Original subtitles

In the criminal justice system,

sexually based offenses

are considered especially heinous.

In New York City, the dedicated detectives

who investigate these vicious felonies

are members of an elite squad

known as the Special Victims Unit.

These are their stories.

- Hi, Captain. - Gwen.

Are you waiting for me?

I figured you were about to clock out.

Okay. Is everything all right?

Yeah, I just have a case I'd like to chat with you about,

if you've got the time.

Okay.

I've been getting letters for years...

"Please take a look at his case.

He's innocent."

I finally did.

Okay.

Do you think she's right?

It's possible.

I have some questions.

He's been incarcerated since 1998.

We need answers.

Okay. Well, I'm happy to take a look.

It's the Claire Sobol murder.

Are you... are you kidding me right now?

This is not an ambush.

Gwen, you know that that was my case.

I'm not accusing you of...

Of putting an innocent man in prison?

If I'm wrong, I'm happy to be wrong.

But if I'm right,

you might be able to help fix this.

Well. Wow.

This is one of my first cases at SVU.

I was very new.

I'm sorry about the subterfuge.

Where is he?

Attica.

I just wanna go through the investigation with you

one last time.

I tried to reach out to the other detective

on the case, your old partner.

He hasn't returned my calls.

Yeah.

Hey.

Grab another rope. We can do Double Dutch.

- So, Elliot... - I know.

I've been off the grid there for a while,

and I owe you a couple calls.

We got the Claire Sobol case wrong.

Sister Benedicta?

You know,

maybe we did, maybe... maybe we didn't, um...

but I wanna open the case back up.

- You want a drink? - No, I'm good.

And here I thought you were dropping by

'cause you missed me.

Well, yeah, I do,

but you don't call me back.

I can't force you to talk to me.

I haven't seen you since Cragen's funeral.

On bereavement leave.

For 18 months?

- Really? - Yeah.

Time is crazy.

Look, I know it's gonna be difficult

to get back into this case.

But I have some questions.

I'm not wasting my time on some skell

who raped and murdered a nun.

You knock yourself out.

I'll pass.

You know, I wanna be there for you

and I wanna be your friend,

but I gotta tell you, you make it really, really

difficult sometimes.

Liv.

We're not friends.

Okay.

Well, good luck, Elliot. Good luck.

Liv, Liv, wait a minute. Look, I didn't mean that.

Okay, I'm looking into this case.

I'd like you to do it with me.

But you keep closing yourself off and that's your choice.

But I think it's a mistake

based on your current state of mind.

You know, you're the one that always said we right wrongs.

I think you need to remember who you are.

She was 25 years old.

She was from Wisconsin originally,

and she came here to be a dancer and changed her mind.

Well, that's quite a 180.

Yeah, but by all accounts, she was beloved.

She was a preschool teacher and she coached

a youth soccer team in her community. She...

That I would have loved to have seen.

Yeah.

All right, so we just gonna divide and conquer, see...

Guys, no, no, no.

You have enough cases on your plate.

Seriously. - It won't take long.

Yeah. Griff and I got this one.

Okay. Thank you.

Hey, so I picked up this loiterer outside.

Elliot Stabler, this is the newest

version of the SVU squad.

Detective, how are you?

Hey, Amanda.

Curry. Rat squad, right?

Yeah, that's right.

I know all about you, Detective Stabler.

I'll take that as a compliment.

I wouldn't.

You in?

Let's take it apart.

He wasn't an angel, absolutely.

He'd gotten caught up in the crack epidemic

of the early '90s. We all remember that.

He'd gotten clean.

His parole officer said he had never missed an appointment.

He had a spotless record for four years.

And prior to that, he had a rap sheet standing back

12 years with seven collars.

But none of them were violent offenses.

And do you know how many serial rapists

started out as peeping toms?

So look, what we have here is a scumbag

in a convent full of nuns with access and opportunity.

Well, that's all true.

And you did find his prints on the murder weapon.

Yeah, well, Greene claimed

that he pulled it out in an effort

to resuscitate her.

Yeah, well.

You didn't believe that?

No.

His hands were covered in blood.

So was his clothing, which could have come

from performing CPR.

And it's also very possible it came from him

stabbing her 28 times.

Let's get down to it.

Why?

'Cause I feel as though you're here

to try and put us on the hook.

Detective, I... seriously, I have no agenda.

I just know that Greene has always

maintained his innocence.

He has never changed his story.

I know that his defense attorney

was notoriously incompetent.

There was no DNA from the rape kit.

