Dick Finley

Richard Finley
Name	Richard Finley
Title	Colonel Dick
Occupation	Astronaut
Family	Four unnamed ex-wives
Pathology	Double murderer Proxy murderer Assailant Conspirator
Status	Imprisoned
Actor	James Brolin
First Appearance	"Lunacy"

Colonel Richard "Dick" Finley was an astronaut who murdered two people.

Background

Finley went to the same high school as Detective Elliot Stabler, whom he became friends with. He later helped Elliot to get into the U.S. Marine Corps. Elliot idolized Finley, who later became the namesake of Elliot's son Richard Stabler. Finley later went on to marry four women, all marriages that ended with divorce because of his infidelities. Dick later became an astronaut for NASA and was scheduled to go on a space mission to the Moon. At the time, he would have been the youngest astronaut. However, the mission was constantly delayed, and at the time of Lunacy, he would have been the oldest person to go to the Moon.

Lunacy

Finley murdered colleague Marga Janssen, who was close to taking away his chances of going to the Moon, a lifelong dream of his. He initially attempted to charm her, but his advances fell short, due to her being a lesbian and he strangled her to death. In an attempt to divert the investigation away from him, he cut off her hands and dumped her body in the river. That night, Finley also dumped Marga's purse in a dumpster, where he was spotted by drug addict Vincent Beckwith who could only make him out as a man wearing a baseball cap.

Finley discovered his old friend Elliot, now an SVU detective was investigating and gave the police several suspects, including Vincent Beckwith and Anton Thibodeaux, whose murders he later orchestrated to close the case. Believing he was in the clear, he asked Olivia Benson out on a date at a marine party. However, his fingerprints were found on Marga's necklace by Elliot who deduced Finley's involvement, he compared them to fingerprints found on a model rocket he gave to his son Dickie Stabler. Finley was confronted with the evidence before he revealed his motive while assaulting Elliot, though was overpowered and punched out by the detective for daring to shake his son's hand. As he was loaded into a police car, Finley took one last look at the Moon, knowing he would never achieve his dream.

He was imprisoned for Marga and Thibodeaux's murder and facilitation of Beckwith's death.(SVU: "Lunacy")

Known Victims

• 2008:
  • October 18: Marga Janssen (manually strangled and amputated her hands post-mortem)
  • October 21:
    • The SVU precinct shooting:
      • Vincent Beckwith (convinced Anton Thibodaux to shoot him)
      • Anton Thibodeaux (shot in the chest)
    • Detective Elliot Stabler (assaulted)