David and Eileen Lerner are found murdered in their beds. Logan and Briscoe find out that the couple was beloved by everybody. The Lerners had lived in their apartment for only a year; the prior resident was a well-known divorce attorney, Warren Bartlett. The detectives think that whoever broke in and killed the Lerners was actually targeting Bartlett. Clues lead them to Bartlett's estranged son Steven Alan Smith, a young alcoholic. He is arrested and under hypnosis, he confesses to breaking into his old childhood home and murdering the Lerners, thinking they were his parents. His lawyer argues that he is not guilty for reason of mental defect. He is convicted of murder in the second degree and given the minimum sentence.
Tropes present in this episode
- The Alcoholic: Steven is an alcoholic, which explains why he goes to AA. His mother also was, which explains her abuse of Steve.
- Asshole Victim: An exaggerated inversion with the Lerners, who by all accounts were an honest couple who were held in high regard by everyone who knew them. They apparently treated their employees so well that only two people ever left against their will; one died and one was deported, and Eileen Lerner traveled to Washington, D.C. to attempt to stop the latter case. In the course of their investigation, Briscoe and Logan find exactly one person who has any potential motive to murder them, a former partner of theirs who insists that they did him a favor by driving him bankrupt and out of the ad agency.
- Murder by Mistake: The couple savagely murdered in their beds? They were not the intended target; the defendant had wanted to kill his parents but forgotten they'd moved.
- Paint the Town Red: The crime scene after the Lerners are found is a blood bath.
- Parental Abuse: Steven was abused by his mother.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Based on the Paul Cox case, who murdered a couple of homeowners he mistook for his parents while in a drunken rage.