And your chief forensic evidence

would be thrown out in today's court.

The bite mark on her shoulder.

That bite mark evidence, as you know,

has been considered junk science since the early 2000s

and has resulted in 63% rate of false identifications.

Plus, there's the matter of the interview after his arrest.

You know, I couldn't find the videotape.

Did you record it?

No.

Why not?

I can't remember.

Captain, do you?

I was not part of that interrogation.

Was that always how you did things?

I kept her out of it.

So you've never spoken to him, Captain?

No, I have not.

Well, I have, last week.

Made the drive up to Attica.

You might wanna do the same.

I'm not buying it.

Buying what?

She wants us to let this guy go because one piece

of evidence doesn't hold up?

She's out of her mind.

It's a pretty big piece of evidence.

So is his fingerprints on the murder weapon.

Liv, we were there. She wasn't.

Are you really going up there?

Yeah, I am.

I have a bunch of personal days saved,

and I can take the day off.

Why are you doing this?

Why aren't you doing this?

You know what? Stay here,

and I'll let you know how it goes.

Curry, you are the ranking officer.

You are in charge while I'm gone, okay?

I want you to continue with all the open cases.

And obviously, I'm reachable by phone.

We'll take your car.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning.

You want some company?

I got the time.

Well, it looks like Stabler's coming.

With respect, Captain, he's not your partner anymore.

You don't need his buy-in.

It doesn't matter.

Some partnerships don't end,

even when they do.

Resting my eyes.

You good?

I'm fine.

Your... your snoring is special.

You sound just like Kathy.

How's your mom doing?

Getting worse.

Sometimes she's there. Most of the time, she's not.

It's so brutal watching somebody

you love go through that.

I'm sorry.

She was never the same after my brother.

Why do you have an IAB captain on your squad?

Elliot, what's going on with you?

I always used to be so sure, you know.

My gut, my instinct, I could rely on that.

Like I was invincible.

Now...

You... you come to me and tell me

I was wrong about the case.

- That's not what I said. - I know that. I...

I'm only interested in finding out

what really happened.

And if we did make a mistake, then I wanna fix it.

I never understood why you wanted to become captain.

Sitting behind a desk all day, pushing papers, shaking hands

instead of, you know... you let the other people go out

and do the real work.

Is that what you've been doing for the last 18 months?

Have you been doing the real work?

- Don't be mad. Don't be mad. - I'm not mad.

I wasn't even referring to you.

Look at you. You're out. You're out.

You get out.

Like now, on this wild goose chase.

Wild goose chase. Here we go.

So if you don't wanna go, I'm fine with that.

That's not what I'm saying.

I will pull over at the next exit,

and you can take an Uber back to the city.

I mean it. - Cows.

- What? - Cows.

I like cows.

I didn't know that.

Charles, you remember us?

Wow.

You guys look different.

Yeah, my scalp agrees with you.

So we understand that you spoke with Gwen Sharpe

about your case. - Yeah, nice lady.

What'd you talk about?

What happened when I found Sister Benedicta.

Yeah?

And how's your memory 30 years later?

Burned in there, man.

Never gonna forget it.

So will you tell us what happened?

I told him.

So tell me.

She was always nice.

Some of the sisters didn't trust me.

I was an ex-junkie, did time, but she didn't care.

Wasn't even supposed to be there that late.

But this light was out in the courtyard

and I wanted to fix it.

She was on her back.

Clothes were all ripped up.

Her eyes were open.

There was blood all around her.

And the knife, it was just sticking out of her chest.

I wasn't thinking.

I just grabbed it, and I tried to stop the blood,

but it was everywhere.

I yelled for help.

Tried to bring her back.

You did, what, CPR?

Didn't really know how.

She was already gone.

So the body was cold?

Still warm. She wasn't dead that long.

Yeah, well, that testimony was at your trial.

I told you that when we talked.

You didn't write it down.

So the gates...

the gates were locked?

They always were.

So no sign of forced entry.

So if it wasn't you, Charles, are you suggesting

one of the nuns raped and stabbed Sister Benedicta?

I don't know who did it,

but it wasn't me.

I would never hurt her.

Was Sister Benedicta liked by everyone?

I heard her arguing with somebody

a couple of nights before it happened... another lady.

I tried to ask her about it, but she wouldn't say.

Well, that didn't come out in the investigation.

Is this something that you're remembering right now?

I told him.

He wrote it down.

Okay.

Okay. Thank you, Charles.

God, we were so young back then, right?

All those years just gone.

You took 'em from me.

I'm never getting them back.

