Gregory Engles is a con artist and the brother of missing child Jason Engels, incentivizing the NYPD to find Jason eight years later when people gave up and forgot.
History[]
Greg's parents died in a plane crash in 2001, leaving him and his little brother Jason, who pronounced his name "Gig" unintentionally, being moved into a foster home. The parents were drug addicts and would use the support money to by more drugs and neglect the two brothers.
Jason was kidnapped in 2003 by grieving mother Miriam Penner, who lost her son Daniel to cancer and wanted to replace him, remembering Jason because Greg babysat Danny. Multiple witnesses saw the abduction happen, but they didn't intervene in a classic bystander effect, not knowing what to do and assume others there would try to rescue him. Everyone saw a "man" abduct Jason, but all they actually remembered was Miriam's green station wagon.
Jason's case got media attention and had extensive manhunts, but when the next big crime came along, the efforts swiftly depleted. Living without answers for eight years, Greg's grief and paranoia over what could've happened to Jason led him to formulate a plan once he was in college, evoking Jason's disappearance to get it investigated again. He recruited frat boy Doug and young co-ed Lizzie Harmon as part of his ruse, planning to stage Lizzie's "rape and abduction" and Doug the "rapist and kidnapper" in hopes of attracting the attention of Special Victims, a police unit with a high success rate.
Lizzie's "rape" at knifepoint by Doug was streamed to the entirety of Westmore College by hacking the server, no one calling the cops until the video was finished playing, yet another bystander effect. Greg was interviewed as a student who volunteered in the college's tech management. Leading the cops on a wild goose chase by tracking the rerouted IP address as well as Lizzie's movements throughout the day, they come across multiple red herrings, along with the three wise monkeys, "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil", in graffiti, evoking the monkey shirt Jason was wearing in the photo released of him when he was kidnapped. Lizzie's later streamed tied to a bed and screaming for help to turn her case into a ransom.
When he's felt like the case has gotten enough attention, and when the squad identifies him from his final lure being to his foster home at the brownstone and footage of him buying burner phones three used to communicate, he directly texts Stabler and says he's done playing games, telling him to follow his directions to a warehouse and come alone. To add incentive, he's saying he's watching through every camera he can. He directs Stabler through a series of texts on the road, and when he's seen in the warehouse, he shows a stream of Lizzie held captive on his tablet. Using that leverage, he tosses Jason's case file to Stabler and demands to know where Jason is after eight years.
He goes into the bystander effect that happened the day of his brother's abduction, which Stabler notes. Trying to appeal to Greg's sympathy and saying Lizzie has a family too, he swears to take his case and nearly gets Greg to reveal the truth about her "captivity". By that point, Captain Cragen has arrived with backup, having tracked Stabler's texts and Greg's phone when it was on even though Stabler's was turned off when Greg took it. Greg furiously smashes the tablet and says to the squad "Lizzie's dead, you killed her".
He's arrested, but Stabler quickly deduces with Greg's conscience, he wouldn't kill Lizzie and she's still alive. Greg again pleads for his brother back. Re-interviewing the witnesses, they get the whole story and finally find out about Penner and her dead son. Just when she's fleeing her house, the police stop her and arrest her, finding Jason unconscious in the trunk and resuscitating Jason at the hospital. When Greg hears he's being checked out by a doctor, he gives up Lizzie's location.
Lizzie's revealed to be fine and sitting next to Doug, only with a shiner on her face from the staged abduction. The detectives are shocked, and Greg affirmatively says none of the trio went through any harm in their ruse. The detectives are livid, but Lizzie defends Greg with how they got his brother rescued and asks to call her mother. Greg says he'll take all the blame so Doug and Lizzie get immunity, saying it was all worth it. Asking to see Jason before he's booked, Benson brings Jason to reunite with him. Greg emotionally reminds Jason of himself being his brother, and although silent at first, Jason cheers "Gig" and runs into Greg's arms, leaving Greg tearing up. Due to his intentions to save his abducted brother, he likely faced a lesser charge. (SVU: "Spectacle")