Warwick Tennyson was a career criminal and explosives expert. He was directly responsible for the death of Trudy Monk.
Biography[]
In 1997, Tennyson met Frank Nunn in a darkened parking garage, receiving $2,000 in cash to build a bomb to kill Trudy Monk. He performed the task to completion; his 10-pound plastique bomb with magnesium charges detonated by cell phone fatally injured Trudy.
Six years later, Tennyson was dying of heart disease and kidney failure. Whether he was arrested or turned himself in, he cooperated with the authorities, sharing critical details on a federal racketeering case. In exchange, he was taken into protective custody and confined to a hospital bed with morphine to nullify his pain.
Dale Biederbeck told Adrian Monk where to find Tennyson, but due to the nature of the case he was involved in, the district attorney refused to disclose any information on his whereabouts. Stottlemeyer argued vehemently and managed to strike a deal, gaining the right to meet with Tennyson in exchange for solving the murder of the Latvian Ambassador which they had accidentally witnessed. Only later did he learn that Tennyson would likely be dead within two to three days.
Upon solving the case, Monk, Sharona, Stottlemeyer, and Disher were granted access to Tennyson's hospital room. Tennyson had no difficulty recalling the details and willingly answered all of their questions. He was unable to tell them any details of the man who hired him except that he had six fingers on his right hand, calling him a freak.
At Monk's request, the others left the room, and he stepped up beside Tennyson. Realizing who Monk was, Tennyson asked for forgiveness. Face-to-face with one of the men who had murdered his wife, Monk coldly answered, "This is me...turning off your morphine." He pressed the off switch, and almost half a minute elapsed before Monk spoke again with tears in his eyes: "And this...is Trudy...the woman you killed...turning it back on." After honoring what he knew his wife would want, he left the room without looking back.
Tennyson presumably died a short time after his encounter with Monk.
Background Information and Notes[]
- Tennyson was played by Frank Collison, who, among other roles, appeared in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" with John Turturro, who plays Ambrose Monk.
- In the non-canon novel "Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii," by Lee Goldberg, Monk tells Natalie that Tennyson died two days after his confession. Monk also stated that Tennyson built the bomb, but someone else detonated it, a detail that was confirmed in Mr. Monk Is on the Run (Part One), in which Nunn admitted to detonating the bomb.