When he was 3 years old, Christopher Hargrave was kidnapped from his parents Susan and Howard Hargrave. As a foster child by the name of Jacob Phelps, he was a petty thief who was eventually recruited at a young age by an underground spy trainer known as the Major in As an adult, he was hired by Raymond Reddington to keep an eye on Elizabeth Keen , however Jacob got romantically involved with Elizabeth which led Reddington to fire him.
To protect himself and to remain with Elizabeth, Jacob went to Milos Kirchoff and the Major reassigned Jacob's contract to Milos when he offered to double Red's original price. As part of his cover, Phelps took the identity of Thomas Vincent Keen and started working as a fourth grade teacher.
He and Liz eventually married and made plans to adopt a child. While they are getting ready for work he shows her 2 fliers and asks her to choose which one he should visit with his class for a field trip. He also wants the car, but because Liz is late he agrees that she can have it. When the FBI arrive outside to take Liz, she gives him the car keys. When Liz returns home she finds Tom tied to a chair.
He is tortured and stabbed by Ranko Zamani , then taken to hospital where he is placed on a ventilator.
While he is in the hospital, Liz tries to clean the carpet because Tom's blood was all over the floor. She gets angry and starts to peel the carpet off. Underneath, she finds a compartment in her wood floor, and in the compartment is a box, containing multiple fake passports all with Tom's picture on them.
