Fredrick Downing

Fredrick Downing was born in 1951 and was an English gentleman. He was an employee of the Wilpharma Corporation based in Harvardville and over the last few years had worked his way up the corporate ladder to become senior researcher.

Downing’s background is vague, all that is known is that he was once a former employee of Umbrella and had been based in Raccoon City, most likely in William Birkin’s underground laboratory.

In mid-September 1998 when Birkin had just completed the G-Virus, Downing managed to steal a sample undetected, a feat even Umbrella themselves could not manage, and fled the city just prior to the biological outbreak. He also had in his possession several samples of the T-Virus.

This theft was never recognised by either Umbrella or any of its affiliates.

Downing erased his past and found employment at Wilpharma. His true intentions were to turn the T and G Viruses over to terrorists but he figured their value would triple if he could first create a vaccine for them both and then sell them as a set.

With this in mind, Downing was able to search for potential customers whilst creating these vaccines.

He was successful with the T-Virus, his background at Umbrella likely proving useful here although his vaccine did not appear to be related to those earlier created by them.

Downing came into contact with Miguel Grande, leader of the Republic of Bajirib and a keen advocator of terrorism.

Downing was able to showcase the T-Virus to Grande by staging minor terrorist attacks with small scale outbreaks of the virus across India, which then provided a perfect opportunity for Wilpharma to conduct clinical trials with their new vaccine.

Grande was impressed but he also wanted the G-Virus. This proved to be a stumbling block for Downing as he had so far been unsuccessful in creating a vaccine and the sample had been locked down in Wilpharma ever since, although it remained a secret even within the company.

Downing agreed to send data on the G-Virus to Grande and to do this he needed a willing subject to be infected with the virus. Downing found his man in Curtis Miller, a troubled and depressed individual who had lost his entire family in the Raccoon City tragedy. He told Curtis the shocking truth behind the Raccoon City tragedy and promised to help publically expose the truth behind the US Government’s connection to Umbrella and their role in nuking the town.

Downing’s manipulation of Curtis seemed to be working and the lie was further drawn out when he infected Harvardville airport with the T-Virus. He then arranged for most of the produced vaccine to be destroyed so that his price for selling it could go up.
Curtis by this point was a broken man and he made his way back to Wilpharma HQ and injected himself with the G-Virus sample. As he began to mutate and cause havoc, Downing ensured his every action was being recorded and monitored.

Following the incident, Downing contacted Grande to arrange the details of their transaction. He wanted extra money for the G-Virus sample and told Grande not to use the virus as it was too volatile and could not be controlled. Minutes later however, his escape was thwarted when he was arrested by Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield and Angela Miller.

He later confessed everything, and Wilpharma, although innocent in the whole affair, were later bought out by Tricell Inc.