Law & Order: Criminal Intent - First Season

In New York City war on crime

the worst criminal offenders are pursued

by the detectives of the Major Case Squad.

These are their stories.

You couldn't wait 10 minutes to sell this place out from under me.

She's barely in her grave.

I didn't sell the house. Mom did last fall.

What?! Who's going to buy this dump?

Some developers putting up offices.

She got a good deal. This is perfect.

You know, you are really something, you know that?

You never come out to see her.

and you're going to stand there and complain

that she sold the house so she could have something to live on?

I'm upset, okay? I just buried my mother.

What is it, Ricky? Kicked out of your apartment again?

It's okay, Ricky.

They're not taking possession until the end of the week.

You can stay until then.

The phone's off, but the power's still on.

I need to find contact information for one of your members--

Jay Lippman. He's a mechanical engineer.

No, "Lipp," with a 2 "P"s-- "Lippman."

You have to book the travel time as well as the appointment.

I don't want to get there early,

and I don't want to get there late.

And I don't know anyone named Rick Morrissey.

If he calls again, get rid of him.

I got some phone calls today.

Who from?

Whoever it was just hung up.

Four times.

I don't know what you expect me to say, Anne.

Telemarketers do that.

Not when you pick up, Jay.

I'm not going through this.

You're wrong.

Don't the kids know what time dinner is?

Hello?

Oh, sure. How have you been?

That's not going to be possible right now.

Yes. All right.

I have to go out for a minute.

That's just great.

20 years I don't hear from you, that's the way it's going to stay.

We got a problem, Jay.

Sorry, I don't know you, okay? That's the way it's going to stay.

Jay, we have to dig it up.

It's clay.

She was buried deep, where it's cool.

That explains why there's only partial decomposition.

That, plus the fact it looks like the tarp was sealed.

There's no telling how long she was in the ground.

It's not more than 20 years.

That's a black denim miniskirt from the London Limited.

They only made them the one season-- 1983.

You wore one of these?

I looked good in it, too.

Her fingers are in okay shape.

We might be able to get prints off them.

I'll need your men to canvass those buildings over there.

Somebody took the trouble to move her.

You got to wonder why they picked such a public place to dump her.

The question is why they took the trouble at all.

- ( knocking ) - What?

That girl in the Bronx River. I told you, dump it back to Homicide.

It's one of yours. Alyssa Cooney.

You sure? It's a tentative ID.

She had a previous injury. A broken leg.

Right. The body had a broken femur and clavicle.

Alyssa had a skiing accident when she was 10.

That's her. Give it back to Homicide.

Eames: She was tortured, Captain.

She had rope burns on her wrists and ankles, her jaw was broken,

she was penetrated with foreign objects, she was suffocated--

The case is too old. You'll never break it.

Killers like this, they don't stop after one murder.

Especially one they got away with.

We had one suspect. Her boyfriend, Mike Heskey.

Last I heard, he lived in Queens, off Astoria.

Look, I told the police, I don't know how many times, what I knew.

The last time I saw her, we were in a bar on Canal. She was mad at me.

Because you hit her.

People in your dorm saw you hit her.

Yes, that did happen. I was studying for midterms, and she wanted to party.

And I'm not making any excuses.

It sure sounds like excuses to me.

I've never hit another woman again in my life. You ask anyone.

What was the fight about? The one in the dorm?

She was bored with me.

She was shopping around?

She had just moved to the city.

She was like someone who'd been let out of a cage.

Anything wild, that's--

You again. I told you so many times,

I don't know what happened to Alyssa.

We found the body.

You found her?

We found her where you put her.

After you tied her up, tortured her, and killed her.

God as my witness, I did no such thing.

It's all there.

Oh, God.

There...

And there...

- ...and there— - God help me.

- There... - God help me.

There!

What if I drove her into this?

She was so mad at me.

Why didn't I stop her?

He didn't do it, did he?

Send him home.

Been a long time since I've been out of the city.

I got that cough-- That downtown cough.

I thought I'd go see my ex in Poughkeepsie.

$10,000 can take you a little farther than that.

No, not just stop there.

She and I always talked about going to Maine.

So I'm thinking with this money,

this could be a second chance for us.

You're looking to relocate. Good.

It's just that I hate to leave my sister.

You mention any of this to her? Any of this?

I didn't want her involved.

Good.

I want to see you get on that bus, Ricky.

I examined a tissue sample from your corpse.

If there's something in the ground water,

the tissue would pick it up, too.

Transdichloroethylene. Xylenes. Ethylbenzene.

Industrial waste leakage.

My first thought was the neighborhood around the Fresh Kills landfill.

It's a long drive from Staten Island to the Bronx with a body in the trunk.

With all the spot checks since 9111--

There are private dumps in the Bronx.

Places where construction companies unload waste, no questions asked.

The smell, some days, just awful.

We tried to shut them down, but City Hall doesn't care about the Bronx.

Seems so. We've been to six other dumps in the Bronx already.

Is there any other construction starting up, or maybe a swimming pool?

A swimming pool, that would be nice.

The heat in the summer here will kill you.

Oh-- there's an office complex.

They're building offices? Where?

Juniper and Second.

Some geniuses think companies want to move

out of downtown to the Bronx because it's safer,

because of the tragedy. I'll believe it when I see it.

Thank you very much.

Woman: They bought these houses here.

The Marinos', the Dougans',

and then Sue Morrissey's across the street.

She just died, God rest her soul, a week ago Monday.

Is anyone else living there?

- No. - Thank you for your time, Mrs. Gambi.

You won't find anybody. Everybody's gone but me.

I'll go around back, see if there's a way in through the garage.

Down here!

You find something?

Yeah, it's a grave.

There was a body in my parents' house that whole time?

That's unbelievable.

20 years ago, I was living there with my mother and father.

Did you know a girl named Alyssa Cooney?

I didn't.

I don't know if my parents did. They're both dead now.

Did anyone else live there in 1983? Maybe your parents had tenants.

- No, no. - ( cell phone ringing )

Excuse me.

How about the neighbors? Any of them have access to the house?

I remember that Easter, Mom and Dad took me to Florida for a week.

Mrs. Gambi across the street, she was watering the plants.

- She live with any other family? - Her husband.

Maybe someone broke in while we were gone.

Mrs. Colton, do you know a Richard Morrissey?

Oh, Ricky's my brother. Why?

His fingerprints were found at your parents' home.

They were recent.

Yes, of course. He was there for the wake.

When we asked...

Who else lived in the house, you didn't mention him.

You said, "20 years ago." He was living in the city then.

He was at Hudson University. That's why I got confused.

He's been in trouble before. It came up with his prints.

Mostly drug-related offenses.

That was just stupid mistakes.

That's nothing like what you're talking about now.

Anyway, he's been to clinics. He's cleaned up his drug problems.

We still need to talk to him.

He changes addresses a lot.

Well, how about those drug clinics you mentioned?

Yeah, that clinic should update its files.

Morrissey hasn't lived here in almost a year.

Guy was a deadbeat.

Landlord had to get a court order to lock him out.

- Has he been back since? - Why would he come back?

To get the stuff you kept when you locked him out.

Next time, when you're going to lie,

don't answer a question with a question.