Law and Order
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Margaret "Maggie" Peterson (alias Debra Weldon) was a prostitute and known serial killer of several men.

Background[]

Maggie was the daughter of another prostitute and her father was not on her birth certificate. She had a male child in her possession which she claimed was her son, but it was later found that she had kidnapped the child as a baby after killing his mother. Maggie then went on a series of killings targeting men, seducing them and stealing their money and credit cards.

Chameleon[]

After killing a man named Shawn Becker, who coincidentally had gone on a raping and killing spree targeting prostitutes, Maggie was initially assumed to be a would-be victim who killed Becker out of self-defense, under the alias of Debra Weldon and naming the boy as her "son Joey". However, suspicion was placed on her after ballistics of the gun she used to shoot Becker were tied to another one of her murders. Maggie attempted to evade murder charges by claiming that the men she killed had attempted to rape her, forcing her to kill in self-defense. However, the discovery that she had killed several men in this manner made such a claim unlikely.

Dr. George Huang determined that Maggie was a medically diagnosable psychopath. Maggie displayed the classic symptoms of psychopathy: such as being utterly manipulative and without remorse and utterly compelled to lie in any situation, without hesitating to consider that she was telling mutually contradicting lies.

For example, when Huang interrogated Maggie, she gave a sob story about being abused as a child, trying to manipulate him because he was a "gentle, caring doctor". However, when Huang left and Stabler entered the interrogation room, Maggie's entire personality changed as if someone flipped a switch. While not minutes before she was claiming to Huang that she was shy and abused, Maggie assessed Stabler as a "strong alpha male" and began aggressively flaunting her sexuality, throwing herself at Stabler and trying to seduce him. Then, when Benson's turn came to interrogate Maggie minutes after Stabler left, she again altered her persona. Gauging Benson as a sympathetic fellow woman, Maggie shifted to acting like a sexual assault victim and claiming she'd been sexually abused. Throughout all three interviews, which happened only minutes apart and with a combined duration of under ten minutes, Maggie was utterly willing to passionately lie, each time telling a backstory which blatantly contradicted the others.

Shocked, Benson and Stabler asked Huang how Maggie could possibly believe this would work, because even if she did not somehow realize that the entire group of detectives was watching all three interviews through the one-way mirror, she should at least consider the possibility that they'd compare the three entirely separate stories she gave them. Dr. Huang explained that this is one of the classic symptoms of Psychopathy: utterly manipulative, utterly willing to tell any lie, but also custom-tailoring each lie on the spur of the moment. Huang says that it is commonly known as a "Cocktail Personality", as in, life is like a cocktail party to her, in which you meet for shallow two minute conversations with people you don't know before moving on to the next one: most people at such cocktail parties tend to custom-tailor their talking points, praises, or feigned hobbies to compliment whoever they are talking to - Psychopaths, however, do this pervasively, like a switch they just can't turn off.

Upon her arrest, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office intended to seek the death penalty against her. However, Nora Lewin refused to sign off on it, stating that she doesn't want to kill anyone who may have acted in self-defense. In court, Maggie affirms that all of the killings she committed were in self-defense. At first, the defense works, given that one of her victims was killed the same day she was admitted into the ER with bruises, and another victim was a wife-beater with a history of violent behavior. But Cabot eventually uncovers evidence proving that Maggie's son Joey isn't really hers and that she killed a woman named Erin Byers for him. She offers her a deal of 15-20 years in prison, which Maggie says she'll think over. Instead, she hangs herself in her cell the next day, and she leaves a note giving all her possessions to Joey. (SVU: "Chameleon")

Known Victims[]

  • 2000-2001:
    • Unknown dates:
      • Manhattan, New York:
        • Erin Byers (strangled)
        • Erin's unnamed baby son (kidnapped and adopted as her son; was rescued)
      • Manhattan, New York: Phillip Malacowski (bludgeoned)
      • Queens, New York: Michael O'Connell (bludgeoned)
      • New Jersey:
        • John Donatov (his throat was slit)
        • Brad Horton (stabbed)
    • December, Manhattan, New York: Leonard Graves (shot three times in the head)
  • 2002, Manhattan, New York:
    • September 9: Shawn Becker (shot three times in the chest in self-defense)
    • September 10-13:
      • Vincent Bertram (stabbed six times)
      • Detective Olivia Benson (attempted to assault, but was overpowered by her)
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