12 Most Disturbing Deaths in ‘Dexter,’ Ranked

Spoiler Alert: This list contains spoilers for the entire series of ‘Dexter.’It says a lot about a show like Dexter that centers around a vigilante serial killer that some of the most disturbing deaths on the series are ones that weren’t even depicted on camera. And in fact, many of them weren’t even committed by Dexter (Michael C. Hall). There’s a good reason for that. He was a ritualistic killer who rarely deviated from his plan, every kill done in the same manner as the last. Even when he did, the kills might have been brutal, but they were never terribly disturbing because they almost always involved heinous characters fans were glad to see go anyway.

Because of this, the most disturbing deaths involve characters who were collateral damage, sometimes as a result of the dangers that Dexter’s actions brought to everyone around him. Most of them were good, even innocent, people who didn’t deserve to meet their ends, especially in the tragic ways that they did.

12

Sergeant James Doakes

Season 2, Episode 12 “The British Invasion”

Sergeant James Doakes (Erik King) was the first person who not only suspected Dexter was a killer, or at least guilty of something, but he actually tried to take him down. He gets close, but sadly, Doakes’ clandestine activities make him look guilty instead. When he finds Dexter in a remote cabin with a dead body, he has irrefutable proof. He just has to get that information, Dexter himself, or both, to the police.

What makes Doakes’ death so disturbing in Dexter, one of the must-watch Showtime series, is that Dexter would never have killed him. He didn’t fit “The Code”. In fact, Dexter is on the verge of turning himself in, believing it’s the only answer to the predicament he was in. But his psychopathic sponsor and ex-mistress Lila (Jaime Murray) tracks Dexter down, finds Doakes locked in a cage, and sets the cabin on fire, burning him alive. Though Dexter didn’t actually do the deed, the blood is on his hands, and a fan-favorite character was gone in a disturbingly brutal way.

11

Brian Moser

Season 1, Episode 12 “Born Free”

The major antagonist of Season 1, the true identity of the Ice Truck Killer as Dexter’s older brother, Brian Moser (Christian Camargo), wasn’t revealed until later. After worming his way into Dexter’s life through Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), Brian finally introduces himself to his brother as himself, and tries to get Dexter to become his partner. But Dexter isn’t interested, believing The Code was the right way to live, and desperate to protect his sister.

The death was so heartbreaking for Dexter, who had to make a difficult choice. It proved that he had real feelings and emotions towards Debra. Seeing Dexter, for the first time, hunched in a corner, unable to grapple with a kill, was devastating. The fact that he went through with it and killed his own flesh and blood had fans completely shocked.

10

Isaak Sirko

Season 7, Episode 9 “Helter Skelter”

Isaak Sirko (Ray Stevenson) was initially one of Dexter’s toughest enemies, trying to hunt down the person who killed his lover. A Russian mob boss, he has the means to take down whoever he wants, including connections, skill, and a generally cruel nature. But once he realizes who Dexter is and what he does, he actually understands the motives. Despite his cruelty, he also hads a strict sense of honor.

When he is shot and killed by George Novikov (Jason Gedrick), it’s a bitter-sweet moment. He tells Dexter it was all worth it because of the love he felt for Viktor (Enver Gjokaj), even asking in his dying breath to be buried at sea with the love of his life. He is one of the few antagonists who is not killed by Dexter. But the death was disturbing, nonetheless, in that he actually became someone Dexter could respect. He even advised Dexter that there was still hope for him, marking one of the deaths that genuinely made Dexter feel some level of sadness.

9

Dr. Evelyn Vogel

Season 8, Episode 10 “Goodbye Miami”

In a major twist in the final season, it’s revealed that someone else knew about Dexter’s proclivities the whole time. In fact, Dr. Evelyn Vogel (Charlotte Rampling) is the one who helped Harry (James Remar) devise The Code. What’s most disturbing about her eventual death is that it’s at the hands of her own son, a troubled serial killer as well.

Despite knowing who her son was and what he did, Dr. Vogel held out hope that she could accomplish the same thing with Saxon (Darri Ingolfsson) that Harry did with Dexter. But the man known as “The Brain Surgeon” visits his mother and disturbingly slits her throat when she urges him to get help. Her death proved that some killers simply aren’t redeemable and that there are no limits to a mother’s love.

8

Harry Morgan

Prior to the Series’ Start

Uniquely, Harry’s death happens long before the show even begins, an event that will likely eventually play out in the prequel series Dexter: Original Sin, where the character is played by Christian Slater. He struggled for a long time with the knowledge of who his son was, but did his best to guide Dexter the best way he could. This seemed to be working for a time, even if the reality deeply troubled Harry.

It was after he witnessed Dexter in the middle of a kill and body dismemberment, however, that Harry realized he simply couldn’t stomach what his son had become. Despite already knowing what Dexter did, seeing it with his own eyes was too much to bear. As noted and seen without graphic detail in flashbacks, Harry died by suicide via a gunshot wound to the head. What’s so disturbing about the death is when Dexter and Debra eventually learn that their father didn’t die of a heart attack as they had been told for so many years. The anguish Dexter felt knowing, or at least believing, he was the cause, proved that he wasn’t completely devoid of feelings.

