Pam Burton is the adoptive mother of Mackenzie Burton and the biological mother of Ella Burton, who was kidnapped by Dale Pennington.
History[]
In 2000, Pam and her husband Kevin took Ella on a holiday to the woods, where they stayed in a remote cabin. While swimming, Pam noticed Ella playing with a red haired girl named Darla, who asked Ella to come with her to her father Dale, unaware that Dale had intentions of making Ella his wife. Pam and Kevin became suspects in Ella's disappearance but both claimed their innocence. Several years later, Pam and Kevin adopted Mackenzie. However, distraught with the grief of losing Ella, they changed Mackenzie's appearance to look exactly like Ella before she disappeared. As well as this, they inserted a tracking device in Mackenzie so they always knew where she was, scared they would lose her like they did with Ella.
While Pam was taking a bath, Mackenzie trapped her in the bathroom before running away to be with a friend. Suspecting Mackenzie had been kidnapped, Pam called the Special Victims Unit. Eventually, Mackenzie was found but she wrote Benson a note that Pam and Kevin were abusing her, which she misunderstood as over protective parenting. The child abuse allegations against Pam and Kevin were soon dismissed, however Benson expressed her disgust to Pam about making Mackenzie look exactly like Ella. The SVU soon reopened Ella's case after a police officer told the SVU he believed Pam and Kevin murdered Ella. The detectives interrogated Pam about Ella's disappearance, with Pam hysterical and upset. Pam told Stabler about Darla playing with Ella and how nobody believed her story, thinking she was insane. When the SVU finally found Ella safe and sound, they brought her home to Pam and Kevin, who hugged Ella, thankful and relieved she was home safe and sound. (SVU: "Locum")