Law & Order Special Victims Unit s18e15 Episode Script
Know It All
1 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.
[dramatic music.]
These three victims are the work of our pattern 23 rapist.
The one the papers are calling "the Second Avenue Strangler.
" His victims were all last seen near bars on Second Ave.
Witnesses reported seeing a gold TLC car near two of the vics, and we checked with Uber, QuikRide, other services.
It doesn't match any of their cars.
So he could be a guy working off the books.
No matter who he is, he's a serial rapist/murderer who has struck every two weeks for the last month.
So for those of you who are just joining us now, this is going to be a joint investigation with Homicide and Detective Perry.
This started as an SVU case, but you all will be our feet on the ground.
Detective? Okay, the M.
O.
's are the same.
The victims are all between 20 and 30.
They're long-haired brunettes.
They had secondary trauma from the struggle.
They were dropped off at a construction site.
Now, the cause of death was asphyxiation.
All of his vics were found naked from the waist down.
Their hands were tied with rope, and they all had a chunk of hair shaved from the back of their neck.
That's his trophy and his signature.
Easy marks, drunk and walking home alone.
Okay, so get this sketch out there.
Be our eyes, be our ears.
Go.
We're three days in.
We got a week and a half - if he stays on pattern.
- I can't afford another one.
COMPSTAT counts these against Homicide.
I got three unsolveds over my head.
So we'll flood the streets.
We're gonna flood social media.
Get the sketch out there.
Make sure that everybody knows.
Well, restrictions on our software system have officially been lifted by the EU since we addressed their privacy concerns.
We already have dozens of governments and five major software developers interested in embedding - our app in other programs.
- Excellent.
And Jen was key at landing those clients.
Thank you.
Our app is a game-changer.
All of that valuable information sitting out there in cyberspace waiting to be discovered, analyzed, and, of course, exploited.
And, look, there are concerns that some are using our advanced data mining for targeted propaganda, but let's remember what we're selling here is a tool.
Like a gun or a drug, it can be misused, - but that's not on us.
- Right.
If everyone knows everything, and nothing can be hidden, the truth shall set us free, and so you're free till tomorrow.
Bugs to fix.
Something's come up.
Oh, no, David, no, - David, no.
- Well, I can't wait.
- Let's go somewhere private.
- Oh, now you're worried about privacy? I need to be with you tonight.
I know, and I wanna talk, but I told my sister I'd meet her.
Maybe we could do dinner after? All right, what time can you meet me? I'll be home by 7:00.
Meet you there? Don't be late.
I'll track your cell.
[sirens wailing.]
Rollins, is it? It looks like it.
Number four.
Same victim profile.
It's the same staging, - same binding, same rope.
- And he took his trophy, shaved a chunk from the base of the neck.
Yeah, head trauma, no pool of blood.
She wasn't killed here.
If it follows pattern, there won't be any DNA.
Let's check security cameras.
Hold everybody back.
She deserves that much.
Let's go, guys.
This is our guy, and he's early.
- Yeah, by over a week.
- He's accelerating, which means it's only gonna get worse from here.
[dramatic music.]
Okay, keep me posted.
They found her purse near the body, exactly like the others.
Yeah, cash was gone, the rest intact.
- You got a name? - Jennifer Knowles.
We got an ID from a company called "Attention Inc.
" We can run the credit cards to get a timeline.
- Next of kin? - Laura Knowles, younger sister.
I notified she's gonna meet us at the morgue.
We're gonna grab the video footage, canvass the neighborhood, double down on the community outreach.
Anything else? Yeah, get all of that evidence to the lab.
Our perp's gotta screw up sometime.
I need anything, anything that can give us a lead.
Thank you.
Detectives, was this the Second Avenue Strangler? - Another victim? - No comment.
Is there anything you can tell us? Anything at all? That's her.
That's Jen.
- Oh, God, I just saw her.
- When? - Last night.
- Where? - Do you recall a time? - Maybe 6:00? We met at a bakery on Second.
What happened? Do you know where she was going when she left you? Uh, yeah, to her place to meet her boyfriend.
- And what's his name? - David Willard.
He's her boss too.
She told me she was gonna break up with him.
- Oh, God.
- We'll talk to him.
So we're still investigating, but we think that the man who did this is somebody that we've been tracking.
He's he's a serial rapist.
Wait, what? She was raped? I'm afraid so.
I don't wait, by the one who killed those other girls? I'm so sorry.
I don't understand.
I thought he went after drunks outside bars.
Jen wasn't like that.
I know, and nobody is saying that she was, but is it possible that the two of them maybe went and got a drink, or, before they broke up, - maybe she changed her mind? - No, no, Jen doesn't drink.
At all? Our father was an alcoholic.
So am I, for that matter.
I'm in recovery.
I go to meetings.
But I don't think Jen ever even tasted alcohol.
So she wasn't at a bar.
Do you do you know where - she might have been? - No, she doesn't like going out.
Did you speak to her again that night after she left you? No, she was she was supposed to text me.
Can I go? - I need to call my mom.
- Of course, of course.
Have them get me her blood alcohol.
She never drank? Do you believe that? Look, I don't know what to believe.
Maybe this guy's changing his pattern.
Or she was a target of opportunity.
It could mean anything.
It could mean nothing.
- Start with the boyfriend? - Yeah, and take Carisi.
"Attention," what do they pay attention to? According to their website, everything.
You know, you do a search for a flight to Chicago, you start getting ads for warm gloves and Cubs hats.
- Oh, these are those bastards? - Yeah, they data mine your internet usage, and then they sell it to advertisers.
"Truth through Transparency" is their motto.
They want the world to be able to see everything, no privacy.
I'd think the police would like that.
If nothing can be hidden, there can be no crime.
Am I right? Detective Rollins from Loganville, Georgia, and Detective Carisi, proud graduate of Tottenville High, Prince's Bay, Staten Island.
- How can I help you? - That's great.
You always do background checks on your guests, Mr.
Willard? No, I gather information.
- It's what I do.
- You're a professional Googler? No, I'm a little better than that.
I collect data.
All data.
Knowledge is power, right? And my knowledge tells me I know why you're here.
It's about my app, isn't it? Why would you think that? Look, I've been visited by Brooklyn and Bronx detectives already this past month.
I'm gonna tell you what I told them.
If some degenerate wants to use my app to stalk women, - that's on him, not me.
- Guys use your app to stalk women? That's not what it was designed for.
Look, the app isn't the problem.
- It's the solution.
- But that's not why we're here.
We're here about Jennifer Knowles.
- She's your employee.
- Yes.
She's not in today.
She might be working from home.
- These creative types.
- But you were with her last night.
- Yes, why? - Until what time? Uh, till 10:00? I'm sorry, do you want to tell me why you're here? Ms.
Knowles was raped and murdered last night.
[spluttering.]
Jennifer? That's not possible.
Are you sure it's her? Her sister made the ID.
She was found at - a construction site.
- Oh, my God.
Yeah, it's all over the feeds.
What, so you're telling me that lunatic serial killer did this? - Possible.
- You say the last time you saw her was 10:00 p.
m.
? I don't know, maybe 10:30? Well, we understand that she was breaking up with you.
Yes, we decided to call it quits.
What does that have to do with So it was mutual? No hard feelings? No, oh, is this from Laura? Look, she's a nice woman, but she's not exactly in sync with reality.
She's paranoid.
Especially about men.
It doesn't help that she drinks too much.
- She said she was in AA.
- Yeah, she was until she slept with her sponsor and began a downward spiral.
I'm sorry, this is overwhelming.
