Law & Order SVU “Eighteen Wheels A Predator” Recap, Review, Discussion

There was a lot happening in “Eighteen Wheels A Predator”.  The SVU had to deal with a serial rapist PLUS an incestuous rapist brother.  What a disgusting combination!

The initial rape case became much easier to crack when a serial rapist himself decides to call the SVU to tell them they had the wrong guy.  He also tells them he did it again, giving them the excuse to look for other similar cases. His ego clearly clouded any common sense he might have had.  But the initial suspect, now cleared  of the first rape,  is still a rapist - of his own sister. He proceeds to rape and beat her, probably thinking she’ll never turn on him. Big mistake. 

While Benson speaks with the press, she gives Fin and Rollins a pat on the back for their work  on the case,  but frankly I  think they just did their jobs.  Maybe going to Kentucky is considered some sort of hazardous work?   Okay, I'll admit this was a complex case for them and they worked it well. 

Chief McGrath is going to work himself into a heart attack or a bleeding ulcer if he continues to let his emotions go on these wild swings.  He can’t seem to deal with the pressure of the press  breathing down his neck and then gets over-excited when he thinks the police have their man.   He’s the opposite of Chief Garland, who seemed to approach things with a calm, yet determined demeanor.  For someone in a position of power, he can’t seem to deal with crime. 

Octavia Pisano did not appear in this episode.  

Here is the recap:

Kayla Stuart walks into a bar and the bartender, Dustin Tinsley,  buys her a shot of tequila.  He hassles a guy who he thinks is hassling his sister, Demmy.  He continues to cover Kayla’s drinks except one.  When she goes to the ladies room, he follows her into the hall and kisses her but she brushes him off. When she goes to catch a cab, he gets testy with her, calling her a bitch. As she walks off he follows her.  She walks into the park, drunk,  and gets hit from behind and then dragged off the path. It’s pouring rain and she’s left laying on the ground. 

The next day, police are on the scene where the girl is being tended to by  EMTs.  Rollins tells an officer to tape off the area. Fin says they’ve found what could be her purse, no wallet or ID, the cell phone is locked.  Fin asks Rollins if she is okay and she said with the storm last night, every time she woke up there was either a scared kid or a dog in her bed.  He says her vacation is over.  Benson approaches and welcomes her back and asks if the vic could tell them anything. Rollins explains she was unconscious, soaking wet, and with a head wound, probably concussed.  Benson moans about the rain and there being no DNA.  Benson asks if there are security cams or witnesses and Rollins calls it a dead zone. Fin explains their working theory is she was attacked on that path and then dragged down the hill and they found her purse and cell phone. Rollins adds they found her jeans folded neatly beside her.  An EMT alerts them the victim is coming to;  Rollins speaks with her to tell her she is safe. Benson explains who they are and asks if she can tell her her name.  She can't.  Fin sees Chief McGrath approaching and tells Benson “incoming”. Benson tells Rollins to accompany the victim to the hospital and then meets with McGrath,  who hopes that the victim makes it.  He asks Benson if she has anything for the press and Benson explains that keeping the park safe is their top priority and they are working as hard as they can. McGrath  says nobody cares how hard they are working, they want results. Benson comments now he’ll tell her they can’t afford any more headlines about how New York City is out of control.  He says, “Yeah” as the press calls out to him for info. McGrath asks if she wants to deal with those jackals, One PP, and the mayor. She said they are working the scene. He walks off to talk to the press.  As Benson walks off with Fin who asks if something is wrong, she explains she’s been up since 5 and already it feels like this day is never going to end.  She adds that this job is hard enough but the politics…Fin says “let’s just get this guy.”

At the hospital, Rollins is with the victim and turns off the TV covering her story.  The know now her name is Kayla.  Rollins brings her the cell phone and shows her a photo of her purse. Rollins explains there was no wallet.  Kayla said she never saw him and explains she was walking home and must have gotten hit from behind.  Her boyfriend dumped her by text from LA so she went for a drink and had a few shots of tequila. She paid with her phone and shows Rollins the receipt.  It was Embargo on Columbus but Rollins sees Kayla paid for only one shot. Kayla explains the bartender said the rest were on the house and she guesses he thought she owed him.

At the Embargo Bar on Wednesday April 6,  Fin and Rollins see someone -  Dustin -  dealing drugs outside, and his sister Demmy going to unlock the bar door.  They question both of them and  Demmy admits her and Dustin both worked last night. She asks if it’s about the girl in the news and Dustin tells her to shut up. Rollins tells him to get his hands up and frisks him and they find drugs on him.  He plays dumb, saying these are his roommates pants. Fin cuffs him and says, “Yeah sure they are, man.” They take him away. When Demmy asks where are they taking him, Rollins explains the 16th precinct, SVU.  Demmy says she will meet him there. 

