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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – Master Key

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By: Kaylyn Bell

 

 

Aurora Miller (Monnae Michaell) is managing the group home and notices one of the boys, Anthony (Ricky Garcia), is missing. He left his phone, which is unusual for a teenager to do, so she reports it to the police.

Silva (Juliana Aidén Martinez) and Bruno (Kevin Kane) arrive, and the officer on scene (Thamer Jendoubi) informs them that Anthony is in the home because his parents are both dead. He also explains Anthony is on probation for assaulting a kid at school a few weeks ago, meaning he has an ankle monitor.

Silva and Bruno speak to Aurora, and she tells him the last person to see him this evening was his roommate Eric (Chinua Baraka Payne). Eric says Anthony put clothes in a bag, left and got in some guy’s car. He states he saw Anthony hug the man he describes as white with a moustache and a gold van. The officer enters, informing them that probation has found the last known location on the ankle monitor to be a restaurant.

The partners arrive at the restaurant, and an employee tells them she saw a man matching the description with Anthony who looked nervous. Silva finds the ankle monitor in the trash and they call in an Amber Alert.

The next day Benson (Mariska Hargitay) walks into the precinct asking for an update. Velasco (Octavio Pisano) says they couldn’t find anyone in Anthony’s life matching the older man’s description, so they’re reviewing street cams now. They did discover that Anthony spent his whole life in the system after his dad was murdered and his mom overdosed. In his phone they found a couple dozen unknown numbers from areas all over the US, and Benson directs them to call them all. His search history also shows he was looking up how to remove an ankle monitor, so it’s possible Anthony wasn’t abducted but rather ran away. Bruno says his caseworker at Child Protective Services is Michael Strickland (Zach Appelman) and Benson instructs the squad to talk to him.

Velasco and Curry visit Michael. Michael explains Anthony’s had a rough life, so they meet once a week, and he tries to support him. He says Anthony’s never mentioned an older man in his life.

Carisi (Peter Scanavino) meets the squad at the precinct for an update. Benson shows him that a camera outside the home caught the moment Anthony got into the car. From the license plate image they identified him as Colin Clark (Ben Fine). Benson suspects Colin groomed Anthony.

Velasco, Curry and ESU arrive at Colin’s listed address. A woman (Jo Twiss) answers the door and says he told her he was going out of town, but to check his place of work.

The squad arrives at the motel where Colin works, and they see his van in the parking lot. Benson directs them to search the place. An officer radios that they found something in a room and they enter to find Colin shot dead on the bed. Benson hears crying from the room next door, so they bust down the door to find Anthony sitting on the bed holding a gun and crying.

Benson and Carisi meet Anthony and his lawyer (Victor Cruz) at the hospital. She asks how he met Colin and he says when he was kidnapped. Benson points out that his roommate said he saw him hug the man and leave voluntarily. As they keep questioning Anthony, his story develops more holes and he gets defensive.

At the crime scene Silva informs Bruno that the gun was registered to Colin. Silva points out that there’s evidence of remorse and, based on the blood patterns, it seems that Colin was shot on the ground and lifted into the bed. Bruno adds that someone else had to be there because Anthony couldn’t have lifted all that dead weight himself. They call Benson and share their findings.

Benson and Carisi continue to ask Anthony about his story. He says he grabbed the gun when Colin was in the bathroom and after Colin got into bed, he shot him. Benson tells him that her detectives think another person was there and the lawyer shuts down the questioning. As they exit the hospital, Benson says she believes it was self-defense, but recognizes that he’s not telling the truth. Carisi says that until they know what actually happened, he has no choice but to send Anthony to juvie.

Silva and Bruno arrive to speak with the medical examiner (Natalie Liconti), who tells them that it seems based on the entry of the bullet, Colin was on his knees raising his hands when he was shot. They meet up with Benson and Carisi to tell them that the ME’s findings disprove Anthony’s story. Bruno adds that Colin and Anthony’s prints were found on the gun, as well as a partial print from an unknown third person.

Bruno receives copies of texts between Colin and Anthony from TARU. The messages show they were in a relationship and planning to flee to California. Benson states that her suspicions were correct; he’d been grooming Anthony.

