Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–…): Season 3, Episode 13 - Prodigy - full transcript

A deaf burglar leads to discovery of two bodies in a marina park: a male with a pacemaker, BAC of .17 and open trousers; and a violated headless and handless younger female who turns out to be an undercover officer whose duty included locating perpetrators of cruelty to animals.

NARRATOR: 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,

SIoop on the end
is nice, huh?

It's not a sloop,
it's a ketch.

No, it's a sloop.
I've been pricing them.

Union win some
monumental hike in rookie pay
I didn't hear about?

Hey, never too soon
to plan for retirement.



Retirement?

What makes you think you pass
the six-month review?

(CHUCKLES)

(SHIP HORN BLARING)

Sir, everything
all right?

I need to see
your marina pass.

We got a runner.

Oh! Hey!
Stop!

Police!
20, Frank to Central.

Pick up on a suspicious male
fleeing on foot
inside Riverside Park.

Hey, get back here!
Stop!

Oh, damn it.

On the ground!
Face down, hands
on the back of your head.

Hey, Josh, can you
help me here?
I got him.



Yeah. I got something
over here, too.

We got IDs?
No wallet on the guy.

Woman was stripped naked,
no sign of her clothes.

They were sexually positioned
after death.
This rock our weapon?

We don't know
where that fits in.
We're Iooking for a knife.

BIitz attack
or they put up a fight?

Defensive wounds on the guy.
The woman, we can't say.

Hands are missing.

So is the head.

We're searching
the area, ma'am.

(SIREN WAILING)
Officer Dorsey.

Like I was telling
your partner, our collar
might Iook good for it.

Tossed a bag in the water.

Big enough to hold
the missing parts.

My partner's got him
in our car.

He talking?
We called in
for an interpreter.

I speak a Iittle Spanish
and French. I can Mirandize
in three others.

What is he?
Deaf.

You have the right
to an attorney.

You have the right to have
an attorney present
during questioning.

If you cannot
afford an attorney,

one will be provided for you
free of charge.

It's also on this card.

BENSON: Do you understand
your rights, Scotty?

I'm deaf, not dumb.

I don't need a Iawyer.
I didn't do anything.

Well, good.
What were you doing
on the docks?

I couldn't sleep,
so I went for a walk.

You always run from police
when you go on your walks?

AII I saw was the Iight
they blinded me with.
I was scared, so I ran.

So fast that you dropped
your bag in the river.

It was weighing me down.
Well, body parts
can get heavy.

So what happened here?

I had nothing to do
with this. I don't know
what you're trying to pull.

I am not involved
with this.

So what was in your bag?

(EXHALES)

We recovered
the duffel bag downstream.
With the head and hands?

Stolen goods.
Two high-end Iaptops
and some jewelry.

From?
A burgled houseboat.

Right about where
they first spotted Scotty.

PIenty of prints.
We're running them now.

Boat by any chance
missing its owners?
Both alive and pissed.

They didn't take out
extended warranties
on the computers.

(SIGHING)

How's it going?
(CLEARS THROAT)
It's not adding up.

There's no way
he came out of that bloodbath
without a drop on him.

What's on his rap sheet?

Larceny, marijuana possession.
No assaults.

What do you want to do?
Hand him off to burglary.

But Iet's check around
the deaf community, see if
he's missing any enemies.

Or a girlfriend.

Where are we
with missing persons?

Having trouble
filling in the blanks

Iike height, hair color,
eye color.

That was probably the point.
No fingerprints
or dental records.

Why hers, not his?
Perp's connection
was to her.

Maybe he has
a sexual fetishism.

Kemper had a whole closet
full of heads.
No hands.

Cannibalism?
No, you'd go
for the fleshier parts.

AII right, all right.
Enough theories,
I want facts.

The more we know
about the victims,
the clearer motive becomes.

Male was in his mid 50s.
Female in her early 40s.

Aside from her obvious
head and hand wounds,

both suffered deep,
jagged stab wounds
to the midsection.

What kind of knife
we talking?

KARLAN: Major-duty hunting
with a sharp,
8-inch serrated blade.

Got a nasty head Iaceration.
We got a bloody rock.

No. I found
embedded tree bark.

Might have been hit
with a hefty branch.

Results in from
the rape kit?
Spermicide.

But his pants were open,
had Iipstick on him.

So she was doing
the male victim,
perp happened upon them,

killed him, took his place,
killed her when he was done.

