Law & Order: SVU (Special Victims Unit) Season 4 Episodes
Season 4 Episode Guide
Episode 1 - ChameleonA routine vice raid at a gentleman's club uncovers an irate prostitute named Lisa (Sara Ramirez) who is pushy, annoying and insists she was raped by one of the club's patrons. The Special Victims Unit is called in and Lisa tells Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) that a man tried to kill her, moments later her fellow co-worker is found dead. It takes a while but the Detectives finally piece together enough information to get a sketch of their suspect. They trace him to the Palm Hotel where they arrive just in time to hear gunshots go off. They bust into the room to find a prostitute named Debbie (Sharon Lawrence), who has been beaten up, holding the gun that killed their guy, Jon Becker. They interview Debbie in the hospital, determine she was acting out of self-defense, and decide not to press charges. That is, until ballistics determines that the murder weapon had been used in an unsolved homicide six months before - Becker was in prison at the time, which means it could have been Debbie's gun.
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Episode 2 - DeceptionFive-year-old Chloe Fuller (Jennifer Brown) is being questioned by Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay) after she drew a picture in school showing her mother involved in a sexual relationship with her half-brother. She is clearly upset and tells Benson she saw her mother and brother, 17-year-old Kyle (Jonathan Bennett), together in bed. Chloe's father is Lawrence Fuller (Tom Mason), a multi-millionaire telecom mogul, whose hot temper is evident when he shows up at the hospital to get his daughter. He claims his wife, former actress Gloria Stanfield (Sherilyn Fenn), is away in the Hamptons. The detectives then track down Kyle at school, but he denies the relationship. Soon after the police get a call from Gloria's lawyer who also denies the allegations. The detectives are at a standstill when a call comes in over a domestic dispute at Chloe's school.
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Episode 3 - VulnerableResidents of a Lower East Side apartment are startled when an intruder breaks in during the middle of the night. It turns out to be "Granny Doe" - an elderly woman who can't remember where she is. Granny has been burned and possibly raped. But she isn't much help when Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) question her due to her Alzheimer's disease, which has left her with severe short-term memory loss. Eventually, the detectives discover her identity by researching past tenants of the apartment building. Their victim is Bess Sherman (Jane Powell), who is in her 80's. According to a woman who previously lived in the apartment, Bess used to sneak into the apartment in the middle of the night when she was a young girl. Apparently, she had a "funny uncle." Bess was living at Jubilee Towers; an upscale assisted living facility for adults, but had recently been released to the custody of her son, Joe Sherman (Jay Thomas).
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Episode 4 - LustThe body of a woman in her 60's is found mangled in Central Park. It's hard to make an identification and it isn't until they find her dog that they can figure out who she is - Greta Esterman, a doctor with the public health department. Greta's job was notifying victims who had contracted HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases that they were infected, and apparently she had quite a few enemies, and had even received threatening phone calls. Her grieving husband Arthur Esterman (Michael Gross) tells Detectives Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Benson (Mariska Hargitay) that one caller, Roger Pomerantz (Brian Rogalski), was particularly vile. Roger was just released from prison, but he has an airtight alibi.
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Episode 5 - Disappearing ActsAmanda Curry (Caprice Benedetti), a high-powered financial executive, is found raped in her company's conference room. Detectives Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Benson (Mariska Hargitay) try to question her at the hospital, but before they can, she is arrested by the Feds. Despite a valiant effort to get Amanda to talk, the detectives don't make much progress. Amanda is in the middle of a major sting operation run by the Feds and Federal Officer Claudia Williams (Pam Grier) is making it impossible for the detectives to get their job done.
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Episode 6 - AngelsA young boy is found smothered in the baggage compartment of an airport bus. Detectives Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Benson (Mariska Hargitay) track down the bus' origin and via the tape in the parking lot see the young boy sneaking on the bus with an older boy. They find the older boy, Ernesto (Pablo Santos), at the airport trying to sneak on a plane. Ernesto is devastated to learn that his "brother" Jose, who he was helping to escape their abusive adopted father, is dead. Their "father" is Bret Jansen, a wealthy attorney who raped, tortured and abused them in his luxury apartment. The detectives go to Bret's apartment and find him castrated and dead, lying in a pool of blood. Bret and his two squash buddies, it turns out, were procuring young boys from Central America and using them as slaves. The detectives establish that Ernesto did not kill Bret so the investigation shifts to Bret's pals, Anthony Damon (Will Arnett), a travel agent, and Dr. Stewart Lynch (Patrick Cassidy), a plastic surgeon.
