History Recap / LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS7E7Name

* MyGreatestFailure: Anna's alleged death is this for Carlos, because he told Anna about the murders and Sawyer found out and supposedly killed her in retaliation. Stabler has to break it to him that Sawyer lied to him and Anna is still alive.

* MyGreatestFailure: Carlos blames himself for getting Anna killed, because he told Anna about the murders and Sawyer found out. Stabler has to break it to him that Sawyer lied to him and Anna is still alive.

* AbusiveParents: Sawyer isn't technically Anna's parent, but used his pseudo-parental role as Anna's mother's boyfriend to abuse her. Anna's mother was also around until 1977 but never stopped Sawyer from hurting her, making her a UselessBystanderParent at best.

In interrogation, Novak offers a terminally ill Kerrick a deal: she'll go easy on him if he tells them the name of the Boy in the Box, or anything else he knows that might help them identify him. But Kerrick claims he doesn't remember, and refuses to budge from that claim. The episode ends with Millie and Stabler standing at the grave of the still-nameless Boy in the Box. Millie admits to Stabler that she resented the boy because her father seemed to pay more attention to the case than to her. Stabler tells her it's understandable, and they stand in silence for a few moments as the screen fades to black.

The skeletal remains of a child found in a sand quarry are connected to an unsolved missing persons case from 1978, where four middle school boys disappeared. But when Stabler goes to retrieve the file on the case, he finds that a lab tech, Millie Vizcarrondo, has already checked it out. At Stabler's prodding, she admits her reasoning; her father spent decades of his life obsessed with another cold case from eight years earlier, in which the body of an unidentified boy was dumped in an alley in a box, and now that he's dead, she's picked up the torch. She had been looking through cases from the same time period with victims fitting the same parameters in hopes of finding a lead.

Armed with the new evidence, Stabler goes back to Carlos. After a few questions, he breaks down and reveals the truth: he was not only Sawyer's employee, but was also in love with Anna. Carlos knows that Sawyer killed the Boy in the Box, because Sawyer forced him to help him dump the body, but he couldn't come forward because Sawyer threatened to kill Anna if he talked. Then, eight years later, Sawyer forced Carlos to give him an alibi for the other abductions. Carlos tells Stabler and Millie that when that happened, he called Anna and confessed the whole story to her, but Sawyer found out and killed Anna. Stabler then informs a stunned Carlos that Sawyer couldn't have killed Anna because Anna is still alive, and Carlos and Anna are reunited at the hospital. In the course of their conversation, Anna reveals a critical detail: "Robert Sawyer" is not their suspect's real name.

Initially, they focus in solely on the 1978 case, but then Stabler unexpectedly notices a connection: the box from the Boy in the Box case was from a water heater, and the primary suspect in the 1978 case was a plumber. The suspect, Robert Sawyer, has an alibi, but Stabler is skeptical as the alibi witness, Carlos Guzman, was employed by Sawyer at the time. He goes to talk to Carlos while Millie goes over the Boy in the Box evidence. Carlos sticks to his story, but seeing his body language, Stabler is pretty sure he's lying.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: The four boys who disappeared in 1978 were probably killed within a few days of their abduction. When the case is reopened in 2005, at least one parent of each boy is still living.

* KarmaHoudini: Sawyer killed at least five children, not to mention his severe abuse of Anna and emotionally torturing Carlos, and got to live out his life completely unencumbered by those crimes. By the time he's finally caught, he's already terminally ill and will probably die before they could even get through a trial, so there's no way to truly make him pay for his actions. One can only hope that his being in the system means he was convicted of something else and didn't get to live all of that time as a free man.

* BittersweetEnding: The killer is found and arrested, but he refuses to provide any information about the boy in the box, so even though the case is closed, they're no closer to identifying him. What's more, the killer is already virtually on his deathbed, so [[KarmaHoudini he'll likely serve only a few months of his sentence before he dies]].

* KarmaHoudini: Sawyer killed at least five children, not to mention his severe abuse of Anna and emotionally torturing Carlos, and got to live out his life completely unencumbered by those crimes. By the time he's finally caught, he's already terminally ill and will probably die before they could even get through a trial, so there's no way to truly make him pay for his actions. (One can only hope that the fact that he's in the system means he didn't get to live all of that time as a free man.)

* BittersweetEnding: The killer is found and arrested, but he refuses to provide any information about the boy in the box, so even though the case is closed, they're no closer to identifying him. What's more, the killer has only months to live, so there's really only so much they can do to him.

