Serial killer Stephanie McNamara
Stephanie McNamara (Kelly Rutherford) was a hidden recurring villainess from Season Nine of Bones.
Backstory[]
Stephanie McNamara is the daughter of wealthy Giles McNamara, as well as the sister of Trent McNamara, though her backstory revealed that Giles was immensely abusive towards her and often locked Stephanie inside a stable as punishment. Stephanie clawed at the walls in a desperate attempt to get out, only to end up losing her fingernails in the process.
When Stephanie was 15, she found out that Giles was sexually assaulting Maya Zinkow, who was about Stephanie's age, but in a shocking response, Stephanie turned heel by stabbing Maya to death. The villainess committed the murder out of jealousy, as she believed that Maya was stealing Giles' attention away from her, and it was uncovered that Stephanie stabbed Maya 16 times. Two years later, Stephanie bound and stabbed Lana Brewster to death, and at some point, Giles (at least) suspected that Stephanie was involved, leading to Giles paying medical examiner Leslie Dollinger to cover up his daughter's actions. In the years that followed, Stephanie murdered six more victims, and took each of their fingernails as a trophy, using them to replace the ones she lost, while earning the nickname, "Ghost Killer."
Events[]
Stephanie masking her heel persona after Trent's death
Stephanie's only appearance in the season came in "The Ghost in the Killer," which had the Jeffersonian investigating Lana's murder after her remains were delivered to the home of Dr. Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth. Both she and Trent were interviewed regarding Lana, after the family's connection to the case was revealed by Angela Montenegro. Trent was revealed to have been dating Lana, and he was suspected in the murder, with the suspicions increased after Trent was found shot to death in an apparent suicide. Stephanie appeared to be mournful regarding her brother's death, stating that he was the last male member of the family (as Giles had passed on years prior to the episode's events).
However, the episode's final scenes revealed that Trent had sent the remains himself, as he had wanted to know the truth about what happened to Lana. Regarding Stephanie, her heel persona as the Ghost Killer was in danger of being uncovered, and because of this, the evil Stephanie shot her brother to death and set it up as a suicide in an attempt to frame him for Lana's death. The season's antepenultimate episode, "The Nail in the Coffin," opened with Stephanie as the murder victim, as she was found with all of her nails removed. The episode ended up revealing that Stephanie had lost her nails while Giles was abusing her, and that she was the Ghost Killer and had killed Maya, Lana, Trent, and six others in between, in different fashions. Stephanie's killer was revealed as Herman Kessler, a teacher who was falsely set up by Giles as Maya's rapist and murderer. He killed Stephanie after finding out that she was Maya's killer as part of his revenge plot.
Trivia[]
- Kelly Rutherford also played villainess Jane Rydert in 2013's A Sister's Nightmare.