In the Criminal Justice System, Sexually-Based Offenses Are Considered Especially Heinous

Slaves

Starring: Christopher Meloni (Detective Elliot Stabler); Mariska Hargitay (Detective Olivia Benson); Dann Florek (Captain Donald Cragen); Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch); Michelle Hurd (Detective Monique Jeffries)

Guest Stars:Evelyn Furtak (NYU Admissions Director); Kelly Bishop (Homicide Detective); Lance Reddick (Dr. Taylor); Michael Kelly (Barry); Andrew McCarthy (Randolph Morrow); Reiko Aylesworth (ADA Erica Alden); Mary Lou Rosato (Constanta Condrescu); Harvey Atkin (Judge Ronald Mannheim); Audra McDonald (Audrey Jackson); Susan Floyd (Mrs. Morrow); Layla Alexander (Ilena Condrescu); Kirsten Sans (Lab Technician); Natacha Roi (Lindsay Haver); Dyanne Iandoli (Tamara Morrow); Albert Makhtsier (Mirzha Gabrea); Deirdre Lovejoy (Hernandez); Sharon Washington (Dr. Benedict); Peter Giles (Peter Haver); Mark H. Dold (Reservations Agent); Lynn Sellers (Louise); Craig Wroe (Terrance (Morrow's Attorney); Robert Carroll (Balloon Vendor); Leith M. Burke (Orderly)

Writers: Lisa Marie Petersen and Dawn DeNoon

Director: Ted Kotcheff

Original Air Date: May 21, 2000; Season 1, Episode 21 (EO926)

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.

[Special Victims Unit Squad Room]

Donald Cragen: All right people, listen up. One Police Plaza’s latest directive…bi-yearly psychological evaluations.

John Munch: Bi-yearly for bi-polars.

Cragen: Toward this illustrious goal, they have picked one of the highest stress units as the lucky guinea pig for this pilot program.

Monique Jeffries: Not us?

Cragen: Us. If you would please fill out this multiple choice form, you will be receiving your appointment times from our resident psychologist. Any questions?

Munch: Will this go on our permanent record?

Cragen: Everything will be confidential, John.

ElliotStabler: Yeah, but at the risk of sounding like John, what is their angle with this thing? Can you flunk it? And if so, then what happens?

Cragen: I really don’t know.

Olivia Benson: Okay, so…who goes first?

Cragen: I do. Blind leading the blind.

Munch: What do you want to bet they just slapped a new cover on the old Minnesota Multiphasic?

Stabler: Do you believe this?

Benson: Shrinks get shrunk. Maybe we could use a little. (Man sighs) Hi. Can I help you?

Man: Yes they tell me to report sex crime here.

Benson: Okay. Why don’t you come have a seat right here… Okay, go ahead, we’re listening.

Man: I have a fruit stand on Lex and 78th Street. Out of nowhere, two boys run up, grab bananas and take off.

Benson: That sounds like a robbery.

Man: No, no. You see, when I’m angry, I curse in my native tongue.

Stabler: Which is what, Hungarian, Romanian?

Man: Romanian. And then this woman grabs me and begs me to help her. Also in Romanian.

Benson: What was wrong?

Man: A man--she’s trapped in a situation she cannot escape from. It does not translate well, but there is abuse.

Benson: Physical or sexual?

Man: I think both.

Stabler: What’s her name?

Man: She does not tell me that.

Stabler: You know where she lives?

Man: She does not tell me that either… Uh, She hands me this. [Man hands Benson folded up piece of paper.]

Benson: Constanta Codrescu

Man: She said “Tell her she was right. I need help.” And then she takes off.

Stabler: What time did all this happen?

Man: Three days ago.

(Theme music and opening credits.)

Man: [with sketch artist] Big, big brown eyes.

Jeffries: Here you go. [Hands him a cup of coffee.]

Man: Thank you…Thank you very much.

Cragen: Ok, let me see if I got this straight. Some girl is being sexually abused by some guy somewhere in Manhattan.

Stabler: Something like that.

Cragen: Well, do we at least have a description?

