Brian Smith (alias The Atlantic Coast Rapist) is a serial rapist.
History[]
Brian and his twin brother Gabriel Thomas were given up for adoption by their mother, who was unable to take care of both of them. Unlike Gabriel, who was raised by loving parents and lived in affluence, Brian grew up in a violent home. His foster mother, Catherine Smith, fatally set her husband on fire in front of Brian and was imprisoned after Brian testified against her. As an adult, he visited his biological mother and found out about Gabriel's existence. When Brian tracked Gabriel down, he discovered how the latter was living a happy life. Seeing a chance to get revenge and out of a desperate cry for attention, Brian decided to become a serial rapist who targeted and assaulted young blonde women up and down the East Coast, saying the same line in each rape: "Tell me you love me, mommy." He devised a meticulous plot to frame Gabriel for the crimes by following him and raping women in the same cities he was in as part of his job. He also got the same yin-yang tattoo as his brother to enforce a potential false identification. When Gabriel moved to Georgia, Brian raped three women there, catching the attention of Detective Rollins, who was working with the Atlanta Police Department at the time. At one point, Gabriel moved to Sweden for three years, causing Brian to stop raping until Gabriel returned to the U.S.
When Gabriel moved to New York, Brian moved there as well and began to prey on women there. Because of his yin-yang tattoo and the fact that Gabriel had the same tattoo, he was briefly successful in getting Gabriel arrested for the crimes. After theorizing the possibility that Gabriel might actually be innocent, the Special Victims Unit looked into the evidence and his timeline, and they eventually found his biological mother, whereupon they learned about Brian's existence. They put out a fake bulletin that Gabriel was released, spurring Brian to go on the hunt again. The SVU then hatched a sting involving Rollins going undercover as a jogger, with Detectives Amaro and Tutuola nearby. However, Amaro lost Rollins, who was tackled and nearly raped by Brian. However, Amaro caught up to them and beat him until Tutuola intervened. Brian was then arrested. At the precinct, Rollins interrogated Brian alone and got him to confess to all of the rapes, appealing to his childhood trauma and neglect and incentivizing leverage. Gabriel was then officially exonerated and saw his brother for the first time. Brian was subsequently charged with all of the rapes from his spree and imprisoned. (SVU: "Double Strands")
Known Victims[]
- 2003, Gaithersburg, Maryland:
- Unknown dates: Two unnamed women
- October 31: Unnamed woman
- Unknown dates in 2003-2008:
- South Carolina: Four unnamed women
- Virginia: Five unnamed women
- Georgia: Three unnamed women
- 2011, New York City, New York:
- July: Lana Mills
- September 19: Danielle Hynes
- September 29: Detective Amanda Rollins (assaulted and attempted to rape)