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Episode 7 - DollsThe body of an unidentified five year old girl is found in a dumpster. Mummified and disfigured, identification is extremely difficult. Through anthropological forensics they create a "picture" of their Cherish Doe, and pull synthetic fibers from her hand. By sifting through garbage and high-tech computer wizardry, they are able to determine where the body was dumped. There's a nail salon nearby (garbage indicated lots of cotton balls and nail polish) and they are on their way. Detectives Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Benson (Mariska Hargitay) conduct a "vigil" for Cherish and see a distraught woman, Violet Tremain (Gloria Reuben), clutching a photo of her missing daughter Nina (Teala Dunn). They are concerned she could be Cherish Doe.
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Episode 8 - WasteDetectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) report to Wheaton Memorial Hospital to investigate a rape victim. But the victim is Stephanie Rawley, a beautiful 28-year-old woman who has been in a coma for the past year, the result of a car accident. She is brought to the hospital with pneumonia and the doctors discover she is six weeks pregnant. The detectives start by investigating everyone at Mountcastle Rehabilitation Center, where she's been for the past year. The list of suspects includes her fiance David Anderson (Ian Kahn), who despite a restraining order from her parents Bob (Henry Woronicz) and Janice (JoBeth Williams) was found sleeping in her bed. They also extract DNA from basically all male employees who had any contact with the coma wing. They also question Dr. Mandell (Bruce Davison), her neurosurgeon, especially after he plots with another doctor to abort the fetus.
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Episode 9 - JuvenileA drug raid leads to the grim discovery of a woman who has been raped and murdered. A very extensive pot-growing operation is found in her house and the "merchandise" is untouched. Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) find out from the Medical Examiner that the victim had ovarian cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. They deduce that instead of being a street drug dealer, the victim was growing the pot to use for her own medicinal purposes, but that doesn't answer the question of who killed her. There is a break when M.E. Warner (Tamara Tunie) finds Benson and Stabler having lunch. They analyzed the vomit at the scene and it matched the NYC schools' middle school lunch menu that day, and with no sperm found on the victim, they presume their perpetrator is an adolescent.
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Episode 10 - ResilienceA disheveled and despondent teenage girl is about to jump in front of a moving subway when two businessmen miraculously save her. It turns out she was raped and a man who followed her into the subway station, shown on surveillance video, is the prime suspect. Jackie Landricks (Rachael Bella) is taken to a hospital and her parents are brought in. Detectives Munch (Richard Belzer) and Fin (Ice-T) bring in the suspect Karl Sirett (Billy Lush). Jackie was able to identify his penis is pierced, so Detectives Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Benson (Mariska Hargitay) play a trick on him - they get Karl to drink a large quantity of soda, then Fin follows him into the men's room to make the identification. However, Jackie had been dating Karl, and even though he is 19, it was technically consensual. Meanwhile, the rape kit determines more than one man, based on the mixed sample of semen, attacked Jackie.
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Episode 11 - DamagedThree people are shot outside a video store, including the ski mask-wearing robber. The shooter, Joey Lee Field (Christopher Denham), is initially lauded as a hero. There are two other victims, a young man who was entering the store and Rebecca Kurtz, a six year old who was in the store with her sister Missy (Ari Graynor). Rebecca is on life support, but the case becomes much more complicated when they discover she has gonorrhea. Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) question her parents and her father Peter (Dan Lauria) is the initial suspect, but he is cleared. Next, the detectives discover Missy, who was adopted after years of abuse and foster care, also has the disease.
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Episode 12 - RiskAn inner city baby is rushed to the hospital and eventually dies from a cocaine overdose. Unfortunately, the baby ingested pure liquid cocaine, disguised as baby formula. His mother stole it from an affluent apartment where she worked. Detectives Stabler (Christopher Meloni) and Benson (Mariska Hargitay) seize the rest of the formula from the Pfeiffer residence, where she works, and question the couple, Laura (Laurie J. Williams) and Derek (Bryan Callen). Derek works at an investment firm and had financial troubles, and when they ask him to go to the precinct for questioning, Sgt. Ed Tucker (Robert John Burke ) of IAB intercepts them.
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Episode 13 - RottenCarlos Torres is found dead in his jail cell and had only been there for eight hours. The murder is initially thought to be gang-related but the Medical Examiner explains that he was sodomized, rupturing his colon, and the attack happened while he was in police custody. Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Detective Fin (Ice-T) are dispatched to retrace Torres' whereabouts before he was brought to Rikers, and he was at the 26th Precinct and their first stop is questioning officers, Les Cooper (Terry Serpico) and Randall Grant (Jason Catalano). Their supervisor says Cooper is dangerous and likes to rough up suspects, so Benson and Fin find the two cops. There was a third cop that night, Luke Edmunds (William Mapother), who was hit in the head by Torres and he is out on medical leave. All indications are that the cops arrived at a local gang hangout, found Torres then roughed him up.