Benson: Yes, we have the sketch artist working with the fruit vendor right now.

Cragen: Well, what’s your take on this guy?

Stabler: Name is Mircha Gabrea. Guy seems lucid enough. Came to the State a few years back. He’s a fruit vendor. Never been in trouble.

Benson: The only reason that he came in was to shut his wife up. Apparently, he let the story slip and the wife wouldn’t lay off until he did something about it.

Cragen: Okay, assuming he’s on the up-and-up, how do we know that the girl is?

Benson: Thousands of women are abused every day by their lesser halves and never say a word about it. We have to at least check it out.

Munch: What if Woodward and Bernstein had blown off “Deep Throat” as a prank phone call?

Cragen: Well, prank call or not, it’s three days cold now.

APARTMENT OF

CONSTANTA CONDRESCU

207 WEST 95TH STREET

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22

Ms. Condrescu: (Looks at sketch of girl.) Sorry, I don’t recognize her.

Stabler: Constanta Condrescu is not a very common name. What do you think the odds are that this girl would pull that name out of thin air?

Ms. Condrescu: She’s my niece. We’re not close.

Benson: Well, are you close enough to know her name?

Ms. Condrescu: Ilena. Ilena Condrescu.

Stabler: Why did you lie to us about knowing her.

Ms. Condrescu: Where I come from, the less you tell the police, the better.

Benson: Well, Where you come from, she’s not in trouble, but she may be in trouble here. And if she is we’d like to help her. Now Ms. Condrescu… [Picks up a framed photo from a tables] Is this your niece?

Ms. Condrescu: Yes

Benson: Okay, do you mind if we borrow this?

Ms. Condrescu: Go ahead. It is of no use.

Stabler: She reached out to you. You must know where she is or who she’s with.

Ms. Condrescu: I don’t. I haven’t seen her in three years—since she first came here.

Stabler: And how did she get here?

Ms. Condrescu: On a student visa.

Stabler: Which school?

Ms. Condrescu: NYU. That’s when we went our separate ways. I’m sorry, but my shift starts soon.

Benson: Okay, ah look, I’m going to give you my card. If there’s anything that you think of that may help us find her, please give us a call….[Exiting the apartment.] We should have pressed her harder.

Stabler: That women is definitely holding something back. We’re not the Romanian secret police. At least we got a name and photo out of it. [On the phone.] Hey, it’s Detective Stabler. I want you to run a database check on an Ilena—I-L-E-N-A Condrescu. No, C-O—Condrescu. Yeah, and if you don’t get a hit, check NYU. Thanks. [Hangs up.] Unless she flunked out or quit, that’s where she should be.

Benson: I’m going to get Munch on it.

NYU staff member: No, she never showed up.

Munch: Does it mention why?

NYU staff member: No.

Munch: Does it mention why somewhere? Maybe in her application files?

NYU staff member: Do you know how many thousands of students apply to this university each year? These are all student files. [Gestures to a long file-filled hallway.]

[Office of Dr. Audrey Jackson, psycholigist for the NYPD.]

Cragen: So uh, this is what it feels like.

Audrey Jackson: What does?

Cragen: To be the suspect… Just kidding… Sort of.

Jackson: Sit down… Relax.

Cragen: Yeah, right.

Jackson: What, you can’t relax?

Cragen: I golf a little.

Jackson: A little? What’s your handicap?

Cragen: I don’t know, 12, 14.

Jackson: Must be difficult to get out to a course.

Cragen: Well, it’s a commitment, but I get out.

Jackson: So, what else do you do for fun?

Cragen: What do you mean “for fun”?

Jackson: Tell me what you do to relax… Go jogging?

Cragen: [scoffs.]

Jackson: Racquetball?

Cragen: Racquetball? Uh yeah.

Jackson: Walk?

Cragen: Audrey, it’s New York. Everybody walks.

Jackson: Don, come on, you see it every day. Rape, murder, torture. It’s as sure as your morning cup of coffee. And on top of that, you’ve got responsibilities of command.

Cragen: I’m sorry, is that a question?

