changed his address from her home or put the car she left him into his own name.
In 2010, Gretchen started an affair with surveyor working for her father's company named Douglas Alan Martin. At the end of the affair which took place in various motels, Gretchen asked if Doug loved her. Doug, who had been going through a rough time with his wife at the time, said no. Enraged, Gretchen attacked Doug from behind with a screwdriver while giving him a massage, yelling that Doug had used and lied to her. Despite being stabbed in the back of the neck, Doug survived, punched Gretchen in the face and fled to the hospital. With the help of her father, Gretchen covered up the incident. The two threatened that if Doug went to the police, Gretchen would file charges of assault and rape against him. The other option, which Doug took, was to quit with a good recommendation.
Instead of stopping, Gretchen continued her murderous affairs, killing Eric Schuman, Paul Donohue and Max Riley when they refused to admit that they loved her. Despite being divorced, Gretchen's ex-husband John still loved her enough to cover up her murders by getting rid of the evidence. However, Gretchen stopped the alimony payments she claimed to not owe John and he kept the bodies of Eric and Paul on ice as a form of blackmail.
After Gretchen killed Max, she attacked John too for blackmailing her. However, as she disposed of Max's body, she didn't realize that her attack had failed to paralyze John. In only his underwear and clutching Eric Schuman's gun, John stumbled down the middle of the street and dropped dead after telling the police and witnesses that he loved his wife. As this event was streamed on the Internet, Gretchen panicked and didn't return to the motel where she'd killed Max and John.
Due to her connection to John as his ex-wife, Gretchen was questioned by the Major Crimes Division, but she avoided suspicion. As the police investigated the murders further, they located the bodies of Eric and Paul and found the report on the attack on Doug Martin. Connecting all of the victims to Gretchen's construction company, the police learned the true details of her attack on Doug and realized that she was the killer.
Under the guise of being brought in to identify John Price's body, Gretchen was brought to the morgue. There, she signed a Miranda warning under the disguise that it was standard procedure. Inside the morgue, Gretchen was confronted with the bodies of all four of her victims. In shock, Gretchen claimed that the four men were rapists who took advantage of her. "Its not murder if you kill your rapist!" Gretchen explodes. Gretchen's confession is caught on camera by Buzz Watson and she is arrested for four counts of murder in the first degree with the special circumstance of lying in wait attached. Gretchen insists to the police officers that the men were rapists and that she had killed them in self-defense. Gretchen expresses confidence that she will be exonerated in court on her self-defense claims.
DDA Hobbs later states that Gretchen has refused to take a deal so the case will be going to trial. Missing Persons' Detective Robby Oderno is left to make the notifications to Eric and Paul's families while Detective Amy Sykes thinks that Gretchen might be able to find someone to "clean up after this mess too." Lieutenant Michael Tao expresses a belief that they have enough DNA evidence to go with Gretchen's statement to get her convicted.
Modus Operandi
Gretchen would begin an affair with a blue-collar worker who was hired by her father's construction company. The affairs would happen in pay by the hour motel rooms. After a number of times with each man, Gretchen would ask if they loved her. When the man refused to say they did, Gretchen would fly into a rage, claiming that they lied to her and used her. Gretchen would then stab each man in the back of the neck with a Phillips-head screwdriver, generally severing the top of their spinal column and leaving them paralyzed. According to Dr. Fernando Morales, the wound would cause brain swelling that was fatal to the victim. With the help of her ex-husband John Price, Gretchen would dispose of the evidence and the bodies of her victims. In the case of her one surviving victim, Douglas Alan Martin, Gretchen blackmailed him into silence with threats of pressing charges of assault and rape.
Known Victims
All stabbed in the back of the neck with a screwdriver. In the victims who the wound was fatal in, this resulted in fatal brain swelling. The wound generally also severed the top of the spinal column, paralyzing Gretchen's victim.
- Douglas Alan Martin (2010, survived)
- Eric Schuman
- Paul Donohue
- John Price