Top 20 Shocking Crimes That Inspired Law & Order: SVU

In one Season 17 episode, a vlogger levels assault allegations against a famous actor. Despite other accusations against him piling up, the star quickly denies any involvement. The episode aired just around the time the accusations against actor and comedian Bill Cosby were rising in the news. So, a lot of parallels were drawn between the “SVU” storyline and the real-life case. The show forges its own path, however, by making Amanda Rollins go undercover to obtain tangible proof against the predator after the charges were initially dropped. But both the fictional star and real actor lost a lot of public faith after the cases were concluded.

In June 2003, then 18 year old Devin Moore was arrested for shooting two police officers and a dispatcher in Fayette, Alabama. At his trial in 2005, his lawyers attempted to introduce evidence claiming that his use of the popular video game “Grand Theft Auto” helped instigate the incident. But the trial judge prevented the evidence from being shown to the jury and Moore was convicted of the crime. The highly controversial case mirrors an episode where a teenage couple is arrested for committing brutal crimes against a young woman. The characters also claim to have been inspired to commit their misdeeds by an action video game called Intensity. It wouldn’t be the last time gaming would be linked to violence on television.

When Cameron Todd Willingham’s daughters perished in a fire that engulfed his Texas home in 1991, he was arrested for orchestrating the horrifying incident. Despite maintaining his innocence throughout the trial, Willingham was convicted of the crime and executed. The case later raised several questions over Willingham’s guilt and the validity of the evidence used in convicting him. While most of the questions surrounding the real-life case remain unanswered, an “SVU” episode went a different route. A fictional father in the “Torch” managed to convince the Assistant District Attorney that he didn’t commit the crime. Eventually, he hires an expert who’s able to prove the fire was due to faulty electrical wiring.

This episode was inspired by a harrowing 2014 case involving two young people who led their friend into the woods in search of a fictional entity called Slender Man. Inspired by fan fiction posted on the Creepypasta Wiki, the duo inflicted severe wounds on their friend and left her for dead. Luckily, the victim was able to get help from a cyclist, was taken to the hospital and made a full recovery. The show replaces Slender Man with Glasgowman and includes an initial suspect who was believed to be the fictional character. In the end, the entity turned out to be an innocent bystander. It’s a particularly chilling episode that captured just how disturbing the real-life case was.

In 1996, a security guard named Thomas Hose asked a student named Tanya Nicole Kach to live with him. He then proceeded to keep her captive within his house for years before changing her name to further cover up his crime. Eventually, Kach got away from him and reported Hose’s sickening crimes. The breakdown of the case came when Kach told a store owner who she really was. An “SVU” episode mirrored the real life events by having a story begin with a merchant trying to help someone who came into the store. After a few major twists, the authorities are able to save an innocent woman just in time.

The story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Blanchard is one that shocked audiences when it was detailed in the HBO documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest”. In a classic case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, Dee Dee gave her daughter Gypsy medication for years to make her appear sick. When Gypsy finally became aware of her mother’s actions, she and her boyfriend conspired to exact a cold-blooded revenge on her. The highly publicized incident clearly inspired this season nineteen episode where two young people with physical disabilities lash out at their mother. In both cases, a parent’s mistreatment builds up to a point where they pushed their offspring to a violent breaking point.

The life of 28-year-old bartender Kitty Genovese came to a gruesome end in March 1964 when she was assaulted and fatally wounded just outside her apartment building. After the incident, “The New York Times” erroneously reported that 38 people witnessed the crime and did nothing to help her. The infamous case was instrumental in the creation of a centralized 911 emergency number and initiated the theory of the bystander effect or “Genovese Syndrome”. This effect came to play in this aptly-titled “SVU” episode, in which a drunk woman is assaulted outside her apartment building. Investigation by the “SVU” team uncovers a host of witnesses who, like in the now-debunked “New York Times” article, ignored her cries and never came to her aid.

On the morning of June 5th, 2002, Edward & Lois Smart, woke up to find that their daughter Elizabeth had been abducted right from their home. For the next nine months, Elizabeth was held captive by Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. She was fortunately discovered and rescued by police. This agonizing case laid the groundwork for the season four episode “Perfect”. Although similarities abound in the motives of their abductors and the conditions under which they are made to live, both cases still differ greatly. Smart’s eventual return home contrasts that of the “SVU” victim. In the fictionalized story, the investigation kicks off after the authorities find the victim after it’s too late to save her.

Famous for starring in the hit series “Empire”, Jussie Smollett won a lot of sympathy in 2019 when it seemed like he was the victim of a hate crime. That sympathy quickly wore off as a police investigation revealed that the incident was all a hoax orchestrated by Smollett himself. The actor had hired two men to verbally and physically attack him and tried to pass off the story as real. A couple of months after the incident, “SVU” drew inspiration from it for this episode in which a pop star called Mathis lies about being assaulted by a serial predator. As with Smollett in real life, Mathis’ stunt backfires phenomenally and results in his reputation going down the drain.

Before the events of May 14th 2011, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a high-ranking French politician who was set to be a frontrunner in the 2012 French presidential election. His reputation suffered a heavy blow when he was arrested on that day. Strauss-Kahn was charged with assault and attempted assault against Nafissatou Diallo, a hotel maid. Physical details about the diplomat and maid are changed in the “Scorched Earth” episode. However, the maid’s credibility was questioned in both the show and real life after she lied about certain details. In reality, the real-life case was dismissed before it was even brought to a jury. The fictional universe sees the diplomat acquitted of assault but found guilty of unlawful imprisonment.