Jackson: How well do you think you handle the stress?

Cragen: I handle it.

Jackson: Alright, how do you handle it?

Cragen: This is ridiculous. Why don’t you just come right out and ask me?

Jackson: Ask you?

Cragen: The question you’ve been tap-dancing around. Do I get the urge to drink? See, that’s the problem with you people. You ask about golfing or jogging or whether a person was breast-fed or not—everything else under the sun. Why don’t you come right out and ask me about my alcoholism? That’s what this has all been about, hasn’t it?

Jackson: You want to talk about it?

Cragen: No, I don’t, but I will. Yes. I get the urge to drink… everyday. I see horrific acts of degradation, of brutality, of human evil. They make me angry. They make me sick. They get inside my head and I want to shut them up. I know if I crawl inside of a bottle, they will stop.

Jackson: Do you think you will?

Cragen: Ask me tomorrow. [Exits room.]

[Park where nannies take kids.]

Benson: [Showing Ilena’s picture to vendor.] Sir, have you ever seen this woman before?

Stabler: Excuse me.

Clown/Balloon Man: Hey. What can I make you, pal? You look like a wiener dog guy.

Stabler: You don’t know how wrong you are. Have you ever seen this woman before?

Clown: Yeah, I seen her all the time.

Stabler: Take a look, you positive?

Clown: Yeah. Cute accent. Russian, Czech, something like that.

Stabler: Do you know who she is?

Clown: Alls I know is, I made her a green ladybug. Had her pegged as a red poodle type. Go figure.

[Benson walks over.]

Stabler: Hey, balloon guy says he knows our girl.

Benson: Sir, excuse me.

Clown: Yeah

Benson: You’re sure that it was her?

Clown: I never forget a paying customer., Except, she’s dropped a few pounds since that picture.

Benson: Yeah? You ever see her with anyone?

Clown: [Blows balloon in Benson’s face.] Make you a giraffe, on the house.

Benson: Yeah… Sir. Have you ever seen her with anyone?

Clown: Yeah of course. A little girl. Eight or nine, excuse me. Hey, here we go, kid.

Stabler: Take another look.

Benson: This woman is 21 years old. She couldn’t possibly have an eight or nine-year-old.

Clown: Not her own. American. Hey, you’re in the heart of nanny central here. Ka-ching—ah, you’re a tough crowd.

Stabler: When was the last time you saw her?

Clown: Yesterday.

[Back in the squad room.]

Cragen: Yesterday?!

Benson: Yes. And he even remembered her accent.

Stabler: He also remembered her being serene. She didn’t strike him as being under the least bit of stress.

Cragen: So three days ago, she’s slipping a fruit vendor an SOS. Then a couple of days later she’s just strolling happily through the park with a kid.

Jeffries: So what, case closed?

Cragen: No! No, it is not closed. Four of my top detectives just wasted a whole day on a wild goose chase. That’s 32 combined man hours. I want this girl in here explaining herself.

Stabler: [Hangs up the phone.] Homicide just caught a dump job off the Henry Hudson. [Looks at Benson.] Your card was in the victim’s pocket.

(At crime site off the parkway.]

Homicide Detective: The body was rolled up in a rug and dumped off the side of the parkway.

Benson: When?

Detective: The body, the rug, both are in great shape. Minimum exposure to the elements.

Benson: So today?

Detective: Today, or probably sometime last night.

Stabler: Any witnesses?

Detective: None that stopped.

Benson: Of course, no one would notice a body being hefted over the railing.

Detective: People dump stuff all the time.

Stabler: Who found her?

Detective: A fisherman. He thought he found a nice little present for the wife. [Points at corpse.] So is this her?

Benson: Yeah, that’s her. Constanta Condrescu.

Stabler: Something tells me she found a way to contact Ilena.

[At the morgue.]

Medical Examiner: She was already dead when she hit the rug. No fibers were inhaled.

Benson: So what killed her?

ME: Well, something stopped her heart—instantaneously. What that something was, only toxicology will tell.

Benson: You got a time of death?

ME: Uh… between 4:00 and 6:00 pm.