* KarmaHoudini: Sawyer killed at least five children and got away with it for three decades, not to mention what he did to Anna and the emotional damage he inflicted on Carlos. By the time he's finally caught, he's already terminally ill and will probably die before they could even get through a trial, so there's no way to truly make him pay for his actions.

Millie confirms that she's found more evidence to suggest a link, but very little to help them towards a solution. Just then, they get a new lead: a woman has come forward claiming to be a witness to a murder that matches the Boy in the Box case. They find the woman, Anna Gable, in a park and bring her in, but it's an uphill battle, as she is a long-time drug user who has suffered severe brain damage as a result. Anna claims that her father murdered her brother and dumped his body in a box. Millie believes her, but Stabler is skeptical; for one thing, Anna's father died a good decade before the Boy in the Box case. They investigate a lead that turns out to be a dead end, but just as Stabler is trying to convince Millie that Anna is nuts, the would-be witness they were talking to mentions seeing the obituary of the boy from the 1978 case in the newspaper. Since the only reason for that article to make someone think of the ''other'' case would be if the person already knew they were connected, and the police have only just begun to realize as much, Stabler realizes Anna may know something they don't after all.

Millie confirms that she's found more evidence to suggest a link, but very little to help them towards a solution. Just then, they get a new lead: a woman has come forward claiming to be a witness to a murder that matches the Boy in the Box case. They find the woman, Anna Gable, in a park and bring her in, but it's an uphill battle, as she is a long-time drug user who has suffered severe brain damage as a result. Anna claims that her father murdered her brother and dumped his body in a box, but Stabler is skeptical; for one thing, Anna's father died a good decade before the Boy in the Box case. They investigate a lead that turns out to be a dead end, but just as Stabler is trying to convince Millie that Anna is nuts, the would-be witness they were talking to mentions seeing the obituary of the boy from the 1978 case in the newspaper. Since the only reason for that article to make someone think of the ''other'' case would be if the person already knew they were connected, and the police have only just begun to realize as much, so Stabler realizes Anna may know something they don't after all.

* AndIMustScream: Anna is severely brain-damaged thanks to extended drug use. Huang says that it's "hard work for her to maintain a simple conversation".

* KarmaHoudini: "Robert Sawyer" killed at least five children and got away with it for three decades, not to mention what he did to Anna and the emotional damage he inflicted on Carlos. By the time he's finally caught, he's already terminally ill and will probably die before they could even get through a trial, so there's no way to truly make him pay for his actions.

* AbsenteeActor: Creator/MariskaHargitay (Olivia Benson) does not appear in this episode.

Back in the squad room, the detectives run down this new lead. There was a real Robert Sawyer, but Stabler deduces that he probably died in 1968 and their suspect stole his identity. They had run Sawyer's prints, but those belonged to the real Sawyer and not their suspect. However, their suspect was fingerprinted when he was first interviewed in the 1978 case, so Millie runs those prints.

Cut to a scene of Stabler and an ESU team raiding the home of one Sheldon Kerrick, who is clearly the same man as "Robert Sawyer". In interrogation, Novak offers a terminally ill Kerrick a deal: she'll go easy on him if he tells them the name of the Boy in the Box, or anything else he knows that might help them identify him. But Kerrick claims he doesn't remember, and refuses to budge from that claim.

The episode ends with Millie and Stabler standing at the grave of the Boy in the Box. Millie admits to Stabler that she resented the boy because her father seemed to pay more attention to the case than to her. Stabler tells her it's understandable, and they stand in silence for a few moments as the screen fades to black.

Millie confirms that she's found more evidence to suggest a link, but very little to help them towards a solution. Just then, they get a new lead: a woman has come forward claiming to be a witness to a murder that matches the Boy in the Box case. They find the woman, Anna Gable, in a park and bring her in, but it's an uphill battle, as she is a long-time drug user who has suffered severe brain damage as a result. Anna claims that her father murdered her brother and dumped his body in a box, but Stabler is skeptical; for one thing, Anna's father died a good decade before the Boy in the Box case. They investigate a lead that turns out to be a dead end, but just as Stabler is trying to convince Millie that Anna is nuts, the would-be witness they were talking to mentions seeing the obituary of the boy from the 1978 case in the newspaper. Since the only reason for that article to make someone think of the ''other'' case would be if the person already knew they were connected, and the only way Anna could know that is if she had information the police didn't have, Stabler realizes Anna may be telling the truth after all.

