Ted Sprague

Theodore Sprague
Portrayed by	Matthew John Armstrong
First appearance	Nothing to Hide
In-story stats
Known ability	Energy projection
Gender
Age	33
Residence	Ted Sprague's home
Significant others	Karen Sprague, deceased

Theodore 'Ted' Sprague is a resident of Los Angeles, CA. He has the ability to emit radiation from his hands.

Character History

Nothing to Hide

Matt and Audrey are investigating the murder of Robert Fresco, an oncologist at UCLA. His body was found burned to a char and emitting 1800 curies of radiation. A fingerprint found seared into the man's bone is matched using the FBI's CODIS system to Theodore Sprague.

Matt and Audrey investigate the house and find signs of severe radiation damage throughout: photographs have the faces singed out, there are burns on the keyboard of a computer and around a doorknob, and nearly everything in the bedroom, where the radiation count is highest, is burned and melted into scrap.

Matt finds a chemotherapy prescription belonging to Karen Sprague and issued by Dr. Fresco. He and Audrey travel to Karen's hospital, where they enounter Ted at his dying wife's bedside. He readily admits to accidentally killing Dr. Fresco when they argued about Karen's prognosis, and only resists when Matt and Audrey try to take him away from his wife's bedside. He grabs a nurse and holds her hostage, and tells them that he doesn't know what will happen if they shoot him ... he might even explode. Matt uses his telepathic abilities to calm Ted by relaying messages from a comatose Karen. Ted releases the nurse, whose arm is covered in radiation burns. After a last reminiscence, Karen dies, and Ted agrees to go peaceably with Audrey for questioning.

Later, as he is being processed by the police, two small marks are apparent on his neck. They are identical to marks Matt discovers on his own neck.

Powers

Ted can emit radiation from his hands. He seems to have some control over the intensity, but judging from the damage to his home and his accidental killing of Dr. Fresco, his ability to control his power is severely limited, possibly more so when he is emotionally agitated.

• After his arrest, Ted is seen boiling water, a scene depicted in one of Isaac's paintings
• He puts out 18 hundred curies (Ci) of radiation without even coming in contact with radiative material.

Notes

• Ted is based heavily on the engineer, a terrorist character from the 72 minute version of the original pilot. Both men have the same powers, and both men have wives they love very much who die of cancer, probably related to their own radiation powers.
• The CODIS entry for Ted lists his address as 93 Laramie St, Los Angeles, CA 90016.
• Ted has an unusual mark on his shoulder which is identical to Matt Parkman's.

Fan Theories

• Ted's lines that he won't know what would happen if he's shot, that "maybe I'll wipe out this whole city like an atomic bomb," have led fans to speculate whether Theodore is the source of the nuclear explosion in New York.