Tracker Season 2 Episode 12: Monster

The following Tracker Season 2 episode 12 recap contains plot details.

"Monster" is a chilling case set in Beachwood Heights, Ohio. Single mother Alice Baer (Mariana Klaveno) tucks her young son Miles into bed, reassures him there are no monsters, and vanishes in the night — the front door left wide open. Judith, Alice's mother, hires Colter for a $10,000 reward, refusing to involve police because of an ongoing custody battle with ex-husband Greg, who is confirmed to have a solid alibi.

Colter tracks Alice's phone to a remote lake, finding her car, purse, signs of struggle, and a bloodied brick. Randy discovers Alice was involved with married psychiatrist Sal Markowitz — but when Colter reaches Sal's home, he finds Sal's decapitated body in the bathroom. Sal's clinical notes point to a dangerous patient called "PJ" with sadistic impulses and cognitive distortions; Reenie confirms Alice was a therapist-in-training whose graduate-school therapy sessions first identified PJ, and Sal was her supervisor. Colter traces PJ through Sal's notes about a convenience-store clerk PJ stalked, captures his face and neck tattoo on security footage, and Randy IDs him as Paul James Hamilton (Jonathan Whitesell) — who killed his abusive stepfather as a minor. At the Hamilton home, Colter finds Paul has murdered his own mother and staged a tableau with her body and Sal's severed head in front of the TV. Paul kidnapped Alice because she was the only person who knew his real identity from her grad-school sessions.

The Tracker Season 2 episode 12 ending explained: The "monster" of the title is Paul James Hamilton (Jonathan Whitesell), a real serial killer — not a metaphor for family pressure. Paul, who killed his abusive stepfather as a minor, murdered his own mother and Sal Markowitz (staging their bodies in front of the TV), and kidnapped Alice Baer because her grad-school therapy sessions were the only record of his real identity. Paul turns on Alice in the climax; Colter shoots him in the back before he can harm her, killing him as too dangerous to leave alive. Alice is rescued and reunited with Miles. The "monster" was a literal monster, not a hidden family truth.