In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
WOLF CREEK PARK
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9
Elliot and Olivia stepped out of the car and walked toward the crime scene. Forensics were all there crowded around the victim with cameras and evidence bags. Cragen and Fin walked toward them through the crowd.
"What do we got?" Elliot asked. They turned to see the victim over the forensic team.
"Girl, about 9 or 10. Tortured in…various ways." Cragen answered a little shaken up.
"Oh my god…" Olivia said under her breath. The girl was lying in a pool of blood below her back.
"Beatings on the head, mutilation of the gentiles… There's somethin' weird about it though, the body was only dumped here with all this blood. She's been tortured somewhere else. And a lot, too." Fin commented.
"Time of death?" Elliot asked.
"Only about 4 hours ago. Garbage man spotted the blood and went to go check it out." Fin replied. They looked at the garbage man talking to an officer who was writing what he was saying. Elliot looked at him curiously.
"He check out okay?" Elliot crossed his arms.
"Yeah, she was dead before he found her and luckily for him, his stop for doughnuts places him far from the scene." He nodded. Don and Olivia walked back to them.
"Alright, let's head back to the precinct and we'll have Melinda do the autopsy." Cragen said. Everyone headed back to their cars.
"Okay, what's the damage?" Elliot asked Melinda as he and Olivia walked through the door.
"What isn't the damage?" She said, examining the girl's face. "Severe blows to the head, bruises all over her body, broken bones…The markings on her back indicate she was whipped and her wrists and ankles are bruised. She was definitely restrained, most likely chains. Good news is she wasn't raped though. You got a real job with this one."
Olivia's eyes were filled with pain looking at the girl and Elliot kept his face calm but his fists were clenched tightly. They walked out and went back to check on Munch and Fin to see if they'd found anything.
"Elliot, Liv." Munch greeted them from his desk.
"Munch. What do we got?" Elliot asked. Munch put his feet down from the desk and looked at the file folder in front of him. Elliot walked over behind Fin and Olivia sat on the desk.
"ID. Kid's name is Molly Krane. We got a Missing Person's Report from the orphanage she lives in." he said reading the file.
"When was that?" Olivia asked.
"This morning, a little before the body was found."
"Where's the orphanage?" Elliot asked.
"Here's the address. I'll call if we get anything else interesting."
Olivia and Elliot left for the orphanage. Most of the car ride was silent until Elliot finally spoke.
"You okay, Liv?" She looked up at him and then stared back at the road.
"Yeah, I was just taken a little off guard…That little girl…"
"I know…"
"There was just so much blood…"
EMILY WALTERS' ORPHANAGE
114 WEST 37TH STREET
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9
Elliot knocked on the orphanage door. A woman with red, puffy eyes holding a tissue opened the door.
"Hi, I'm Detective Stabler, this is Detective Benson. We're here to talk to you about Molly." The woman nodded her head and opened the door. She sniffed and wiped her eyes with the tissue again.
"I'm Emily Walters. This is my orphanage…" She said, with a breaking voice. They walked through the building and into the kitchen. They sat down at the table together and Olivia took out the file.
"These are pictures of Molly when we found her…" Olivia pulled out some photos, the less gruesome ones just of her face. Emily blew her nose in her tissue and looked at the pictures set out on the table. She covered her mouth and squeezed some tears out. Her fingers went through her long, brown, messy hair. "She was severely beaten, along with other things. We just need to know where she was yesterday." She sniffed again and mumbled 'Oh Molly'.
"Sh-she got up in the morning with the rest of the girls and they all went to school. I got a call from the school saying that Molly wasn't in her last class…" She cried a little more and then looked back up at Benson.
"Was that normal for Molly? To skip classes I mean," Elliot asked.
"No. She never…she never did that. She was an excellent student."
"What happened after you got the call?" Olivia asked.
"I-I called around to some places that the girls and I visit to see if anyone had seen her. I wanted to go out and look for her but no one else was here and I still had to wait for the other girls to get home…" she said behind her sobs. "It's all my fault! I should have gone!"