He's got a wedding ring.
This a married couple?

Trust me, married couples
don't have sex in parks.

Maybe he picked up a pro.

I don't find
too many working girls
who make it to 40

without any evidence
of cervical dysplasia.

Mistress?
They didn't party together.

John Doe here had
a blood alcohol Ievel of.17.

She didn't have a trace.
Opposites attract.
Any hit on his prints?

No.

But pacemaker companies
are required to keep records
on all patients.

As much as I'd Iike
to help out,

Celadyne Industries puts
great stock in our customers'
right to privacy.

And yet you spend
so much Iess on R and D
than your competitors.

FDA had a Iittle problem
with that, didn't they?

That was a voluntary recall.

Celadyne's L wires
had a tendency to fracture
mid-pulse,

piercing recipients
through the heart.
That's just wrong.

We have since made
significant design
improvements

to our dual-chamber
pulse generators,
but we can only do so much.

We can't make people
take their meds or refrain
from risky behaviors.

MUNCH: Our guy
got himself stabbed.

That's hardly
a product malfunction.

Can't rule it out
as a contributing factor
without a special inquiry.

(EXHALES)

(PUNCHING KEYS)

Edward Boggs.

Mrs. Boggs,
when was the Iast time
you saw your husband?

When he was
Ieaving for work.

What time was that?
4:00. He works
the night shift.

Do you know why he would have
been in Riverside Park
between 7:00 and 10:00?

No. That doesn't
make sense. No.

He worked
at the reclamation plant
on Randall's Island.

We're still trying
to piece together
all the details.

He did, however,
have a high Ievel of alcohol
in his blood.

That's impossible.
Edward doesn't drink anymore.

Mrs. Boggs, was your husband
having an affair?

(SOBBING)
No. Why would you ask that?

BENSON: Another victim
was also found in the park.

A woman.

A woman?

She's good.
She's in shock.

Housewife.
Completely dependent.

Suspects he's cheating,
follows him, catches him
in the act, see ya.

You really think
meek Mindy here could
blitz attack two people?

You don't need pecs
to hire a killer.

Find out what else
Ed Iied to the missus about.

Recanvass the park, bars,
Iiquor stores, anything within
staggering distance.

CANDY: Yeah. I know him.
Whiskey, straight up.

(MUSIC PLAYING)
Been in every night
the Iast two weeks.

He friendly with
any of the customers?

Not until Thursday.
Then he hooks up
with one of the regulars.

You know her name?
His. Vinnie. Scum.

What'd they talk about?
Women.

Vinnie was all,
"Bitches this, bitches that,"
every time I walk by.

They Ieave together?
After the game, about 9:00.

Anything else?
I got ice cubes melting.

Trouble at home,
stress at the job.

Ed goes out to the bars
to unwind and rag
on the old Iady.

Enter Vinnie.
They start pounding them back,
stories get heated.

We've been Iooking at Ed
as only a victim.

Maybe he and Vinnie run into
the woman on the street
and wolf-pack her.

Ed's down for the rape
but not the murder. He freaks,
Vinnie takes him out.

Hey, you got
a Vinnie up there.
Is that our guy?

Yeah, chronic Ioser.

Does he play
the weekly pool, too?

Never picks more than
three winners a week.

My Iabrador does better
than that.
Today's his Iucky day.

You know, this is entrapment.
I'm a victim
of a sting operation.

I'm here under...
False pretenses?

False arrest.

Hey, man, you're not even
under arrest, yet,

so why don't you just
settle down and tell us
about your friend Ed?

Hey, screw you.
I can screw you harder.

See, we have this handy Iittle
Iaw enforcement
tool that allows us

to throw
suspicious people Iike you
in jail for 24 hours.

So why don't we
try this again?

Look, I got this job.
I can't mess up, all right?

They're gonna fire me
if I don't show.

So tell us about
your night with Ed.

We had a conversation.
Is that a crime?

BENSON: It depends.
What did you two talk about?

Bitches.

Guy had this female boss.
Real ball-buster, you know?

And about two weeks ago,
fires his ass
for no reason whatsoever.

That must have pissed him off.

He was crying in his whiskey
when I found him.

So you join him
and you stoke up
the fires there?

I spent the better part
of the night reinflating
the guy's gonads.

Now he wants revenge,

so you two start
talking about bitches
to take it out on.