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Episode 14 - MercyTwo men kayaking near Battery Park make the gruesome discovery, a cooler with a one-month-old dead baby inside. Based on materials found with the cooler, algae growth and current patterns, it is believed the baby was dropped uptown near Hudson University. After Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) cross-reference all pregnancies and account for all babies, they think they have their killer, Ellen Swanson (Heather Goldenhersh). She admits it was her 15-year-old sister Patty (Nathalie Paulding) who was pregnant, but the detectives discover Patty had an abortion. M.E. Warner (Tamara Tunie) then makes a shocking discovery - the baby had Tay-Sachs disease. A horribly gruesome genetic condition becoming fatal by the time a child reaches five years of age. The detectives now believe they are looking at a mercy killing.
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Episode 15 - PandoraMeredith McGrath is discovered in the trunk of her car, she's been brutally raped and her mouth super-glued shut, she doesn't survive the attack. Her assailant also went to her house, killed her husband, and stole computer files. Stabler (Christopher Meloni) is working with a homicide detective on the case, Sam Bishop (Billy McNamara), because he is investigating Mr. McGrath's killing. They are trying to figure out what was so important about her computer files. The detectives discover she was trafficking in Internet pornography. But she was working for the Government, and one of her e-pals must have figured it out, and he is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Stabler confronts his old nemesis from the U.S. Attorney's office, Claudia Williams (Pam Grier), since Meredith was working for her.
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Episode 16 - TorturedA young Asian woman is found murdered, with her foot sawed off. The victim is of Tibetan origin and by tracking through INS they reveal her identity, Kunsong Tashi, who is married to Preston Bennett (Fredrick Weller). Kunsong has been tortured repeatedly, and Preston admits that he was doing everything he could to help his wife recover from her horrible past. She was always at the Center - a program for torture survivors at Bellevue, and they go there to talk to her physician and psychiatrist. In the meantime, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) are starting to question Preston's innocence, because Kunsong was out with another man right before she died, who used Preston's credit card.
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Episode 17 - PrivilegeDetectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) are called to a crime scene - a young woman dressed in a maid's uniform has apparently committed suicide. But there's lots of sexual related bruising so they question whether she was pushed and if she was raped. The victim is a young film student named Carmen Trancoso; since her face was destroyed the detectives initially think it was Anna Rivera, a former maid at the Lamerly's penthouse. Carmen was dating the Lamerly's son, Drew (Erik von Detten), but the relationship got too intense, Drew broke it off and Carmen began to stalk him. The Detectives visit the attorneys who were representing Carmen, and she was trying to sue Drew for rape. But Drew is prepared with his top-notch trial lawyer Lorna Scarry (Mariette Hartley), refuting the claims.
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Episode 18 - DesperateFiremen respond to a fire in a tenement. A young boy is rescued, but they find his mother raped, beaten, and near death on the couch. The boy refuses to talk and his mother dies shortly thereafter. Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) track down the landlord of the building. He says the woman's name is Dana McGuire, but the real Dana McGuire lives uptown. The victim had stolen her license and was using her name as an alias. Her real name is Jill Hoffman and her husband Dan (Rob Estes) is a successful real estate agent in upscale Rye. The boy is Tommy (Max Weinstein), his son. Jill was his stepmother and she and Tommy were on the run from Dan's abuse. Dan shows up at the hospital to retrieve his son, even though the detectives now fear for the boy's life. Dan's attorney Priscilla Chaney (Sandra Bernhard) then threatens to sue so Benson and Stabler travel to Rye to apologize to Hoffman. They suspect he killed Jill but are having a hard time proving it.
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Episode 19 - AppearancesA suspicious suitcase is found on a school bus and inside is the dead body of a nine-year-old pageant princess. There's a report of a missing girl on Long Island named Cherie Lathan. It is discovered she is the victim. Her father was pushing her toward the pageant world and she had the "look" of a young beauty queen. She was last seen at her friend's house and then walked alone to the school bus where she disappeared. Initially, a 15-year-old boy who was stalking her is suspected to be the killer but his DNA clears, as does the DNA from Cherie's father. Based on blood from the ejaculate found on the body, they suspect they are looking for is a sex offender who was chemically castrated.
