Earle is a psychopathic ex-FBI agent who went insane after a violent tragedy in Pittsburgh, involving Agent Cooper. In the 1970s he was assigned to the government's secretive Project Blue Book. He discovered something of significance, so much so that he attempted to withhold information from his superiors. He is an egotistical, mad genius of a criminal whose insane, dangerous puzzles baffle and frighten the residents of Twin Peaks.