In Law & Order: SVU season 25 episode 8, "Third Man Syndrome," Olivia (Mariska Hargitay) and her squad are on a mission to get justice for Javier (Martin Martinez), a young Colombian emigrant nearly beaten to death. Unfortunately, Olivia runs into problems finding a reliable witness to this hate crime. Making matters worse, the NYPD Police Commissioner puts added pressure on the SVU captain to crack the case. So does she?
Here's what happened.
A night of celebration goes horribly wrong
Javier is all smiles as he gets a construction job. His cousin Mateo (Sebastian Barba), who already works for the construction company, says they are going to celebrate the good news with a night on the town.
As the cousins walk down the dark New York streets, they pass by an LGBTQ+ bar where they see a group singing show tunes. One transwoman makes eye contact with Javier and waves at him to come in, but Javier tells his cousin he doesn't typically associate with members of the trans community. Despite Mateo saying it's no big deal to party with people from all walks of life in New York, the two guys keep walking.
After they find another bar and get some drinks, they're back on the streets when they're cornered by a black truck with LED lights on the roof. Once the vehicle parks, men hop out and hurl homophobic insults at Javier and Mateo. Javier is quick to stand up to them, which he pays for when one man begins beating Javier with a bat. Instead of helping his cousin, Mateo takes off.
As the assailants continue to beat Javier, a woman yells from a nearby window for them to stop. The abusers don't quit until the one wielding the bat uses it to deliver a final blow. When the assailants leave, Javier fades in and out of consciousness but looks up to see the transwoman from earlier take his hand.
By the time Olivia and Bruno (Kevin Kane) arrive at the scene, a cop hints that this hate crime may also be a sex crime as Javier was found bleeding with his pants around his ankles.
Under pressure
Olivia and Bruno arrive at the hospital to meet Fin (Ice-T), Captain Curry (Aime Donna Kelly) and Agent Sykes (Jordan Spiro) and are caught up to speed on what they know. Javier had a Colombian driver's license on him, and he’s only 20 years old. They also discuss that a homeless man reportedly heard a group making homophobic slurs during the attack.
As the group of cops continue talking, Police Commissioner Robert Pettis (Robert Newman) arrives and stresses the importance of Olivia solving this crime ASAP as the city is on high alert. The added pressure from the commissioner sways Olivia into telling her team they are working on this case around the clock.
Olivia and Bruno are allowed to speak to Javier, who just got out of surgery where one of his testicles was removed because of his injuries. When SVU talks to Javier, he claims he and his cousin were approached by three young men looking for a fight. It's the first time the detectives are made aware of Mateo. Javier is shocked to learn Mateo isn't at the hospital waiting on him, but says it's probably because Mateo doesn't want to get in trouble. Javier also shares that the transwoman was kind enough to hold his hand until the ambulance arrived.
Olivia, her team and Carisi (Peter Scanavino) discuss the case when Curry tells them to turn on the TV. The police commissioner is giving a press conference and assures New Yorkers the NYPD is doing all it can to solve the case. He even names drops Olivia and says she's been charged with finding the suspects. Olivia isn't a fan of the shoutout, but like she says, "she's the boss."
Bruno and Sykes find Mateo at work, but he takes off running. Sykes manages to catch up to him and take him to the squad room. When they speak with him he says he ran because he's undocumented, but remembers at least two of his cousin's attackers were white. The third could have been white or Latino. He also notes the vehicle they were driving and remembers New Jersey plates.
Olivia and Fin find the homeless guy and meet him at a coffee shop. He points them in the direction of the woman who was looking down from her window at the attack. The homeless guy even walks with Olivia and Fin and shows them the apartment window where he saw her.
When the two cops knock on the woman's door, they meet Anne (Caitlin Houlahan). She barely cracks the door and at first claims not to have seen anything. However, Olivia talks her into letting just her into the apartment to discuss the case.
It becomes clear Anne suffers from agoraphobia, with Anne saying she hasn't left the apartment in years, calling the world an ugly place. Anne does share that Javier was surrounded by three attackers on the night of the incident and she remembers one of the three men remained in the car. The other two men beat Javier and called each other Mo and Zach. Anne also says she didn't see a woman holding Javier's hand until the ambulance arrived.
Having received word that the vehicle at the center of the incident was found and reported stolen in New Jersey, Bruno and Fin head to the Garden State to speak with local cops. The New Jersey police have heard of Mo and Zach and are able to give them the likely third person who was with them, Jordan.
Local authorities take Bruno and Fin to Jordan's mom's home, and Jordan (Rene Moran) is quick to say he didn't do anything and didn't want to be there. Jordan also points them in the direction of Mo (Collin Linnville) and Zach (Daniel Sovich) working at an auto shop. Bruno and Fin arrest the duo.
Short on witnesses
The SVU squad interviews the three suspects. Jordan says he stayed in the car and didn't want to attack anyone, but Zach was the one "amped up." Zach alleges that Javier and Mateo were trying to attack him, and Mo just states he wasn't the one driving.
Olivia has Javier and Mateo come to the station to identify the three suspects. Unfortunately, because the cousins were drunk and it was late, they're unable to correctly pick out any of the suspects. Without IDs or outright confessions of Jordan, Mo and Zach, Carisi doesn't think he can build a strong case.
In a last-ditch effort to see justice served, Olivia goes to Anne and pleads for her help. Anne again insists she doesn't leave her home, but Olivia once again talks her into doing the right thing. The fates of Jordan, Mo and Zach are sealed as Anne identifies all three. The men ultimately take plea deals.
By the way, the transwoman Javier spoke of is never found.
New episodes of Law & Order: SVU debut on Thursdays at 9 pm ET/PT on NBC. Episodes become available the next day on Peacock.