Did you talk to Jennifer after you left her apartment? What-what was it, 11:00? 10:30, no, I went home.
I didn't call her.
She didn't call me.
Do you have any idea why she would've gone out after you left? I don't know, maybe to rescue her screwed up sister again.
This is why I do what I do.
If everything was transparent, you'd already know what happened, wouldn't you? No calls or texts between Jennifer and her sister or anyone else after 6:00 last night.
If Jennifer made a date to meet Laura, she did it via ESP.
Hey, so the labs came back.
All the other victims had matching rug fibers.
There were none found on Jennifer.
What about her blood alcohol, cause of death? Well, we're waiting for the ME's report to come back.
Anything on Jennifer's social media? No, not yet.
She kept it pretty professional, but we're still looking.
[phone buzzing.]
Benson.
Ooh, pop up ad.
Were you searching for brassieres, Carisi? No, a friend was using my computer.
Your friend's a 34B? There's no secrets anymore, huh? Every website, every search you do, they know.
Your friend, she got a name? 86 and East End, got it.
- What's going on? - Precinct just picked up a suspect.
They think it's our guy.
24 hours and he's back out there already? I don't know.
Let's go.
Look, I know it was stupid.
He offered me a free ride.
Is he the one? She was drunk, making herself a target.
I was trying to help that girl.
I should've let somebody rape you, you dumb bitch.
- This our serial? - Looks like.
Where'd we get him? The vic got into a fight with her boyfriend at a bar.
She stumbles out drunk, breaks a heel, gypsy cab driver offers her a ride.
Lucky for her, she's not as drunk as he thought.
Recognizes him from the sketch.
Realizes she's in trouble, that he's got her locked in, so she texts a picture to the tip line.
- Good for her.
- Yeah, a precinct cop pulled them over, searched the cab.
His whole toolkit's here.
Knife, rope, clippers, condoms.
Did you get any blood? Well, check for fibers, see if they match - the ones on our vics.
- Looks like we got our guy.
I want this sewn up.
Get him to the squad.
I want to hear him say that he did it.
I was trying to help that girl.
Yeah, well, we're checking your DNA right now, Alex, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna match.
Yeah, DNA, right.
If I were a rapist, - I wouldn't leave any DNA.
- You think? Hair, saliva, if you sneezed, we got a match.
Yeah, we already found rug fibers that came from your cab and their blood in your trunk.
We don't even need a confession.
Rape and murder, that's life.
Well, I only got one life you can take.
I still win.
I took all theirs.
Stupid whores.
Come again? They know I'm out there, and they still fall for it.
"Oh, hey, honey, "are you crazy walking home alone? "You know, there are guys out there that'll snatch you up.
Come on, get in.
" The dumb, drunk bitches did.
You ask me, they wanted it.
Like the thrill of getting some scary strange.
So you're admitting it.
You have DNA.
You kill her? This one kissed me first when I brought her home.
Slut.
What about her? She put up a fight, nearly took an eye out.
I told you, I did all of them.
What about these two? Oh, she was sweet.
She tasted good.
Is that where you got my saliva? What about the other one? Yeah, sure, her too.
Keep 'em coming.
Did you find the ones in Boston yet? There you go, case closed.
Four homicides that COMPSTA - will put in our win column.
- Okay, uh, three for sure, but the fact pattern for Jennifer doesn't match.
Did you see his reaction to her? It was like it was like that photo was the first time - he ever saw her.
- He-he just confessed.
Yeah, well, some guys like to run up their stats.
[knocking.]
Lieutenant, ME report came back.
Looks like Jennifer's sister was right.
There was no alcohol in her blood.
So? Well, so, we also have semen that doesn't match our perp's DNA, and her cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, not asphyxiation.
She was strangled post-mortem.
So she had sex with somebody else before he got to her, and things got rough before he raped her.
I mean, he got rough with all his vics.
It happens.
He confessed.
Right, but it's possible that we have a copy cat.
A copy cat who knew our rapist tied his victim's hands behind their backs and cut their hair? Those details weren't released.
Does it hurt to be sure? Look, Lieutenant, you outrank me, but you don't make friends at 1PP by unsolving homicides.
As far as I'm concerned, this case is closed.
As far as I'm concerned it's not.
We did arrest a suspect in your sister's murder.
Second Avenue Strangler, I heard.
- It doesn't make sense.
- Why's that? Because someone else did it.
You should be talking to her boyfriend, David Willard.
We did speak to him, and he told us that they broke up amicably, and then he went home.
I don't believe it.
Why? Because David is a controlling, twisted prick, and he has a temper.
That's why Jen was breaking up with him.
Okay, is it possible that she went out to find you? - No, why? - To a bar to help you get home? I wouldn't be at a bar.
I'm in AA.
Still? What's that mean? We heard you dropped out.
From who? I David.
That son of a bitch.
He's been spying on me.
You don't get it.
Jen said that he was spying on her.
He must have spied on me too.
No one knew I left AA.
- Not even Jen.
- So how would Willard find out? Maybe he hacked my phone.
There's ways to turn it on and eavesdrop.
I mean, he could be listening to us right now.
I know what you think.
What David may have told you, but I'm not crazy.
Nobody's saying that you are.
Well, you may not care if you arrest the wrong guy, but I do.
Jen was my sister.
So she thinks Willard is watching her? Willard did say she was paranoid.
Women should be paranoid.
It's a survival skill.
Look, maybe he's casting shade to cover himself.
Willard did put himself with the victim in her apartment the night she was killed.
Okay, so anything's possible.
Have we checked her apartment? Homicide gave it the once over.
No sign of struggle.
CSU hasn't touched it.
So get them over there first thing in the morning, guys.
We need to be sure.
There's no prints on a glass coffee table? Seriously? Must've had one hell of a cleaning lady.
There is residue of cleanser, and what looks like diluted blood in this one crack.
Blood? It's a minute sample.
It could be from anything, a paper cut three months ago.
Check it out.
Jennifer taped over her camera lens.
So her sister wasn't the only one that was paranoid.
Director of the FBI and Mark Zuckerberg both cover up their web cams.
Get that to Computer Crime.
See if there's spyware on it.
Also take the router and see what IPA addresses it was communicating with.
Okay, I got something.
There's a toolbox under the sink with what looks like freshly-cut rope.
That look familiar? That looks like the rope that Jennifer and the other vics were tied with.
Yeah, maybe, it looks the same to me.
Hold on, Fin, your rope expert's on this one, right? Bennett, yeah.
Great, get that to him immediately and find out if indeed that was the rope that Jennifer's hands were tied with.
Lieutenant, pleasure to see you again.
- Well, considering - Yeah, what do we have? Okay, the rope that bound your first three victims was an Everbilt poly and poly composite with a 300-pound breaking strength and an 11.
1-millimeter diameter.
It was used here, here, and here.
But not Jennifer Knowles? No, this is the rope that bound Jennifer Knowles.
Looks like the other one.
To the layman, perhaps, but it's a solid braid polypropylene product, similar diameter, only 200-pound strength.
This is what you found in her toolbox.
So it's different than the rope used on the other victims.
Absolutely.
She was tied with the rope from her own apartment.
Is that helpful, Lieutenant? Very.
I already told the other detectives everything I know.
I just want to discuss the night of the murder one more time.
Yeah, I understand that, but we could've done that in my office.
Bringing me down to your scary interrogation room isn't gonna somehow jog my memory.
You can have a seat in that chair.
So we know that you two were together the night of the murder.
We know that the two of you broke up in Jennifer's apartment around 10:30.
Is that correct? Yes, I've already discussed this with the other cops.
