...these Are Their Stories: The Law & Order Podcast

When a new body washes up on his beach burial ground, imprisoned serial killer Dr. Gregory Yates  points Amanda to a mummified murder victim in a townhouse. He says the culprit is his old friend Carl Rudnick, the deputy chief medical examiner. After Yates's girlfriend tells Benson she has incriminating evidence, Rudnick kills and dismembers her, then flees dressed as a woman.  Rollins and Carisi capture the doctor, who hires both Calhoun and  Buchanan to defend him. Barba fears Rudnick's improbable self-defense claim is working with the jury, but Sonny uncovers video of the suspect saying the wrong things while talking to himself. Meanwhile, Rollins learns she's pregnant. We're talking about the Special Victims Unit two-part season seventeen opener, episode one "Devil's Dissections" and episode two "Criminal Pathology."* Our guest is Lauren van der Meer from the Drinks with Death podcast. Some plot points are taken from the Long Island Serial Killer case.*Note: some streaming services list this as a single ep

When washed-up actor Mitch Carroll (Chevy Chase) is pulled over for drunk driving, he goes on an antisemitic tirade, all while covered in blood. Green and Cassady trace his pistol to the murder of the Jewish TV producer he felt ruined his career. But the detectives learn Carroll's son pulled the trigger in his own bigoted rage.McCoy and Rubirosa try to prove the father's hate speech drove his son to murder. When the actor shows he's willing to let his boy take the fall, the teen turns on his dad and tells the truth.We're talking about Law & Order season 17 episode 7 "In Vino Veritas." Our returning guest is BFF Molly McKean.This episode takes cues from the 2006 drunk driving arrest of actor Mel Gibson.

An abandoned baby leads Benson and Stabler to a career woman (Lori Singer) who may have received the child in an illegal adoption. But it's the woman's lawyer/fiancé (John Stamos) who draws scrutiny. Ken Turner has fathered more than 40 children, all of them conceived after his condoms suspiciously broke. Olivia accuses him of being a "reproductive abuser," tricking women into having his babies. Though Turner's done nothing illegal, the squad calls in an expert to build a case against him. But police find Turner's body blown up from the inside out. The killer says she didn't know the special scuba diving knife she stabbed him with was filled with compressed CO2.We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 12 episode 22 "Bang." Our guest is Gillian Pensavalle from the True Crime Obsessed podcast. This episode is based on a clinical study into "reproductive coercion" and the story of British baby daddy Keith Macdonald.Note: this episode was originally released June 7, 2017.

When a child is snatched, Benson and Stabler find evidence his mother, Dr. Sophie Gerard (Isabelle Huppert), was planning to sneak him overseas. But the hunt for the hired kidnapper leaves the boy dead in a watery car crash. Sophie cannot accept her son is dead, so Olivia and ADA Jo Marlowe (Sharon Stone) bring her to the morgue to see for herself. After a scuffle with the boy's father, Sophie steals an officer's gun, shoots Warner, and takes the rest hostage. While Elliot sneaks through an air duct, he learns the father masterminded the kidnapping. Before the mother can exact her revenge, Marlowe pretends the dead child is still alive and carries him over to Sophie.We're talking about the head-scratching Special Victims Unit season 11 episode 24 "Shattered." Our returning guest is Erika Villalba from the "That Aged Well" podcast.Some plot points for this episode come from the international child abduction case of Sean Goldman. 

When a newborn baby is discovered in a garbage pile, Benson and Stabler trace the child to a college student who denies it's hers. Later, she says she was a victim of rape and didn't know she was pregnant until she went into labor. Cragen learns this wasn't the first time the woman gave birth and threw the child away. Meanwhile, Warner discovers the baby's father is his own grandfather, a politician who says he's in a consensual sexual relationship with his adult daughter. Novak can't get a conviction, but the mother reveals incriminating details about the previous child she disposed of.We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 7 episode 14 "Taboo." Our guest is Simone Paget from the "We're Never Doing This Again" podcast.Plot points for this episode were inspired by the 1997 case of the so-called Prom Mom, Melissa Drexler.

When an astronaut is murdered in her hotel room, Goren and Eames investigate shuttle commander Luke Nelson (Tate Donovan) with whom she had an affair. They turn their attention to another astronaut who had feelings for Nelson. They discover she drove to New York wearing adult diapers to kill her rival and return to Maryland to cover her tracks. The detectives conclude she was driven to violence by the commander's wife (Amy Ryan) who spiked the murderer's skin lotion with steroids to eliminate both women.We're talking about Criminal Intent season six episode nineteen "Rocket Man." Our returning guest is Katie from A Date with Dateline podcast.This episode is inspired by Commander Lisa Nowak and the so-called astronaut love triangle.

