Darren Tolson is a release convicted pedophile having served five years for raping Michael Ozello, as well as lived for rent in the area where teenager Riley Cuskey was murdered. Tolson was suspected when a neighbor, Clonie Blake, reported Tolson's record. His landlord led detectives into his apartment, and when he wasn't there, they went to his place of work at the Quality Bakery.
Tolson worried Sonia Briglund, a mother whose son Joey disappeared and suspected Tolson, pinned Riley's murder on him, and when Sonia was questioned, she mistakenly identified Riley as Joey. What eventually cleared Tolson of suspicion is Riley's real identity, which cleared Tolson of that suspicion. (SVU: "Pretend")