Why'd you split up? Jennifer and I our relationship was very passionate, but, at the end of the day, - it was unsustainable.
- Unsustainable how? It was one-dimensional.
We were only good at one thing.
Which was? Sex, but we liked each other a lot, so we decided, "let's call it quits.
" We didn't wanna jeopardize our work relationship or our friendship, for that matter.
You having sex before or after you split up? Before.
It was beautiful.
Was there any arguing? Any fighting? - No, it was a mutual decision.
- Mutual? Because Laura Knowles said that it was Jennifer's choice, that she wanted to break up with you.
Laura Knowles says that my Golden Retriever is a Russian spy, but, between us, I wouldn't - take that to the bank.
- Well, between us, being glib isn't gonna make this go away or us, for that matter.
Did you look under Jennifer's kitchen sink that night? I'm sorry, "under her sink"? Is that some kind of a sexual metaphor? No, we found your fingerprints on the handle of the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
I'm sorry I'm obviously not speaking clearly enough, so my bad.
I'm talking about you killing Jennifer.
I'm talking about you hacking into the NYPD so you could impersonate the pattern 23 rapist.
I'm talking about you finding rope underneath the cabinet, tying her hands, and then dumping her body at some construction site.
Is that better? Is that more clear? Wow, you have a vivid imagination.
It's impressive, no? But the truth is I'm far too smart to do something that stupid.
Or far too stupid to do something that smart.
I'm done talking.
I want a lawyer.
Oh, you're free to go.
But, like I said, this isn't going away.
And neither are we.
Wait a minute, they're about to build a statue in your honor at 1PP for catching the serial killer/rapist that had the whole city on edge.
Now you're telling me this guy didn't do it? - He didn't do one.
- Right, because why? Because her boyfriend had sex with her before she was killed? Her controlling, emotionally abusive boyfriend whom she broke up with that night.
So he killed her in her apartment and transported her - to the construction site - Four blocks away.
- Completely do-able.
- And then what? And then he left her there with her hands tied with a rope, hair shorn, using the exact M.
O.
as the Second Avenue Strangler? No, that information was private.
Willard could not know those details.
Unless unless he hacked into NYPD's computer system.
He's a technical genius.
If anyone could do it, he could.
Okay, so, in your scenario, Willard, with his dead girlfriend in the room, hacked the NYPD, and then tied her with a rope.
A rope that the Second Avenue Strangler never used before.
A rope that Willard found in Jennifer's apartment.
Which is your only actual piece of real evidence.
Which is a damn good piece of evidence.
- True.
- If the rope matches The crusading Lieutenant Benson gets her man.
[phone buzzing.]
And upsets a very large apple cart in the process.
What is it? What? It's rather simple and embarrassing.
I made an error.
This is the rope that was found in Jennifer Knowles' apartment.
This is the rope that tied her hands.
Two different ropes.
How did this happen? A misunderstanding.
The lab assistant thought I asked for a rope from the apartment.
I wanted the rope from the crime scene.
He brought me a second sample from the apartment.
So Dr.
Bennett, just to be clear, you're saying that the rope used to tie Jennifer Knowles' hands matches all the other victims, but not the rope that we found in her apartment? Yes, that's that's where it stands.
Now, if you don't mind, I have to make sure nothing else is misfiled.
[scoffs.]
Are you buying this? I don't know.
This guy is solid.
He hasn't made a mistake in 20 years.
- Exactly.
- So why lie now? Why protect Willard? Maybe this is Willard protecting himself.
Look, Laura thinks that he hacked her.
We think that he hacked the NYPD.
That's how he got the M.
O.
Maybe maybe he hacked Bennett as well.
- And found what? - Who the hell knows, but We need to find out.
Okay, computer crimes ran a deep systems check.
Somebody did hack Laura and Jennifer Knowles' email accounts.
So Laura isn't paranoid.
And they said it looks like the same intruder - hacked the NYPD.
- So he could've learned - the Strangler's M.
O.
- Exactly, and Colin Bennett's email accounts, personal and work.
And if they dug up dirt on a rope expert I mean, what kind of dirt? This guy's into ropes, - tides, paints, and solvent.
- Okay, so the hacker had to be - Willard, right? - Yeah, of course it was, but Computer Crimes can't prove it.
He covered his tracks.
And if it was Willard, and he dug up something on Dr.
Bennett, then it explains why he suddenly changed his story with that lame excuse about mixed up samples.
- So what now? - So we go back to Dr.
Bennett - for a longer conversation.
- Uh, yeah, about that, he's not returning calls.
He left his office at lunch, and he hasn't come back.
Track his phone.
Find him.
My phone.
I should've thrown it in the river.
I kept thinking about people I might want to send a final message.
You don't need to do that, Dr.
Bennett.
- You don't need that gun either.
- No? My work was my life.
And now I-I can't go back, ever.
You can't, but you can help us.
Tell us what happened.
You know what happened.
But we need you to tell us.
There's a young woman dead.
Her killer's free.
Catching killers is your job.
Well, it was my job, yes.
I did some good there for a while, didn't I? You did a lot.
You see I thought I could make up for my one mistake through my work, but when everyone knows everything, how can one ever really forgive and forget? How'd he contact you? I got a call.
There was no name.
It was untraceable.
- I'm sure it was a burner cell.
- What'd the caller say? Change my report.
Say the ropes don't match.
In case anyone checked, get rid of the rope.
And if you didn't do what they asked? Shame, a lot of it.
It was something embarrassing And wrong.
Something very wrong.
Okay, Doc, Doc, you're raising that gun to hand it to me, right? I don't know.
Give it to me, Doc, come on.
Give me the gun.
It doesn't matter what he does now.
He could bring the rope into court in a golden chariot.
His credibility is shot.
The evidence is tainted.
Chain of custody's broken.
So Willard blackmails his way out of trouble and that's that? Do you have anything else on him? Nothing, less than nothing because someone else confessed.
Well, you need to get something.
- I'll get you warrants.
- Yes, for his computers, his car, his apartment.
We need to move fast because this guy's gonna be covering his tracks.
Go to his office, I'll get you a warrant and email it to you by the time you get there.
[phone buzzes.]
Hello? Who's this? What about her? Hands off the keyboards.
Tell your employees not to touch a thing.
This is private property, unless you have a warrant, - which I don't see.
- It's on its way.
Nobody touch a thing until I say so.
You can't just tell me to stop my business.
[phone buzzes.]
Barba, we all set? What? Why? What? What's going on? Barba just said he's off the case, and he has to recuse himself.
- Why? - I don't know.
Let me guess, somebody finally realized this whole investigation makes no sense - and told you to back off.
- That's not gonna happen.
Barba, what do you mean, you're off the case? - What happened? - There was nothing I could do.
- I had to recuse myself.
- Why? I can't tell you.
I'm sorry.
- You can't tell me? - Yeah, you've gotta trust me.
- This is for the best.
- Oh, so I should trust you, but you don't trust me? How does that work? You're making this personal.
- It's not personal.
- It is personal now! Would you stop? Just talk to me.
What happened? I have a viable suspect for a brutal murder.
- I need those warrants.
- You see that building over there? There's a whole floor full of ADAs.
Ask one of them.
Right now, it's the best that I can do.
My girlfriend was just murdered.
- This is outrageous.
- You mean overdue.
No, I mean outrageous.
You're not supposed to be here.
Why? Because you didn't see it on email or because it's an old-fashioned, - handwritten warrant? - Officers are searching your apartment and car right now.
- Hands off your computers.
- You're wasting your time.
Okay, we will need access to all of your hardware and the servers that they're linked to.
NYPD will be transporting them, and they'll be returned to you when our search of its contents is complete.