Benson and Carisi meet with Anthony in juvie, but he continues to claim he never met Colin before. After seeing the text messages, his lawyer advises him to answer truthfully and he admits he went with Colin voluntarily. He claims that he changed his mind about California and shot Colin, but they know he’s lying. He replies that the real lie is that the cops and CPS care. After he leaves, Carisi asks if she thinks he’s covering for someone and Benson replies, “Yes, whoever actually murdered Colin Clark.”

Carisi tells Benson that their office is considering a murder charge because it’s hard to prove self-defense now that Anthony admitted to going with him voluntarily. Benson argues that he was manipulated by Colin and whoever else was in that room. Carisi tells her that until they find a viable suspect or Anthony tells the truth, there’s not much he can do.

Benson arrives at the precinct, where the squad informs her that they’ve hit a bunch of dead ends in finding this mystery man. Benson asks Bruno and Silva to bring Aurora in, as she has been his only visitor since getting arrested. They ask her about the fight at school, and she explains he didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but the boy picking on him was older and he has issues with older men. She reveals that Anthony was sexually abused by one of the older sons in the foster home he was placed in after his mother died. Aurora says she found out from Anthony’s social worker, Michael.

Bruno and Silva visit CPS to ask Michael’s boss (Nancy Nagrant) about the complaints he’d received. She says there were a few foster parents who thought Michael focused too much on the kids. They find Michael to ask about his relationship with Anthony and where he was the night Colin was shot. He asks for a lawyer, and this line of questioning continues in the precinct. Silva tells them that the lab is processing the print now, so they should get ahead of it and cooperate. Michael admits to being in the motel that night but claims he did not kill Colin. He says Anthony called him from the motel, and when he got there, he found Colin in bed with him. He says in anger he yelled at Colin, which made him pull out his gun, and after a struggle the gun fell and Anthony picked it up. From outside the room, Benson tells Carisi, “This guy is so full of it.” She voices that Anthony has been failed by the system his whole life, and she won’t let it happen again.

Benson and Carisi meet with Anthony to share the audio recording of Michael blaming him. Anthony refuses to explain why he called Michael that night and Benson realizes that Michael groomed him, too. Benson pleads for him to stop protecting Michael so he can get out of juvie. He says he has no one and nowhere to go, but Benson assures him he’s got her and her team to help him have a chance at life. He says he doesn’t want it.

Outside the detention center Benson states that even though Anthony won’t help, at least now they understand that Colin was killed out of jealousy, so they just need to find proof of that.

In the precinct the squad is trying to figure out a connection between Colin and Michael. Benson asks about the numbers in Anthony’s phone and Curry says after calling them she just got a lot of confused men. Velasco points out they’re probably lying because that’s a lot of random numbers for a kid with no friends or family to have. He suggests that Anthony was turning tricks.

Curry and Velasco meet with a TARU tech (Kat Donachie) who investigated the calls. She shows them a Craigslist ad she found for Anthony as a “male model” listed by Michael’s phone number. She continues that she found dozens of other kids within the CPS system that Michael was trafficking.

Carisi and Benson meet with Anthony again to explain that there were other kids trafficked as well, and she tells him they’re not giving up on him. Benson assures him that she knows the system failed him but she’s going to try and make it better, and he’s not alone. She asks him again how he really met Colin, and this time he answers. Anthony says he met Colin on Craigslist and he tried to help him get away from Michael. He confesses that he got put on probation on purpose so he would be monitored and couldn’t be trafficked. He says that he did want to get away that night but panicked and called Michael. Anthony explains that Michael made Colin get on his knees, put the gun in his hand and told him to shoot him. He continues that when he couldn’t do it, Michael put his hand over his and made him squeeze the trigger.

Velasco and Curry arrest Michael for child sex trafficking and murder.

Silva and Bruno have Michael in interrogation, and he continues to deny it until he sees they found his ads, searched his house and found his cash from pimping. Outside the interview room, Carisi is confident he will get Michael’s lawyer to take a deal.

Benson visits Anthony at his group home where he reveals that his roommate got adopted, which almost gives him hope. Benson tells him, “The system is broken, but not beyond repair. And neither are you.” As she leaves, he apologizes for lying to her and she tells him she’s rooting for him.

 

 

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