Stephanie Sutter is the sister of quadriplegic boy Michael Sutter.
History[]
She resented her family dissolving from Michael's paralysis from a car accident he and his father Joe were in and became rebellious and bitter over Michael needing care that the family's daily life centered around. Stephanie's college fund was drained to pay for Michael's medical expenses, and Stephanie even once called Michael a "vegetable" when she was mad with her mother Lois.
When Michael was killed and it was assumed to have happened while Michael was at the house, the family was interrogated. Lois was horrified and believed Stephanie suffocated him from being left alone with him shortly before Michael's condition declined. Stephanie revealed she snuck out to a friend's house, which provided her alibi. Joe was briefly arrested on suspicion when the poison used to kill Michael, hemlock, was sold at his garden depot.
Joe was released when the real killer, Dr. Lyle Semenko, a murderer of dozens of patients without fatal problems, was arrested and taken to trial. Semenko was convicted of manslaughter two, and Stephanie's parents were revealed to have surreptitiously arranged for Semenko to murder Michael with a lure. It's unknown what happened to her parents as a result. (L&O: "Burden")