Before Saw
Jonas Singer and Xavier Chavez are sentenced to imprisonment at the Joliet Correctional Center.
Amanda Young is sentenced to imprisonment for drug possession and becomes addicted to heroin during her time in jail.
Detective Mark Hoffman and Officer Daniel Rigg interrogate Jane at her school due to her being physically abused by her violent father Rex, which she denies out of fear. In front of his cowed wife, Morgan, Rigg attacks Rex and breaks his nose.
Rex tries to take legal proceedings against Rigg, which are dismissed due to an incorrect statutory declaration by Mark Hoffman.
Art Blank successfully defends Rex against the accuses of abuse due to his wife refusing to testify against him.
Mark Hoffman’s sister, Angelina Acomb, is brutally murdered by her boyfriend, Seth Baxter, during a domestic dispute, resulting in Hoffman suffering from depression.
Seth Baxter is sentenced to a life imprisonment for murder.
The Clear Dawn mental facility is shut down by the state, resulting in the release of several inmates.
Due to an emergency call, Officer Matt Gibson enters the old crossroad factory and is attacked by a former patient of Clear Dawn.
Mark Hoffman arrives at the factory and shoots the aggressor despite him dropping his weapon.
Matt Gibson reports Mark Hoffman to the police.
Mark Hoffman is promoted while Matt Gibson is transferred to the internal affairs department.
As an internal affairs officer, Matt Gibson convicts three of Mark Hoffman’s colleagues of unspecified offences, resulting in Hoffman swearing revenge against him.
While drunk, Timothy Young causes a car accident, resulting in the death of Dylan Denlon.
The only witness of the car crash, Danica Scott, refuses to testify against Timothy Young which causes the presiding judge, Halden, to sentence him to imprisonment for merely six months.
Their son’s death and Timothy Young’s mild punishment results in both Lynn and Jeff Denlon suffering from depression, causing them to neglect each other as well as their daughter Corbett.
Logan Nelson and Keith Hunt fought together in the war in Iraq. Logan got captured and tortured by their enemies. He was eventually rescued, but was left with trauma, leading to his discharge from the military.
Ryan causes a car accident that kills his two high school friends and another driver, whilst incriminating one of the former for it.
John Kramer designs his first building, the Gideon Meatpacking Plant on 11235 Blake Drive.
John Kramer encourages his wife, Jill Kramer, to open the Homeward Bound Clinic for drug addicts under the motto “Cherish your life”.
Following her release from imprisonment, Amanda Young becomes a patient at Jill’s clinic.
The manager of the Umbrella Health insurance company and brother of journalist Pamela Jenkins, William Easton, sponsors a party for the Homeward Bound clinic where he gets to know John Kramer, who asks him about his dubious commercial practices.
The clinic gets several new patients, including Paul Leahy, Donnie Greco, Michael Marks, Gus Colyard, Troy, Derek and Cecil Adams.
Jill becomes pregnant and her son, Gideon, is planned to be born during the year of the pig in the Chinese zodiac.
John Kramer shows Jill his new workshop and surprises her with a crib and a wooden puppet for their son.
John Kramer, leader of the Urban Renewal Company, and his lawyer, Art Blank, work together on a project regarding the creation of new housing for needy families.
Art Blank successfully defends the pimp Brenda and the threefold rapist Ivan Landsness.
During a brawl between Gus Colyard and Cecil Adams at the Homeward Bound Clinic, John Kramer makes acquaintance with the latter.
While waiting for Jill in front of the clinic, John Kramer makes acquaintance with the prostitute Addison Corday who offers him her company, which he rejects.
Amanda Young persuades Cecil Adams to a robbery at the clinic which results in him inadvertently slamming a doorknob into Jill’s stomach, causing a miscarriage.
Cecil flees from the clinic.
John Kramer finds Jill and takes her to the Angel of Mercy Hospital, but despite their efforts, the doctors aren’t able to save the life of John and Jill’s unborn child.
Following Gideon’s death, John suffers from severe depression, causing him to withdraw from both his wife and the project he and Art Blank were involved in, which results in a dispute between John and the latter.
John decides to have an X-ray on his skull but the medical examiner in charge of reading the results makes a mistake, changing the names of the patients, resulting in John’s brain tumour remaining undiagnosed, allowing it to grow into an inoperable state.
Some time later, the oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon diagnoses John with an inoperable brain tumour.
John attempts to commit suicide by driving his car over a cliff, but survives, despite being heavily injured and decides to spend the rest of his life testing other people’s will to survive.
John separates from Jill, who reverts to her maiden name, Tuck.
John decides to move to a new house, where Anna, Matthew and their baby were his neighbours.
Anna asphyxiated her baby because she was stressed by her crying, John Kramer witnessed the scene.
John abducts Cecil Adams during a Chinese street festival while wearing a pig mask, and forces him into his first trap.
Cecil survives, albeit heavily injured, but dies when he lunges to attack John, who sidesteps, causing Cecil to fall into a cage full of razor wire. After bleeding out, John cuts a jigsaw piece out of Cecil’s skin.
John builds the Glass Coffin.
Carly begins to commit minor thefts in the city but ends up killing an asthmatic woman after stealing her purse, which contains her inhaler.
The police find Cecil Adams’ corpse and create a case file under the name of Cecil Fletcher.
Because of the jigsaw piece cut from Cecil’s body, the police and newspapers give John Kramer the nickname “The Jigsaw Killer” or simply “Jigsaw”. Detective David Tapp takes on the lead position on the case.
After finding out about Cecil’s death, Jill visits John in his workshop, confronting him with the newspaper and photos of Cecil she finds on a workbench, resulting in another dispute between them, causing Jill to leave.
Mitch sells a faulty motorcycle to John’s Nephew, causing his death in a car accident.
Dr. Lawrence Gordon starts an affair with his medical trainee, Carla.
Due to his new way of life, John is looking for people whose will to survive he wants to test and finds some.