Criminal (Season 5, Episode 21)
Premise: A graduate student is raped and strangled by a killer who knows forensics, and suspicion falls on her criminology adviser, a former addict Cragen once arrested for murder.
- Air date
- Season/Episode
- Season 5, Episode 21
- Starring
- Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Capt. Donald Cragen (Dann Florek), ADA Casey Novak (Diane Neal), Dr. George Huang (BD Wong), ME Dr. Melinda Warner (Tamara Tunie)
- Guest stars
- James McDaniel as Javier Vega, Zoe Saldaña as Gabrielle Vega, Joe Towne as Kyle Luhrmann, Doug E. Doug as Rudy Lemcke, Charlayne Woodard as Sister Peg
- Director
- Alex Zakrzewski
- Writers
- Jose Molina
Summary
“Criminal” opens with the body of graduate student Rebecca Wheeler found in Central Park’s Ramble, hidden behind police tape the killer strung up himself. She was raped and strangled by a left-handed attacker who trimmed her nails, scrubbed her with rubbing alcohol and left behind only a scrap of condom and an oilskin fiber. Rebecca was writing a thesis on prisoners returning to society, and a sushi receipt and a delivery man place one of her subjects, paroled crack user Rudy Lemcke, at her apartment. Under questioning, Rudy starts writing a confession.
Cragen then recognizes Rebecca’s adviser, criminology professor Javier Vega, as a heroin addict he arrested in 1976 for strangling a woman named Joanna Lewis, and notes that Rudy is right-handed. Vega has fled. His apartment holds the same condom brand, a neighbor saw his Lexus outside Rebecca’s building, and her research partner, Kyle Luhrmann, says she had grown upset with him. The dean reveals she meant to switch advisers and produces an anonymous letter, carrying her prints, that exposes Vega’s record. His daughter, law student Gabrielle, refuses to help, but Benson and Stabler track Vega to Rebecca’s grave. He insists they were engaged and that she was alive when he drove Rudy to a motel. Rudy cannot be found, and a jury convicts Vega in under an hour.
Afterward, Sister Peg leads the squad to Rudy, who backs Vega’s account. Red-light camera photos reveal a second Lexus on Rebecca’s street, rented with a fake license, and its GPS log runs from her apartment to the park. Novak and the defense jointly move to vacate the conviction; Vega, using heroin again on Rikers Island, sues the city, the department and Cragen for $12 million. A print on nail clippers in the rental car belongs to Luhrmann, a former Probation intern whose apartment is full of surveillance photos of Vega. Luhrmann is gone.
Spoiler, the ending: Gabrielle brings Cragen a farewell note from her father, and Cragen realizes Vega has seized Luhrmann after learning from him where the car was rented. ESU surrounds the two at the spot in the park where Rebecca’s body lay. With a gun at his head, Luhrmann admits the murder, saying he loved Rebecca and she had told him she would marry Vega. Cragen dares Vega to prove he is still a killer; Vega breaks down without firing, and Cragen tells him they are going to see his daughter.
Why it stands out
- Dann Florek, who plays Cragen, has named this as one of his favorite episodes.
- James McDaniel guest-stars as Professor Javier Vega, with Zoe Saldaña as his daughter, Gabrielle.
- Vega reminds Cragen that he reeked of alcohol when he made the 1976 arrest and asks why the captain should be the only one allowed to change.