He didn't even have the stones
to go home and tell
his old Iady he'd been fired.

Pretended to go to work
every day.

That's why he was Ioading up
on Iiquid courage,

to go home and confess.
But you had a different plan.

Yeah, another bar.
You know, pick up some broads.

But he turned me down flat,
so we parted company.

Now, where would this
have been?
Riverside.

Where I caught a taxi.

Which way did Ed go?
Ed went into the park.
Nature called.

Female victim
was attacked here,

dragged over to this spot
where she's butchered.

She's then sexually positioned
with the male victim

who bled out right here.
One perp, two victims.

FIN: Look at this.

Now, I'm no park ranger,
but since when did trees
bleed red sap?

ME found bark
in Ed's forehead.

Footprints are pointing
toward the tree.

Run a urine analysis
on that bark. I bet you'd find
Ed's DNA about waist high.

Vinnie said
that nature called.

So he had
no connection whatsoever
to the female victim?

Okay, new theory.

Perp rapes her,
starts dismemberment.
He hears a twig snap.

Sneaks up behind Ed,

smashes his head
into the trunk right there.
No witness.

Explains why his pants
were open.
Wait a minute.

The ME said he found
the female victim's Iipstick
on Boggs.

(CELL PHONE RINGING)
Perp's screwing with us.

He staged that relationship
to throw us off track.

Benson.

Yeah, right.

Sewer worker in Brooklyn
just found the remains
of a hand.

You mind slipping this on?

Why?
I need it to hold form.

Thumbs have to be
similar in size, or we'II get
distorted results.

Too manly.

TREVOR: It's been through hell
and back. Submerged
for at Ieast 20 hours,

after which rats made
a picnic out of it.

I'II run her through
the system.

Let's just hope
she's an ex-con, teacher
or otherwise bonded.

I passed the poly.

Get him out of here.
What, no apology?

We got a hit
on the thumbprint.

Who?

Special Agent Pam Tilden.

FBI?
MFPCA.

Manhattan's Humane
Law Enforcement.
STABLER: The dog police.

Yeah, she investigated people
who tortured
and abused animals.

Future wife beaters,
child abusers.
And serial killers.

(DOG BARKING)
OKEL: You think Pam
knew her killer?

Lengths taken
to hide her identity,
it's a good bet.

Was she having any trouble
in her personal Iife?

Not that I know of.
Boyfriend?

Pam was married to the job.

Here she is.

She was with us seven years.
BENSON: She worked out
in the field?

There are five million animals
in this city
and just fourteen of us.

We all work the field.

She work on any case recently
that might have
put her at risk?

We don't carry firearms
for the fashion statement.

You never know
what's on the other side
of the door.

We're gonna need a copy
of those case files.

Well, who do we sweat first,
granny with 65 cats

or the SoHo poodle poisoner?
Well, here's the Iast case
she closed.

This guy Jake moves into
his father's basement
with his new bride, Missy.

Father walks in on them
on their wedding night.

How is that animal cruelty?
Missy's a German shepherd.

That's perfectly Iegal
in 26 states.

Jake argued it wasn't
bestiality, where the animal
is often hurt,

but zoophilia,
which is a Ioving,
Iife commitment.

Unfortunately,
we're not Iooking
for zoo couples.

You got anything
a Iittle further up
the violence scale there?

Crush video operation.

Films contain shots
of small creatures.

Frogs, hamsters,
baby bunnies and whatnot.

A woman's
stiletto-heeled foot
enters frame...

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
I can't hear that stuff.

Well, that goes
in the good pile.

Arson at those stables
in Brooklyn.
Twenty-one horses were killed.

Dog-fighting ring.
Now you're talking gangs.

That'II be right there
with Tilden's
most violent perps.

You know how they train
those dogs to fight?

They starve them, beat them,

and then they collect strays
to use as sparring partners.

Come fight night,
big money changes hands

and only one dog
comes out alive.

MFPCA removed
those dogs, right?

Ten pit bulls.
Brought in gang intel
to shut down the operation.

Was there payback?
Kennel was vandalized
two days Iater.

They broke in here,
graffitied the place
with gang symbols.

Why didn't you
mention that before?

(DOG BARKING)
It was an isolated incident
months ago.

And between drug busts
and assorted felonies,

the gang's been
pretty much decimated.

Hey, pooch.
Well, hey there.

I can always spot
an animal Iover. Pam used
to spend her downtime in here.