Yeah, we'll just take that check.

Thank you.

Did you find your notes?

Argument, women, two nights prior.

Wow.

Okay.

What are you thinking?

I'm thinking I'm with you.

I'll,

I'll call Carisi and see what he can do.

It's still not gonna make things right.

Elliot, we can start by finding out

who really did this.

Hey, Curry.

We found the Mother Superior

from the Solemnity of Mary convent.

She's still alive.

She's living in a retirement home for nuns up in Queens.

We're about to head out for a chat.

Okay, so ask her if she remembers Claire

getting into an argument at the convent

a couple of days before the murder.

Okay, will do.

We also found another nun who was living

at the convent at the same time as Claire Sobol.

Sister Petronilla, AKA Sandra Garza.

She gave you guys a statement back then.

Yeah, I remember her.

She was very close with Claire.

Okay, well, she left the convent

not long after the murder.

She's living as a civilian now.

You feel like taking a detour to Pulaski, New York?

That is in the middle of nowhere.

But you're closer.

Mother Eusebia?

And you are?

I'm Captain Curry, and this is Detective Griffin from SVU.

Can we speak with you?

Give us a minute, Sister Grace.

So we wanted to talk to you about Claire Sobol,

Sister Benedicta. - What about her?

Well, some questions have come up about the man

convicted of her murder.

Questions?

Like maybe the wrong man is in prison.

That sounds like an astounding level

of incompetence on the part of the NYPD.

Did you know her well?

Of course I did.

Do you have any opinion about who could have done it?

I spoke to the detectives at the time

and told them everything I knew.

I did not see who killed her and I didn't hear anything

on the night it happened.

Well, we heard that she may have had an argument

a few nights before the murder.

Do you know anything about that?

- Who told you that? - Charles Greene.

The man in prison for her murder, and you believe him?

I don't know. That's why we're asking you.

Look at that. You won.

Sister Benedicta never truly accepted her vows.

As such, she invited strife into her life

and into our community.

Her death destroyed everything we'd worked so hard to build.

And you think it was her fault?

I think God's will cannot be undone.

Sister Petronella. Olivia Benson, Elliot Stabler.

I don't know if you remember us.

We're with the NYPD.

You're far from home.

That's true.

Nice up here. Nice place. Quiet.

What's this about?

Sister Benedicta, we're taking another look

at her murder case.

I go by Sandra now.

Come on in.

I joined the Solemnity of Mary as an escape

as much as anything.

I mean, my father was, um...

he was a drunk.

He was violent.

So when I turned 18, I just ran to the convent.

Claire, though...

I mean, she was a true believer.

Just a kind, gentle soul.

She loved kids.

She loved being a nun.

She had this unshakeable faith.

And she could tell a dirty joke better than anybody I ever met.

I remember how well liked she was by everyone.

I could reminisce about her all day,

but I don't think that's why you're here.

In the course of the investigation

of, um,

Claire's murder...

mistakes were made.

I made mistakes.

Um,

so we're here... we're here, because we need your help.

So, Sandra, we... we heard that Claire

had a loud argument with somebody

a couple of nights before her murder.

And so we're hoping that you could tell us who

Claire had that argument with.

We never spoke of it, but I would guess

that she was arguing

with Mother Eusebia about...

about Father Anthony.

Who... who was he?

That's Anthony Lazzaro.

He was the convent chaplain who said our masses,

listened to our confessions.

He said it was penance, you know, that we were to...

Purify our souls by purifying our body, and...

So sometimes, it was performing oral sex on him

or receiving it.

And it was... on occasion, it was intercourse.

And it was always presented as holy, you know, as sanctioned

and whatever depraved thing he could come up with just...

so you have to understand that many of us,

we were completely naive.

We came to this life right from our family's home,

right to the convent.

And we didn't have any sexual experience.

We didn't have any experience at all.

He knew that.

He knew that and he used that.

How many others do you think?

Dozen

that I know about.

And Claire.

No.

He knew better than to try that with her.

But she knew what was happening,

and she told the mother.

The Mother Superior knew?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. She knew.

And she had us all sit down and write letters to her,

describing exactly what he'd done.

Well, then what happened?

Nothing?

Sandra,

do you think that this Father Lazzaro

was the one who murdered Claire?

I don't know.

But the thought of Charles in prison

all these years,

it never left my mind.

But I didn't have any evidence, you know.

I didn't see anything at all.

So I couldn't help.

That's not your job. That's our responsibility.

And you have been so incredibly brave

and generous

with telling us your story.

So thank you.

It's too late.