That's quite the speech.
Did you rehearse that on the way over here? Where'd you get this warrant anyway? Your friend Barba? I thought he was smarter than that.
Oh, well.
You need to step aside.
Now.
Okay, TARU's got a thousand mega-terabytes or whatever to go through.
CSU says nothing in Willard's car matches anything found on any of the victims, including Jennifer.
Well, we know from Jennifer's apartment that this guy knows how to clean up his messes.
Liv, listen, when Willard said to you "your friend Barba" - He said that? - Yeah, how does he know that you and Barba are friends? You guys, we have to assume that he's been reading our emails.
We know he hacked Bennett, okay? Then he blackmailed him.
- So if he's hacking Barba - You think he's blackmailing - Barba too.
- Barba was getting us a warrant, then all of a sudden he didn't? I'm open for another explanation, but it makes sense to me.
What do you think, Liv? I don't know.
I think We need more information.
Like this? A uni found a burner cell in the garbage outside of Willard's apartment.
Here's the outgoing call list.
Okay, you got one call to Bennett's office.
- We knew that.
- And then one call to Barba's office.
Told you it made sense.
Who else did he call? There's a bunch of calls to a number in the Bronx.
Ashtonja Abreu.
Who's that? [knocking.]
Ashtonja Abreu? It's Ash-tone-juh, and I already talked to - that other detective.
- Okay, Ashtonja.
What other detective? The one looking into that DA.
No matter what he thinks, I didn't do nothing.
I'm keeping my life straight.
I'm not like my mom.
Nobody's saying that you are.
That other detective was saying it, that the money was for sex, but I'm not like that.
Okay, well, let's slow down here.
What What money? And what DA? I'm not supposed to tell anyone.
Okay, I'm sure that he told you that, but it's okay.
You can tell us.
It's some corruption thing.
That detective said there was a cover up.
A cover up? Okay, you need to tell us exactly what the other detective told you.
- Why? - Because he wasn't a real detective, and we are.
And, Ashtonja, if you don't wanna get into trouble, start talking.
You need to speak.
Now.
- About? - About what you did.
How Willard got to you.
Ashtonja Abreu.
- You talked to her? - Yeah, and Willard talked to her too.
He seems to think that - you're paying her for sex.
- I know.
- He told me.
- He told you? Right before you called off getting me those warrants? Yes, come here.
[sighs.]
Of course, Willard got it wrong.
I knew Ashtonja's mother, Marianna.
She was a heroin addict.
And she was a witness in a case against a guy who raped and killed two women.
She was the only witness.
On the day of the trial, she showed up so strung out she could barely talk.
The judge wouldn't give me a recess.
Marianna asked for a loan.
- And you gave it to her.
- Yes.
Knowing that she would buy heroin.
Yes.
And? She bought what she bought and she did what she did, and she got on the stand.
She buried the guy.
She sent a really bad man to prison for the rest of his life, and she died of an overdose, eight hours later, leaving behind her ten-year-old daughter.
Who you've been giving money to ever since.
She lives with her grandmother.
They're broke.
I help out.
Willard must have hacked my bank account, - tracked down Ashtonja.
- Why didn't you tell me this? I didn't wanna compromise your case.
You might've been accused of having a vendetta - against Willard.
- I can still be accused of that.
I also wanted to talk to Ashtonja first.
If this if this goes public, she's right in the middle.
How bad is this gonna be for you? Uh, it depends on the district attorney.
I told him everything.
We might've seen our last case together.
Is there anything that I can do? What you always do.
Go after the son of a bitch.
So Willard blackmailed Bennett to lose the rope evidence, and then he blackmailed Barba to drop the case? Yes, except nobody's dropping the case.
- Well, we did lose the rope evidence.
- Yeah, so, what else do we have? Not much, Willard's too smart to leave any traces of blackmail.
- Terrific.
- But we did find that Willard's more of a perv than we originally thought.
He was using his laptop camera to record him and Jennifer's, uh, extracurriculars.
Hey, baby, get in here.
The, uh, situation is escalating.
- Get in here.
- Okay, I get the idea.
So he did this for what? For blackmail, for revenge porn? Maybe just for his lonely nights.
That may be, but Jennifer was definitely not in on the game.
Look at this.
- David, is this thing on? - What, what are you talking about? - You son of a bitch.
- No, d-don't! Confirms Jennifer's sister one more time.
She said Jennifer told her that Willard was spying on her.
So the flaky sister is the most reliable witness in this whole case? Let's go.
What? My sister was raped and murdered.
I'm not allowed to have a drink? Well, maybe it's not the best time.
There is no best time.
Willard killed her, and you still haven't arrested him.
What are you people even doing? - We're working on it.
- You were right.
He was spying on her, recording her.
Why didn't you believe me before? Because he told you I'm an alcoholic? I have eyes.
I have ears.
We know that, Laura.
We know that.
He killed her.
She said she had it covered.
She kept telling me that.
She didn't.
What did she mean, "she had it covered"? In case he tried to fire her for dumping him.
She said she'd be fine.
That she'd covered her bases.
She had it covered? How? Willard had video of Jen.
Maybe she did the same? In case the break up got out of hand.
Let's get TARU and go back to her apartment.
Camera on her computer was taped over.
What else is there? Well, Laura thought that Willard rigged her phone so he could eavesdrop.
We checked the victim's cell.
There's nothing there.
We're surrounded by things that are always listening.
A friend and I were talking about going to see a show.
Next thing I know, I start getting pop-up ads - for Broadway musicals.
- Now, we never searched that.
We just talked about it.
Your friend Ms.
34B? All I'm saying is that things are always listening.
Hey, Siri, what's the temperature? It's currently 45 degrees in New York.
So what are we looking for? A talking toaster? Detectives, I may have found something.
TV, on.
Okay.
- This TV can record video.
- Really? I don't see a lens.
It's behind the black boarder.
[beep.]
It should save all the videos.
There's a recording from the night of the murder, timestamp 9:33 p.
m.
Looks like it was set to be voice activated too.
Play it.
[beep.]
- David, we need to talk.
- Shut up.
- "We need to talk" - Don't tell me to shut up.
Unless you wanna talk about how great the sex was, shut your mouth.
- That's not what I wanna talk about.
- Okay, what do you wanna talk about? - How I'm controlling? - Yes, you are.
- I'm gonna get it right.
- No I'm an arrogant, controlling, Machiavellian narcissist.
Isn't that what you texted your idiot sister? You read my texts? What else do you read? I read your texts, I read your emails, I listen to your phone calls - You're sick, you are a sick man.
- I'm sick? Well, you're a slut, so I'm sick - Are you - [grunts.]
[thud.]
Get up, we're not done.
Get up! Such a drama queen, get up.
Come on.
Come on, Jen.
Jen? Arrest him, now.
Not guilty, Your Honor.
This was an accident, not murder.
Save it for your trial, Mr.
Willard.
Bail Mr.
Willard is a respected businessman, tied to the community.
And charged with murder.
A million dollars, cash or bond.
Next case.
Good work, Lieutenant.
Glad I encouraged you to keep digging.
You were a real inspiration.
You believed me.
You got him.
We got him.
We got him.
Word is Willard's attorney's already scrambling to make a deal.
Look, unless he pleads to murder, I say try the case.
Me too, but I have no input.
I'm off the case.
I'm so sorry about all of this, Rafael.
What I did was wrong, but the truth is I'd do it again.
Not everything done in the dark is shameful.
So now what? I have a meeting with the DA in five minutes.
He'll tell me what happens next.
You know, I love this job.
Oh, I really do, but sometimes Oh, I know.
