"It was the hardest case I've ever had. As in stealing-into-the-bathroom-to-cry-my-eyes-out kind of hard." - Monica Reyes ("Empedocles")

The "Luke Arc" Episodes 8x01 "Within" 8x06 "Invocation" 8x14 "This Is Not Happening" 8x17 "Empedocles" 9x07 "John Doe" 9x16 "Release"

"Within" could possibly be the first mention of Luke when Doggett says he understands obsession. We later learn that Doggett was obsessed with solving his son's case.

The first episode that makes "mention" of Luke Doggett is "Invocation" when John Doggett takes a picture out of his wallet of a little boy. At this point we don't know what happened to him.

"This Is Not Happening" is the first mention of what happened to Luke and what Doggett must have been going through during those three days. Doggett tells Reyes to leave the past in the past, and Reyes says: "It was your fear, too. Those three days we looked for your son. The fear of finding what we did. I understand. That's why you're so determined to find Mulder alive."

"Empedocles" is when we learn/see more about the case work that went on during the three days Luke went missing. We learn here that this case was the hardest case Monica ever had to work and we learn that she would hide in the bathroom to cry. We also learn that Monica saw something paranormal with the case and believes Doggett to have seen it too: Luke turned to ashes for a split second. "Empedocles" deals with a thread of evil that jumps from one person to the next when it sees vulnerability. In this case, the evil jumped from Robert Harvey to Jeb Dukes. Robert Harvey died and was a suspect in the case.

In "John Doe" we get to see small glimpses of what life was like before Luke died. Doggett lost his memory of who he is and is troubled by visions of a life he can't remember. He sees Luke jumping on his bed with his wife sleeping next to him. He sees Luke riding his bike and living a happy life. This episode shows us the joy of life and leads up for the final episode of the Luke Doggett arc.

"Release" is the conclusion to what happened. Key players and secrets are revealed. Nicholas Regali was greasing Brad Follmer at the time when Luke went missing. Brad becomes suspicious of Regali and confronts him one night and asks if he were involved. Naturally Regali denies any involvement, but Brad remains suspicious because of a comment Regali makes about a video tape showing up, showing a young Brad Follmer taking bribes. John Doggett is the one, however, to come to the conclusion that Nicholas Regali killed his son and confronts him at Mark Mooney's Bar. There, Regali tells "what could have happened", revealing that this "business man" (Regali) did business with all kind of sickos like Bob Harvey, who had taken Luke. Luke saw Regali's face and that became a problem, in which Luke died due to strangulation. Regali is killed by Brad Follmer.

The Casefile

The lack of continuity on "The X-Files" makes it difficult to pin point exact dates of events. Example: in "Empedocles" the casefile reports that Luke went missing in 1997. However, in "Release" the box that holds Luke's ashes says he died on August 13, 1993.

According to "Empedocles"... Luke John Doggett went missing on August 12, 1997 from Long Island, New York. Luke was seven years old (born on September 9, 1990). It was suspected that Luke had been abducted. He went missing for three days and was found deceased by strangulation.

Dates according to "Release". Luke was born on January 9, 1986 and died on August 13, 1993.

The Suspects

Robert Harvey, Nicholas Rigali

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