Derek Thorpe was an FBI agent who commanded a special unit charged with investigating the murder of street musician Cyrus, supposedly the work of a serial killer, in 2007.
Like many federal agents partnered with the SFPD, Thorpe had a tendency to dismiss their competence and treat them as second-class "flunkies." In particular, he heaped scorn on Leland Stottlemeyer and Adrian Monk, especially the latter, whom he called an ignorant "dinosaur." Thorpe placed his faith in the high-tech command vehicle and mobile forensics lab that his unit had been trusted with, which he banished Monk from after Monk fumbled an effort to understand the various gadgets and instruments inside.
Later, Thorpe removed Monk from the investigation after Monk, trying to become computer literate, accidentally crossed wires with the F.B.I. and sent them on a raid of Julie Teeger's slumber party. When Stottlemeyer defended Monk to Thorpe, the agent scornfully responded that the Captain's "funny little friend" couldn't possibly be smarter than the half-billion dollars' worth of equipment Thorpe had at his command.
However, Monk eventually deduced that the supposed serial killing was actually a distraction, for the manslaughter of a woman at a gas station. The FBI then arrested the man responsible, a Dr. Levin, alongside the SFPD.
Background Information[]
- Thorpe reappears in Lee Goldberg's novel Mr. Monk is a Mess, which gives his first name as Derek, and reveals that his special unit was disbanded, and Thorpe himself demoted and disgraced after botching the investigation into the "Six-Way Killer." He became so bitter that he stole dirty money from the FBI's evidence locker, killing an innocent mailman who witnessed him trying to send it to himself, and trying to frame Monk and Natalie Teeger for the theft by planting part of the money in her home. He was exposed and arrested.