Monster (CI)

"Monster"
←	CI, Episode 2.15	→
Production number: E3214 First aired: 2 March 2003
	th of 195 produced in CI
←	th of 195 released in CI	→
	th of 1271 released in all
Teleplay By Marlane Gomard Meyer Story By René Balcer & Marlane Gomard Meyer Directed By Joyce Chopra

Plot[]

When a woman is found slain at home, Detectives Goren and Eames immediately focus their investigation on her son -- a paroled murderer who lived with her and knew that she suspected his involvement in an earlier, notorious sexual assault. Further investigation leads them to another rape and murder and a corrupt police officer with a secret.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

• Vincent D'Onofrio as Detective Robert Goren
• Kathryn Erbe as Detective Alexandra Eames
• Jamey Sheridan as Captain James Deakins
• Courtney B. Vance as A.D.A. Ron Carver

Guest cast[]

• Adam Storke as Mark Dietrich
• Christine Jones as Laura Dietrich
• Terri Colombino as Chantal Fielding
• Deborah LaCoy as Jane Stephens
• Mike Starr as Detective Ted Marston
• Anne Lange as Myra Reynolds
• Jim Frangione as Detective Sims
• Kevin Rahsaan Grant as Monty Lawrence
• Jeffrey Lamar as Older Nishan Fitzwilliam
• Jacqueline Mazarella as Lisa Russo
• Bruce Ward as Detective Al Russo
• Stephen Singer as Lawyer for Mark Dietrich
• Jade Yorker as Young Nishan Fitzwilliam
• Tom Verri as Arresting Officer
• Neil Schwary as Patron
• Rachel Hardin as Naomi
• Michael Genet as Feingold
• William H. Burns as Spence

References[]

• 12th Precinct
• Central Park
• DEA
• New York Ledger

Quotes[]

Alexandra Eames: Gee, you two sound like my parents.

James Deakins: Just get the evidence and bury him.

Robert Goren: I'd like to see how they did that.

Alexandra Eames: Marston is sitting pretty high in the saddle.

Robert Goren: Let's put a burr under that saddle.

Ron Carver: This must have been a very lonely place fifteen years ago.

Background information and notes[]

• This episode shares similarities with two famous cases in New York City's Central Park. This is one of few episodes in which two high-profile cases are "ripped from the headlines".
  • The first one is the "Preppie Killer", Robert Chambers. Chambers pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. He killed her in Central Park during the early morning hours of August 26, 1986. The Law & Order first season episode "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die" was also based on this case. The "monster" in this episode, Mark Dietrich, seems to have been written with Chambers in mind. (Source: Robert Chambers at Wikipedia)
  • The second one is the "Central Park Jogger", Trisha Meili. Meili was the victim in a high-profile assault and rape case in NYC in 1989. She was violently assaulted while jogging in Central Park. She was raped and beaten almost to death. The initial prognosis of her physicians was that she would die or remain in a permanent coma due to her injuries; she recovered fully, however, with no memory of the attack. Although several suspects had confessed on videotape, they retracted their statements within weeks. No DNA evidence tied the suspects to the crime, so the prosecution's case rested almost entirely on the confessions. In 2002, convicted rapist and murderer Matias Reyes, serving a life sentence for other crimes but not, at that point, associated by the police with the attack on Meili, declared that he had committed the assault, and that he had acted alone. The DNA evidence confirmed his participation in the crime and identified him as the sole contributor of the semen found in and on the victim. In the episode, other "monster" Detective Ted Marston worried that Laura Dietrich's research about her son's involvement in the crime might end up re-opening the case. Marston decided that he had to kill her to prevent the fact that he had conspired to frame four boys for the rape from being exposed. Inevitably, the detectives nailed the bad cop for the murder of the mom, and the bad son for the rape he committed years ago, the crime that his unfortunate mom suspected he was guilty of. (Source: Trisha Meili at Wikipedia)
• The episode title "Monster" was also used for the Law & Order season 8 episode, "Monster".

Episode scene cards[]