Criminal Minds: What Happened to David Rossi’s Wife Krystall?
Every BAU member has their own tragedy, and Rossi's is Krystall.
In the first two seasons of Criminal Minds, the BAU team was led by Jason Gideon, played by Mandy Patinkin. When the actor suddenly left the project, he was replaced by Agent David Rossi, portrayed by Joe Mantegna, who is still catching serial criminals on Criminal Minds: Evolution.
Rossi is a Vietnam veteran, a wealthy man, a successful best-selling author who could easily afford to teach at the FBI Academy (or do nothing at all), but despite his age, he is still drawn to the thrill of fighting evil.
The BAU team catches criminals almost 99.9% of the time, but not just because Criminal Minds is a procedural where good must win every episode. The members of BAU are so good at understanding other people's trauma because they themselves are covered in psychological scars, whether it's sexual abuse in Morgan's case or the death of JJ's sister.
Rossi, although he already had a tragic war-related past, received his own scar in the first episode of Evolution’s first season — we learned that his wife, Krystall, had died.
Rossi & Krystall's Love Story
Krystall was Rossi's third wife and their love story was quite unusual. The woman was working in a casino in Las Vegas, where she met David. The two got drunk and ended up getting married in a drive-through wedding chapel. When they realized what they had done the next day, they immediately annulled the marriage.
Rossi and Krystall reconnected many years later when the latter had an adult daughter, Portia, by her second husband. Portia turned out to be a fan of David's books and convinced her mother to meet him.
This meeting also ended in marriage — Rossi and Krystall got married for the second time in Season 14 of Criminal Minds.
How Did Krystall Die?
Evolution shocked viewers right from the start with the news that Krystall had died, which was a huge blow to Rossi. We never learned the exact cause of her death — only Garcia mentioned that Krystall's death was due to some kind of illness.
Because of this tragedy, Rossi devoted himself entirely to his work, proving once again that the desire of BAU members to stop the killers serves to overcome their own traumatic experiences.
They are living proof that violence does not always breed violence, and that the vicious cycle of pain can be broken. And ultimately, their main mission is to remain in the service of hope.