The authorities believed that two Virginia based cases of missing boys, Adam Morrissey and Jimmy Bennett, from two years ago were unrelated, until their bloodied clothes, those in which they were last seen, had just arrived in one intercepted package at Fletcham Correctional Center in Troy, Virginia. The addressee of that package is Antonia Slade, a serial killer of young teens, she who was convicted in part by work of the BAU, most specifically Gideon. A social worker, she ran a fake youth hot-line as a means to lure her victims to her home, where the dead bodies of the young teens were found encased behind her basement drywall. Since, she has never talked about the murders, and has refused all visitors. However, she seems to know about the clothes and the missing boys before the BAU's arrival at the facility to speak to her. They know that she, a narcissist despite not responding to the correspondence from any of her legion of groupies, has no compelling reason to talk to them unless there is something she knows, divulging which would be to her benefit. In speaking to her, the team members find that she is controlling, and any accomplice or associate to her criminal activities would have to be the submissive. Beyond cryptic statements, the one thing she is clear about is that Adam and Jimmy are still alive, but for how long is uncertain. The team discovers that she is indeed corresponding to the outside world through unofficial means, they needing to find how, to whom and what those messages state for them to find a hopefully still alive Adam and Jimmy.

The team works to clear Hotch's name after he's arrested by the DOJ for conspiracy.