"It's not your fault, Emily. You did the right thing by waiting for the other girls, we wouldn't want the same thing to happen to them…" Olivia said, putting her hand on hers.
"Y-yeah…"
"Do you mind if we talk to some of the other girls?"
"Well, Bridgett has an interview in about 15 minutes so I want her to get ready, but I don't mind if you talk to the others… They're upstairs…"
"Thank you." Olivia and Elliot walked upstairs where a couple of girls were watching TV. They looked over their shoulders at the detectives. Olivia smiled and Elliot gave a short wave.
"You're here about Molly aren't you?" A little blonde girl asked.
"Yes." Olivia said.
"You should go talk to Alice. Her and Molly were best friends." She pointed down the hallway.
"Thanks, sweetie." Elliot and Olivia walked down the hall and knocked on the only closed door. They heard sobbing and Olivia opened the door.
"Alice?" Elliot asked. She looked up at them from her bed with teary, blue eyes. She was hugging herself. "I'm Detective Elliot, this is my partner Detective Olivia. Can we come in?" She nodded and they walked in. They sat on the other side of the small room on what was most likely Molly's bed.
"Alice, honey, do you know why Molly left school?"
"N-no…she didn't tell me. I was with her during lunch and then while we were walking outside, we went different ways to our classes. After that, I didn't see her again!" She cried harder. "She would n-never l-le-leave…" she cried "leave school…besides, English was her favorite subject. She would never miss it…"
"I'm so sorry about Molly," Elliot said, "If you wanna talk to anyone, just ask Miss Emily to give us a call, okay?" They got up and walked toward the door. Olivia gently patted her back and gave her a soft smile. Alice pushed her raven black hair out of her eyes. She tried to smile back, but barely could.
SVU SQUADROOM
THURSDAY, JUNE 10
"Well, the phone calls Emily made all checked out okay." Fin said. "Everyone said Emily was worried sick about Molly."
"Well so far, all we've got is an orphan girl who was kidnapped, tortured, and killed with no suspects." Olivia said.
Cragen walked in the room. There was a girl standing next to him; a late teenager with short, dark brown hair and eyes to match. Her face looked like porcelain with soft, painted lips and light complexion. Her outfit was normal, a purple fitted tea with indigo skinnies and Converse. Despite her bold beauty she looked very shy as she approached them.
"Detectives, this is Lucia. She's a high school student majoring in Criminal Justice," Cragen introduced her.
"So is this some sort of career day thing?" asked Elliot curiously.
"Well, no, actually." Lucia spoke for the first time. She was blushing and looking down. "Um, I have some information about the case you're currently working on." She bit her lip. And squeezed the folders she had closer to her chest.
"Lucia—" Cragen started again.
"Oh, please just Lucy." She commented.
"Ok, Lucy, these are Detectives Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson, John Munch and Fin Tutuola." He said pointing to each one of them. Lucy nodded and smiled.
"So, Lucy. How may you help us?" Fin asked. She let out a short laugh and then walked toward Munch's desk. Elliot and Olivia followed. Lucy put down the folder she was holding and pulled out the newspaper.
"Well," she started and opened the newspaper, "I was reading the news yesterday and I came across your girl, Molly. I looked at the description and I think that I can help you find your perp."
"How?" Olivia asked.
"It's definitely a woman, I can tell you that." All the detectives looked at her strangely. If they wouldn't have mentioned the restraint or the genital mutilation, I would have never known."
"Okay, so who is it?" Elliot asked.
"Actually, the question is 'Who was it?'."
"You mean our perp is dead?"
"No, not your current one. But the original, yes." She opened up the folder again and laid out a thick stack of papers on the desk. Pages were worn; words were highlighted and scratched out, and there were notes all over them. "Countess Elizabeth Bathory…"
"I've heard that name before…"
"She's one of the most infamous women in all of history. She tortured and killed almost 650 little girls."