The skeletal remains of a child found in a sand quarry are connected to an unsolved missing persons case from 1978, where four middle school boys disappeared. But when Stabler goes to retrieve the file on the case, he finds that a lab tech has already checked it out. At Stabler's prodding, she admits her reasoning; her father spent decades of his life obsessed with another cold case from eight years earlier, in which the body of an unidentified boy was dumped in an alley in a box, and now that he's dead, she's picked up the torch. She had been looking through cases from the same time period with victims fitting the same parameters in hopes of finding a lead.

* AbusiveParents: Sawyer isn't technically Anna's parent, but used his pseudo-parental role as Anna's mother's boyfriend to abuse her.

* KarmaHoudini: "Robert Sawyer" killed at least five children and got away with it for four decades, not to mention ruining the lives of his almost-stepdaughter and her boyfriend. By the time he's finally caught, he's already terminally ill, so he's looking at maybe a year in prison before he dies.
* LackOfEmpathy: Sawyer/Kerrick. In addition to murdering five children, he got Anna hooked on drugs because he thought it was funny to make her take random prescriptions and see what happened. Carlos also implies that Sawyer sexually abused Anna.

The skeletal remains of a child found in a sand quarry are connected to an unsolved missing persons case from 1978, where four middle school boys disappeared. But when he goes to retrieve the file, he finds that a lab tech has already checked it out. At Stabler's prodding, she admits her reasoning; her father spent decades of his life obsessed with another cold case from eight years earlier, in which the body of an unidentified boy was dumped in an alley in a box, and now that he's dead, she's picked up the torch. She had been looking through cases from the same time period with victims fitting the same parameters in hopes of finding a lead.

Huang and Stabler question Anna again, this time presenting her with a photo of Sawyer. She initially identifies him as "Dad", but then clarifies that he "lived at my house while I was away". Stabler realizes that Sawyer might have been involved with Anna's mother and stuck around after her mother died, leading to Anna misidentifying him as her father. They then determine that Anna was in a mental hospital when the boys were abducted, leaving Sawyer alone in the house which is "in the middle of nowhere". They rush to the house and find what appear to be the bodies of the other three boys.

Huang and Stabler question Anna again, this time presenting her with a photo of Sawyer. She initially identifies him as "Dad", but then clarifies that he "lived at my house while I was away". Stabler realizes that Sawyer might have been involved with Anna's mother and stuck around after her mother died, leading to Anna misidentifying him as her father. They then determine that Anna was in a mental hospital when the boys were abducted, leaving Sawyer alone in the house. They rush to the house and find what appear to be the bodies of the other three boys.

Millie confirms that she's found more evidence to suggest a link, but very little to help them towards a solution. Just then, they get a new lead: a woman has come forward claiming to be a witness to a murder that matches the Boy in the Box case. They find the woman, Anna Gable, in a park and bring her in, but it's an uphill battle, as she is a long-time drug user who has suffered severe brain damage as a result. Anna claims that her father murdered her brother and dumped his body in a box, but Stabler is skeptical; for one thing, Anna's father died a good decade before the Boy in the Box case. They investigate a lead that turns out to be a dead end, but just as Stabler is trying to convince Millie that Anna is nuts, the would-be witness they were talking to mentions seeing the obituary of the boy from the 1978 case in the newspaper. Since the only reason for that article to trigger a memory of the earlier case would be if the person already knew they were connected, Stabler realizes Anna may be telling the truth after all.

Armed with the new evidence, Stabler goes back to Carlos. After a few questions, he breaks down and reveals the truth: he was not only Sawyer's employee, but was also in love with Anna. Carlos knows that Sawyer killed the Boy in the Box, because Sawyer forced him to help him dump the body, but he couldn't come forward because Sawyer threatened to kill Anna if he talked. Then, eight years later, Sawyer forced Carlos to give him an alibi for the other abductions. Carlos then tells Stabler and Millie that when that happened, he called Anna and confessed the whole story to her, but Sawyer found out and killed Anna. Stabler then informs a stunned Carlos that Sawyer couldn't have killed Anna because Anna is still alive, and Carlos and Anna are reunited at the hospital. In the course of their conversation, Anna reveals a critical detail: "Robert Sawyer" is not their suspect's real name.