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.
[dramatic music.]
These three victims are the work of our pattern 23 rapist.
The one the papers are calling "the Second Avenue Strangler.
" His victims were all last seen near bars on Second Ave.
Witnesses reported seeing a gold TLC car near two of the vics, and we checked with Uber, QuikRide, other services.
It doesn't match any of their cars.
So he could be a guy working off the books.
No matter who he is, he's a serial rapist/murderer who has struck every two weeks for the last month.
So for those of you who are just joining us now, this is going to be a joint investigation with Homicide and Detective Perry.
This started as an SVU case, but you all will be our feet on the ground.
Detective? Okay, the M.
O.
's are the same.
The victims are all between 20 and 30.
They're long-haired brunettes.
They had secondary trauma from the struggle.
They were dropped off at a construction site.
Now, the cause of death was asphyxiation.
All of his vics were found naked from the waist down.
Their hands were tied with rope, and they all had a chunk of hair shaved from the back of their neck.
That's his trophy and his signature.
Easy marks, drunk and walking home alone.
Okay, so get this sketch out there.
Be our eyes, be our ears.
Go.
We're three days in.
We got a week and a half - if he stays on pattern.
- I can't afford another one.
COMPSTAT counts these against Homicide.
I got three unsolveds over my head.
So we'll flood the streets.
We're gonna flood social media.
Get the sketch out there.
Make sure that everybody knows.
Well, restrictions on our software system have officially been lifted by the EU since we addressed their privacy concerns.
We already have dozens of governments and five major software developers interested in embedding - our app in other programs.
- Excellent.
And Jen was key at landing those clients.
Thank you.
Our app is a game-changer.
All of that valuable information sitting out there in cyberspace waiting to be discovered, analyzed, and, of course, exploited.
And, look, there are concerns that some are using our advanced data mining for targeted propaganda, but let's remember what we're selling here is a tool.
Like a gun or a drug, it can be misused, - but that's not on us.
- Right.
If everyone knows everything, and nothing can be hidden, the truth shall set us free, and so you're free till tomorrow.
Bugs to fix.
Something's come up.
Oh, no, David, no, - David, no.
- Well, I can't wait.
- Let's go somewhere private.
- Oh, now you're worried about privacy? I need to be with you tonight.
I know, and I wanna talk, but I told my sister I'd meet her.
Maybe we could do dinner after? All right, what time can you meet me? I'll be home by 7:00.
Meet you there? Don't be late.
I'll track your cell.
[sirens wailing.]
Rollins, is it? It looks like it.
Number four.
Same victim profile.
It's the same staging, - same binding, same rope.
- And he took his trophy, shaved a chunk from the base of the neck.
Yeah, head trauma, no pool of blood.
She wasn't killed here.
If it follows pattern, there won't be any DNA.
Let's check security cameras.
Hold everybody back.
She deserves that much.
Let's go, guys.
This is our guy, and he's early.
- Yeah, by over a week.
- He's accelerating, which means it's only gonna get worse from here.
[dramatic music.]
Okay, keep me posted.
They found her purse near the body, exactly like the others.
Yeah, cash was gone, the rest intact.
- You got a name? - Jennifer Knowles.
We got an ID from a company called "Attention Inc.
" We can run the credit cards to get a timeline.
- Next of kin? - Laura Knowles, younger sister.
I notified she's gonna meet us at the morgue.
We're gonna grab the video footage, canvass the neighborhood, double down on the community outreach.
Anything else? Yeah, get all of that evidence to the lab.
Our perp's gotta screw up sometime.
I need anything, anything that can give us a lead.
Thank you.
Detectives, was this the Second Avenue Strangler? - Another victim? - No comment.
Is there anything you can tell us? Anything at all? That's her.
That's Jen.
- Oh, God, I just saw her.
- When? - Last night.
- Where? - Do you recall a time? - Maybe 6:00? We met at a bakery on Second.
What happened? Do you know where she was going when she left you? Uh, yeah, to her place to meet her boyfriend.
- And what's his name? - David Willard.
He's her boss too.
She told me she was gonna break up with him.
- Oh, God.
- We'll talk to him.
So we're still investigating, but we think that the man who did this is somebody that we've been tracking.
He's he's a serial rapist.
Wait, what? She was raped? I'm afraid so.
I don't wait, by the one who killed those other girls? I'm so sorry.
I don't understand.
I thought he went after drunks outside bars.
Jen wasn't like that.
I know, and nobody is saying that she was, but is it possible that the two of them maybe went and got a drink, or, before they broke up, - maybe she changed her mind? - No, no, Jen doesn't drink.
At all? Our father was an alcoholic.
So am I, for that matter.
I'm in recovery.
I go to meetings.
But I don't think Jen ever even tasted alcohol.
So she wasn't at a bar.
Do you do you know where - she might have been? - No, she doesn't like going out.
Did you speak to her again that night after she left you? No, she was she was supposed to text me.
Can I go? - I need to call my mom.
- Of course, of course.
Have them get me her blood alcohol.
She never drank? Do you believe that? Look, I don't know what to believe.
Maybe this guy's changing his pattern.
Or she was a target of opportunity.
It could mean anything.
It could mean nothing.
- Start with the boyfriend? - Yeah, and take Carisi.
"Attention," what do they pay attention to? According to their website, everything.
You know, you do a search for a flight to Chicago, you start getting ads for warm gloves and Cubs hats.
- Oh, these are those bastards? - Yeah, they data mine your internet usage, and then they sell it to advertisers.
"Truth through Transparency" is their motto.
They want the world to be able to see everything, no privacy.
I'd think the police would like that.
If nothing can be hidden, there can be no crime.
Am I right? Detective Rollins from Loganville, Georgia, and Detective Carisi, proud graduate of Tottenville High, Prince's Bay, Staten Island.
- How can I help you? - That's great.
You always do background checks on your guests, Mr.
Willard? No, I gather information.
- It's what I do.
- You're a professional Googler? No, I'm a little better than that.
I collect data.
All data.
Knowledge is power, right? And my knowledge tells me I know why you're here.
It's about my app, isn't it? Why would you think that? Look, I've been visited by Brooklyn and Bronx detectives already this past month.
I'm gonna tell you what I told them.
If some degenerate wants to use my app to stalk women, - that's on him, not me.
- Guys use your app to stalk women? That's not what it was designed for.
Look, the app isn't the problem.
- It's the solution.
- But that's not why we're here.
We're here about Jennifer Knowles.
- She's your employee.
- Yes.
She's not in today.
She might be working from home.
- These creative types.
- But you were with her last night.
- Yes, why? - Until what time? Uh, till 10:00? I'm sorry, do you want to tell me why you're here? Ms.
Knowles was raped and murdered last night.
[spluttering.]
Jennifer? That's not possible.
Are you sure it's her? Her sister made the ID.
She was found at - a construction site.
- Oh, my God.
Yeah, it's all over the feeds.
What, so you're telling me that lunatic serial killer did this? - Possible.
- You say the last time you saw her was 10:00 p.
m.
? I don't know, maybe 10:30? Well, we understand that she was breaking up with you.
Yes, we decided to call it quits.
What does that have to do with So it was mutual? No hard feelings? No, oh, is this from Laura? Look, she's a nice woman, but she's not exactly in sync with reality.
She's paranoid.
Especially about men.
It doesn't help that she drinks too much.
- She said she was in AA.
- Yeah, she was until she slept with her sponsor and began a downward spiral.
I'm sorry, this is overwhelming.
Did you talk to Jennifer after you left her apartment? What-what was it, 11:00? 10:30, no, I went home.