7

Rebecca Mitchell

Season 6, Episode 7 “Nebraska”

Yet another death that isn’t shown on the screen, the description is enough to leave fans thoroughly disturbed. Dexter met Rebecca Mitchell (Vanessa Marano), daughter of Trinity Killer, a.k.a. Arthur Mitchell (John Lithgow), one of the best single-season TV villains, in Season 4 of the series alongside her mother Sally (Julia Campbell) and brother Jonah (Brando Eaton). He learned that not only was Arthur a tyrant to his family behind closed doors, he would lock Rebecca in her room as punishment. She was so broken that she even tried to come onto Dexter as a teenager, hoping he might help ease her pain.

It seems that even after her father’s disappearance and going into witness protection, he still had a hold on them. Dexter learns that Sally was still in love with Arthur, completely brainwashed by him, and would constantly insult her daughter and blame her for him leaving. It was too much for Rebecca, and she dies by suicide, slicing her own femoral artery in the bathtub, the same way Arthur killed his female victims. Even more disturbing are the events that followed, with Jonah bludgeoning his mother to death with a hockey stick after Rebecca’s tragic death. Nothing was ever looked into further since Miami Metro believed Trinity was still out there, and he was responsible for these deaths, unaware that Dexter had long since killed him.

6

Brother Sam

Season 6, Episode 6 “Just Let Go”

One of the most complicated relationships in Dexter’s life, he initially thought ill of Brother Sam (Mos Def), who had gone down a dark path before and even killed someone. But he was a reformed man who found God and turned his life around. Did he really meet Dexter’s Code? He had intense conversations with Dexter about religion, beliefs, and the own code which he lived by. Soon, Dexter realizes Brother Sam is a good guy after all.

But his story ends in tragedy when Brother Sam is shot. In his final moments, he actually asks Dexter to spare the man who shot him. Nick’s (Germaine De Leon) disrespect of Brother Sam’s death, however, forces Dexter to make a difficult decision – killing Nick against Brother Sam’s wishes. If Dexter had a conscience, this kill might sit with him, eating away. It seems it might have been doing just that, because what’s most disturbing is that in this moment, Dexter’s Dark Passenger emerges, but this time, it’s in the form of Brian.

5

Christine Hill

Season 4, Episode 11 “Hello, Dexter Morgan”

Everyone close to Arthur Mitchell seemed to die in the most tragic ways, and the first of the lot was his estranged daughter Christine Hill (Courtney Ford). With the walls closing in on her relating to the death of Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine) and the shooting of Debra, her father abandoned her. Christine couldn’t take much more. Her desperate need for love and attention from her father was heartbreaking.

Dying by suicide is disturbing enough, but Christine pulls out a gun and shoots herself under the neck with Debra right beside her, pleading with her not to do it. It all happened so fast and though the actual shot wasn’t shown on screen, the moment sent shivers down viewers’ spines.

4

Detective Frank Lundy

Season 4, Episode 3 “Blinded by the Light”

Detective Frank Lundy was a fan-favorite character, a talented serial killer hunter who captured Debra’s heart. When he returned in Season 4 to hunt down the Trinity Killer, a serial killer he had been hunting for decades but no one believed this theory, fans couldn’t have been happier. As he picks back up with Debra, he is also closing in on Arthur Mitchell. Sadly, Mitchell notices and knows he is in trouble. His daughter Christine jumps in to save her dear dad and shoots Lundy dead, almost killing Debra in the process as well.

Seeing him fall to the ground, the life leave his eyes as he stared at Debra in his final moments, was agonizing. More so, however, was seeing Debra lying right beside him, facing him as she winces in pain from her own gunshot wound and watched the love of her life die. It was one of the most emotional scenes on the show.

3

Detective Maria LaGuerta

Season 7, Episode 12 “Surprise, Motherf**ker!”

It was inevitable that Detective Maria LaGuerta (Luna Lauren Velez) wouldn’t make it to the end of the season once she discovered who Dexter was and what he had done. What’s so especially disturbing about her death in this episode, one of the best-ranked Dexter episodes, is that it came in a way that no one saw coming. Rather than Dexter killing Maria before she could turn him in, which would go completely against his Code, it’s Debra who fires the fatal shot to protect her brother.

There are many reasons her death is so disturbing. Throughout the entire series to that point, Maria was Dexter’s biggest champion, unable to even fathom that he could do terrible things. She even shot down Joey Quinn’s (Desmond Harrington) investigation and suspended him for even thinking Dexter could be a killer. Further, it was yet another collateral damage death weighing on Dexter that proved his Code had repercussions. Finally, killing Maria sent Debra down a dark path she couldn’t get out of, making the knowledge of who her brother was just the tip of the iceberg of the guilt she was saddled with.