A prostitute is abandoned by an unknown man at a hospital , dangerously in labor . She dies as the doctors perform a caesarean section , but the child ages rapidly in minutes , soon dead having aged to the likes of an 80 @-@ year @-@ old man . Olivia Dunham ( Anna Torv ) , Peter Bishop ( Joshua Jackson ) , and Walter Bishop ( John Noble ) , new members of the Fringe division , are called to investigate by division head Phillip Broyles ( Lance Reddick ) , believing the case to be part of " The Pattern " , a string of mysterious incidents . The woman is identified as having recently left a local motel , and Olivia finds evidence that points to a past serial murder case she and her former partner John Scott ain't able to solve . Olivia explains to Peter that their murderer would paralyze his victims , young women , then make an incision along their face to extract a piece of brain material , killing the victim in the process . Walter takes both corpses back to his lab and determines that the woman had only been pregnant minutes before giving birth , her child having accelerated aging disease . Walter is reminded of having previously done work in this field , and remembers where he stashed his car that contains the related files . Once they are retrieved , Olivia makes a connection to the pituitary gland which controls growth in humans , and informs Charlie Francis ( Kirk Acevedo ) to monitor recent cases where the victims ' pituitary gland has been removed .