"John Doe"

Episode 319
(aired the week of 4/26/1999)
Case # 09-8509

Log line: An amnesiac janitor is who suffers from severe headaches and a recurring nightmare in which he sees a woman stabbed to death enlists the help of the O.S.I.R. team to figure out his past. The team learns that he is a convicted murderer who is participating in the "clean slate" program where his entire memory is erased including all recollection of his gruesome crime.

Synopsis: Axon and Elsinger run tests on an EMF (electromagnetic field) laser cannon in the lab at Tessler Industries. The test calls for the cannon to destroy a missile guidance system. But the experiment fails when the laser device overheats. Dejected, Elsinger and Axon leave the lab. A janitor enters to clean up, but instead resets the cannon and successfully destroys the missile guidance system. Axon returns just in time to witness the event and attempts to detain the janitor, who disappears when Axon's back is turned.

The next day, Donner finds the janitor leaving the Tessler facility. He tells her his name is John Doe, a moniker given to him by doctors after he showed up at a hospital with no identification and no memory. Hendricks interviews John and learns that the man suffers from headaches and a recurring nightmare in which he sees a woman stabbed to death.

When Axon learns John has been evicted from his apartment, he lets John stay with him for a few days. Sleeping on Axon's couch, John is awoken by the nightmare. He tells Axon it is more than just a dream, that the woman's murder is a memory - he watched the woman die but can't remember who she was. An MRI scan by Hendricks reveals John's brain contains a couple of small, unidentifiable objects. There is also what appears to be a surgical scar on the back of John's neck.

That night, an intruder breaks into Axon's apartment. When Axon inadvertently interrupts the burglar, the two scuffle. John wakes up and runs to Axon's aid. He viciously pummels the intruder to the point of death. The man is taken to hospital with a broken nose, broken cheek and massive concussion. Donner and Praeger visit the hospital and encounter a strange man in the patient's room. The man, who refuses to identify himself, tells them to leave. They do and, meeting Donahue in the hallway, learn a pair of handcuffs and some duct tape had been found in the possession of the intruder. Apparently, he had intended kidnapping Axon - or John.

After another examination by Hendricks, John is able to access the doctor's computer and see his MRI report. Meanwhile, Donner learns that the man in the hospital is a corrections department agent and the stranger in his room was Vincent Schecter, supervisor of the department's local branch. Donner and Praeger visit Schecter, who tells them that John's real name is Wesley Addison, a professor of biophysics and chemistry who had been convicted of killing his wife and son five years before. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Wesley was released as part of the corrections department's "Clean Slate" program in which microchips were implanted into his brain, erasing his memory and rendering him harmless.

Back at the Tessler lab, Wesley uses the laser cannon on himself, configuring the device so that it will destroy the implants in his brain. After being subjected to the laser, he falls to the ground, where Axon finds him semiconscious. Wesley has been successful, though, and remembers his name. Before he can recall anything else, Schecter and a team of guards arrive and take Wesley away, presumably to kill him. Wesley escapes, though, killing the guards and taking Schecter back to the lab, where he intends to use the laser to execute Schecter. The OSIR team arrives and tries to talk Wesley out of killing Schecter. They are unsuccessful - until Donner shows him an old newspaper article about how he killed his wife and son. Finally, Wesley's full memory returns and, horrified at killing his own family, he takes Schecter's place in front of the laser cannon. Using a remote control to trigger the weapon, he kills himself.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Michael Ontkean - Janitor
Christopher A. Bondy - Vincent Schecter

Written by: Damian Kindler
Directed by: Giles Walker