I didn't call her.
She didn't call me.
Do you have any idea why she would've gone out after you left? I don't know, maybe to rescue her screwed up sister again.
This is why I do what I do.
If everything was transparent, you'd already know what happened, wouldn't you? No calls or texts between Jennifer and her sister or anyone else after 6:00 last night.
If Jennifer made a date to meet Laura, she did it via ESP.
Hey, so the labs came back.
All the other victims had matching rug fibers.
There were none found on Jennifer.
What about her blood alcohol, cause of death? Well, we're waiting for the ME's report to come back.
Anything on Jennifer's social media? No, not yet.
She kept it pretty professional, but we're still looking.
[phone buzzing.]
Benson.
Ooh, pop up ad.
Were you searching for brassieres, Carisi? No, a friend was using my computer.
Your friend's a 34B? There's no secrets anymore, huh? Every website, every search you do, they know.
Your friend, she got a name? 86 and East End, got it.
- What's going on? - Precinct just picked up a suspect.
They think it's our guy.
24 hours and he's back out there already? I don't know.
Let's go.
Look, I know it was stupid.
He offered me a free ride.
Is he the one? She was drunk, making herself a target.
I was trying to help that girl.
I should've let somebody rape you, you dumb bitch.
- This our serial? - Looks like.
Where'd we get him? The vic got into a fight with her boyfriend at a bar.
She stumbles out drunk, breaks a heel, gypsy cab driver offers her a ride.
Lucky for her, she's not as drunk as he thought.
Recognizes him from the sketch.
Realizes she's in trouble, that he's got her locked in, so she texts a picture to the tip line.
- Good for her.
- Yeah, a precinct cop pulled them over, searched the cab.
His whole toolkit's here.
Knife, rope, clippers, condoms.
Did you get any blood? Well, check for fibers, see if they match - the ones on our vics.
- Looks like we got our guy.
I want this sewn up.
Get him to the squad.
I want to hear him say that he did it.
I was trying to help that girl.
Yeah, well, we're checking your DNA right now, Alex, and I'm pretty sure it's gonna match.
Yeah, DNA, right.
If I were a rapist, - I wouldn't leave any DNA.
- You think? Hair, saliva, if you sneezed, we got a match.
Yeah, we already found rug fibers that came from your cab and their blood in your trunk.
We don't even need a confession.
Rape and murder, that's life.
Well, I only got one life you can take.
I still win.
I took all theirs.
Stupid whores.
Come again? They know I'm out there, and they still fall for it.
"Oh, hey, honey, "are you crazy walking home alone? "You know, there are guys out there that'll snatch you up.
Come on, get in.
" The dumb, drunk bitches did.
You ask me, they wanted it.
Like the thrill of getting some scary strange.
So you're admitting it.
You have DNA.
You kill her? This one kissed me first when I brought her home.
Slut.
What about her? She put up a fight, nearly took an eye out.
I told you, I did all of them.
What about these two? Oh, she was sweet.
She tasted good.
Is that where you got my saliva? What about the other one? Yeah, sure, her too.
Keep 'em coming.
Did you find the ones in Boston yet? There you go, case closed.
Four homicides that COMPSTA - will put in our win column.
- Okay, uh, three for sure, but the fact pattern for Jennifer doesn't match.
Did you see his reaction to her? It was like it was like that photo was the first time - he ever saw her.
- He-he just confessed.
Yeah, well, some guys like to run up their stats.
[knocking.]
Lieutenant, ME report came back.
Looks like Jennifer's sister was right.
There was no alcohol in her blood.
So? Well, so, we also have semen that doesn't match our perp's DNA, and her cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, not asphyxiation.
She was strangled post-mortem.
So she had sex with somebody else before he got to her, and things got rough before he raped her.
I mean, he got rough with all his vics.
It happens.
He confessed.
Right, but it's possible that we have a copy cat.
A copy cat who knew our rapist tied his victim's hands behind their backs and cut their hair? Those details weren't released.
Does it hurt to be sure? Look, Lieutenant, you outrank me, but you don't make friends at 1PP by unsolving homicides.
As far as I'm concerned, this case is closed.
As far as I'm concerned it's not.
We did arrest a suspect in your sister's murder.
Second Avenue Strangler, I heard.
- It doesn't make sense.
- Why's that? Because someone else did it.
You should be talking to her boyfriend, David Willard.
We did speak to him, and he told us that they broke up amicably, and then he went home.
I don't believe it.
Why? Because David is a controlling, twisted prick, and he has a temper.
That's why Jen was breaking up with him.
Okay, is it possible that she went out to find you? - No, why? - To a bar to help you get home? I wouldn't be at a bar.
I'm in AA.
Still? What's that mean? We heard you dropped out.
From who? I David.
That son of a bitch.
He's been spying on me.
You don't get it.
Jen said that he was spying on her.
He must have spied on me too.
No one knew I left AA.
- Not even Jen.
- So how would Willard find out? Maybe he hacked my phone.
There's ways to turn it on and eavesdrop.
I mean, he could be listening to us right now.
I know what you think.
What David may have told you, but I'm not crazy.
Nobody's saying that you are.
Well, you may not care if you arrest the wrong guy, but I do.
Jen was my sister.
So she thinks Willard is watching her? Willard did say she was paranoid.
Women should be paranoid.
It's a survival skill.
Look, maybe he's casting shade to cover himself.
Willard did put himself with the victim in her apartment the night she was killed.
Okay, so anything's possible.
Have we checked her apartment? Homicide gave it the once over.
No sign of struggle.
CSU hasn't touched it.
So get them over there first thing in the morning, guys.
We need to be sure.
There's no prints on a glass coffee table? Seriously? Must've had one hell of a cleaning lady.
There is residue of cleanser, and what looks like diluted blood in this one crack.
Blood? It's a minute sample.
It could be from anything, a paper cut three months ago.
Check it out.
Jennifer taped over her camera lens.
So her sister wasn't the only one that was paranoid.
Director of the FBI and Mark Zuckerberg both cover up their web cams.
Get that to Computer Crime.
See if there's spyware on it.
Also take the router and see what IPA addresses it was communicating with.
Okay, I got something.
There's a toolbox under the sink with what looks like freshly-cut rope.
That look familiar? That looks like the rope that Jennifer and the other vics were tied with.
Yeah, maybe, it looks the same to me.
Hold on, Fin, your rope expert's on this one, right? Bennett, yeah.
Great, get that to him immediately and find out if indeed that was the rope that Jennifer's hands were tied with.
Lieutenant, pleasure to see you again.
- Well, considering - Yeah, what do we have? Okay, the rope that bound your first three victims was an Everbilt poly and poly composite with a 300-pound breaking strength and an 11.
1-millimeter diameter.
It was used here, here, and here.
But not Jennifer Knowles? No, this is the rope that bound Jennifer Knowles.
Looks like the other one.
To the layman, perhaps, but it's a solid braid polypropylene product, similar diameter, only 200-pound strength.
This is what you found in her toolbox.
So it's different than the rope used on the other victims.
Absolutely.
She was tied with the rope from her own apartment.
Is that helpful, Lieutenant? Very.
I already told the other detectives everything I know.
I just want to discuss the night of the murder one more time.
Yeah, I understand that, but we could've done that in my office.
Bringing me down to your scary interrogation room isn't gonna somehow jog my memory.
You can have a seat in that chair.
So we know that you two were together the night of the murder.
We know that the two of you broke up in Jennifer's apartment around 10:30.
Is that correct? Yes, I've already discussed this with the other cops.
Why'd you split up? Jennifer and I our relationship was very passionate, but, at the end of the day, - it was unsustainable.