It's actually not.

We're gonna get justice for you

and for Claire

and for all of them.

- Hey, Rollins. - I think I found Lazzaro.

Where?

He's a priest at Holy Shepherd up in the Bronx.

We can make it there right after evening mass,

unless you want us to wait for you.

No, this guy has been getting away with it for 28 years.

We're not giving him another second.

Look, we're gonna find some place up here to stay,

and we'll head back first thing in the morning.

Thanks, Amanda. - Yeah.

Evening, Father.

Hello.

Can I help you?

Yeah, we're looking for Father Anthony Lazzaro.

What's this all about?

It's really important we speak to him.

What's your name? - Father Dave.

And I'm sorry to say, Father Anthony isn't available.

He's on sabbatical.

Man.

I love a good sabbatical. - Me too.

Feels like it'd be so enriching.

Sure.

Personal growth, quiet contemplation.

Good for him. - Yeah.

You just tell us where he is, we'll be out of your hair.

I'm not able to do that.

I'm sorry.

Father Dave.

I don't think you wanna be seen as hindering or interfering

with a police matter.

I can't help you.

Any further questions can be directed to the archdiocese.

Good night.

Honestly, I never wanna hear any snoring complaints

from you ever again.

Lies.

What time is it?

Just after midnight.

I was... I was just reading...

Through a statement. - Which one?

Sister Augusta.

And she said more than once

that we should talk to Father Anthony.

She was trying to tell us,

and we missed it.

We missed it.

I don't remember talking to him.

Do you? - No, he didn't live there.

Well, we should have.

He just would have lied and I would have believed him.

Why?

'Cause he was a damn priest,

and I'm Catholic.

And my faith...

I just think it blinded me.

I made a mistake.

My mistake...

is that I let you shut me out.

And I have to learn from that.

What do you mean, shut you out?

You interrogated Greene alone without me.

So what?

- We were partners, Elliot. - Yeah.

Doesn't mean we're joined at the hip.

We do things separately sometimes.

Elliot, you didn't want me in the interrogation

because I told you that I didn't think

that Greene was right for it.

I don't remember that.

Well, I did.

And I have to live with that.

Your mistake is that you were right.

That's the burden you bear.

No, I have to live with the fact

that I didn't do the right thing

because I was new,

that I didn't follow my instinct

because I thought you knew better,

which is my fault.

So is this you telling me that you've been holding

on to this for 30 years?

No, I've been letting it go for 30 years.

And, you know, maybe that is the biggest

difference between us.

What's that?

Maybe you're right, Elliot.

Maybe we're not friends.

Maybe we can't be.

Sonny, welcome.

Please, have a seat.

Gonna have to make this brief.

I'm sitting down with the bishop.

But I always make time to meet

with the district attorney's office.

Well, thank you, Peter. We won't be long.

Now, who do we have here?

- Aidan Hawkins, sir. - He's my associate.

I'm training him up. - Good for you.

You're in good hands. - Yes, indeed.

My assistant said you were asking about a convent.

I am.

And really, what we want to understand is process.

Yeah. Hold on one second.

Katie, what time's the car coming?

It's seven minutes out.

What do you wanna know in seven minutes?

In the late '90s, how would the archdiocese

handle complaints made against priests that came from,

say, nuns?

Well, the church would definitely do an investigation.

Okay, what would that investigation entail?

Depends.

It could be a committee or a tribunal.

Who's on the committee?

Again, it depends.

- Priests? - Yes.

What about legal counsel?

Counsel would be provided either by me

or another partner here.

And are victims allowed to attend

or observe this committee?

Gentlemen, the church takes any allegations

and accusations seriously.

You know that.

And their process is legal.

I know that.

Well, I would expect nothing less from you, Peter.

But if there were investigations,

I imagine there'd be files on those investigations?

- Yes. - Okay.

So can I see some of those?

Specifically all personnel files

for Father Anthony Lazzaro

for the Solemnity of Mary convent,

all investigative files related to Father Anthony

in the convent, any and all complaints

made about Father Anthony, all administrative records

for the convent from 1995 through its closing.

And I'm forgetting something. What am I forgetting?

And anything disclosing.

Father Anthony's current location.

Fellas, that's all protected.

Those are internal church files.

I can't just hand them over.

You'd have to get a subpoena.

Well, I just got one of those from a grand jury this morning.

- What the hell is this? - Carisi?

Hey, welcome back.

- This is from the archdiocese? - Yeah.

And there's about 30 more coming.

Looks like they just took everything,

threw it up in the air, and put it all in boxes.

