Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Devil's Dissections (2015)

Mariska Hargitay: Sergeant Olivia Benson

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Quotes 

• Dr. Carl Rudnick : [on the recording]  The body's well preserved, most likely from the frigid water temperatures, which lasted well into April.

  Dr. Melinda Warner : [stopping the recording]  Let's stop here. Dr. Rudnick's time of death may be mistaken.

  Odafin Tutuola : May be?

  Dr. Melinda Warner : He says early April but based on the crime scene photos, it appears the body wasn't wrapped in plastic or a tarp.

  Amanda Rollins : But that's in his report.

  Dr. Melinda Warner : Yes, but if this body went into the water in mid-April, the fish or the crabs would have nibbled away at the soft tissue.

  Olivia Benson : So, it's more likely early May?

  Dr. Melinda Warner : I think so. I'm surprised, frankly. I mean, it's careless, and Dr. Rudnick is meticulous to a fault. He's one of the top ME's in the country.

  Odafin Tutuola : What else do you know about him?

  Dr. Melinda Warner : He's a guy who works six days a week, never puts in for overtime. We all figure family money. He's obsessed with his work.

  Olivia Benson : Okay, okay. So his timeline is off. Is it possible that he's overworked?

  Dr. Melinda Warner : Maybe. And here's another omission I noticed. His report neglects to mention that the dismemberment took place ante mortem.

  Amanda Rollins : So Rachel Groves was alive? You sure?

  Dr. Melinda Warner : Positive. Cutting into live tissue always caused a vital reaction, markedly different from cutting into dead tissue.

  Olivia Benson : And there's no way an ME would leave this out or possibly mistake the two?

  Dr. Melinda Warner : No. Now you wanna tell me what this about?

  Olivia Benson : Uh, I'm sorry Melinda, I cant. This is an active investigation.

  Dr. Melinda Warner : Before I re-autopsy this mummified body, is there anything I should know?

  Amanda Rollins : Uh, well, she may be a Swiss national. We haven't been able to ID her.

  Dr. Melinda Warner : That may be helpful.

  Olivia Benson : Okay.

  Odafin Tutuola : Melinda, watch your back with Rudnick.

• Dominick Carisi Jr. : These are the Changs. They bought the house four years ago, did a renovation. Before that, it had fallen into disrepair after the 2007 death of Manon Favreau. She was a widow whose husband's family actually built this house in the 1880s.

  Olivia Benson : Thanks for the history lesson, Carisi.

• Odafin Tutuola : We got nine dead bodies found here, all by the same killer

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : And now we've got the tenth. Occam's razor

  Olivia Benson : No guys, listen. We have two options: one is bad, the other one is worse. Either we missed one or... Yates has a copycat

• Olivia Benson : Okay, so Yates and Rudnick overlapped in medical school and Lena was in business school at the same time.

  Odafin Tutuola : And Susie just told us they were all friends.

  Amanda Rollins : Which, as Carisi said, Rudnick should have disclosed.

  Olivia Benson : It still doesn't mean that Rudnick is good for this. Remember, Rollins, Yates tried to pin Nadia's death on Will Halstead. He's an opportunist.

  Amanda Rollins : I know he is. And I know he's good for Nadia's murder and, a dozen before. But this woman in the wall, I'm not sure about. 'Cause, look, I did a search, I was trying to find out who exactly lived in this house in 2002. Now Con Ed and phone bills both went to Manon Favreau. The name on the cable bill, it's under Carl Rudnick.

  Olivia Benson : While it was owned by Manon Favreau? So he was renting?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : More like house-sitting. It turns out her maiden name was "Manon Rudnick." She's Carl Rudnick's great-aunt. I mean, these ancestry websites, you'd be surprised what they know about you.

  Olivia Benson : Okay. So Rudnick neglected to mention that the body we found was in his aunt's house, and he was living there when it was plastered in the wall.

  Odafin Tutuola : Damn. He autopsied his own fiancee?

  Amanda Rollins : Thirteen years after he killed her.

  Olivia Benson : We don't know that yet. We don't even know if the body is Lena's.

  Odafin Tutuola : Susie told us that Lena sent her a picture of herself from Switzerland.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, well, if she did send that photo, that's the last trace of her.

  Olivia Benson : Do we have proof that the body is even her's? DNA, dental records, anything?