- Unsustainable how? It was one-dimensional.
We were only good at one thing.
Which was? Sex, but we liked each other a lot, so we decided, "let's call it quits.
" We didn't wanna jeopardize our work relationship or our friendship, for that matter.
You having sex before or after you split up? Before.
It was beautiful.
Was there any arguing? Any fighting? - No, it was a mutual decision.
- Mutual? Because Laura Knowles said that it was Jennifer's choice, that she wanted to break up with you.
Laura Knowles says that my Golden Retriever is a Russian spy, but, between us, I wouldn't - take that to the bank.
- Well, between us, being glib isn't gonna make this go away or us, for that matter.
Did you look under Jennifer's kitchen sink that night? I'm sorry, "under her sink"? Is that some kind of a sexual metaphor? No, we found your fingerprints on the handle of the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
I'm sorry I'm obviously not speaking clearly enough, so my bad.
I'm talking about you killing Jennifer.
I'm talking about you hacking into the NYPD so you could impersonate the pattern 23 rapist.
I'm talking about you finding rope underneath the cabinet, tying her hands, and then dumping her body at some construction site.
Is that better? Is that more clear? Wow, you have a vivid imagination.
It's impressive, no? But the truth is I'm far too smart to do something that stupid.
Or far too stupid to do something that smart.
I'm done talking.
I want a lawyer.
Oh, you're free to go.
But, like I said, this isn't going away.
And neither are we.
Wait a minute, they're about to build a statue in your honor at 1PP for catching the serial killer/rapist that had the whole city on edge.
Now you're telling me this guy didn't do it? - He didn't do one.
- Right, because why? Because her boyfriend had sex with her before she was killed? Her controlling, emotionally abusive boyfriend whom she broke up with that night.
So he killed her in her apartment and transported her - to the construction site - Four blocks away.
- Completely do-able.
- And then what? And then he left her there with her hands tied with a rope, hair shorn, using the exact M.
O.
as the Second Avenue Strangler? No, that information was private.
Willard could not know those details.
Unless unless he hacked into NYPD's computer system.
He's a technical genius.
If anyone could do it, he could.
Okay, so, in your scenario, Willard, with his dead girlfriend in the room, hacked the NYPD, and then tied her with a rope.
A rope that the Second Avenue Strangler never used before.
A rope that Willard found in Jennifer's apartment.
Which is your only actual piece of real evidence.
Which is a damn good piece of evidence.
- True.
- If the rope matches The crusading Lieutenant Benson gets her man.
[phone buzzing.]
And upsets a very large apple cart in the process.
What is it? What? It's rather simple and embarrassing.
I made an error.
This is the rope that was found in Jennifer Knowles' apartment.
This is the rope that tied her hands.
Two different ropes.
How did this happen? A misunderstanding.
The lab assistant thought I asked for a rope from the apartment.
I wanted the rope from the crime scene.
He brought me a second sample from the apartment.
So Dr.
Bennett, just to be clear, you're saying that the rope used to tie Jennifer Knowles' hands matches all the other victims, but not the rope that we found in her apartment? Yes, that's that's where it stands.
Now, if you don't mind, I have to make sure nothing else is misfiled.
[scoffs.]
Are you buying this? I don't know.
This guy is solid.
He hasn't made a mistake in 20 years.
- Exactly.
- So why lie now? Why protect Willard? Maybe this is Willard protecting himself.
Look, Laura thinks that he hacked her.
We think that he hacked the NYPD.
That's how he got the M.
O.
Maybe maybe he hacked Bennett as well.
- And found what? - Who the hell knows, but We need to find out.
Okay, computer crimes ran a deep systems check.
Somebody did hack Laura and Jennifer Knowles' email accounts.
So Laura isn't paranoid.
And they said it looks like the same intruder - hacked the NYPD.
- So he could've learned - the Strangler's M.
O.
- Exactly, and Colin Bennett's email accounts, personal and work.
And if they dug up dirt on a rope expert I mean, what kind of dirt? This guy's into ropes, - tides, paints, and solvent.
- Okay, so the hacker had to be - Willard, right? - Yeah, of course it was, but Computer Crimes can't prove it.
He covered his tracks.
And if it was Willard, and he dug up something on Dr.
Bennett, then it explains why he suddenly changed his story with that lame excuse about mixed up samples.
- So what now? - So we go back to Dr.
Bennett - for a longer conversation.
- Uh, yeah, about that, he's not returning calls.
He left his office at lunch, and he hasn't come back.
Track his phone.
Find him.
My phone.
I should've thrown it in the river.
I kept thinking about people I might want to send a final message.
You don't need to do that, Dr.
Bennett.
- You don't need that gun either.
- No? My work was my life.
And now I-I can't go back, ever.
You can't, but you can help us.
Tell us what happened.
You know what happened.
But we need you to tell us.
There's a young woman dead.
Her killer's free.
Catching killers is your job.
Well, it was my job, yes.
I did some good there for a while, didn't I? You did a lot.
You see I thought I could make up for my one mistake through my work, but when everyone knows everything, how can one ever really forgive and forget? How'd he contact you? I got a call.
There was no name.
It was untraceable.
- I'm sure it was a burner cell.
- What'd the caller say? Change my report.
Say the ropes don't match.
In case anyone checked, get rid of the rope.
And if you didn't do what they asked? Shame, a lot of it.
It was something embarrassing And wrong.
Something very wrong.
Okay, Doc, Doc, you're raising that gun to hand it to me, right? I don't know.
Give it to me, Doc, come on.
Give me the gun.
It doesn't matter what he does now.
He could bring the rope into court in a golden chariot.
His credibility is shot.
The evidence is tainted.
Chain of custody's broken.
So Willard blackmails his way out of trouble and that's that? Do you have anything else on him? Nothing, less than nothing because someone else confessed.
Well, you need to get something.
- I'll get you warrants.
- Yes, for his computers, his car, his apartment.
We need to move fast because this guy's gonna be covering his tracks.
Go to his office, I'll get you a warrant and email it to you by the time you get there.
[phone buzzes.]
Hello? Who's this? What about her? Hands off the keyboards.
Tell your employees not to touch a thing.
This is private property, unless you have a warrant, - which I don't see.
- It's on its way.
Nobody touch a thing until I say so.
You can't just tell me to stop my business.
[phone buzzes.]
Barba, we all set? What? Why? What? What's going on? Barba just said he's off the case, and he has to recuse himself.
- Why? - I don't know.
Let me guess, somebody finally realized this whole investigation makes no sense - and told you to back off.
- That's not gonna happen.
Barba, what do you mean, you're off the case? - What happened? - There was nothing I could do.
- I had to recuse myself.
- Why? I can't tell you.
I'm sorry.
- You can't tell me? - Yeah, you've gotta trust me.
- This is for the best.
- Oh, so I should trust you, but you don't trust me? How does that work? You're making this personal.
- It's not personal.
- It is personal now! Would you stop? Just talk to me.
What happened? I have a viable suspect for a brutal murder.
- I need those warrants.
- You see that building over there? There's a whole floor full of ADAs.
Ask one of them.
Right now, it's the best that I can do.
My girlfriend was just murdered.
- This is outrageous.
- You mean overdue.
No, I mean outrageous.
You're not supposed to be here.
Why? Because you didn't see it on email or because it's an old-fashioned, - handwritten warrant? - Officers are searching your apartment and car right now.
- Hands off your computers.
- You're wasting your time.
Okay, we will need access to all of your hardware and the servers that they're linked to.
NYPD will be transporting them, and they'll be returned to you when our search of its contents is complete.
