Tom Keller

"Don't lie to me, boy. Betty was here earlier, looking for you. We had a talk about what you've been doing. With everything that's going on right now, I need to know you're safe. You hear me? You hear me? I know that there's certain things that we don't talk about, maybe its time that we start trying. Okay? Okay son."

- Tom to Kevin

Tom Keller is a recurring character on Riverdale. He is portrayed by Martin Cummins.

He is the father of Kevin Keller and sheriff of Riverdale.

Early Life
Prior to the start of the series, Keller was made Sheriff of Riverdale. He also had a son, Kevin.

Though not explicitly shown in the show, he is an active member of the Western Canada Chess & Checkers Bureau. When he is not tracking down criminals who are complicit in illicit activities, he can found cozying up to a warm fire playing a game of chess with his ex-wife, Sharon Keller (nee Needles).

Throughout the Series

 * -|Season 1=

Season 1
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Murder Investigation of Jason Blossom
Sheriff Keller stopped by the high school to update the students on the death of their fellow classmate, Jason Blossom. He informed them that Jason's body was found late Saturday night, and the death is now be investigated as a homicide, the case is currently on-going. He urges anyone that may have information on Jason's death to come forward, as it would be of great help. The day after the pep-rally, as Jason's autopsy has been completed, Sheriff Keller and Mr. Whetherbee escorted Cheryl Blossom out of class as they had questions for her, pertaining to her brother's death.

Sheriff Keller and Mr. Weatherbee ushered Cheryl Blossom to the principal's office for questioning in Jason Blossom's murder. Cheryl admitted to lying about what happened on July 4th. Keller explained that the autopsy puts Jason's death around July 11th. He asked Cheryl when the last time she saw her brother was, and what exactly happened at Sweetwater River. She explained that the plan was for Jason to fake his own death in order to leave town. After making it to the other side, in Greendale, the twins parted ways. He found it to be suspicious and cruel that Jason would fake his own death and run away from his family. He suspected that Cheryl could be lying in order to cover for herself. But she insisted that this is not true, that she even heard a gun shot that day, and that it may have been aimed at Jason.

The next day, Archie Andrews admitted that he was at the river on the 4th of July, and that he heard a gunshot as well. Keller demands to know what he was doing up at the lake that early, if he was accompanied by anyone, and if he saw who fired the shot. Archie didn't see anything but he was up there writing songs, his dog was the only one with him, or so he claimed.

Several days later, he attended the annual Taste of Riverdale event at Town Hall, where he was forced to intervene in an altercation between Alice Cooper and Penelope Blossom.

Sheriff Keller conducted his investigation over Jason Blossom's death, he interviewed the residents of Riverdale, such as the Andrews, Coopers, Lodges, and Blossoms.

As he went over the details of the case, Kevin asked if he could borrow the truck for the drive-in, he didn't have a date, so he's going with Veronica Lodge. Sheriff Keller asked his son if there was possibly a nice gay kid at school, which there is, but unfortunately, it's Kevin. Before handing Kevin the keys, he told him "No cruising guys tonight". A lot of inappropriate activity takes place in those woods, not to mention they still haven't captured the murderer, on top of all the unsavory characters on that side of town, he insisted that Kevin stay in the truck.

That night, the Sheriff and his son arrived home at the same time, as they approached the door, they noticed that it had been kicked in. Firearm drawn, he slowly entered the residence, once inside, he discovered that the case work involving Jason Blossom's murder had been destroyed.

Suspect Pool & Destroyed Evidence
Sheriff Keller is escorted into the room being used for Jason Blossom's Memorial, by Penelope and Cliff Blossom. They informed the sheriff that everyone on their list of suspects has been invited to the memorial. Cliff stated that someone in town killed Jason, the sheriff was under the same impression, since whoever broke into his house, knew that he'd be at the Twilight Drive-In. Sheriff Keller stood along the wall, and watched as the memorial commenced, surveying the crowd for any suspicious behavior.

