Karen Camden (Numb3rs)

Villainous mastermind Karen Camden

Karen Camden (Leighton Meester) is the hidden (tragic) main villainess from "Dark Matter," episode 2.19 of Numb3rs (airdate April 7, 2006).

Karen was introduced as a survivor of a school shooting committed by members of the Dark Matter Guild, as the episode showed Karen and another girl, Becky Flynn, hiding in a closet--only for Becky to be shot to death. The episode's investigation outed Justin Price (who was shot to death after killing Becky) and Gregory Dietrich as shooters, though a look at three of the victims--one of them being Rob Holt--ended up revealing that Karen was a common factor, as she was at a party that was stopped by police several months prior.

Don Eppes and Megan Reeves interviewed Karen's mother, Joan Camden, due to their suspicions, only for Karen to emerge and confess her role as well as her motivation: she was raped at that party. The episode had established that Karen wrote an article outing a steroid scandal, with Rob supplying steroids to student athletes, leading to a number of students losing their scholarship. Karen's rape was done out of revenge, and as Karen herself revealed, Becky set her up and helped Rob drug Karen's drink, leading to Karen being assaulted by Jake Porter while everyone (including Rob) took photos.

Karen plotted a murderous revenge afterwards, seducing Justin into killing everyone involved in her assault. Her plans resulted in eight people killed, with Rob and Becky being among the victims, as Karen feigned panic as she watched Justin kill Becky. When asked why she didn't report the assault, Karen stated that the athletes were stars at the school, and it would be her word against theirs, after which she apologized to her mother during her arrest.

Trivia

• Leighton Meester later played villainess Heather Crowley on CSI: Miami, as well as the psychotic Rebecca Evans in 2011's The Roommate.