  Odafin Tutuola : I called Warner. She said, according to Rudnick, there's no way to ID her.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : There's a shock.

  Olivia Benson : Okay. I'll call the chief Medical Examiner and see if he'll authorize Warner to independently redo both autopsies, preferably when Rudnick's not there.

• Greg Yates : Lena was a lovely girl. She was over from Switzerland for her doctorate and they met at Columbia.

  Olivia Benson : Met who?

  Greg Yates : Her fiancee. Well, on the night I that stitched him, he said that it was a sex game gone wrong but he had to have tortured... Oh... He might have sealed her in that wall while she was still alive

  Amanda Rollins : Stay with us, Dr. Yates.

  Greg Yates : Oh, yes. I'm sorry. That poor woman.

  Olivia Benson : You were going to give us a name?

  Greg Yates : I was. Apologies. Uh, Carl. Yes, when I was a senior resident on call, he was an attending. Strange man. A little delicate, pale. He kept to himself which is why were so sort of surprised when he got engaged to Lena.

  Amanda Rollins : Does this delicate man have a last name?

  Greg Yates : Rudnick. Uh, Dr. Carl Rudnick.

  Olivia Benson : That's it, we're done. Rollins...

  Amanda Rollins : [to Yates]  I went out on a limb for you. You think this is a game? You are gonna be transferred so far upstate your ass is gonna to freeze.

  Olivia Benson : Rollins, let's go.

  Greg Yates : What did I say?

  Amanda Rollins : Dr. Carl Rudnick. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner in the borough of Manhattan. He's a serial killer?

  Greg Yates : Wait. Carl became an ME? Oh, no that... That really is... That is perfect. He never liked people but he always liked cutting.

  Olivia Benson : Don't even try, Yates.

  Greg Yates : No, stay, please. I need to know, did he do any of the autopsies on the girls you found? Nadia, maybe? Come on, a man like that, with all those female bodies being delivered to the morgue, having been tortured to death... That is a trigger. He would get off on them and then he would want to go do another one for himself. That girl... The girl in Pelham Bay... Did Rudnick do her autopsy, too? Have another ME recheck the body. His report didn't say so but I'd bet dollars to donuts that he cut that girl up while she was still alive.

• Rafael Barba : Accusing the Deputy Chief ME of rape and murder? And they offered this conspiracy theory up right after their conjugal visit?

  Amanda Rollins : Yeah, I know.

  Rafael Barba : He worked you two.

  Odafin Tutuola : And the fiancee worked us. Give Yates points. That's a bold move.

  Amanda Rollins : I'm sorry. You all were right, I was wrong.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Hold on, Rollins. Now, look, I'm still only mid-search, but there was a Lena Grunwald from Switzerland who went to Columbia at that time. Now, as far as I can tell, she never graduates. She just disappears off the grid in the winter of 2002.

  Rafael Barba : You actually looked into this?

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Yeah, Counselor, I did. 'Cause if Yates is taking a flyer for an appeal, then we have to rule this out. Now, I'm still new here. But how well do you guys know Carl Rudnick?

  Olivia Benson : [to Carisi]  He got here right before you did. He came out of Miami-Dade, I think.

  Rafael Barba : Carisi's right. Yates is looking to overturn his conviction. Did Rudnick ever mention that he went to medical school with Yates?

  Amanda Rollins : No, he didn't.

  Olivia Benson : So what if he did? Yates kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered Nadia. He is guilty. The only reason he's bringing up conflicting evidence is for his appeal.

  Dominick Carisi Jr. : Still, if they did know each other, then Rudnick should have recused himself.

  Rafael Barba : That's easy enough to confirm. And while you're at it, see if Rudnick has any connection to the townhouse in Harlem, or if he even knew this supposed fiancee Lena Grunwald.

• Olivia Benson : Amanda, I don't know what you're doing, but this isn't police work.

  Amanda Rollins : I am cultivating a source. Listen, Yates hinted that he might know who the killer is.

  Olivia Benson : Hinted, but didn't say. So what, do you have to go back there again and then he'll tell you?

  Odafin Tutuola : He's playing you. This guy's a psychopath.

  Olivia Benson : Not to mention, Amanda, you went up there without clearing it with me. I'm not trusting your judgment right now.