Sheriff Keller met up with Betty Cooper and Jughead Jones at the school, after receiving a text. From them, he learned that Jason had planned to run away with Polly Cooper, the two of them had a get away car stashed on the side of the highway, with Jason's belongings inside, including his varsity jacket. Unfortunately, by the time they reached the vehicle, it had been set on fire, thus destroying any potential evidence or clues.

At the station, Sheriff Keller explained to Penelope Blossom that he had a forensics team going over the burned remains of Jason's car, and that they were close to a break in the case. To his surprise, Cheryl Blossom had information about the case that would prove to be helpful, according to Cheryl, Polly Cooper had escaped the Sisters of Quiet Mercy group home the same night that Jason's car was torched, which opened up a new scenario, in which Polly set the car on fire in effort to cover her own tracks.

With Polly on the run, Sheriff Keller joined the Blossoms in their search throughout Eversgreen Forest for her. Further analysis of Jason Blossom's vehicle led Sheriff Keller to his latest suspect, Jughead Jones. After pulling the prints left behind on Jason's car by Jughead and Betty, Sheriff Keller discovered that Jughead's prints were on file from an incident that took place 6 years prior. where he attempted to burn down Riverdale Elementary School.

A look at Jughead's school records revealed a long history of being bullied by the Riverdale Bulldogs, which likely would have included Jason Blossom. Sheriff Keller suspected Jughead of being the killer, demanding to know where he was on the week of July 11th. A kid like him, who was raised on the wrong side of town by a dead beat dad, and bullied by kids like Jason Blossom, he suggested that this must've made Jughead angry. However, Jughead refused to talk any further, asking for a lawyer. He believed that Jughead's best chance would be to provide an alibi for his whereabouts on the day that Jason was killed, while Jughead did not answer, Fred Andrews did, claiming that Jughead was working for him over at Andrews Construction.

Sheriff Keller payed Polly Cooper a visit at The Pembrooke, as she had been staying there with Veronica and Hermione Lodge. Polly told him about everything, her relationship with Jason Blossom, the break up due to family drama, her pregnancy, and how they planned to run away to start their own family. The last day she saw Jason was at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, when he told her the plan in which he'd fake his own death and they'd meet up on the other side of Sweetwater River. Polly then revealed that Jason had gotten involved with the Southside Serpents, he made a one time deal to deliver drugs for them in exchange for cash. However, as they all knew, Jason never made it, neither did the drugs as they presumably went up in flames with Jason's car on route 40.

Later that night, he received a call from Fred Andrews that Moose Mason had been ambushed by two guys at Andrews Construction. Fred assumed the attackers of having been affiliated with Cliff Blossom, as he had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to halt the construction on the new development. Sheriff Keller had his doubts that the Blossoms would get involved in such illegal activity, but Archie suggested that it may have been the Serpents, considering that they had been kicked out of their own territory. Jughead disagreed, reasoning that the Serpents never bothered him when he worked at the Drive-In. Unsure, Keller asked Moose if he saw a snake tattoo on their jacket or anything identifiable that would help ID the vandals, to which Moose replied that it all happened too fast to notice anything. Keller assured them that he'd talk to Blossom, but he wasn't sure it would help without identifying the attackers. Archie wasn't too thrilled with the Sheriff's response, claiming that had it been Cliff asking for help, the Sheriff would have put forward more effort.

A Break in the Case; Suspect Arrested
Following a tip from an anonymous tip, Sheriff Keller, along with a couple other deputies received a warrant to search FP Jones's trailer. Upon further examination of his home, they located the gun used to kill Jason Blossom in a lockbox in FP's closet. Afterwards, he made his way to the Homecoming dance, where he informed Mayor McCoy of the arrest.

Upon arriving at the station, Sheriff Keller brought FP to the interrogation room, where Keller informed him that the gun they found in his trailer matched the bullet that killed Jason Blossom. He asked if FP knew the kid well or if he simply did it for the thrill. According to FP, he was approached at the Whyte Wyrm by Jason last summer, Jason was looking to run away with his pregnant girlfriend. They made a deal in exchange for FP setting him up with some money and a get away vehicle, he would make a drug delivery for the Serpents. After realizing that Jason was Cliff Blossom's son, and that he was trying to fake his own death, FP kidnapped him from the other side of Sweetwater River, and tied him up in the basement of the Wyrm.

