Jerry Shea is an arrogant FBI agent investigating the kidnapping of Kevin Clark that occurred on June 4, 2013.
History
At some point Shea joined the FBI and appeared to know Fritz Howard. He was also a fan of Badge of Justice.
On June 4, 2013, Kevin Clark disappeared in an apparent kidnapping. Despite the FBI paying a three million dollar ransom, Kevin failed to return. Shea worked as lead investigator on the case and concluded that the kidnapping was faked and that Kevin's parents were responsible. In his arrogance, Shea focused his entire effort on the Clark parents and as such, missed potentially vital clues. Shea established what he believed was a relationship of trust with the Clarks, but they were able to see through his act. As a result, they didn't tell him that their FN Five-Seven had gone missing, presumably stolen by Kevin before his disappearance, as they feared it would make Shea stop looking for Kevin.
At some point, Shea began writing a book on his investigation under a penname. Shea got a $100,000 advance on the book which he deposited into his own personal checking account. Shea would later claim that he hadn't yet had time to create a bank account under his penname for the money.
During the investigation, Shea went as far as to follow the Clarks to Brazil when a picture of a young man that could be Kevin was posted, but he found nothing. After the picture was posted, Shea did an interview with Open Investigation on the Kevin Clark case, but was unaware that the FBI had started to lose trust in him. The ransom money also started to slowly pop up in cities across Europe.
In "Hostage to Fortune", Kevin's kidnapping is taken up by the Major Crimes Division of the LAPD after some of the ransom money turns up in a bank account in LA. Shea takes great pleasure in lording his knowledge over the Major Crimes detectives as he explains the sequence of the kidnapping and tries to interfere with their interrogation of the Clark parents. Failing that, Shea manipulates the situation to make the LAPD look like the bad guys and himself as the good guy. He is also utterly shocked when Jamie Wade tells the LAPD about the drug dealer Kevin was meeting with at the time of the kidnapping.
After the LAPD trace the ransom money to a drug dealer named Michael Sparks, Shea accompanies them to Michael's house, angered that Michael's name had never come up in his investigation. The LAPD finds signs of the house being ransacked and Kevin Clark's body buried outside. Shea watches the autopsy and takes the opportunity to snatch the unusual bullet that killed Kevin for himself, causing the police officers to realize that Shea intended to use them to solve most of the investigation then snatch it from them when they were on the verge of solving the case.
After Shea's suspicious activities are discovered along with Michael Sparks' body, Shea is interrogated by Fritz and Lieutenant Louie Provenza. Shea arrogantly explains about his book and continues to insist that the Clark parents are the killers. After learning that Michael Sparks was also killed with an FN Five-Seven, Shea gloats that George Clark owns one as part of his gun collection.
As George and Janice Clark are interrogated, Shea arrives with other FBI agents to arrest them, claiming that Major Crimes was trying to steal credit from him for solving the case. Fed up with Shea, Captain Sharon Raydor fails to inform him of the developments they have made in the case or to have him take part of the interrogation of Jamie Wade and Daniel Morris. Assistant Chief Russell Taylor also doesn't make Shea a part of the investigation, commenting that Shea could've been there if he'd wanted to be. Sharon decides to create "a surprise ending" for Shea's book instead.
Moments after the killers are confirmed to be Michael Sparks, Jamie Wade and Daniel Morris, Fritz learns that Shea is holding a press conference to announce an arrest in the Kevin Clark kidnapping. Rather than tell Shea that Major Crimes has solved the case, Sharon and Taylor decide to let Shea humiliate himself in front of the media first. In his press conference, watched by Sharon, Taylor and Andy Flynn, Shea claims to have "overwhelming evidence" against the Clarks and that he has worked the case almost completely on his own more often than not.
After Shea's press conference, Taylor finally tells Shea and the FBI that the LAPD has caught the actual killers and the Clarks are in fact innocent.
Personality
Shea is depicted with a very arrogant and abrasive personality. As a result, he is shown to be highly disliked by everyone he meets. He also has no compunctions against using others to solve a case and then snatching credit for himself.
During his two years on the Kevin Clark kidnapping, Shea was totally focused on his idea that Kevin's parents were responsible and refused to accept the idea that he was wrong, even when provided with mounting evidence towards that fact. Shea appeared to have developed something of an obsession with solving the case and taking credit for it, going on an unauthorized trip to Brazil to follow the Clarks when they were searching for their son. He also wrote a book about his work on the case, but kept it secret and wrote it under a penname. At one point, Shea arrogantly stated that the final line of the book was going to be "and Special Agent Shea lived happily ever after." While Shea believed he had cultivated a false relationship of trust with the Clark parents, they admitted they could see through him all along during the relationship.
After supposedly solving the Kevin Clark "kidnapping", Shea went so far as to hold a press conference where he claimed to have overwhelming evidence against the Clark parents and that he worked the case almost completely on his own despite the help he received from the Major Crimes Division near the end. He had also stated that he might mention their help after he got a confession.
Shea's personality resulted in others having a hard time trusting or working with him. Deputy Chief Fritz Howard, a former FBI agent, noted that the FBI didn't really trust Shea anymore. He was also considered "a horse's ass" by Assistant Chief Russell Taylor who enjoyed humiliating Shea after working with him and made very little effort to actually work alongside him during the investigation.