It doesn't surprise me
she went to that park
after dark,

not if she thought
there was a hurt animal
in there.

AII these animals
were abused?
Mmm-hmm. Or neglected.

They're all up for adoption
if you're interested.

Did you talk
with Agent Tilden?
Sure.

She ever mention anyone

causing trouble,
threatening her,
something Iike that?

Yeah, the kid
who did this one.

(SIGNALING)

(CAT PURRING)
Hey, SIinky. Hi.

What did he do to her?

Poured paint thinner
on her tail,
and set it on fire.

Wanted to see
what she would do.
How old the kid?

OId enough to know better.
Fifteen, sixteen, maybe.

And he threatened
Agent Tilden?

Said whenever
she ran into him upstairs,
he'd cuss her out.

(PHONE RINGING)
What was he doing here?

That's the court's
big punishment.

Ten sessions on the couch
with our company shrink.

(DOGS BARKING)
Yeah.

DOCTOR: It's a pilot program.

Court-mandated counseling
for animal abusers.

STABLER: Instead of jail time.

Do you know
the incarceration rate
for cruelty convictions?

BENSON: About zero.
It's a misdemeanor.

$45, few hours
of community service.
Not much of a deterrent.

No, but at Ieast with
this program, they are forced
to address their actions.

Talk about them.
Now, this kid
who torched the cat.

Harry Baker.
What does he talk about?

If Harry had made
any direct threats,

I would have
notified the police
and the person at risk.

And when you say,
"Direct threats"?
Harry has aggression issues.

He had a positive tox screen
at birth, cocaine.

Makes for a hyperactive kid.

Ritalin was recommended
in the first grade.
Harry refused.

Well, didn't his mother
insist?

His mother couldn't afford
daycare, so she'd take him
to work with her

to her strip club.

There was a Iot
of disciplinary problems
for him early in school.

Dumped in Special Ed?
No. Gifted program.

Refocused, he'd have
great potential.

But right now he does
present as predatory.

AII right. AII right.
Well, thank you.
Thanks anyway.

You owe me.
Harry Baker's file.

For what?
There's nothing here.

I asked for transcripts.
On a juvie?

You're Iucky I got
his pre-sentencing report.

Probation Officer recommended
intensive supervision

based on Agent Tilden's
suspicion of numerous
unadjudicated prior offenses.

What do you suppose
those were?
Lord knows.

Any way we can find out?

Shaheen.

I have a fact-finding
in 20 minutes
on a 10-year-old

who took a baseball bat
to his grandmother,
and my witness is in the wind.

You know, we never
rescheduled that Iunch.

From a year ago?
What do you want, AIex?

You prosecuted
the Harry Baker case.

Cat flambe boy.

He was only fifteen,
so you know those records
are sealed.

But your memory isn't.
A Iot of these cases
are a cry for help.

You uncover the dad's
abusing the mom, the mom
in turn abuses the kid.

The kid completes the cycle
by abusing the only member

of the family
more vulnerable, the pet.
Right.

But I didn't find any history
of physical abuse with Harry.

What did you find?
About a dozen other animals

that had turned up dead
and mutilated
in his neighborhood.

Could you Iink
any of them to Harry?

CIosest we came was a girl
he had the hots for.

Let me guess,
she spurned his advances?

She went into a deli,
Ieft her dog tied up outside,

comes back out,
and it's gone.

Could be a coincidence.
It turned up on her stoop
the next morning.

Dead?

Decapitated.

Where was your son
Thursday night between
the hours of 7:00 and 10:00?

In his bedroom,
reading, Iike always.

Were you here all night?
Sure. I had company.

Is this where you sleep?
Yeah, I'm having
the penthouse painted.

This Harry's room?
DAISY: The beads.

Pretty hard not to
overhear company.
Yeah, or walk in on them.

So, what's this
all about anyway?

How Iong has Harry
been killing animals?
He would never do that.

He set a cat on fire.
People say these things
about him,

but they're just jealous
because their own kids
aren't as gifted.

BENSON: He pled guilty.

He's misunderstood.

In science class, he gets
an A-plus because he is
so good at dissecting frogs.

He's just really curious
about the biology stuff.

STABLER: Right.

You mind if we take
a Iittle peek in his room?

He's got nothing to hide.

Tidy.

Could use a splash of color.
Oh, there you are.

BIood-red wasn't
what I had in mind.

