Abuse (Season 2, Episode 11)
Premise: A celebrity’s son dies chasing the tutor suspected of molesting him, and the investigation turns to his younger sister, whose string of injuries points to a home without attention or care.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 2, Episode 11
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Det. John Munch (Richard Belzer), Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola (Ice-T), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Alexandra Cabot (Stephanie March)
- Guest stars
- Hayden Panettiere as Ashley Austin Black, Christine Andreas as Ricki Austin, Michael Weaver as David Russo, Francesca Faridany as Sarah
- Director
- Richard Dobbs
- Writers
- Story: Gwendolyn M. Parker & Robert F. Campbell & Jonathan Greene; Story & teleplay: Dawn DeNoon & Lisa Marie Petersen
Summary
“Abuse” opens at a birthday party for Corbin, the adopted son of pop singer Ricki Austin and rock star Jared Black. Corbin leaves a restroom in tears after an encounter with David Russo, his former computer teacher and tutor, who is barred by a restraining order, and he is killed in traffic while chasing after him. Ricki wants Russo charged with molesting and killing her son, and the high-profile case goes to Benson and Stabler. The nanny, Sarah, says Russo was overly affectionate with Corbin, and Benson notices bruises on Corbin’s younger sister, Ashley.
Russo gave up a well-paid finance job to teach at Corbin’s private school, which dropped him soon after the family fired him, and children are seen visiting his apartment. The medical examiner finds no evidence of sexual abuse, though bitten nails, a stress rash and worn teeth show Corbin lived with constant anxiety. Arrested as he prepares to leave town, Russo, whose apartment is covered with years of photos of the boy, says he is Corbin’s birth father: he gave up a baby at 17 and later traced him online. DNA confirms it, and Cragen closes the case.
Benson keeps worrying about Ashley, who phones her constantly and turns up with new injuries. Sarah, bound by a confidentiality agreement, is replaced and taken into immigration detention, where she says Ricki may use drugs and once crashed a car with the children inside, an episode that was hushed up. Ashley’s teacher describes an attention-starved girl who stages risky stunts. When Ashley skips school and turns up at a precinct asking for Benson, Benson takes her to Ricki’s recording studio, and a psychologist then suggests reactive attachment disorder but needs to see mother and daughter together. A later visit ends in a struggle at the door, Ricki obtains a restraining order against the entire unit, and Cragen puts Benson on desk duty.
Cabot then brings an Article 10 case in Family Court for impairment of Ashley’s emotional health, and Benson and Stabler remove the screaming girl from her home. No relative will take her, so Benson leaves her at an emergency shelter, and Stabler suggests her own mother’s recent death is driving her, which she denies. At the hearing, Cabot lines up Ashley’s many injuries against Ricki’s tour dates, and Ashley says Benson used to be her friend but did not want her.
Spoiler, the ending: The judge sends Ashley home but keeps the case open, recommending home monitoring and family counseling, and Ricki agrees to postpone her next tour. She threatens Benson’s badge if she comes near Ashley again. As Benson waits for a disciplinary hearing, she learns that Ricki has just played a sold-out concert in London.
Why it stands out
- Hayden Panettiere guest-stars as Ashley, the accident-prone daughter who fixes on Benson as a friend.
- Christine Andreas, a Broadway actress and singer, plays pop star Ricki Austin.
- The case costs Benson a stint on desk duty and a disciplinary hearing, and Stabler links her persistence to the death of her mother about a month earlier.