Andrea Brown (née Richman) is the mother of murdered infant Sarah Brown, whom Andrea is revealed to have killed.
Background[]
Andrea was the childhood patient of Jewish pediatrician Dr. Judah Platner, who was her father figure since her own father Joel had died early in her life. Andrea grew into an adult and married Daniel Brown, while also having an affair behind Daniel's back with a co-worker from which she conceived a daughter named Sarah.
Daniel was a Jewish convert while Andrea was born and raised Jewish, so they didn't have to dread Sarah inheriting Tay–Sachs, a disease passed through Ashkenazi Jewish family lines, from the both of them. However, Andrea's mister had the other half of genetic problems that did pass on to Sarah paired with Andrea's genes, which led to Judah finding out for himself Sarah suffered the disease.
Daniel and Andrea were devastated since they never believed they had to be tested due to Daniel's additional odds, but the resulting medical problems led to Daniel catching on to the affair almost instantly. Nevertheless, Andrea was motivated both by shrouding her infidelity and prevent Sarah's long-term suffering to euthanize her. Judah mentioned it as an option partly since he hated kids under his care constantly dying, but he only consulted with Andrea. When she vowed to kill Sarah one way or another, Judah caved and wrote a prescription for Imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant. Andrea used the pills to poison Sarah, which Judah wrote off as pneumonia. Andrea stole her dead baby from her coffin before it was buried.
Mercy[]
The plan unraveled when Sarah was found floating in a cooler in the Hudson River. Andrea had done poorly disposing of Sarah since the weights she used to sink the cooler were in a plastic shopping bag, which eroded and tore in the water. After ruling out nearby college students at Hudson University, detectives went to Judah's congregation and spoke with his rabbi after finding out about Sarah's Tay-Sachs. Judah refused to reveal the Browns' information, but they were found by the certificate he filed, so they both were questioned.
Both of them deny an understanding as to how Sarah ended up as she did. When Benson asks to use her bathroom, she finds Andrea's bottle of Imipramine prescribed by Judah. When a warrant for Sarah's coffin revealed it's empty, Andrea and Judah are both arrested.
Judah gave a full confession, but Andrea alleged she acted alone, hoping Daniel never knew a thing. When Judah and the Browns argue outside the courtroom and detectives interject, Judah readily demands a plea deal. Cabot takes time to ruminate on the change of defense, but realizing Danial and Andrea never figure the odds of Sarah's Tay-Sachs led the team to realize the affair. After Daniel confirmed this, Cabot used this to squash her defense's assertions of Andrea being a loving mother, arguing Andrea just wanted her infidelity buried with Sarah.
Andrea is found guilty of second-degree murder and imprisoned.