The Seven Headed Serpent

The Seven Headed Serpent is a crime scene in Season Six of Showtime's series DEXTER.

It is the second of the Doomsday Tableaus and the first one displaying a victim. At the scene, the body of Omar Rivera is found sitting on the beach as it washed up to shore, mimicking a line from the Book of Revelation.

This crime scene is one of few that have a direct relation to another one -- The Scales of Justice. The direct relation between the two is the number 1237 (where there is a number found at every scene) but nowhere on Omar Rivera's body.

The Crime
Omar Rivera's corpse is dumped, with seven baby snakes sewn into his body with the stitching in the shape of an Alpha-Omega sign.

Method
The killer dragged the victim's body from the first crime scene and took it to a secondary location. He cut the Alpha-Omega symbol into Omar's chest and placed seven baby snakes inside him. He sewed him back up and dragged the body out to sea. Then the killer dumped the body in a location where it would eventually wash onto shore.

Motive
Omar Rivera was chosen for unknown reasons as Travis Marshall's first Doomsday Victim in the Tableaus. However, it is likely due to Omar's past as a criminal involved in a drug operation that Travis felt he "sinned enough" to be the right victim. Later, when he captured Nathan Roberts, Travis consistently demanded that he repent, which suggested that both of the first victims were chosen because of their past "sins."

What's clear, however, was the message that Travis was trying to convey with a quote from the Book of Revelation, "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a serpent rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and upon his heads the name of blasphemy." This foreshadowed his greater plan: the End of Days. This was discovered by Detective Mike Anderson, one of the leading investigators who was brought in after the third tableau.

Clues and Evidence


At the scene, the clear evidence was the body washed up on shore. Further investigation revealed that it was the fruit vendor, Omar Rivera, his intestines having been found earlier at The Scales of Justice tableau.

Dexter Morgan made note that the victim died of a stab wound and was put into the water postmortem. Upon lifting up the victim's shirt, a symbol was revealed which Detective Joey Quinn identified as the Alpha-Omega. After noticing something moving in Omar's stomach, they cut him open and seven baby snakes crawled out of his body.

Further analysis of the snakes at the crime lab by Forensic Intern Ryan Chambers revealed that the snakes all came from the same mother who lived in a hazardous waste site near the Everglades.

Victim
The victim in this crime was named Omar Rivera, a 34-year-old Hispanic man who was a fruit vendor. Omar, an ex-convict, was originally a member of a drug cartel and later associated with Brother Sam. He left the drugs behind and worked strictly selling his fruit, only to become the unfortunate victim in a horrible death. Omar was the first victim in the Doomsday Tableaus, though he was used for two tableaus.

Suspects
At this point, the suspects in this crime were unclear. None were suggested until Omar was identified at the crime scene. The actual killer, however, was Travis Marshall, a 33-year-old Caucasian man who worked at the Miami Cultural Center.

Detectives, Forensics, Agents on Scene

 * Dexter Morgan (forensics)
 * Debra Morgan
 * Joey Quinn
 * Vince Masuka (forensics)
 * Peter Layton ( (forensics, dismissed)
 * Five unnamed officers

Other officials who became involved in the connected cases:


 * Ryan Chambers (forensics)
 * Mike Anderson
 * Angel Batista
 * Detective Hill
 * Louis Greene (forensics)

Related Pages

 * Doomsday Tableaus
 * Travis Marshall
 * End of Days
 * Book of Revelation