The squad tries to help Kelsey, a famous singer who's in a violent relationship with her equally-famous boyfriend, Austin. When dueling accusations of assault are traded by the celebrities, Austin's fans turn hostile to the victim. It's up to Carisi to convince the jury who to believe in a high profile case of he said/she said. Meanwhile, Rollins struggles with her emotions after being shot in the line of duty.We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 24 episode 3 "Mirror Effect." Our guest is Wendy from the Fruitloops: Serial Killers of Color podcast. This episode is inspired by the ripped-from-the-headlines case of Amber Heard versus Johnny Depp.

An armed robbery leaves an off-duty cop dead and the two gunmen flee by hijacking a town car. When Briscoe and Curtis find one of them, the robber offers Ross a deal: in exchange for a light sentence he'll tell them where to find the kidnapped driver. Over the cops' objections, McCoy agrees to the bargain, but they learn too late the driver was already dead when the suspect offered it.When the other robber turns up dead, Jack shocks Lenny and Rey when he decides to honor the crooked deal. He lets the first guy go for killing a cop so he can charge him with killing the other cop killer. But the entire thing could fall apart if Briscoe and Curtis don't lie on the stand and say they didn't tell McCoy the cause of the accomplice's death was murder.We're talking about the award-winning episode of Law & Order season seven episode nineteen "Double Down." Our returning guest is Brady Carlson from the "Cool Weird Awesome" podcast.The landmark case of Brady v Maryland serves as a plot point to this episode.

SVU searches for a woman abducted in a taxi cab. The victim's left leg is discovered in a canal, having been amputated while she was still alive. Benson and Amaro suspect a connection to a sex worker who said a john paid $25,000 to cut off her leg. The victim's obsession with body modification lead Fin and Rollins to a woman with a peg leg who gives pointy ear surgery to people out of a box truck. But the medical paper trail points to a psychiatrist who developed a strange fetish after his mother became an amputee. We're talking about one of the weirdest SVUs ever. It's Special Victims Unit season 13 episode 22 "Strange Beauty." Our returning guest is Ronald Young Jr from the "Leaving the Theater" podcast.This episode takes some cues from the real life story of Doctor John Ronald Brown.

Benson and Stabler investigate a case of prolonged child abuse that's left a girl in a coma. The suspects include the victim's ex-con father, business executive stepfather, douchebag stepbrother, and an avuncular foreign diplomat. Munch tells Fin he isn't convinced they've arrested the right person. He gently elicits a confession from the girl's mother, herself a victim of childhood abuse. Later, a tearful Munch tells Olivia the victim reminded him of an abused girl he wished he could have saved when he was a teenager.We salute a fine performance by Richard Belzer in Special Victims Unit season 2 episode 4 "Legacy." Our guest is Bob Ruff from the "Truth and Justice" podcast.This episode is inspired by the real-life case of Elisa Izquierdo.

Pop singer Dallas is found beaten in her home while her rap star husband Snake is on stage. As a child, Snake's family took Fin into their home after Mrs. Tutuola  was murdered.  Carisi and Rollins learn a rival rapper (played by Snoop Dogg) threatened the couple on his latest single. The trail eventually leads Benson to a music fan, but Fin figures out the attack was not about obsession...it was about revenge.We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 20 episode 22 "Diss." Our guest is Gianmarco Soresi of "The Downside" podcast.Certain plot points were taken from the October 2016 robbery of Kim Kardashian.

The admissions director at an elite kindergarten is murdered. Briscoe and Green learn she wanted to admit a gifted Black girl, but the headmaster overruled the decision  and gave the slot to the son of a pornographer. Southerlyn discovers the pornographer scratched the back of a cement supplier who scratched the back of a real estate developer who got the headmaster an expensive apartment. McCoy tells the jury the admissions director was about to expose the arrangement when she was killed.We're talking about Law & Order season 13 episode 20 "Kid Pro Quo." Our guest is Joshua Unruh from the "In the Gutter" podcast.This episode is inspired by the controversy around business tycoon Sandy Weill and the 92nd St Y.

To mark the passing of actor Richard Belzer, we revisit our discussion of the actor from an October 2017 episode.