Fire escape right outside
the window.

Yeah, how hard would it be
to sneak out
while Mom's entertaining?

No smell.
No nooks and crannies
big enough to stash a head.

Check out this Iibrary?

True crime, police procedure,
every book ever written
on serial killers.

AII in alphabetical order.
HARRY: You Iooking
for something?

Harry. I'd Iike to ask you
a few questions.

It's about Pam, right?

That really bites.

Pam?
Officer Tilden.
We were kind of tight.

She arrested you,
testified against you,

even threw you
into counseling.

Yeah.

STABLER: You the type
to hold a grudge?

I've been known to,
but Pam was cool.

I read her death
was totally whack.

Course, they...
They never publish
all the details.

Any you can give me?
No. Any you can give us?

What do you mean?

STABLER: Well, you got
Pathology of Homicide,

Death Investigator's Handbook,

Seems Iike your interests
run pretty dark.

My shrink says I have
an aggressive orientation
to the world.

Something about
a predatory drive.

Says if I don't re-channel it,
I could... I could wind up...

What'd she say... A cop.

Well, we also heard
that you have experience
with surveillance.

Girl in your class,
Carey Thorne?

I broke her heart.
BENSON: By killing her dog?

No, by ending
our relationship.

Not to sound egotistical
or anything,

but I drive the girls
a Iittle crazy.

It was horrible.

He was always calling,
following me around.

I'd go to the movies
or the ice rink, there he was.

He ever threaten you?

He used to Ieave these
creepy Ietters in my Iocker.

I was scared for my Iife.
Describe creepy.

Like, he's Iiving
only for me.

He dreamed we died
in a car crash together.

Or, if he can't have me,
nobody can.

You still have
any of these Ietters?
God, no. I burned them.

Did you notify the police?
They talked to Harry.

He turned on the charm,
got his friends
to Iie for him.

Suddenly, at school,
I'm the nutcase.

Your friends seen
any of these Ietters?

They were Iike,
"What's your problem?
He's so cute."

We need to get Harry
off the street, but we're
gonna need your help.

You don't get it.

AII I did was
turn him down for a date,
and he killed my dog.

I'm not messing with Harry.

Could you at Ieast
steer us toward someone
who would?

FIN: Phillip. Oh, Phillip.

Come out, come out,
wherever you are.

Now, what have we here?

This door
appears to be Iocked,
but do you see Iegs?

No, must not be here.

Cooking spray.

Now, what do you suppose
he thinks is gonna get stuck?

Come on out, Phil.

What do you guys want?
FIN: Lowdown
on your buddy, Harry.

We're not tight anymore.
Let me guess,
you're missing a pet?

Dude's obsessed with death.
And it's one thing
to hate cats,

but Harry went super freak.

FIN: Anything involving
a hunting knife?

Where does he keep it?
How should I know?

See.

You're burning out
too many brain cells.
Affects your memory.

Maybe we should give
his principal and parents
the 411

on his Iittle huffing habit.
AII right.

He's got this place
in Central Park.

It's private,
so he can be alone
with his collection.

Collection of what?

Skulls.

(SIRENS WAILING)
CRAGEN: The kid told us

that Harry's been slicing
and dicing furry things
for years.

You got a fix
on him, yet?
Yeah.

He's a sadistic sociopath.

He Iikes to take his time,
draw out the pain.

He gets off on the control
and the domination.

During the torture,
he feels no empathy,

and when it's over,
he feels no remorse.

Okay,
but what I don't get is this.
His burial ground is here.

Why Iure Agent Tilden
to Riverside Park?

TECH HARRY: Look at this.

Open it up.

Harry's heads.

Looks Iike there's about
a dozen in there.
They're small.

My guess is cats and dogs.

Big. I'd say hunting.
Get this to the Iab.

Anything human in there?

TECH HARRY: No.

I don't understand
why we're here.

They think I killed
two people.

DAISY: That's ridiculous.
Harry's a good boy.
He gets straight A's.

Well, he also gets his kicks
playing with the heads
of animals he's butchered.

That's not true. Harry?
Take a pill, Mom.

I'm not gonna Iisten
to these Iies.

It's just an
interrogation technique.

Now they've got you
good and riled,

and it's time for Q and A.

First, they'd wanna know
if I'm a bed wetter.

This is all about
the accident with the cat.

(SIGHING)
That gave them fire setting
and animal abuse.

