The question of who is Gold Star in Criminal Minds kept fans awake for months. Honestly, when Elias Voit first whispered those two words at the end of Season 16, we all thought it was a person. A single, terrifying bogeyman. Maybe a rogue agent? Maybe a ghost from Rossi’s past?
Turns out, we were all wrong.
Gold Star isn't just one guy. It’s a tragedy. It’s a program. It’s a group of broken human beings turned into weapons by a man who should have been protecting them. If you’ve been scrolling through Reddit or rewatching Criminal Minds: Evolution trying to connect the dots between Stuart House, the White Papers, and that creepy "eye for an eye" MO, you’re in the right place. Let’s break down the truth behind the Gold Star killers.
The Secret Behind the Name: It’s a Group, Not a Person
In the early episodes of Season 17 (or Evolution Season 2, depending on how you count), the BAU was chasing a ghost. They saw the same calling card everywhere: victims with their eyes gouged out and a single bullet with a gold star engraved on the shell casing.
They thought they were looking for one unsub.
But as Prentiss and the team dug deeper, they realized they were dealing with a "social contagion." Basically, a pack. The "Gold Stars" were a group of five individuals who had been systematically broken and rebuilt.
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The Five Members of Gold Star
- Damien Booth (GS1): The "North Star" of the group. He was the most methodical and dangerous of the bunch. He’s the one who took out the "Strike Team"—the five mercenaries the government originally sent to clean up the Gold Star mess.
- Aiden Keller (GS2): A deeply traumatized young man who was the first to fall during the BAU's investigation. Rossi ended up killing him in self-defense, a moment that haunted Dave throughout the season.
- Pete Bailey (GS3): This was the gut-punch. Pete was the younger brother of FBI Deputy Director Doug Bailey. Doug wasn’t a bad guy; he was a desperate brother trying to protect Pete from the conspiracy Pete had been brainwashed to believe.
- Dana Howe (GS4): A fierce member of the group who was eventually betrayed and killed by their "handler" when she was no longer useful.
- Jade Waters (GS5): The primary antagonist for much of the season. Jade was fueled by a specific brand of rage against the "system" that she believed had failed her and her "siblings."
Where Did They Come From? The Stuart House Horror
You can’t understand who is Gold Star in Criminal Minds without talking about Stuart House.
Back in the day, David Rossi and Jason Gideon wrote a theoretical paper. It was a "what if" scenario about how you could theoretically create a serial killer by manipulating specific childhood traumas and genetic predispositions (epigenetics). They called it the "White Papers."
They realized it was too dangerous and buried it.
Decades later, Gideon’s ex-wife, Jill Gideon, tweaked the paper. She wanted to use it for good—to identify at-risk kids and intervene before they became monsters. But a man named Frank Church got his hands on it.
The Man Behind the Curtain: Frank Church
Frank Church is the real villain here. He ran a private military company called Aida Limited. He took Jill’s research and did exactly what Rossi and Gideon feared: he used it as a blueprint to manufacture assassins.
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He didn't just train these kids; he abused them. He used electrical prods, psychological torture, and sexual assault to break their spirits. Then, he filled their heads with QAnon-style conspiracy theories. He convinced them that the government and the BAU were part of a "cabal" that was coming for them.
The "Gold Star" name? It was a twisted joke. Like a teacher giving a student a gold star for a job well done. Only their "job" was murder.
The Elias Voit Connection
So, how did Elias Voit (Sicarius) know about them?
Voit is a predator, but he’s also a master of the Dark Web. He found Damien Booth on his network of serial killers. Voit didn't create Gold Star, but he groomed them further. He gave them the "hit list" of therapists and officials who were involved with Stuart House.
Voit used Gold Star as his "Get Out of Jail Free" card. He knew the DOJ was terrified of this secret getting out. If the world found out the FBI's own research was used to create a band of domestic terrorists, the Bureau would be finished.
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Why the Eyes? The "Eye for an Eye" MO
The most disturbing part of the Gold Star killings was the enucleation—gouging out the eyes.
In their twisted logic, this was symbolic. They were "removing the eyes" of the people who watched them be abused and did nothing. It was literal and metaphorical. To the Gold Stars, the world was blind to their suffering, so they made their enemies blind too.
What This Means for the Future of the BAU
The Gold Star arc changed the BAU forever. It forced them to confront the fact that their own work—the very science of profiling—could be weaponized.
By the end of the season, most of the Gold Stars were dead or in custody. Pete Bailey and Jade Waters were eventually apprehended, but the damage was done.
What you should do next:
If you’re still reeling from the finale, go back and watch Season 17, Episode 8 ("The North Star"). Now that you know the identity of the killers, the interactions between Rossi and the "hallucination" of Voit take on a much darker meaning. You’ll see the breadcrumbs Church and Voit left behind much more clearly. Also, keep an eye out for news on Season 18, as the fallout from the Gold Star conspiracy and the "White Papers" is far from over for Prentiss and her team.