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"Lust"
SVU, Episode 4.04
Production number: E3102
First aired (US): 18 October 2002
First aired (AUS): 5 December 2002
  {{{nNthProducedInSeries}}}th of 502 produced in SVU  
{{{nNthReleasedInSeries}}}th of 502 released in SVU
  {{{nNthReleasedInAll}}}th of 1271 released in all  
Benson Stabler Lust
Written By
Amanda Green

Directed By
Michael Fields

Summary[]

A female doctor is found raped and murdered in Central Park. As her work involved contacting the sexual partners of people with HIV, there is a long list of suspects. A second murder suggests a serial killer, but then the trail leads to a man with a connection to the dead woman and her husband.

Plot[]

A dog walker finds a woman raped and murdered in Central Park. The Medical Examiner concludes the victim was stabbed to death and sexually assaulted. The detectives have a hard time identifying the victim or finding any suspects. The woman's dog is found a while later, the dog had one of her shoes with it and due to an orthopedic heel in it they are able to find out the victim's identity; she was a public health doctor named Greta Esterman.

Olivia and Elliot talk to her husband Arthur, he tells the detectives her work involved tracking sexual partners of patients recently diagnosed with HIV to have them checked as well. Mr. Esterman says his wife occasionally received hate mail and threatening calls, but never paid any attention to it. The detectives go through Greta's log of all the threatening calls and find one threat that matches the crime, it is from Roger Pomerantz. When Elliot and Olivia go to talk to Roger, he tries to flee, so he is arrested on violation of his parole. He is interviewed but has an alibi, so he is released; at that time, Mr. Esterman is arriving at the station to deliver some of Greta's work documents that might help in the investigation, they both cross paths and Mr. Esterman believing Roger is his wife's killer, loses control and punches him in the face.

Dr. Warner analyzes Greta's papers and tries to find the nexus of an HIV spread

Dr. Warner analyzes Greta's papers and comes to the conclusion she was trying to identify the common source of the HIV from some her patients, she believed they all had the same source. The detectives think that maybe Greta was close to finding the person that was spreading the HIV, so that person killed her. They follow the list of people she tracked and interview people trying to establish who gave it to whom, trying to find the source, they believe it is Mario Molinari, since he can be connected directly or indirectly to all the infected people. One of Mario's friends gives the detectives information and acknowledges that he may need to get tested now because he shared Steroid needles with Mario.

Elliot and Olivia find Mario at a hospital and confront him about Dr. Esterman's death. It turns out he was in the hospital at the time, but is pleased Esterman is dead because she ruined his reputation. Mario also revealed how he got infected from someone who didn't care so he chose not to. Elliot then arrests Mario for knowingly giving HIV to people, while Benson tells the protesting Mario that he committed a crime since he knew about his condition and still had unprotected sex without telling his partners about his HIV.

At the precinct, Cabot tells Benson of what charges Mario will face before Cragen announces another body was found in the park, leading the detectives to think there is a serial killer on the loose, but the ME thinks maybe it is a copycat, since the injuries sustained by the second victim are not as many as the first victim. The forensics analyst disagrees; he found exactly the same evidence in both crime scenes, the same footprints and the same knife type. He also says that both types of soils are unique to that place, so if they catch a suspect, they can analyze his shoes, and match it to them giving no doubt about who killed those women.

Olivia and Elliot try to find a connection between the victims, so they talk to Greta's friend. She tells about Greta's marriage to Arthur, how her family was against it because she was rich and he wasn't, and how Greta was the one who supported the couple. Elliot asks if any of them could've had any affair, and she reveals Greta asked her to check a man's credit report, the man's name was Vartan Dadian. The detectives investigate Vartan and find out he had an account and received a steady amount of money from Greta's account every month, they also find charges to an escort service in Vartan's name. Munch and Fin go to the Escort agency and get the name of the lady that serves Vartan regularly, Miss Kitty.

Elliot and Olivia talk to Vartan Dadian about it, but he denies having an account in the bank in question, and claims he never met Greta or Miss Kitty. The detectives realize someone was using Mr. Dadian's identity to open the account and hire escorts, probably to hide from somebody. Munch and Fin interview Miss Kitty at the precinct and she recognizes Mr. Esterman's picture as being Vartan Dadian.

The detectives get a search warrant for Mr. Esterman's home, trying to fin some solid evidence that can prove he murdered his wife when she found out about his affair and decided to divorce him, because if she divorced him he would be left with nothing. Munch finds a dirty pair of shoes in Arthur's bedroom that matches the shoe prints found in the crime scene, the lab matches the dirt from the crime scenes and the dirt on the shoes. Mr. Esterman denies any involvement in the murders and claims he was in the park after the murders, to lay flowers there. He argues that he took an alias to meet with escort girls to protect his wife; when asked for a DNA sample, he replies his DNA is expected to be found in his wife, but Elliot reveals they are going to match his DNA against a hair found in the other victim's body.