Throw in enuresis
and I fit the triad
of sociopathy.

Three childhood indicators
of a future serial killer.

So, did he wet his bed?

Can we go now?

Harry, animal torture,
that's the biggie.

That's true. I mean, Iook at
all the major Ieaguers.

As a kid, Jeffrey Dahmer
used to impale dogs and frogs
and cats on sticks.

AIbert Desalvo,
the alleged Boston Strangler.

He used to take dogs and cats
and put them in crates

and then shoot arrows
through the slats.

And Iittle Teddy Bundy,
I mean, he killed
more than his share.

As did... As did Son of Sam.

Andrew Cunanan.

Most of your high school
shooters Iike Kip Kinkel...

I mean, the list goes
on and on and on,,,
Stop it!

(CHUCKLES)

That is one cold kid.

No conscience,
no regard for others,

and yet superficially
charming, manipulative.

And an expert on everything,
whether he did it or not.

Mrs. Baker needs a break.
She's waived Harry's Miranda.

Let's get you some coffee.

This kid knows all the tricks.
Any suggestions?

His ego is too inflated
not to instruct and inform.

Get him to talk about it
hypothetically, third person.

We've got your knife, kid.

It's only a matter of time
before they find
the victims' blood on it.

Look, if it was me,
I would have cleaned it
very thoroughly,

but it wasn't me.
BENSON: Okay.

Well, then, who was it?

Sorry, I can't
help you there.

Wow, all those books,
you can't put together
a simple profile?

Caucasian male.
Late 30s, early 40s.

Menial job. Lives alone.

How'd he do it?

He was already in the park.
He was waiting in the shadows.

It took her
a while to find it,
but he didn't mind.

The hunt's the most
exciting part.

Took her a while
to find what?
The injured animal.

If he knew her,
that's what he used as bait.
I mean, why else would she go?

Why her?

Maybe she rejected
his advances.

STABLER:
So he Iures her to the park,
then what?

He takes her
to a private place

where he can be alone
with her a while.

'Cause he owns her now.
He owns her body, her soul.

And now he can do
whatever he wants.

Agent Tilden was in prime
physical condition.

She carried a gun.

I don't see how
he could've overpowered her.

She never saw him.

She was preoccupied.

She was bent over the animal
and it was a blitz attack.

What did he use?

Something handy.

Like a rock.

Was that detail
ever released?

No.
Could be a Iucky guess.

I don't care
if it's a psychic vision,
it's enough to book him.

Just finished
processing Harry.

He actually hit on
the mug shot photographer.

We get the Iab results
back for the knife?
CIean.

What's Cragen doing here
this Iate?

MUNCH: Running us ragged.
LUDs finally came back
from Tilden's cell.

Her Iast call came in
at 6:37 p.m. from MFPCA.

Dispatch said that
her Iast call came in at 5:30.

Didn't come from dispatch.
We traced it to a phone
down in the kennels.

Finally finished running
all their employees. Only one
popped up in the system.

Who?
CRAGEN: Joe Poletti.

We talked to him.
He's a dog walker.

And a seven-time rapist.

Detectives.
BENSON: In there, Poletti.

Hey, that's the guy
from the kennel, right?
Is he the one who did it?

What are we doing
with him?
Cutting him Ioose.

Let's do this again
real soon.
Count on it.

I was in Atlantic City.
Left right after work.

I hit a royal.

Joey, you called Agent Tilden
from the kennel at 6:37 p.m.

It wasn't me.
A Iot of people have access
to that phone.

How'd you get down
to AC?
My van.

He's got a van.
Yeah, they all do.

Don't tell me,
you just had it detailed.

It's funny you should say
'cause I was about to,

but someone swiped it.
Joe, can you breathe
without Iying?

STABLER: You file
a police report?

No. Can I do that here?

Don't worry,
we're gonna find
that van for you.

Does anyone down at the "M"
know your past?

Hmm?

(CLEARS THROAT)

It never came up.

It should've
on your job application.

You should know
that's a violation,

the number of times
you've been on parole.

BENSON: Took your first
rape collar at 18.

Got Iucky
with that one. Probation.
That's ancient history.

Oh, history has a way
of repeating itself.

You did three years
for the rape of Coral Jividen.

She was my girlfriend.
She was 14 years old.

You're out, what, two weeks
before you start your string.

STABLER: Five break-in rapes
all at knifepoint.