That's quite the speech.
Did you rehearse that on the way over here? Where'd you get this warrant anyway? Your friend Barba? I thought he was smarter than that.
Oh, well.
You need to step aside.
Now.
Okay, TARU's got a thousand mega-terabytes or whatever to go through.
CSU says nothing in Willard's car matches anything found on any of the victims, including Jennifer.
Well, we know from Jennifer's apartment that this guy knows how to clean up his messes.
Liv, listen, when Willard said to you "your friend Barba" - He said that? - Yeah, how does he know that you and Barba are friends? You guys, we have to assume that he's been reading our emails.
We know he hacked Bennett, okay? Then he blackmailed him.
- So if he's hacking Barba - You think he's blackmailing - Barba too.
- Barba was getting us a warrant, then all of a sudden he didn't? I'm open for another explanation, but it makes sense to me.
What do you think, Liv? I don't know.
I think We need more information.
Like this? A uni found a burner cell in the garbage outside of Willard's apartment.
Here's the outgoing call list.
Okay, you got one call to Bennett's office.
- We knew that.
- And then one call to Barba's office.
Told you it made sense.
Who else did he call? There's a bunch of calls to a number in the Bronx.
Ashtonja Abreu.
Who's that? [knocking.]
Ashtonja Abreu? It's Ash-tone-juh, and I already talked to - that other detective.
- Okay, Ashtonja.
What other detective? The one looking into that DA.
No matter what he thinks, I didn't do nothing.
I'm keeping my life straight.
I'm not like my mom.
Nobody's saying that you are.
That other detective was saying it, that the money was for sex, but I'm not like that.
Okay, well, let's slow down here.
What What money? And what DA? I'm not supposed to tell anyone.
Okay, I'm sure that he told you that, but it's okay.
You can tell us.
It's some corruption thing.
That detective said there was a cover up.
A cover up? Okay, you need to tell us exactly what the other detective told you.
- Why? - Because he wasn't a real detective, and we are.
And, Ashtonja, if you don't wanna get into trouble, start talking.
You need to speak.
Now.
- About? - About what you did.
How Willard got to you.
Ashtonja Abreu.
- You talked to her? - Yeah, and Willard talked to her too.
He seems to think that - you're paying her for sex.
- I know.
- He told me.
- He told you? Right before you called off getting me those warrants? Yes, come here.
[sighs.]
Of course, Willard got it wrong.
I knew Ashtonja's mother, Marianna.
She was a heroin addict.
And she was a witness in a case against a guy who raped and killed two women.
She was the only witness.
On the day of the trial, she showed up so strung out she could barely talk.
The judge wouldn't give me a recess.
Marianna asked for a loan.
- And you gave it to her.
- Yes.
Knowing that she would buy heroin.
Yes.
And? She bought what she bought and she did what she did, and she got on the stand.
She buried the guy.
She sent a really bad man to prison for the rest of his life, and she died of an overdose, eight hours later, leaving behind her ten-year-old daughter.
Who you've been giving money to ever since.
She lives with her grandmother.
They're broke.
I help out.
Willard must have hacked my bank account, - tracked down Ashtonja.
- Why didn't you tell me this? I didn't wanna compromise your case.
You might've been accused of having a vendetta - against Willard.
- I can still be accused of that.
I also wanted to talk to Ashtonja first.
If this if this goes public, she's right in the middle.
How bad is this gonna be for you? Uh, it depends on the district attorney.
I told him everything.
We might've seen our last case together.
Is there anything that I can do? What you always do.
Go after the son of a bitch.
So Willard blackmailed Bennett to lose the rope evidence, and then he blackmailed Barba to drop the case? Yes, except nobody's dropping the case.
- Well, we did lose the rope evidence.
- Yeah, so, what else do we have? Not much, Willard's too smart to leave any traces of blackmail.
- Terrific.
- But we did find that Willard's more of a perv than we originally thought.
He was using his laptop camera to record him and Jennifer's, uh, extracurriculars.
Hey, baby, get in here.
The, uh, situation is escalating.
- Get in here.
- Okay, I get the idea.
So he did this for what? For blackmail, for revenge porn? Maybe just for his lonely nights.
That may be, but Jennifer was definitely not in on the game.
Look at this.
- David, is this thing on? - What, what are you talking about? - You son of a bitch.
- No, d-don't! Confirms Jennifer's sister one more time.
She said Jennifer told her that Willard was spying on her.
So the flaky sister is the most reliable witness in this whole case? Let's go.
What? My sister was raped and murdered.
I'm not allowed to have a drink? Well, maybe it's not the best time.
There is no best time.
Willard killed her, and you still haven't arrested him.
What are you people even doing? - We're working on it.
- You were right.
He was spying on her, recording her.
Why didn't you believe me before? Because he told you I'm an alcoholic? I have eyes.
I have ears.
We know that, Laura.
We know that.
He killed her.
She said she had it covered.
She kept telling me that.
She didn't.
What did she mean, "she had it covered"? In case he tried to fire her for dumping him.
She said she'd be fine.
That she'd covered her bases.
She had it covered? How? Willard had video of Jen.
Maybe she did the same? In case the break up got out of hand.
Let's get TARU and go back to her apartment.
Camera on her computer was taped over.
What else is there? Well, Laura thought that Willard rigged her phone so he could eavesdrop.
We checked the victim's cell.
There's nothing there.
We're surrounded by things that are always listening.
A friend and I were talking about going to see a show.
Next thing I know, I start getting pop-up ads - for Broadway musicals.
- Now, we never searched that.
We just talked about it.
Your friend Ms.
34B? All I'm saying is that things are always listening.
Hey, Siri, what's the temperature? It's currently 45 degrees in New York.
So what are we looking for? A talking toaster? Detectives, I may have found something.
TV, on.
Okay.
- This TV can record video.
- Really? I don't see a lens.
It's behind the black boarder.
[beep.]
It should save all the videos.
There's a recording from the night of the murder, timestamp 9:33 p.
m.
Looks like it was set to be voice activated too.
Play it.
[beep.]
- David, we need to talk.
- Shut up.
- "We need to talk" - Don't tell me to shut up.
Unless you wanna talk about how great the sex was, shut your mouth.
- That's not what I wanna talk about.
- Okay, what do you wanna talk about? - How I'm controlling? - Yes, you are.
- I'm gonna get it right.
- No I'm an arrogant, controlling, Machiavellian narcissist.
Isn't that what you texted your idiot sister? You read my texts? What else do you read? I read your texts, I read your emails, I listen to your phone calls - You're sick, you are a sick man.
- I'm sick? Well, you're a slut, so I'm sick - Are you - [grunts.]
[thud.]
Get up, we're not done.
Get up! Such a drama queen, get up.
Come on.
Come on, Jen.
Jen? Arrest him, now.
Not guilty, Your Honor.
This was an accident, not murder.
Save it for your trial, Mr.
Willard.
Bail Mr.
Willard is a respected businessman, tied to the community.
And charged with murder.
A million dollars, cash or bond.
Next case.
Good work, Lieutenant.
Glad I encouraged you to keep digging.
You were a real inspiration.
You believed me.
You got him.
We got him.
We got him.
Word is Willard's attorney's already scrambling to make a deal.
Look, unless he pleads to murder, I say try the case.
Me too, but I have no input.
I'm off the case.
I'm so sorry about all of this, Rafael.
What I did was wrong, but the truth is I'd do it again.
Not everything done in the dark is shameful.
So now what? I have a meeting with the DA in five minutes.
He'll tell me what happens next.
You know, I love this job.
Oh, I really do, but sometimes Oh, I know.