"Oh, yeah…I've heard of her." Olivia said.
"Most people believe that she did it to stay young and beautiful. She would bathe in the girls' blood and then go fetch some more girls."
"And you think our perp is copying this?"
"Well, maybe…um, could you tell if the body had been tortured somewhere else?"
"Yeah, actually. But there was still a pool of blood behind her when we found the body." Fin commented.
"Well, maybe Molly wasn't exactly dead yet and she finished her off there."
"So, how do you know all this?" Munch asked suspiciously.
"Well, I don't know for sure but I'm just making a theory here. I've been studying Elizabeth's crimes since I was 13…" she paused and looked up at everyone's faces. "What?"
"And how old are you now?" Elliot asked.
"Seventeen…" she replied hesitantly.
"Why her?" Lucy paused and then shrugged.
"Anyway…do you have any suspects?" she asked.
"No…but we might in just a minute." Fin said.
"Oh, come on. Do you want me to help or not?" Olivia raised her eyebrow and then gave a short firm nod. Lucia smiled and then put the papers back into her folder. "Okay, who are Molly's parents?"
"She's an orphan, actually."
"Oh, great." She mumbled. "Um…who owns the orphanage?"
"Emily Walters,"
"The Emily Walters?"
"The?" Elliot repeated.
"Yes, Emily Walters. She's the daughter of Thomas and Robyn Walters. Thomas Walters owns almost every Hotel in New York City! Emily grew up in the spotlight and did a bunch of charity work with her parents as she got older."
"But why would someone as rich as that live in the orphanage?" Olivia asked.
"Maybe she has like a summer home or something, y'know?"
"Munch, check that out. See if she owns any other properties." Olivia told him.
"I'm on it."
"Lucy, is there anything else that you might know?"
"Well, I haven't seen the body…" she hinted. Olivia looked over at Elliot.
"Are we allowed to do that?" Elliot whispered.
"I think it's okay. As long as she doesn't freak out. Even I was a little shaken up on this one."
"Have you ever seen a body before, Lucy?" Elliot asked quietly. Lucy shook her head.
"But, I think I'll be alright. Besides, if I want to do this when I'm older, I'll have to start practicing now…" Olivia and Elliot looked at each other.
"Okay," Elliot sighed.
The three walked into the autopsy room and walked up to the table with Molly on it. Elliot pulled the cover down. Lucy covered her mouth and closed her eyes.
"You okay?" Olivia asked.
Lucy nodded, "Y-yeah." Her face was pale. "Well, um…I can see that she was hit on the head. The cut right here is probably where her blood was drained." She pointed to the collarbone where there was a long cut. "Can I see her ankles?" They both nodded and she pulled up the cover at her feet. "Yeah, see where the chain marks are? They're lower than where you would normally restrain somebody." She pointed to just below the ankle. "She was definitely hung upside down."
"So…" Elliot started.
"So you definitely have a neo-Elizabeth Bathory."
"Okay, so what should we be looking for?" Elliot asked as they walked out.
"Anything ordinary. It's the unordinary stuff that will get you nowhere. So, take Emily Walters for example, she would ordinarily have more than one home, some maids…" she trailed off and then stopped in her tracks.
"What is it?" Olivia asked, turning around.
"Oh my gosh!" Lucy took in a deep breath. "I think I found your prime suspect."
"Emily?"
"Yeah, come with me." She walked faster back to the squad room. She practically skipped to Munch's desk. She opened up the folder again and rummaged through some of the papers. She pulled out a couple of them and handed them to Olivia and Elliot.
"What is all this?"
"Elizabeth. She had more than just one place to torture her victims; she would use multiple castles she lived in. And she had accomplices, her maids and other servants would take the girls and then bring them to Elizabeth."
"So we gotta find the houses, the maids, and any other clues that it was Emily. We gotta ask around the neighborhood see if they've seen anything suspicious."
