Rose Rinato is the mother of abuser Grace Rinato, losing two of her grandchildren to her and hoping to protect her remaining grandchild, Claire Rinato, while also not turning Grace in for the crimes.
History[]
Rose's husband left her after Grace was born, which left Grace with abandonment issues and apparently resulted in Rose projecting the blame onto her daughter throughout her childhood. Grace became sociopathic, resulting in her own failed marriages, which she blamed on her children despite being aggressive with her two husbands and three kids.
Grace killed her son, Anthony, when he was just an infant and the only child she had, by smothering him when she wrapped him in a blanket to stop his crying. Rose knew about this and, despite hating what Grace did, regretted not stepping in to save her daughter. She didn't turn Grace in for the murder from not wanting to turn on her only child.
Grace eventually had two daughters, Claire and Lisa. Rose treated her grandchildren with the love Grace never did in hopes of not repeating what happened to Anthony. Unfortunately (partly due to recovering from a stroke at the time), she couldn't save a toddler Lisa from being beaten to death by Grace and then shoved in a trunk in the closet, despite Claire teaching her not to cry so Grace wouldn't beat her. Grace called it an "accident", but Claire and Rose knew she was lying. Rose couldn't save Lisa due to recovering from a stroke at the time but she took the teenage Claire into her home for the rest of her childhood to save her remaining granddaughter. Claire developed severe drug addictions, but Rose bailed her out and took responsibility for her recovery mandates when she was arrested for possession and resisting arrest.
Rose was horrified to find out Claire was drugged and raped at a party her date didn't show up to, vehement in helping the detectives catch the rapist, Arthur Felton. When Felton was arrested, Rose was questioned about Lisa's rotted finger in Claire's purse. She admitted knowing about Lisa's murder, but although she said Claire was innocent, she didn't blame Grace.
Grace was arrested while disposing of Lisa's bones but when Judge Lena Petrovsky cited Claire as an "accomplice" and ordered her arrest as well, Rose stepped in to exonerate her. Confronting Grace in prison, she revealed her knowledge of Anthony's murder before her granddaughters were even born, berating Grace's apathy and saying Rose's ex-husband and Grace's father must've seen evil in her. Grace resentfully retorted that Rose would always rave about her husband abandoning the family, calling her mother a hypocrite for hating Grace's abandonment issues when Grace learned them from her. This still isn't enough for Grace to get a deal and she's charged with the two murders.
Rose is arrested for accessory while still in the prison, accepting being placed in handcuffs as she's taken into custody. (SVU: "Denial")