The judge denies the warrant for Mr. Esterman's DNA, but Elliot finds out he already gave a DNA sample; in a fund-raising charity event, he donated blood, so they ask the judge to use that blood to compare to the sample in the victim's body. They argue that he waved any right to privacy when he donated the blood, since it would be tested anyway in a hospital. The judge hears both sides and agrees to let the State test the blood, but only the same tests that would be done in the hospital to which he donated the blood. The test comes back and they find a high amount of Viagra and ecstasy, so they talk to Arthur's drug dealer, he gives up the address to where he delivers the drugs.

Olivia and Elliot go there with a search warrant and catch him in bed with Miss Kitty; there they find a one-way ticket to Brazil and Kitty gets furious when she realizes he was planning to go alone, despite his pleas. Kitty then gives the detectives a sample of Mr. Esterman's DNA and they match it to the hair from the second crime scene. Mr. Esterman admits to the murders and claims his wife drove him to it, when she lost her sexual appetite; he tried to make her try the ecstasy, but she refused so he started seeing prostitutes, she found out and was going to divorce him leaving him with no money for his ecstasy or the prostitutes, so he had to kill her. He also said beautiful women like Benson would never give him a glance unless rich.

Cast[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Guest cast[]

References[]

Quotes[]

[Munch is cuddling a victim's dog and annoying Fin]
Tutuola: I told you you should have left that mutt in the car.
Munch: Do you know how many dogs die in locked cars every year?
Tutuola: Know how many cops shoot their partners and get off on justifiable?

[Benson and Stabler are sifting through Greta Esterman's hate mail]
Benson: Last month, AIDS activists threw pig's blood on her, protesting her policies.
Stabler: How about this?
[Stabler holds up crayon-written paper with bad grammar and horrible spelling]
Snoopie bich doctor YOU DIE.

Munch: Me, I just get a little nervous when the government starts drawing up lists.
Tutuola: Please don't get him started. He goes off on black helicopters and we'll be here all night.

Dr. Warner: It took me most of the night, but I figured out what Dr. Esterman was working on.
Stabler: Looks like a bunch of circles and arrows.
Dr. Warner: Tell me about it. I've been seeing circles and arrows all night.

Cragen: This one-man epidemic has any priors?

[about a man who has infected numerous people with HIV]
Cragen: Let's go find Typhoid Mario.

Ranger: Mona Sidley. I recognized her by her binoculars.
Benson: Not by her face?
Ranger: She doesn't have one anymore.

Munch: Follow the shoe again. This case is a shoe fetishist's wet dream.

Receptionist: We don't take walk-ins. You need a referral.
Tutuola: [shows her his badge] We got a special pass.
Sure we can.: [as they start to walk into the office] You can't go in there!
Receptionist: Munch

Tutuola: You better remember quick before we haul your sweet ass down to the precinct.
Miss Kitty: Am I under arrest?
[starts to rub Fin's cheek]
Tutuola: Keep touching me, you will be.

Miss Kitty: We always meet at four-star restaurants. Vartan had very good taste.
Munch: Never would've guessed. Where'd you go two nights ago?
Miss Kitty: Chez Marco. I met him there at 9. You want to know what I ate?
Tutuola: I'm not touching that one.

Tutuola: [to Harry Martin] Skip the science test. Did it match?

Background information and notes[]

  • Typhoid Mario is a reference to Mary Mallon also known as Typhoid Mary, who was twice forcibly quarantined by authorities after infecting at least 53 people as an asymptomatic carrier.

Episode scene cards[]

1 2 3

Ortho-Walk Industries
419 Amsterdam Avenue
Monday, October 7

Esterman Residence
3 West 89th Street
Monday, October 7

Butter's Better Bread
Flushing, Queens
Tuesday, October 8

4 5 6

Hanford University
3 Orchard Street
Wednesday, October 9

Heaven Night Club
221 East 14th Street
Wednesday, October 9

St. Catherine's Hospital
414 Third Avenue
Wednesday, October 9

7 8 9

Office of
Assistant District Attorney
Alexandra Cabot
Thursday, October 10

Apartment of
Vartan Dadian
355 East 85th Street
Friday, October 11

Chambers of
Judge Petrovsky
Monday, October 14

Previous episode:
"Vulnerable"
"Lust"
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Season 4
Next episode:
"Disappearing Acts"
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