Ella Christiansen (Schuyler Fisk) is the villainess of "Taboo", episode 7.14 of Law & Order: SVU (airdate January 17, 2006). She was the daughter of councilman Everett Drake, who divorced her mother when she was a baby. This led Ella to have an estranged relationship with her mother, who remained bitter about her husband leaving her and refused to tell Ella anything about him. When Ella was 18, she learned her father's identity after discovering her birth certificate and tracked him down. Soon after they met, Ella and Everett began an sexual relationship, despite Everett being remarried.
When she became pregnant and gave birth in New Jersey, the evil Ella murdered the infant and claimed that the baby was stillborn at the hospital. Despite there being suspicions around Ella, no charges were filed. Later on, during the events of the episode, Ella (who was now a college junior) became pregnant again and gave birth to a son whom she also tried to kill, this time putting him in a box and leaving him by some garbage cans a few blocks away from her apartment. This baby, however, survived thanks to being discovered and taken to the hospital. Detectives Benson and Stabler investigated Ella's college after it was discovered that a bar T-shirt that Ella borrowed from her former roommate was discovered in the box Ella had placed the baby. When Benson questioned Ella, she also noticed how she was missing a clip on one of her bags of coffee as well as her taupe bedsheets (both of which she also used when wrapping up the child). Ella was brought in for questioning, still claiming innocence even as Stabler screamed at her. She later became sick as a result of part of her placenta still remaining in her uterine wall, causing Ella to be hospitalized. There, Ella confessed to her crime, saying she had panicked and had no idea what to do and that the baby was the product of a rape.
Later on, though, Ella's previous crime was uncovered and she was brought to trial, where she was given a high bail after she said she couldn't fulfill the judge's order not to get pregnant again before her trial. Her incestuous affair was uncovered when her son's DNA proved that he and Ella had the same father. Benson brought in the illicit lovers, finding them in Everett's home as they were cuddling. Ella and Everett both confessed to the affair, with Everett saying that he had not known Ella was his daughter when their relationship began. While on trial, Ella's lawyer argued that her actions were caused by postpartum psychosis, which was supported by Ella's claims that she had had no control over her actions while disposing of her baby (though the truthfulness of this is left ambiguous). Ultimately, Ella was found not guilty by reason of mental disease for her New York crime and was sentenced to stay at a psychiatric hospital until she was declared to not be a threat.
Gallery[]
