Stalker

This is Troy. Leave a message.

Kate on voice-mail: Are you home? Pick up.

I need food. I want to order something.

I am craving guacamole.

I'm puling up.

Hello?

Man: I see you made it home, Kate.

Please leave me alone.

Sorry.

No! No! No!

No! No! Aah!

Aah! Aah! Aah!

Please, somebody! Aah! Aah! Aah!

Aah! Ohh!

No! No!

Somebody, help me!

Aah!

Woman: Over 6 million people are stalked each year in the United States.

1 in 6 women, 1 in 19 men.

Stalking is the unwanted or obsessive attention from one person to another.

It's driven by rejection, jealousy, revenge.

Hi.

I'll take your bag, all right?

I'm gonna get you early, ok?

Ok. How early?

Woman: Stalking can be the result of a relationship gone wrong

or delusional fixations that are pushed to extremes.

Anyone can be a stalker...

Ex-boyfriend, spouse, stranger.

Anyone can be a victim, and it's on the rise.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder,

whatever app is hot today,

we have too much access to one another.

Social media is the number one reason

stalking cases have tripled in the last decade.

That's where I come in.

I run TAU, the threat assessment unit of the LAPD

we are responsible for all stalking cases and threats to individuals,

as well as politicians and city employees.

It is our job to assess the level of threat in any situation and respond accordingly.

Have I lost you? I'm seeing eyes glaze over.

How about this? Any questions for me?

Did you handle the Selena Gomez stalker?

Second woman: I heard David Letterman had a stalker for over a decade,

some lady who kept breaking into his house.

No, I didn't, and, yes, he did,

but celebrity stalking makes up only 10% of all stalking cases.

Most victims are like you and me.

Good morning. The lab work came back on the mayor's bloody cake.

It was red food dye mixed with maple syrup.

You were right. It was a prank.

Call the mayor's office?

Yes, and the mayor wants to talk to you.

He scares so easy. I'll call him.

Homicide has more on yesterday's Burbank shooter.

Turns out it was a city employee targeting street workers.

I'm up. Can I do the assessment?

You can share it with Janice.

I told you.

Janice, can you do background for me?

Two boys at alcott university...

Eric Bates, Perry Whitley.

Good morning. Is this a new case?

It's a favor to the Dean. I have to see her later.

Woman: Detective Larsen is here.

Who?

Detective Larsen, transfer, the new guy.

I put him in the conference room for now.

He's early.

Hi. I'm Lieutenant Beth Davis.

Welcome to L.A.

How you doing? Detective Jack Larsen.

Nice to meet you.

What do you know about him?

From New York, Homicide,

13th precinct, big personality, not for everyone.

Single, never married, sleeps around.

Good for him.

- Slept with some high-up's wife. - Oh, and he got the boot.

Apparently he can't help himself.

Beth is gonna hate him.

Beth: 9 years NYPD Homicide.

Good record, decorated.

Why the stalkers unit?

Well, I was hoping to meet Scarlett Johansson.

It's an entirely different skill set.

Our goal is to prevent crime,

so there's a lot of case management involved.

A background in mental illness is necessary.

Have you read the manual?

No, but I watched "Fatal Attraction,"

"Obsessed," "My Bodyguard," "Cape Fear," "Swimfan."

Yes, I read the manual.

That was... that was a joke, and I'm well versed in mental illness,

everything from schizophrenia, narcissism, bipolar disorder,

delusional psychosis... My own!

Another joke.

I get it. I totally get it.

It's a very specific whack job that stalks and makes threats.

Again, why do you want to be in this unit?

I'm already in this unit.

I filled out the paperwork, my transfer was processed.

- Am I wrong? - No.

Because this was starting to feel like an interview.

There are currently 6 Detectives in the unit.

Each Detective is responsible for his own caseload,

but we're a small unit, so we work together.

You'll tale me for a month, and then I'll turn you loose.

Did I, uh... did I say something wrong?

What do you mean?

I'm getting a vibe like I just made a really bad first impression.

I know the Scarlett Johansson comment was...

- A vibe? - Yeah.

Like you don't like me.

Don't be silly. I'm sporadically rude.

Homicide dumped a murder on us.

Hi. I'm Janice Lawrence.

Nice tie.

Woman was murdered last night.

Kate Edwards... Single, 28,

burned alive in her car.

Ben Caldwell. Nice to meet you.

Any prior case files?

The victim reported an intruder in July

and again in October, a vandalism report a year prior.

She went to the police several times, Hollywood station,

but it was never classified as stalking,

so never made its way to us.

All right. Let's go, new guy.

Time for your first assessment.

Reporter: Authorities are searching for a suspect

in the murder of a young woman Kate Edwards,

who was burned alive in a fiery explosion.

Sources tell us the threat assessment unit

of the L.A. police department has been called in

to supervise the case, and no other details have been released

regarding the ongoing investigation.

We're almost done.

She hasn't been here very long.

The place is barely lived in.

Her mail goes to a mail center.

She's been hiding from someone.

Because she was terrified.

How so?

In the bathroom, she has a clear shower curtain

so no one can hide behind it,

a platform bed close to the ground

so no one can hide under it.

She didn't feel safe, hadn't in a long time.

Look at this room.

For an interior designer, it's not feng shui at all.

The bed should be on this wall facing the door, no,

but it's over here because...

She sleeps on the left side of the bed.

facing the door... To watch for a shadow,

the footsteps of her stalker to appear under the door.

She had trouble sleeping but refused to take sleeping pills.

There's a full prescription from a year ago inside the medicine cabinet.

She was too afraid to sleep.

- And her stalker? - It's a man. Let's face it.

The violence of burning someone alive

has us men written all over it.

He likes role-playing.

He wants his fantasy, so he breaks

into her apartment while she's gone,

sleeps in her bed, eats her food,

watches her TV, lives in her world.

He would leave little clues so she would know he was here

or... just to make her crazy.

What set him off?

The predator you described suffers from eroto-fixation.

He likes the journey. He doesn't want it to end.

Why kill her?

I don't know yet,

but I impressed you a little bit, didn't I?

There's a neighbor... Troy Gunn. They were good friends.

Kate on voice-mail: Are you home? Pick up.

I need food. I want to order something.

I am craving guacamole.

I'm puling up.

I was here all night.

I had my phone on silent.

You two were close?

Yeah. Real close for the past year.

This whole stalking mess brought us closer.

We met in a spin class at the gym.

She told me she was being harassed at the last place.

I told her that... when next door became available.

She moved in.

Were you two ever involved?

No. We were just friends.

But you wanted more.

No. We were just friends.

Do all the apartments have a view of the Hollywood sign?

On the north side.

You an actor?

I'm a realtor.

But you came to L.A. to be an actor.

Yeah. 10 years ago, but I'm a realtor now.

Was Kate involved with anyone?