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Episode 20 - DominanceA young, well-to-do couple arrives late for a dinner party in an elegant apartment, only to find the other two couples brutally raped and murdered. Another victim is reported missing from the party, and Fin (Ice-T) and Duethorn (Erik Palladino) discover he is lying in the hospital near death from a head injury. Shortly after, a middle-aged couple in the park is found brutally raped and murdered. The detectives realize the killer has taken personal photos as well as money and jewelry as part of his/her crime spree. The only lead they have is a witness near the park who gives them enough information about the gold car near the scene, including a partial license number. The gold car is traced to the Bakers, who are supers of a high-end apartment building near the park and claim the car was stolen, but soon it turns up with two more bodies.
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Episode 21 - FallacyA party is out of control and after a loud crash in the bathroom, the hostess finds Cheryl (Katherine Moenning) beaten and bloody, and Joe with his head crushed. Paramedics arrive, and the story seems pretty cut and dried. Cheryl claims Joe tried to rape her and she hit him over the head with a vase in self-defense. Joe dies shortly after arriving at the hospital, and Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) question his brother, Eddie (Chad Lindberg) who is Cheryl's boyfriend. Eddie has a heart condition and had been at the party but left early to get his meds. They discover he had returned and figure he caught Cheryl and Joe together and perhaps in a jealous rage, killed his brother. But Cheryl sticks to her story.
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Episode 22 - FutilityMichael Gardner (Fred Savage), a well-heeled yuppie, is arrested outside his apartment on rape charges. He claims he didn't do anything but they have his fingerprints at the scene of the rape of Carrie Huitt (Myndy Crist). Gardner is also being linked to three other separate rapes, and continues to claim his innocence. He has a good attorney, Erin Russ (Lauren Ward). Carrie picks Gardner out of a line up, while Bethany Taylor (Tyra Ferrell), her rape crisis counselor stands by her side. Gardner is out on bail and he continues to stalk two of his victims. Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) catch him stalking Karen Leighton (Dana Eskelson) and arrest him again. This time, he decides to go pro se.
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Episode 23 - GriefVanessa Bevins works as a cocktail waitress at a hip club, and she's found shot in an alley during one of her shifts. She is a student by day at Hudson University and was seen arguing with her boyfriend, Donovan Alvarez (D.J. Cotrona), right before she was killed so he is the prime suspect. The gun that killed her is found at the scene, and is traced to an older couple whose son goes to Hudson, but he reported it stolen. Vanessa's despondent father Ray (Joe Morton) pleads for the cops to help, and he also said her behavior had been very erratic, running up huge bills, being secretive and having severe mood swings. They assume she was on drugs. Alvarez is cleared, even though his fingerprints were on her arm, (from the argument) but his prints are not on the gun. One of Vanessa's co-workers said she was sleeping with her boss, Perry Williams (Paul Leyden), an obnoxious misogynist who owns the club.
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Episode 24 - PerfectPolice responding to a shooting find a dead teenager, who's filthy and appears to be homeless. She's also been shot and Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) are concerned that one of the cops shot her by mistake. Even though the bullet hit the teen, she was already dead. She is identified as Samantha Tassler, a black teenager from a well-to-do family outside of Philadelphia who disappeared almost a year ago. She is wearing an unusual necklace, of the infinity sign, and they trace the custom piece of jewelry to Dr. Garrett Lang (Gale Harold), who had multiple copies made. Dr. Lang is quite charming, and he runs a clinic that specializes in hormone replacement and perpetuating youth. Suspicious of Dr. Lang they sift through piles of his records, and in the process Detective Munch (Richard Belzer) discovers he owns an office building and three brownstones. It seems Dr. Lang applied for tax-exempt status for one of them, and they find out he claimed it as a charitable organization. The Detectives decide to check out the "Foundation for Knowledge Expansion".
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Episode 25 - SoullessA rape victim in the hospital tells Detective Benson (Mariska Hargitay) this is all a misunderstanding and doesn't want to press charges. Before she can sign out, a kidnapper who disappears in a black car abducts her. The detectives try to find the victim, whose name is Chloe (Peyton List). While in the hospital Benson had noticed an elephant stamp on her hand. There's an ultra-hip bar called the Air Bar and they use that same stamp. There was also an ID found in the men's room where she passed out, belonging to Jenna Sterling (Amber McDonald). Jenna and her younger sister Vienna (Ashley Burritt) are the daughters of a very wealthy and prominent real estate developer. Vienna, a high school senior, stole her sister's ID to get into the club, and she also knows Chloe, but neither know where she is. Meanwhile, Chloe's body washes up on the banks of the Hudson. Benson and Stabler (Christopher Meloni) decide to take a trip to her school.
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