In interrogation, Dustin tells Fin and Rollins he bought her a few shots last night and he doesn’t hurt women. Rollins counters that is not what his record shows, he has DV charges going back 7 years, He explains his ex was crazy. He admits the girl was in his bar last night but so were other men and he did not see her leave.  Fin says he did see her leave and they show him the street video showing him outside the bar with her and then following her.  But he says he made sure she got across the street and then he went home. Rollins says they can ask his roommate, the one whose pants he borrowed. Dustin admits he lied about that but he lives with sister but it used to be his parents place but their names are on the lease.  He asks for a lawyer.

Afterwards, they show Dustin’s file to Carisi who says it is like the ABCs of crime:  assault, battery, and citations. Benson adds D for drug possession. Carisi comments he initially waived Miranda but Fin says Dustin said the only Miranda he needed was one that will get on her knees. Rollins enters and says he Facetimed Kayla and she ID’d Dustin from the bar but no memory of him in the park.  They will wait for a DNA match. Rollins says his alibi – his sister – is there. 

Benson and Rollins speaks to Demmy and get her to explain what happened. She thinks they kissed once outside the bathroom and she pushed him away like she was teasing him. That’s when Dustin said she had to close up. She got home at 1:30 or 1:45 and admits he was not there, he came in later, after 3.  She got up to talk to him but he was in the shower.   He doesn’t always after shift but the rainstorm and he had muddy clothes which she put in the laundry.  She asks where is he and asks to talk to him. Benson says he is not coming home yet.  

At the home of Dustin and Demmy Tinsley, on Wednesday, April 6,  Fin and Rollins search along with other officers. Fin finds a gun and a knife.  Rollins eventually finds Kayla’s wallet hiding underneath the mattress.

McGrath is in Benson’s office with Fin and Rollins, and he’s happy with the news coverage of Dustin’s arrest for the rape. They explains all the evidence they have and the DNA match from her mouth.  Carisi says they can indict and McGrath wants Benson at the press conference after, they have to reassure the city. An officer enters and says she has someone on hold who wants to talk to her who says he has information about the case. Benson takes the call, asking Rollins to record it. It’s another man who says they arrested the wrong guy. He mentions the jeans folded next to her body and said he did it again, adding he’d put her on the phone but she’s not in the mood to talk right now.  We see an unconscious woman on the ground.  He hangs up the phone. They discuss they didn’t give the details on the jeans to the public.  The phone number was blocked so he could be anywhere.  McGrath, angry, tells them to call TARU and find out where the call came from.  They all  look concerned. 

Later, they explain these events to Carisi and they discuss options. They think John Doe could be the rapist and he wanted credit, and Dustin is innocent.  Rollins says the phone pinged near a truck stop in Bear Creek Kentucky and she is on hold for the local police chief. 

Later, Benson, with Fin, Rollins, and Carisi, speak with Captain Berry and explain the call.  He explains he is at the location of that call  now and they discovered a young victim in the woods who is on her way to the  hospital. She has a wound to the back of her head.  They see a  pair of jeans folded there. Benson thinks the rapes are connected. Benson asks to send two detectives there and he says normally state police would take charge but they have their hands full with a school shooting two towns over. They will take all the help they can get.  She sends Fin and Rollins. 

Benson and Carisi speak with Dustin and his lawyer about the wallet. He claims the cops planted it. Carisi outlines his options and Dustin claims he went home. They tell him there are other cameras and he finally admits he had a coke deal.  Benson asks for details. He gives them the information and says he didn’t tell them anything. 

Meanwhile, Fin and Rollins are with Captain Berry at the Bear Creek Police Department on Thursday, April 7.  They discuss the victim, Shay.  and what they know about her.  Later, at the scene, they all speak with Shay to get her account.  She said the place looks deserted but it’s a hidey-hole, Berry adding the kids come there to mess around. 

Back at SVU, Demmy is with Benson and Carisi and they ask her to cover some gaps, focusing on the wallet.   Benson gets a call from Rollins who says they got DNA from Shay’s rape kit and they got a hit in CODIS. His DNA has been found on multiple rape kits in a dozen states – 15 cases going back to 2001.  Dustin is not their guy – this is a serial rapist. 

McGrath and Benson walk in to the SVU with lots of police around. Benson explains SVU from every borough plus troopers and detectives from Missouri to Jersey and all states in between are there.  McGrath says they are in it until they figure out who this guy is.  One PP has signed off on all the overtime she needs, and Benson comments that the next time she wants their attention is she needs to tell them they are looking for a nationwide serial rapist. They discuss Dustin and that the charges were dropped and he’s out.   They go over all the details and the women and how he moves state to state, not everything lands in the national database or goes to VICAP.  McGrath says his mistake was calling them, Fin adding and bragging about the rape. Shay describes the same MO as what they heard from others. The rapist seems to follow the interstates, thinking it is a trucker or a salesman. They describe what they know about his voice. 