They planned to get word to Clifford that his son was alive, and that his safe return was reliant upon the ransom money paid by the Blossoms. Before he could get word to Clifford, FP claimed that Jason broke free, so he killed him, and dumped his body in Sweetwater river, the only place the police had already looked. Sheriff Keller asked if FP was the culprit that broke into his house, and stole the case evidence, which FP admitted he was. The Sheriff wanted to hear him explicitly say he killed Jason Blossom, which FP did. After the interrogation, he was approached by Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica, all of whom claimed that FP was being framed, which made fairly little sense considering he had just confessed.

Upon receiving a 911 call that a Southside Serpent member named Mustang was found dead in his hotel room, Sheriff Keller wondered what Archie and Veronica were doing there in the first place, and how they knew where he lived. He informed Fred Andrews that Mustang's death was likely the result of an intentional overdose since he was possibly involved in Jason's murder. One of his deputy's then brought him a duffel bag with a large sum of money in it, which was found under Mustang's bed, and had the initials "H.L", which Keller mistook for Hermione Lodge. However, her daughter, Veronica, insisted that the bag belonged to her father of the same initials, Hiram Lodge, because he was doing business with the Serpents.

Later that night, he received a USB flash-drive from Alice Cooper, which contained surveillance video of Jason Blossom being murdered by Clifford Blossom, not FP Jones, who had only confessed to the killing in order to protect his son from Cliff.

Following the latest revelation, Jughead demanded that his father be released immediately, though Sheriff Keller couldn't allow this as FP would still be brought up on charges of tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, mishandling a body, perjury, and more. Sheriff Keller then made his way to Thornhill to arrest Clifford, but he was too late. By the time he had gotten there, Clifford had already hung himself inside the Blossom barn.

Plea Bargain
After the discovery of drugs within the Blossom Maple Farms, Sheriff Keller learned that Cliff Blossom was using maple syrup as a front for his actual business of transporting heroine from Montréal. He realized that Jason Blossom must have learned of his father's drug dealings, and threatened to expose him, thus resulting in Jason's kidnapping and death.

After receiving orders from Mayor McCoy to erase every last remnant of corruption, Keller returned to the station to question FP Jones on the possibility of the Serpents pushing Clifford's drugs throughout town. Keller was willing to cut FP a deal, the DA and Mayor McCoy could offer FP leniency on his sentence but only if he gave up the names of those dealing drugs. Serpents are minor league drug dealers, they only dealt small amounts such as dime bags of weed, plus he was no snitch, FP said. Keller informed FP that if he didn't cooperate, he'd be looking at twenty years in a federal penitentiary for his part in Jason's murder. }}
 * -|Season 2=

Investigating Fred Andrews' Shooting
Sheriff Keller arrived at Riverdale General Hospital to question Archie about his father's shooting at Pop's by a black hooded assailant. Jughead joined them in another section of the hospital as Archie recounted the moments leading up to his father being shot. According to Archie, the shooter was close to 5'10, around 160 lbs and had green eyes. Archie described him as wearing dark pants with a dark jacket. Anything on that jacket, possibly a serpent symbol, Sheriff wondered. But it was just a normal jacket by Archie's account. The Sheriff then learned of the homemade black hood that the shooting wore to conceal his identity. Pop Tate had a fairly clear memory of the incident up until the point where Mr. Andrews was shot. So, Sheriff Keller was hoping that Archie could fill in the holes. What did he do after shooting Mr. Andrews, Sheriff Keller asked. Archie claimed he ran out of the diner. While it was too early to speculate, Sheriff Keller suspected the shooter of being a southside low life that was high off drugs and was looking to make off with some quick cash. They were still waiting to hear back from Pop Tate on just how much the shooter took. With Riverdale being a town with a dark and violent past, there was a possibility that robbery wasn't the motive, and that someone held a grudge against Fred, meaning the robbery would've merely been a staged event to throw the investigation off track.