I don't have
those feelings anymore.

That'd make you the first
I've come across.
I got help.

I never missed a session
while I was in.

I finished the program
after I got out,
three years ago.

Three years
of that pressure building.

Pam Tilden was at that kennel
every single day

and you try to fight
those urges, but they kept
getting stronger and stronger.

The walls you build up
crumble.

You pick up right where
you Ieft off.

Okay, I was sick back then.

But, tell me, how many
of those people I killed?

Huh?
STABLER: None.

That's why you did
twelve years. Living victims,
Iiving witnesses.

You didn't wanna go back,

and that's why you killed
Pam Tilden and Ed Boggs.

No.
That's why you cut off
her head and hands,

so she couldn't be
Iinked to you.
No!

I'm rehabilitated.

PIease tell me
there's a head in there.

We tore Poletti's house apart.
This is all we could find.

His pleasure chest.

Victoria's Secret catalogs,
strip club flyers.

Personal ads
from New York Magazine,

Called a few 900 numbers.
Sex chats are
on his no-no Iist.

Yeah, but we want him
for murder, not some
pissant parole violation.

You want him off the street
or what? We're getting him
on what we can.

Pretty gray area stuff.
I doubt a hearing officer
will even go for it.

I'II take anything
at this point.
What will it get him?

Whatever he still owes
on his parole.
Three weeks, two days.

There you go,
now there's justice.

Three weeks
for a double murder.

This is plenty of time
for him to rest up
and find his next attack.

MUNCH: Or catch up
on his writing.

Prolific Iittle bastard.

About twenty short stories
of wall-to-wall rape torture.

Anything in there
a thinly veiled Tilden/Boggs
confession?

No, but a rave review
from one of his old
offender program buddies.

He sent them
to another sex offender?

"Joe, Iast batch
was your best, yet.

"Jumper cables
to the girls' goodies
finished me off.

"Send extra copies
of the next one. They're
a big hit with the guys."

Let me see those.

CONRAD:
They're his private thoughts.

That's funny,
I saw them in print.

People v, Kirkpatrick
found mere possession
of obscene material

without dissemination
is not subject
to prosecution.

He mailed more than
six copies of his story,

meeting the presumption
of dissemination.

He sent them to friends.
Fellow sex offenders.

Don't you see
what the A.D.A. is doing?

She couldn't substantiate
murder charges
against my client,

so she's shooting blind,
seeing what sticks.

I do not take
a serial rapist's graphically
violent writings

about the torture of women
and children Iightly.

This is back door,
and you know it.
Your client opened that door.

Save it for the ethics board,
Miss Conrad.

I'm only here
to decide whether the charge
tracks under the statute.

The obscenity statute
is overly broad and void
for its vagueness.

It encompasses everything
and nothing.

CABOT: In the venerable words
of Justice Potter Stewart,

"I can't define it,
but I know it when I see it."

Two words, First Amendment.

The Supreme Court
has come down on the side
of Iimiting free speech

when the need
to protect the public
is of overriding importance.

I'm inclined to think
you're over-reaching
on this one, Miss Cabot,

but I'm going to Iet
a jury decide.

JUDGE: Mr. Foreman,
have the members of the jury
reached a verdict?

FOREPERSON:
We have, Your Honor.
What is your verdict?

On the sole count,
obscenity in the Third Degree,

we find the defendant,
Joseph Paul Poletti,

guilty.

(PEOPLE MUTTERING)

Motion to set aside verdict.

Denied.

JUDGE: Remand continued
until sentencing.

(GAVEL BANGS)

Nice snow job.
Well, I knew I had him

when juror number six
asked me to stop reading
one page into it.

It's a misdemeanor.
One year max.

There's no statute
of Iimitations on murder.

That year
is what I've just bought you
to find the head.

What are you doing here?

Homework.

Come here,
you sick Iittle freak.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Criminology 101, Detective.

If you're gonna break the Iaw,
you don't want
witnesses around.

You think you're real cute,
don't you?

Twenty-three cheerleaders
can't be wrong.

I know where you Iive,
I know where you Iearn,

and I know where
you bury your kill.

You get used to my face,
'cause you're gonna be
seeing it

every time you turn around.
Don't Iose your head,
Detective,

you're having enough trouble
finding one.

That's good. We found
your whole stash.

You think? There never is
just one stash.

We gave up too easily.
We didn't find Poletti's
real stash.

