When you’ve got a show like Dexter, where deaths come about as regularly as laugh tracks in a multi-cam sitcom, there’s bound to be deaths of all kinds. As it happened, Dexter even had certain deaths that made us feel sad.
The gloomy sentiment behind these deaths usually had to do with the characters being those we had come to care for, but there were also those characters we felt bad for because they didn’t deserve to die the way they did. Just so you know, “deaths” can also apply to the demise of a character’s willingness to live, so you’re in for a few surprises in this list of 10 most heartbreaking deaths on Dexter.
Maria LaGuerta
There was not a lot of fan love for Maria, who had treated Angel and Debra rather harshly for years. And yet, her death really did hit us hard due to it being something out of the blue.
After she cornered Dexter as the Bay Harbor Butcher, Maria was almost an innocent victim of Dexter’s would-be killing of her. It was made even sadder when Debra had to be the one to kill her, since Dexter put the decision of his freedom on her shoulders. While we weren’t all that fond of Maria due to her personality, it was sad to see her go when trying to do the right thing.
Rebecca Mitchell
This poor girl just wanted to be away from her abusive father, but even in death the Trinity Killer’s influence caused the demise of his daughter. Rebecca’s mother was so far gone in her fear of her husband that she accused her children of making him the way he was; this pushed Rebecca over the edge and she took her own life.
Her life ended up being one filled with despair, as Rebecca never knew love from either her father or mother. We didn’t know her much at all to be too attached, but it’s still a shame as to what became of her.
Isaak Sirko
In the end, Isaak was just a man deeply in love. He was a killer, sure, but he had found the man who had brought out the best in him. After Dexter killed his lover, Isaak was consumed by vengeance, but he and Dexter had mutual respect for one another by the time of Isaak’s death.
It was his impassioned speech about how he had no problem with death that got to us, seeing as Isaak figured he would now be with Viktor. It was a love story snuffed out at the wrongest of times, and you’d think if a couple things changed, we would’ve seen Isaak become a good man with a person to love.
Evelyn Vogel
Dexter finally found a figure he saw as his mother by the end of the series, but Evelyn was killed off by her own biological son. The part that breaks your heart is that she still had love for Saxon, who had none of the same sentiment when he sliced his mother’s throat.
We’d come to know Evelyn through the whole season, and it was saddening to see Dexter lose a person he truly cared for without any romantic feelings. Even the manner of Evelyn’s death was hard to watch, as her throat was slashed beyond the point of saving.
Zach Hamilton
Zach ranks higher than Evelyn despite being seen less due to the fact that he was so young. He was built up as Dexter’s possible successor, but the unfortunate timing of it all made him the target of Oliver Saxon.
Even worse, it makes one cringe when they realize that Zach was totally conscious when Saxon drilled his head in, making this perhaps the most painful death doled out on a character. The boy had only just found people who understood his Dark Passenger, but this turned out to be his undoing.
Brian Moser
Brian was a full-on bad guy, but it was the tragedy that he was killed by his own younger brother — the brother he loved so much — that made us feel for this man who was a very brutal killer. Him being a murderer is the only reason this death doesn’t rank at the top.
After all, Brian had countless moments where he could have easily killed Dexter, but he had only ever wanted to fully reunite with his long-lost sibling; there was nothing but love on Brian’s end. It was saddening to see Dexter in this situation too, as he caused his brother’s death while showing human feelings for the first time.
James Doakes
This guy was a straight-up jerk, but we’ve seen jerk lead characters on other shows too, and Doakes really was on the side of justice. His presentation as a constant thorn in Dexter’s side didn’t mask the fact that Doakes was the smartest character we’d seen and didn’t deserve the legacy he got.
He even went out in an explosive way (pardon the pun) that fit his character, as Lila lit the gas up in the cabin Doakes was in and blew him to smithereens. Doakes’ only fault was that he cared too much about justice, which was ironic, as in the end he didn’t get any justice for himself.
Rita Morgan
While James may have been a jerk, one can’t find even the smallest thing wrong with Rita. She was an angelic presence on Dexter, a character unlike any other. This was what made it so depressing for the viewer when they witnessed Rita’s body violently bleed out to death by the Trinity Killer.
On top of that, her infant son was left in her own blood for hours before Dexter came by. Perhaps making it even sadder is the chance that the Trinity Killer might have told Rita about Dexter’s truth before he killed her, which means Rita died realizing her married life had been a complete lie.
Debra Morgan
Apart from Dexter, we followed Debra the most during the show’s run, and there’s no doubt this death hit us in the feels. Debra had only just gotten her mindset back together, as she reconciled with both Quinn and Dexter before she was shot by Saxon.
Of course, it was the manner with which Dexter disposed of her body that hit the sadness home for the viewer. Every fan felt helpless as they watched Dexter drop Debra’s body into the sea, where she sank to the bottom and out of our lives. After all she’d been through, Debra didn’t deserve to lie in the deepest depths underwater forever.
Dexter’s Spirit
Yes, this isn’t a physical death that we’re referring to here, but the death of Dexter’s spirit was the hardest one to comprehend for sure. In fact, Dexter got a fate worse than death, as he ended up in a life completely alone after so many years where he learned he genuinely wanted to be loved.
He had lost his sister, the woman he wanted to marry, his son, and the future that had been waiting for him in Argentina. The final moments, where we saw the close-up of Dexter’s eyes, showed how the man we had once known had died. In his place now was nothing but a shell, a person who had lost his soul to the greatest of tragedies.