Sheriff Keller later called Archie down for a line up at the Sheriff Station, hoping he could identify the perpetrator. They picked up several individuals from around town, each with a history of armed robbery or other violent crimes. He checked to make sure that Archie was up to the task before instructing the men in the line up to put on similar black hoods to the shooter. One by one, he instructed each suspect to step forward. Unfortunately, Archie is convinced that none of the suspects in the line up shot his father.

Sheriff Keller appeared in one of Mr. Andrews' dreams alongside Kevin. The two of them sat happily in the crowd of Archie and Veronica's Scottish themed wedding.

Sheriff Keller is approached by Archie at the station, where he informed Archie that they were doing everything in their power to catch the shooter, as was Archie, who had been talking to neighbors and handing out flyers with a detailed depiction of the shooter in a black hood. However, despite their best efforts, Archie was still concerned with the well-being of his father, as well as himself considering that they were living witnesses to the shooting. With the shooter presumably in possession of Fred's missing wallet, he had all pf their personal information, including their address. Archie wished to join Sheriff Keller's deputies as they patrolled the streets of Riverdale, but the Sheriff declined his request. He then received a report of a "53 in Greendale". Before heading off, he instructed Archie tro stay out the way while they did their job.

The following day, Sheriff Keller received another surprise visit from Archie at the station, who this time came with information in relation to the on-going case. Archie believed that the man who shot his father is also responsible for killing Geraldine Grundy. He claimed that the killer was Ms. Grundy's abusive ex-husband. He learned from Archie that Ms. Grundy moved to Riverdale in order to get away from him, and that she kept a gun in her car in case he ever came back fro her. How do you know all this, Sheriff Keller asked. Archie explained that he and Ms. Grundy were close. Archie's thought the motive behind Ms. Grundy's death was jealously on the part of her ex-husband. He must've found out about Archie and Ms. Grundy, so he killed her in retaliation. Further proof of Archie's claim is provided when he noted that she was killed by a Cello bow, mostly likely the same bow he gave her before she left town. Unfortunately, Archie's theory was incorrect. Sheriff Keller's Greendale counter-parts already brought in her ex-husband. He had an air tight alibi.

To Catch a Killer
The next day, back at the mayor's office, Alice and Hal Cooper give Sheriff Keller the letter that they received earlier that morning by the the Black Hood. Sheriff Keller reads the letter and within, the Black Hood admits that he's the one who shot the "adulterer", Fred Andrews, at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, killed the "child predator", Geraldine Grundy, in Greendale as well as shooting the "drug and sex-addicted" teenagers, Moose Mason and Midge Klump, retrospectively, at Lovers Lane. The letter also states that he won't and cannot be stopped. Mayor McCoy asks for his opinion about its authenticity, to which he confirms that it's real. Mayor McCoy wishes to keep peace and the Sheriff agrees, not wanting to cause panic among the masses in Riverdale,. Hal and Alice immediately disagrees, as they feel that it's their responsibility to inform the public. The Mayor demands a media blackout and Sheriff Keller takes the letter, telling Alice that she can have a copy because he'll be taking the letter as evidence. She dismisses him, revealing that she already has her own copy sent to the printer for the next day's front page.

Meanwhile, back at Riverdale High School, Archie is approached by Sheriff Keller looking at Archie seriously upon his discovery of him forming a militia. He confronts Archie, telling him if he thought he was going to allow that to happen with a group of teenagers, holding the flier up to the lockers for Archie to see. Archie later informs the Sheriff that they're only trying to help. Telling him that people are scared. As Sheriff Keller tells Archie that a lynch mob won't help with the situation. They're later approached by Mr. Weatherbee, as he greets the Sheriff. He notifies Mr. Weatherbee that they have a big problem, pointing out that one of his students, Archie, had formed a private army of his own. Mr. Weatherbee then informs Sheriff Keller that The Red Circle was a school social club. As the Sheriff later questioned Mr. Weatherbee as to him endorsing Archie's club. Mr. Weatherbee later tells Sheriff Keller that Archie has shown tremendous initiative, stating to him that he can't fault students for wanting to protect each other. Sheriff Keller later smiles at Mr. Weatherbee's response to him, as he looks towards him, giving him a warning.

