Jennifer Talmadge was a murdered, previously pregnant college student whose baby disappeared without a trace.
History[]
Jennifer had a brief relationship with Robert Cook leading to her pregnancy. It was speculated by her college roommate, Rebecca Reiter (who warned her about Robert), that Robert was her first love and she was sad he moved on to another woman named Linda, who later became his wife.
Alone and pregnant, Jennifer considered placing her child up for adoption but backed out especially when Jennifer's parents, Herbert and Margaret offered support. Her son Stephen was born a month after Robert had his first child. Jennifer sent Robert a letter to let him know about their son but Linda intercepted it, due to her recent engagement to Robert. Linda tried to scare Jennifer off, but was refused. A fight broke out and Linda ended up killing Jennifer by accident. To cover up her murder, Linda proceeded to take Stephen to an illegal adoption agency.
Her parents were saddened by her death and her son Stephen's disappearance, which was investigated for years after her murder in 1989, with Max Greevey and Donald Cragen being assigned to the case. Greevey was assassinated in 1991, and the case went cold for years. However, Cragen kept searching for answers.
In 2001, the head of the agency, Mark Sanford, was arrested and Stephen was tracked to the Blakes, which brought Cragen back to the cold case. It was revealed Stephen was raised as Tyler Blake under the care of Adam and Erin, living a happy life all the way to growing into a love for baseball. By this time, Robert was notified of his son's existence and by now had two sons with Linda. Robert voiced how he never considered Jennifer's child was his and sought custody after he was confirmed to be his.
SVU discovered Linda's murder of Jennifer, leading to her arrest and imprisonment for her crimes.
In a custody battle between himself and the Blakes, Robert gained custody of Stephen and arranged shared guardianship of Stephen at the judge's request. Robert also permitted the Talmadges in Stephen's life too, as they finally had peace and justice for their daughter and got to meet their grandson for the first time in twelve years. (SVU: "Stolen")