Go back through that house
over every scrap of paper,

pull up his financials,
dig up the backyard.

I want every key he owns
matched to a Iock,
every Iock accounted for.

Poletti's stolen van.

Jackpot.

Joey's Iittle
reading room.
His own Yankee Stadium.

Not here.

I think we got blood stains.

It's blood, all right.
STABLER:
So match it to Tilden.

That's problematic.
Why?

Because
of the cell-surface antigens.
It's canine blood.

He tracked it in here
from work.

We Iost him again.

Have a Iittle faith.

I got his travel itinerary
off his tires.

South Jersey, above bedrock,
is unconsolidated marine sand.

Atlantic City.
He already told us that.

Did he mention something about
a skid mark along the way?

Or a sharp U-y?
How do you know that?

I found microscopic fragments
of glass beads

and of yellow and white
reflective paint.

GIass beads could be
any stretch of road,
but the paint...

Yellow and white together
could be a hill
or a sharp curve.

The outer depositional strata
of dirt says he then pulled
off of the paved road.

We got a heavy buildup
of soil inside a wheel well
and inside the bumper.

He spun his tire
in the mud.

I got shoeprints
inside the van,
the same consistency.

So he got out of the van
to dump the head, and then
he floored it out of there.

Do we have a clue
as to where "there" is?

Some place with a high Ievel
of soil contamination.

BENSON: What kind?
Chemical byproducts.

X-ray fluorescence
spectrometer will give us
the exact composition.

You're saying it's near
a chemical plant.
What, with Ievels this high,

I say he practically
stopped on top
of one's drainage ditch.

Think you got enough red
up there?
Garden State, my ass.

I guess "Chemical Capital
of the World" didn't have
the same zing to it.

Well, Iet's narrow it down
to the ones along his route.

From the crime scene to AC.

Now we've confirmed
that he made it all the way
down there?

He was there.
He didn't get a room,

but he gambled
until 5:00 in the morning.

He pulled on his first
one-armed bandit at 12:52.

Which fits the window.

Has him Ieaving Manhattan
between 10:00 and 11:00.

How do we know the times?

Well, we spoke to the casino.
He uses a player's card.

Just missed winning
the free Wayne Newton tickets.

Okay. So from the crime scene,
he jumps on
the West Side Highway.

BENSON: Finds his way
over the Manhattan Bridge
down to the BQE.

On and off to ditch the hands
but not the head?

Well, CSU measured.

Head was too big
to fit through
the sewer grate.

CRAGEN:
Right, so he continues down
over the Verrazano Bridge,

maybe a quick stop at home?
Tossed the house.
Nothing there.

AII right,
then he continues on
over the outer bridge,

and it is a straight shot
down the parkway.

Easy access
to about eight plants.

Mercury.

The soil contained
absurdly high Ievels
of mercury.

We're Iooking
for a mercury plant?
No, no.

PIants use mercury
as a cathode.

A current is passed through
electrolytic cells

to decompose salt brine.
The end product being?

Chlorine
and sodium hydroxide.

How many plants
are there in Jersey
that produce that?

Hold on. I also found
a Iow pH Ievel.

It might also produce
hydrochloric acid.

Ramone, how many plants
we talking?
Just one.

IDJ Chemicals.
It's right in Toms River.

BENSON: Halfway down.
Right off the Parkway.

(POLICE SIREN WAILING)

They're giving up.

There's still one diver
down there.

You know how cold
that water is?

They were supposed to be up
45 minutes ago.

They'II find it.
They found Poletti's
tire tracks.

Doesn't mean a thing
without that head.
CIothing, knife, anything.

Come back out tomorrow.

You find anything?
Big party spot.

We got beer cans,
couple hundred
cigarette butts.

A bra that's been here
about two years
and an earring.

Let me see that.

EIIiot.

(DOORBELL BUZZING)

What do you want?

Nothing. I just came
by to gloat.
Yeah?

Don't over-excite yourself.
I can do a year
standing on my head.

What the hell is that?
It's a Iittle
doggie earring.

Eighteen karats.
You don't recognize that?

That's funny, because
we found it where you dumped
Pam Tilden's head.

You can't prove it's hers.

It was made especially for her
to commemorate
five years on the force.

Doesn't mean jack.
It's got her DNA on it

and a three-point match
to your thumbprint.

That year you're doing
on your head,

add 25 more and choke on it.