Stabler: We left her at 4:00.

ME: Now, only an injection directly into the bloodstream would cause an attack this acute without affecting the other organs. The thing is, I cannot for the life of me find a puncture wound.

Stabler: You check the white collar junkies’ hiding places?

ME: Nothing between the toes, behind the knees, or in the genitals.

Benson: What about under the tongue?

ME: For an accidental OD, that would make sense, but it would be very difficult if not impossible for a killer to…. [Looks under the tongue of the corpse.] Hmmm.

[Back in the squad room.]

Cragen: How did the killer inject her under the tongue without any signs of struggle?

Stabler: He had to have sedated her.

Cragen: Yeah, but it still doesn’t play. She hears that her niece is in trouble, beelines to this guy and has a friendly, albeit spiked drink with him?

Stabler: Well, I guess so, because two hours after we give her this message, she’s dead.

Benson: We should have pressed her harder.

Munch: I took the liberty of contacting Interpol. The victim’s brother—Ilena’s father was also murdered back in Romania.

Stabler: When?

Munch: ’89, during the Ceaucescu regime.

Stabler: Well, that’s an awful big gap for a connection, don’t you think?

Munch: Not when you consider the timing. People assume that the good guys overthrew Ceaucescu, but it was “Hello, new boss, same as the old boss.” Big time.

Jeffries: Maybe the Condrescu family knew where the bodies were buried.

Munch: Trust me. Whatever happened to these two women started there. All roads lead to Romania.

Cragen: Well, that may be so John, but what do you say we start in Murray Hill?

[Home of the late Constanta Condrescu.]

Benson: Look at this, she didn’t even finish her tea.

Stabler: I don’t think she was killed here, but let’s bag it up before we leave. Got an address book. It’s open to the Cs!

Benson: Please tell me we have an address for Ilena Condrescu.

Stabler: Bo, but the page where it would fall alphabetically is missing.

Benson: Okay. So, let’s keep looking.

Jeffries: You guys in here?

Stabler: No!

Munch: Canvass of the first floor was a colossal wash.

Jeffries: Not many people home. Lady in 1-D, though, vaguely remembers the victim. She never saw the niece.

Benson: Maybe you’ll have better luck with her work. We’ll take it from here.

Munch: Café Prahova. Soviet bloc ex-patriots plotting coup d’etats over bowls of goulash?

Jeffries: My partner.

[Café Prahova.]

Waitress: no, her niece never came to the restaurant.

Jeffries: Had they been in contact at all?

Waitress: No. There had been a big fight when Ilena first got here.

Jeffries: About?

Waitress: How she got here. Constanta was saving to help her come to school, but it was going to take another year, Out of the blue, Ilena shows up.

Jeffries: Really? How did she manage that?

Waitress: She met an American businessman at a discotheque in Bucharest. She told him her story and he offered to help.

Jeffries: I assume there was a catch?

Waitress: Well, so did Constanta. She yelled at Ilena for being so naïve. She said, “Of course there would be a catch.” Ilena started crying. She said the ticket didn’t cost him anything. It was frequent flyer and that he knew of a part-time job. She said he was just a nice man.

Jeffries: Do you know what this man’s name was?

Waitress: No, just that he was American.

Jeffries: Do you think that’s where Ilena went?

Waitress: Constanta assumed so. She tried to contact the man who gave her the ticket, but he said he’d never heard from her. She tried back a few more times, but nothing. Finally she gave up.

Jeffries: Thanks.

[Dr. Audrey Jackson’s office.]

Jackson: Now, you requested to be assigned to SVU. Why don’t you tell me about that.

Benson: That question on your form… “Has anybody in your family ever been the victim of a rape?” I checked yes. I’m actually the child of a rape.

Jackson: How do you think that affects you on your job.

Benson: I’m walking a tightrope. I got to close to a case once. A Serbian rapist was killed by his victims… and I got my ass in a sling over it.

Jackson: But has it ever interfered with your ability to remain objective?

Benson: No.

Jackson: You had occasion to use deadly force a few months ago.