Four people are murdered in a series of random attacks. Detectives discover the killer is a man suffering from severe mental illness.
Tropes
- Ax-Crazy: Daniel Varney
- Bittersweet Ending: Varney is declared unfit to stand trial, and the insurance company will pay for neglecting to inform him of his diagnosis. However, four people are dead, and the families of Varney's victims will never see him go on trial because his condition will never improve.
- Continuity Nod: Munch mentions that he worked homicide for seven years.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Alex lays into the life insurance representative over the fact that the whole thing could have been avoided if they had just told Varney about his diagnosis when they first rejected him.Cabot: A dollar fifty's worth of Penicillin would have cured Daniel Varney and prevented the carnage he caused.
- Death Seeker: Varney asks Benson to kill him during what might be considered a moment of relative lucidity.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Subverted. The first victim's fellow prostitutes assume the police won't care, but the SVU detectives treat the case as seriously as any other.
- Hearing Voices: Varney believes God is instructing him to kill.
- STD Immunity: Averted. Daniel Varney suffers from late-stage syphilis, which is what caused his insanity. He's had it for so long that he was no longer contagious when he met his wife.
- Would Hurt a Child: One of Varney's victims is a nine-year old boy.