Benson and Stabler investigate the brutal murder of a teen found in a car trunk. The detectives learn the victim was a popular girl who was bullying a classmate, but suspicion soon turns to her clique of friends. The motive is jealousy over a boy, and the other mean girls turn on the queen bee who put them up to the killing. While Novak gets justice in the courtroom, the bullied student gets instant justice in the classroom.We're talking about Special Victims Unit season 5 episode 17 "Mean." Our returning guest is Sonia Sells. This episode is inspired by the brutal 1992 murder of twelve-year-old Shanda Sharer. 

A Hudson University student who'd been making money selling term papers is found dead. Elliot and Fin trace Caroline's diamond ring to a football player who lost it to her in a poker game. They learn she was a high-rolling card shark, and her lifelong friend and poker-cheating partner Adam admits to strangling Caroline for running up a huge debt.Seeing a bit of himself in Adam, Stabler feels sympathy for the killer. The defense says his gambling addiction was to blame, but Novak discovers his motivation was the money needed to keep his rich girlfriend from dumping him.We're taking you to school for Special Victims Unit season 7 episode 17 "Class." Our guest is Lani Diane Rich from the "How Story Works" podcast. This episode takes some cues from the cheating scandal around Walmart heiress Elizabeth Paige Laurie.

Fontana and Green look into the murder of a mob accountant. When his widow (Amy Ryan) messes up on the witness stand, the burglar who killed him is acquitted. Later the victim's best friend, a former cop, shoots him. McCoy and Borgia aren't buying his claim it was self-defense. He threatens to lie on the stand about planting evidence in past murder cases, jeopardizing dozens of convictions. To get a guilty verdict, Jack grants the widow immunity to testify...when she discloses the revenge killing was her plan all along.We're talking about Law & Order season 16 episode 12 "Family Friend." Our guest is Shadow and Bone and Hell Bent author Leigh Bardugo.This episode takes cues from the evidence planting scandal for New York State Police Troop C.

The rape and murder of an office worker leads Benson and Stabler to a former company security guard (Chad Lowe) who's eager to get into the police academy. With advice from newly-arrived Dr. George Huang, Elliot channels his misogyny to learn more about the suspect's relationship with the victim. Meanwhile, Olivia discovers he likes two things: pricking women's butts with hatpins and sleeping with his mother (Margot Kidder). We're talking about the creeptastic Special Victims Unit season 2 episode 20 "Pique." Our guest is Sarah D. Bunting from the Extra Hot Great podcast.This episode takes some cues from the 1990 crime spree by a suspect dubbed "the Dart Man."

Briscoe and Curtis investigate the killing of a Central Park jogger. Her husband is the sleazy Michael Dobson (played with relish by Larry Miller), a club owner who tricked McCoy into dropping charges of murdering his first wife in an earlier episode. The hit man has connections to Dobson...but also to the mobster who Dobson owes money to. Is he guilty or not? McCoy and Kincaid fear he'll skate again for killing wife number two...until they unravel the mystery with the woman in line to be wife number three.We're talking about Law & Order season 6 episode 15 "Encore." Our guest is author and Emmy winner Edward Zuckerman, who also wrote this classic mothership episode.Plot points for this episode come from the murder of Maria Isabel Monteiro Alves.Check out Edward's new book, Wealth Management, a novel.

After a janitor (Peter Scanavino) assaults a coach he thought was molesting boys, Benson and Amaro look into the perpetrator's own abuse as a child at summer camp. They learn several of Coach Schultz's (Ed Asner) campers are now violent criminals, including death row inmate Reggie Rhodes (Mike Tyson). Olivia tries to get Reggie to disclose his abuse so they can build a case against Schultz. Meanwhile, civil rights attorney Bayard Ellis (Andre Braugher) uncovers misconduct that might get Reggie a stay of execution.An all-star cast populates Special Victims Unit season 14 episode 13 "Monster's Legacy." Our guest is Karyn Cooper from the Chick-Lit podcast.This episode takes some plot points from the case of Mark Valera. 

Benson and Stabler look for whomever broke into the Hudson cryobank and stole a tank of frozen embryos. As the clock ticks down on how long until the fertilized eggs perish, Olivia's biological clock is ticking even louder. The religious zealot behind the plot takes his case to the press at New York's most dangerous location: the courthouse steps.We're revisiting one of our favorite episodes: SVU season 9 episode 14 "Inconceivable." Our guests are Nick Capodice and Hannah McCarthy from the "Civics 101" podcast. The story takes cues from the real-life case of Ashley X. This show was recorded in front of a live audience at the Bank of New Hampshire Stage in Concord, NH.