Margaret "Maggie" Peterson aka Debra Weldon (Sharon Lawrence) was the villainess of "Chameleon", the season 4 premiere of Law & Order: SVU (airdate September 27, 2002).
History[]
Maggie grew up with a prostitute mother and no known father. In adulthood, she became a prostitute herself as well as a murderous sociopath, targeting violent men so she could play the role of a victim while enjoying the feeling of control she got from the situations she put herself in. She also claimed to be the mother of a young boy named Joey, when she had actually kidnapped the infant after murdering his mother, Erin Byers. Following each of her crimes, Maggie would then use her victims' credit cards to take "Joey" away on vacations.
Prior to the episode's events, Maggie's New York victims included Phillip Malacowski, Michael O'Connell, and Leonard Graves. She also killed two men in New Jersey, John Donatov and Brad Horton.
Events[]
The episode showed Maggie killing serial rapist/murderer Shawn Becker, shooting him dead after he raped her in a hotel room. Benson and Stabler arrived at the hotel and took Maggie to have a rape kit done, believing Maggie to be an innocent victim. But Maggie's true persona was uncovered when the gun she used to kill Becker (which she claimed he produced during the rape) was used in her murder of Leonard Graves. But before they could find her, the evil Maggie checked herself out of the hospital and murdered Vincent Bertram, using his credit card to get a hotel room after picking up her "son" from daycare. The detectives tracked her down through this transaction and arrested her.
When interrogated by Dr. George Huang, Maggie claimed that her mother had died and that her father abused her, putting on the persona of a traumatized victim. However, she showed her true persona of a calculating manipulator when questioned by Stabler, stripping her clothes and attempting to seduce him. Later on, when Benson went into the room and called Maggie out on her deceptions, Maggie became angry and lunged at her, but was easily taken down and handcuffed. DA Cabot started fighting to have Maggie tried for the death penalty, causing outrage due to her being a woman.
During the trial, Maggie and her attorney again painted her as a victim, including having Krista Bertram (Vincent Bertram's wife) testify to how her husband was abusive towards her and had a habit for prostitutes. But midway through the trial, Benson discovered that Joey wasn't Maggie's child by seeing how his doctored birth certificate did not correlate with his current age. When Cabot saw how Erin Byers' murder and the disappearance of her son did match his age, she confronted Maggie and her lawyer about this, saying that if the judge called a mistrial, she would recharge her with the new charges attached. The evil Maggie responded by claiming that Joey's mother abandoned him, but when Cabot was not fooled, Maggie said she would think over the plea deal she offered. But instead, Maggie committed suicide in her cell by hanging herself, leaving a note behind bequeathing the $10,000 in her safety deposit box to "Joey".
Trivia[]
- Sharon Lawrence later recurred on Monk as the evil Linda Fusco and lent her voice to murderous alien hunter Scarlett Reynolds from American Dad!
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