It's an old tactic. They wanna bury us in paper.

Yeah, they turned over what we asked for.

We'll just never be able to find it.

This will take a month to go through.

Well, we're gonna go through every single page

'cause I'm not leaving till we get what we need.

I'll be in the conference room.

Mother Eusebia.

Hello.

Remember us?

What is it you want?

Well, we have some reading

we'd like you to do,

letters from your spiritual sisters.

No?

That's okay.

How about I read it to you?

"I am begging your forgiveness, Mother,"

"and the forgiveness of God for the sin"

"that has been laid upon me."

"Father Anthony has forced me to perform unspeakable acts.

"And I can no longer live with the secret.

"I am in despair and praying for the Lord to take my life,

which I know is a sin."

It goes on to say that Father Anthony

raped her on Easter morning.

And there are about a dozen more here

from women who

just wanted to dedicate their lives to God.

And you did nothing.

Just let it happen. You protected him.

I sent the letters to the bishop.

That's why you're in possession of them now.

Wait, wait. No, no, no.

No, no, we're not doing that.

You passed the buck.

You forgot about it, and then nothing happened.

So let's not paint ourselves as a saint here.

What do you want?

See you die in prison.

But short of that,

tell us what you know about Father Anthony.

Testify against him.

- You've arrested him? - We don't know where he is.

I do.

There's a so-called "treatment" center

for priests dealing with sexual sins.

Write down everything you know.

There's something else.

In 1999, a novice named Christina joined our community.

She hadn't yet chosen her religious name.

That winter, she went missing.

The story was she left the religious life

and ran off with a man.

That is not what happened.

I know where she is.

Is it a woman?

Absolutely.

And she was pregnant.

You can't be here. This is a private facility.

Well, more like a camp for perverts,

and we're looking for one in particular.

I'm not allowed to disclose the identity of residents...

- Okay, arrest him. - What?

Put him in your car and bring him back to the city.

Next stop for you is Rikers.

Wait, wait.

Who are you looking for? - Anthony Lazzaro.

He's out on the lake.

Well, tell him to row his ass back to shore.

Anthony!

Your camp looked fun.

It wasn't camp.

It was... it was treatment.

What are you being treated for?

I've committed the sin of lust.

And what cures that, pickleball?

My sins are between me and the Lord.

What about the sin of rape?

I haven't raped anyone.

My sins of the flesh were consensual.

What about this?

I didn't do that.

The man is in prison who did this.

Deny, deny, deny.

It's a good strategy.

I mean, it almost worked.

I mean, we could have been out of luck.

Until we found Christine.

And the baby.

Science is truly amazing.

They were able to pull the DNA from the fetus in about...

I think they said four hours?

Tops.

We'll be able to find out who the father is.

So, Father, if you have anything to say,

now would be the time to do it.

God forgives all sins if you're truly repentant.

Whatever you do to me here

is meaningless.

My reward will be in heaven.

Well, until then, Father,

your life's gonna be hell.

Bring it here.

Guys, Lazzaro's being booked,

so go home.

We are gonna finish this later.

Well, we found more victims who are still alive.

Two of them are in Florida. We can reach out.

I'd like to go after the higher ups,

okay, everyone who helped cover this up.

That's the goal.

Carisi, what can we do to make sure

that Charles Greene is released as soon as possible?

I already have a call in to the AG's office,

so once this is all processed,

Greene should be released immediately.

That's great.

That's great. Thank you.

Well, I am going home.

I'm gonna take my son to dinner and I'm gonna sleep in my bed.

So get out of here.

Okay.

Kind of makes me miss the place.

- I'm not hiring. - No, yeah.

No, you got a great crew.

I wouldn't wanna blow up the vibe.

They want me to come back.

To OCCB?

Yeah.

Are...

are you gonna?

No.

I'm gonna drive to Arizona.

What's in Arizona?

Maureen and the kids.

They moved there.

Might be a nice place to spend some time in the winter,

you know.

The winter? What do you mean? Wow.

What?

Are you retiring?

No, I don't think so.

No, I just don't know what I wanna do yet.

But... I'm not done.

Good, 'cause I'm not either.

Well, I know that.

So another road trip.

You have to see the Grand Canyon.

- Is that out there? - No, I'm serious.

It's supposed to be amazing.

Why don't you come with me?

You're funny.

I'm serious.

You said you got personal time. Use it.

What?

I-I'm not coming with you to Arizona.

- Why? - Because I have Noah.

Have him come with us.

Send me a postcard.

Goodbye, Cap.