In this season seventeen episode, a reality TV family notifies the “SVU” team when their daughter gets pregnant after taking a purity vow. The eyes of suspicion first hone in on the reality show’s cameraman. But after he’s cleared, they fall on the pregnant girl’s older brother. Although the sibling is vindicated by DNA, this plot is reminiscent of the once popular Duggar family. They were rocked with scandal when it was revealed that Josh Duggar assaulted five people. Four of the victims were his own sisters. Thankfully, none of these attacks resulted in a pregnancy. The aftermath of the scandal led to the cancellation of the family’s TLC series.

What happened to the young JonBenét Ramsey in her Boulder, Colorado home is a case that has left detectives and the general public puzzled for decades. The similarities between the Ramsey case and the one featured in the “SVU” episode “Appearances” are striking. Both cases revolve around a beauty pageant queen who dies via asphyxiation. The “SVU” victim is found on a bus. Eventually, the team is able to trace the evidence back to the perpetrator and the CEO of the company that influences him. Sadly, the JonBenét Ramsey case didn’t have the same kind of resolution. The identity of whoever took the life of JonBenét remains unknown.

“Personal Fouls” detailed an investigation into the life of a famed basketball coach who is accused of inappropriate conduct with his students. The episode is directly inspired by the real-life Penn State scandal involving Jerry Sandusk. He was a retired defensive coordinator for the state’s football program. Through his non-profit charity, The Second Mile, Sandusky took advantage of multiple victims over a fifteen-year period. His actions were notably enabled by the silence of peers who had suspicions that crimes were occurring. “SVU” remains largely faithful to the truth by telling a tragic story of the mental, social and emotional costs of delayed justice.

The student community of Isla Vista, California was shaken on the evening of May 23rd 2014 when 22-year-old Elliot Rodger went on a rampage and took the lives of six people. Prior to that evening, Rodger released a YouTube video and emailed a lengthy manifesto. The document both outlined his frustrations at the world and his upbringing and his plans to punish humanity for it. The details of this heinous case served as the backdrop for the 2014 “SVU” episode titled “Holden’s Manifesto”. While the criminal in the episode mimics the motives of the original perpetrator, his eventual fate differs from that of the actual case. In the real world, Rodger took his own life before he could be apprehended by the police.

The shocking true story of David Reimer served as the blueprint for a 2005 episode where twins exact their revenge on the psychologist who basically used them as lab rats. In real life, Reimer, was raised as a girl without his knowledge after a botched medical procedure. His parents were advised to make him undergo sex reassignment surgery and sent him tocounseling sessions with his brother. A horrifying psychologist named John Money made them perform inappropriate acts and kept photographic records. Although Reimer eventually reversed the assignment, the experiment took a huge psychological toll on the twins. Both of them suffered depression and died before they were 40. The episode’s brutal outcome for the therapist doesn’t make the case any easier to hear about.

In 2009, reports and photos emerged certifying that A-list singer Rihanna had been assaulted by her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown. There are many parallels between this case and that featured in the “Funny Valentine” episode. Both followed a female singer who has to deal with the media frenzy that arises when her pop star boyfriend assaults her. After the initial story coverage, Rihanna continued to have a healthy and fruitful career. However, the “SVU” writers strayed far from reality with a dark turn. In the episode, the rising female star on the show chooses to remain with her boyfriend and ends up losing her life.

While some “SVU” storylines are nearly identical to the real-life crimes that inspired them, this 2012 installment is only loosely based on their source material. The 300th episode of the show, “Manhattan Vigil” was based on the 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, who was abducted on the way to his school bus stop. Patz’ disappearance remained a cold case until a man named Pedro Hernandez owned up to the crime and received a life sentence for it. In the “SVU” episode, a young person is taken more than a decade later after a similar incident. The detectives are then able to learn from their past mistakes and are able to solve the cold case that had haunted them for years.

The second part of season fifteen’s two-hour premiere involves an abandoned young man leading detectives to a den where others are held captive. The episode is a dramatized account of the case around real-life criminal Ariel Castro. After taking women hostage in the early 2000s, he held them captive for years. One of his victims even gave birth while in captivity. The harrowing ordeal came to an end in 2013, when one of the women escaped with her daughter and led police back to the house. Castro received a life sentence plus a thousand years for his crimes. However, he ended up taking his own life shortly after his imprisonment began.

The trial of Casey Anthony drew significant media attention in 2011 after the young mother was accused of being responsible for the death of her daughter, Caylee. The victim was first reported missing in 2008 by her grandmother, who suspected foul play. After the trial went on from May to July 2011, Anthony was acquitted. This case set the backdrop for the season ten episode that aired before Anthony’s trial even began. The episode borrows heavily from the real-life crime. However, its conclusion, which incorporates themes of anti-vaccination and religion, is a major deviation from the actual story.

In 2008, a school in Massachusetts made international headlines when it was revealed that some students had allegedly planned to get pregnant together. As some of the girls were very young, the news was met with strong criticism and raised questions about assault. The “SVU” episode “Bones” presents a fictional account of the case. During the narrative, the pact serves as a backdrop in the investigation of the deaths of two people. The real story has been dramatized in multiple media. However, the actual subjects of the case have gone on record to deny the existence of any pact. This time around, the show’s fiction may have been stranger than reality.