They speak with Kayla and play the recording of the call. She recalls someone at the jukebox in the bar sounding like that.

Fin and Rollins then speak with Demmy and she shows them camera footage from the bar that night.  They see a man by the jukebox who was listening to country western music.  He got run off the jukebox and left a 20 on the bar and walked out and she didn’t see him after that. 

Back at SVU, they see a better image of the man wearing a Walker Trucking cap.  No one saw Kayla leave with him.  They see camera footage outside and he seems to be waiting for her.  Rollins sent Walker Trucking a still of him but they have 6,000 drivers across the US and hundreds near New York that night.  Benson says they’re talking to the wrong ones; they’ve been focusing on completed rapes, assaults with the same MO, calling it survivorship bias.  They need to look outside the pattern – rapes that be botched and women that got away. Fin mentions cases overlooked, Rollins adding attempted rapes off truck stops and interstates over 20 years. Benson says yes and tells them to start calling local precincts; somewhere there is a needle in the haystack. 

At the apartment of Raelynn Cole in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania on Saturday April 9,  Benson and Fin speak with her about her experience.  The police at the time didn’t even send her for a rape kit.  She explains what happened to her and it sounds like the other attacks but she came to and he was unzipping his fly. She started screaming and kicking and he answered the  phone and covered her mouth. She ran when he wasn’t paying attention.  She did see his face and they have her look at some photos.  She picks out the Walker Trucking guy, she says it was Wes, she just remembered hearing his wife yelling at him on the phone about missing his birthday party.  Benson says she made this a whole lot easier for them.

Later,  Benson and Fin are in a car and Rollins calls and says only one drive matches that birth date – Aaron Wesley  Parke, he’s route match up with the most recent assault.   He took the week off and Benson gives her instructions on how to proceed.  Benson decides to head back.

At the home of Wesley and Winona Parker in Reading PA on Saturday April 9,   Winona says he is not home. She mentions when he’s on the road he likes to blow off steam by drinking and gambling. Benson asks when he gambles where does he go. 

Later, at the casino where Wesley is at they decide to get him talking before he lawyers up.  Benson sits down next to him at the slots and makes small talk. Eventually she outs herself as police and as officers move in, she has him arrested.  Fin mentions it is for 26 rapes and counting.  

McGrath barges in to Carisi’s office – a little surprised to see Rollins there – and he’s thrilled over the news of the arrest.  Rollins says Benson is on her way back. He tells Carisi he has eyes on him and not to drop the ball. When he leaves, Rollins wonders that McGrath doesn’t think Carisi can make the case, and Carisi  mentioned the botched arrest with Dustin.  Carisi says the serial rapist’s DNA is not in the rape kit but Dustin’s is. They have to explain how her wallet got into his room.  Rollins gets a call and says she is on her way. 

They arrive at Demmy’s where EMTs are tending to her, She’s been badly beaten.

Later, Benson and Rollins speak with Demmy in the hospital, who has agreed to a rape kit.   Demmy eventually explains Dustin did this as he realized she planted the wallet.  They say if her plan was for him to go to prison for rape, that won’t work.  She had a bad feeling after seeing him with Kayla and walked in the park and found the  wallet and found Kayla and thought she was dead. She raced home and put the wallet in his room because she thought he did it.  Eventually it comes out that she wanted to be free, he has been coming into her room since she was 12. She never told her parents.

Back at SVU, Benson explains this to Carisi, saying they picked Dustin up outside his bar for dealing.  Meanwhile, Rollins and Fin and in with Wesley who brags about what he’s done, especially when Rollins says now it is time to shine, playing to his ego.  He folds easily and outlines what he did. He seems happy they are videotaping, thinking maybe Dateline or Netflix will do a special on him.

Later, Carisi and Benson speak with Dustin and his lawyer and confront him about Demmy, for rape and assault of his own sister.  Benson mentions having his DNA and Benson spells out the rape to the lawyer.   She tries to get him to stop talking but he says Demmy needed it and wanted it. Benson tells the lawyer to walk Dustin through his options, saying there aren’t many. 

Afterwards,  Rollins is dismantling the case board,  with Fin present,  as they listen to McGrath’s press conference about the arrest of the serial rapist. He lets Benson speak to the press. Benson explains the details.  Fin comments that McGrath got his win, and Rollins says they all did.  Benson says they all share in this victory but singles out the work of Sergeant Odafin Tutuola and Detective Amanda Rollins. They give each other a look.  As Rollins closes up the evidence box, we fade to black.