Amanda Purnell (Nikki Deloach) is the hidden villainess of "Morelli v. Kaczmarek", episode 1.18 and the series finale of The Defenders (airdate March 11, 2011). She was the owner of the Vegan Rainbow Restaurant, which was located next to the yoga studio operated by Blake and Carly Donovan.
The episode's events have Blake and Carly being arrested under suspicion of killing their master yoga instructor, Russell Copley, due to a dispute they were in regarding their business. The couple was represented by lawyers Pete Kaczmarek and Nick Morelli, with the latter encountering Amanda while dining at her restaurant. When Nick brought up the charges against the Donovans, Amanda vouched for Blake and described him as driven and caring. But when asked about Carly, Amanda stated that she could be violent and revealed how she had attacked her one day at her restaurant, with her and Blake's manager Kurt Faber having to intervene to stop her.
It was later revealed that the reason behind Carly's assault on Amanda was her suspicions that she was sleeping with Russell, who Carly herself had also had an affair with. Carly came to believe so after having finding Amanda's work apron and what she believed was a pair of her boots in Russell's bedroom, but Nick revealed the truth when told about the revelation by Pete: the boots belonged to another woman Russell was intimate with, as he recalled how Amanda revealed that she didn't wear leather as part of her vegan lifestyle. This would later lead to the reveal that Amanda had killed Russell, having presumably become angry at him due to learning through Carly's assault on her that Russell was cheating on her. The evil Amanda went about killing Russell by shooting him to death in the yoga studio, donning a red wig as a disguise beforehand. Amanda later disposed of the wig by flushing it in a toilet from her restaurant.
The wig was ultimately uncovered in the plumbing of the Donovan's yoga studio, strengthening ADAs Thomas Cole and Nicholson's belief that one of the Donovans was responsible for Russell's murder. But later on, Pete and Nick revealed to Cole that the plumbing for the yoga studio and restaurant were connected, as well as how Amanda had purchased a gun and red wig the day before Russell's death, definitively revealing her as Russell's killer. Under the threat of Pete and Nick dismissing all charges on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct, Cole dropped the charges against Blake and Carly, with Amanda presumably being arrested (off-screen) for Russell's murder.
Trivia[]
- With The Defenders being cancelled after one season, Amanda Purnell serves as the series' final villainess.