In Them: The Scare, Bernice Mott’s murder kicks off a series of strange and horrifying murders that seem to connect to Dawn, who helms the investigation.
Bernice Mott is an abusive foster mother who used to run a foster home. When her death is reported, Dawn is called to the scene.
The gruesome crime scene is not for the fainthearted. Bernice Mott’s body is discovered in the kitchen in a horrifying state.
The right leg is broken and bent backward, with complex fractures implied. The neck is broken, and the head is twisted, with multiple spinal fractures implied.
The mouth is distended unnaturally. Dawn learns from the children in the foster house that Bernice was afraid of someone coming for them.
While Dawn plans to dig deeper into the case, McKinney rushes to arrest Malcolm, the biggest boy at the foster house.
Following Bernice’s case, a number of similar cases emerge where individuals died under similar circumstances. These cases share common factors, such as covered mirrors and the appearance of a man with red hair.
The foster mother to Dawn and Edmund
Dawn struggles to find a pattern in these murders until she learns that the spirit committing these murders is her twin brother Edmund’s.
When they were babies, their mother gave them away to Bernice Mott because she didn’t feel that she could raise them right.
Dawn and Edmund spent the first three years of their lives together under Bernice’s roof, often tolerating her abusive nature.
That is all, until Athena adopts them. After killing himself and giving his soul to a demon, Edmund attempted to communicate with Dawn, and he chose Bernice and her foster home because that’s where Dawn and Edmund grew up.
Edmund’s plans to have Dawn submit to the demon too fail, as he is defeated by his sister. Meanwhile, at the end of the series, the panel investigating Dawn agrees that McKinney matches the description of the killer they are looking for.
Also Read: Edmund Gaines: Them: The Scare character explained