Benson and Stabler

The grisly murder and dismemberment of a New York cabbie draws the elite Special Victims Unit of the NYPD, including veteran Detective Elliot Stabler and his partner, Olivia Benson, who soon discover that the victim had assumed the identity of another man.

Solid investigative work leads the detectives to a violent repeat sex offender Jeremy Paul Wilson who was recently released back onto the streets. Wilson, a cold blooded murderer and pedophile, is in possession of a cache of hunting knives, has kidnapped two children and has nothing to lose. The manhunt for Wilson brings Dets. Fin, Benson and Stabler to a bus terminal where a violent and emotional showdown with Wilson takes a dangerous turn.

The trial of Darius Parker begins and his defense focuses on the conduct of the SVU. He exposes several secrets, like Stabler's intervening for his daughter when she was arrested, and Fin during his days as a narcotics cop. Olivia is in trouble for helping her brother.

When Ashley Tyler is found raped and beaten in a local community garden, Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler initially suspect her drug-dealing uncle, Rick Tyler. After the rape kit identifying the rapist goes missing, a crooked prison guard comes under suspicion. Detective Benson puts herself in great danger as she goes undercover as a prison inmate to catch the predator.

When a tourist is found dead in Central Park with the word 'guilty' written across her forehead, Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler recover photos from the victim's camera. With the help of crime scene unit technician Dale Stuckey, they discover that former artist Peter Harrison was at the park during the crime. After arresting Harrison for questioning, the detectives leave Detectives John Munch and Fin Tutuola to keep Harrison under close surveillance. But when Harrison suddenly escapes, Detective Munch must turn to his ex-wife Gwen for help.

When a woman is murdered during an afternoon shopping trip with her daughter, Detectives Benson and Stabler are called in because she was scheduled to testify in their high-profile rape case. As the detectives continue to investigate the correlation between the murder and their case, they discover unlikely friendships that will lead them to the truth.

The detectives of the Special Victims Unit are called to the scene when a hotel maid reports being assaulted by Italian diplomat Robert Distasio Bureau Chief Mike Cutter and ADA Alex Cabot prosecute the high-profile case, which quickly grows more complicated as the maid's credibility is publicly questioned. Detective Amanda Rollins joins the Manhattan SVU from Atlanta, while Benson struggles to cope with the fall-out from the shooting in the precinct.

The squad rallies around Det. Stabler to find the suspect behind a threat to his family.