Sometime later that night, Tom learns from Betty about his son's dangerous actions, jogging though Fox Forest in the guise to meet other boys. Upon his son's arrival home, Tom confronts Kevin, asking him where he's been though he's only given more lies. He reveals that Betty has told him everything and, given recent events from the Black Hood, Tom is extremely worried about his son's safety. Tom approaches his son and expresses to him that he needs to know he's safe, making it completely clear in the process. Looking his son in the eyes, expressing guilt, he explains that there are things that as a father and son, they don't talk about, implying Kevin's sexuality. He tells Kevin, that now, maybe it's time that they start trying. Kevin, silently taking in his father's words, simply nods yes and smiles. Tom embraces his son in a tight, heartfelt hug as Kevin's emotions gets the better of him. Tom tells him it's okay as Kevin cries into his shoulder.

Sheriff Keller received a coded cipher from Alice, by the Black Hood, who initially addressed the code to Betty. Sheriff Keller wondered why the killer gave them a code rather than a note. He also questioned why the Black Hood sent the envelope to Betty instead of Alice, as he did before. Alice concluded that while the Black Hood needed a platform to grandstand on, he was terrified of her, so he contacted Betty. There was a cryptologist over in Centerville, Sheriff Keller planned to send the code to him in hope that he could decode the cipher. In the meantime, he presumably needed Alice to keep the code a secret. However, as she explained, it had already been published. She believed that having the entire town trying to crack the code could increase their success rate.

A couple days had past when Sheriff Keller and Mr. Weatherbee interrupted Dr. Phylum's class to pull Archie out in the hallway after receiving a tip from a bodega owner on the south side that a Riverdale High School student with red hair was waving a gun around in front of his shop. Archie claimed that he was writing songs in his garage. Nevertheless, the Sheriff believed that a look in Archie's locker for any weapons or contraband was warranted, given his behavior over the last several days. Don't you need a warrant for that, Archie asked. Sheriff Keller replied that a warrant was not required for a locker search and that Archie's father had already been informed. Inside the locker, the Sheriff found a black hood, similar to the one Archie previously described.

That night, Sheriff Keller attended the Town Hall meeting, where he explained to the concerned residents that their current budget was low, forcing them to put together a helpline that can be called in order to report any suspicious activity. Alice interjected to say that his helpline sounded more like the Red Circle's hotline. Along with the helpline, Sheriff Keller was instating a town-wide curfew, though Alice questioned this call, believing that it was the coward's way. As a show of force, she suggested that they close down Southside High, and use the money to hire more deputies, who could then protect their children. This led to a huge debate between her and Fred, who didn't believe that the south side was the issue, and accused Alice of dividing the town. The discourse only came to an end after Betty and Jughead interrupted the meeting to announce the supposed arrival of the Black Hood.

With the Town Hall meeting forced into an abrupt end after Betty pulled the fire alarm, Sheriff Keller, and Mayor McCoy reconvened at the Cooper's house with Alice, Hal Betty, and Jughead, where they were hoping to gain a better understand of how Betty and Jughead knew where the Black Hood would strike next. Betty handed them a letter, which was sent to her by the Black Hood, along with the code that she had earlier turned over to Alice, revealing that she had withheld evidence from them in an attempt to solve the cipher herself.

Sheriff Keller stopped by the Cooper house to inform Alice and Betty that after sending Betty's letter that was supposedly from the Black Hood, to two different specialists, they discovered that the hand writing wasn't a match, meaning, whoever wrote Betty the letter, was either a copy cat or an anonymous prankster. However, Alice suggested a much more banal third option; that Betty wrote the letter in an attempt to gain attention. With the cipher being cribbed from a Nancy Drew book, Alice had her suspicions, though she had yet to uncover a motive, as Betty pointed out. Alice wondered if maybe Betty and Jughead came up with the idea out of boredom. On that note, Sheriff Keller decided it was time to intervene by telling Alice and Betty that nothing was being ruled out, at least not until they knew what they were dealing with.

