M.J. Monahan

Inspector M.J. Monahan is the main protagonist of the 1995 psychological thriller film, Copycat.

She was played by Holly Hunter.

Character Biography
An ambitious, resourceful homicide detective with the San Fransisco Police Department, M.J. carried a stainless steel SIG-Sauer P230 pistol chambered in .380 ACP. Her backup was mostlikely a .380 Colt Mustang. M.J.'s biggest case came when a serial killer calling himself "Peter Kurten" starts copying notorious murderers from the recent past. She teams up with a noted criminal psychologist named Dr. Helen Hudson, who has confined herself to her apartment out of fear of being attacked by a serial killer. M.J. wasn't interested romantically in her partner, Ruben Goetz, although he was. When a Chinese criminal attempted to escape the police station by taking Ruben as a hostage, M.J. used her technique of shooting the culprit in the shoulder, hitting the brachial nerve which forces the killer to drop the gun, leaving her consience clean and making sure the culprit wasn't trying to surrender. However, the criminal grabbed the gun again with his other hand, shooting Ruben in the head. This left M.J. ridden with survivor's guilt, especially after she discovers he was romantically interested in her.

After leading a failed attempt to catch Foley at his house, M.J. discovers that he has kidnapped Helen and taken her back to the scene of Daryll Lee's attempt at killing her - the restroom of the lecture hall. Once she gets there, M.J. finds Helen bound and gagged in the same manner that Cullum did before, but she is ambushed and shot twice in the chest by Foley, rendering her unconscious. As Foley prepares to kill M.J. by slitting her throat, Helen desperately attempts to save her by ruining Foley's carefully replicated crime scene the only way she can - by attempting to hang herself. Foley panics and cuts Helen down, and Helen is able to get away and escape to the building's roof. Her agoraphobia kicks in again, and Helen finds herself cornered. Accepting her fate, she turns to face Foley. However, just as he is about to kill her, M.J. shoots him in the brachial nerve, giving him one last chance to surrender. When he pulls his gun back on her, however, she shoots him dead.