Finding the Sugarman
Sheriff Keller headed down to the Five Seasons hotel to bring out of town teen, Nick St. Clair into custody after Cheryl Blossom made a complaint against him, in which she accused him of roofieing her and subsequently trying to rape her at the Lodge's SoDale Gala Opening. After instructing Nick to get dressed, the Sheriff looked over to Betty, wondering what she was doing at the hotel. Betty explained that she was there to ensure that Nick got what was coming to him.

Afterward, Sheriff Keller stopped by the Cooper house after Alice called over him, Mayor McCoy, Fred Andrews, the Lodges, and Melinda Mantle, as well as all of their children, after learning that they all attended a party at the Five Seasons, where Jingle Jangle was in use. After Reggie Mantle admitted to bringing the Jingle Jangle to the party, he revealed that he acquired it from a Southside teen, who he suspected of being a Serpent, as well as a student at Southside High. While they admittedly shouldn't have taken the Jingle Jangle, Veronica pointed out that Nick asked Reggie to bring the it, and later pressured everyone to partake in the night's drug fueled festivities. Furthermore, he roofied Cheryl, and tried to assault her. Given all that had occurred, if anyone should be under interrogation, they believed it to be Nick. However, as Sheriff Keller explained, prosecuting him would prove difficult considering that Jingle Jangle remained in the users' system for up to three days, meaning they were all high, making them unreliable witnesses. After Mayor McCoy learned that Josie experimented with the drugs as well, she declared that her number one priority as Mayor was to take over the Southside, even if it meant arresting every Serpent in sight.

Following through on her promise to retake the Southside, Mayor McCoy and Sheriff Keller raided Southside High, kicking in its doors, searching and seizing students, and taking Southside Serpents into custody, including Toni Topaz and Sweet Pea.

Later that night, Sheriff Keller was joined by Betty at the bar of Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe. While he was off the clock, she was hoping to ask him a few questions for a Blue and Gold story on Jingle Jangle. Betty asked him if he had ever heard of a dealer known as "The Sugarman". Not only had the Sheriff heard of him, he knew him, as did Betty. The Sugarman went by many names, the Maple Man, and the Delivery Man, to name a couple, but at the end of the day, it was all just one man; Clifford Blossom. However, he was dead, which left Betty questioning how Jingle Jangle was still being supplied. Sheriff Keller informed her that Jingle Jangle didn't his the streets until after Clifford died. The truth is that anyone could be the current supplier.

The next day, Sheriff Keller was tipped off by Archie of an upcoming street race that was taking place between Herk Harvey bridge and Dead Man's curve. He and his men waited on the opposite side of the bridge as the race commenced. As planned, they intercepted the drivers, during which time they arrested two members from the Southside street gang, the Ghoulies.

The following day, Betty notified the Sheriff's office of the identity of the Sugarman. From her, they learned that the supplier was Robert Phillips, a teacher a Southside High, as well as the adviser of the school's newspaper, the Red and Black. Sheriff Keller placed the suspect in handcuffs and escorted him out of the school.

Physical Appearance
Sheriff Keller is a middle-aged man of average stature, around 5' 9" in height. He has tan skin, grey hair and hazel eyes. Keller has only ever been seen in his Sheriff uniform, therefore, an accurate description of his everyday wardrobe is currently unavailable.

Personality
Not much is known about Sheriff Keller other than he seems to be very serious about his work when it comes to obtaining the law. He is accepting of Kevin's sexuality, and encourages him to find "any nice gay guys at school."

Relationships

 * Sheriff Keller and Kevin

Gallery

 * -|Season 1 Screencaps=

Season 1 Screencaps

 * -|Season 2 Screencaps=