The villainous Sheila Tatem
Sheila Tatem (Kay Lenz) is the main villainess from "In Custody," episode 6.03 of The Closer (airdate July 26, 2010). She is the wife of Arthur Tatem and the mother of Darren Tatem, as well as the grandmother of Darren's daughter, Cody.
Cody's mother (and Darren's ex-wife), Gina Decker, was found shot to death inside a car, with the death originally labeled as a suicide until Brenda Leigh Johnson saw signs that this was a murder. The investigation revealed that Gina and Darren were in the midst of a very heated custody battle over Cody, with Gina's drug use serving as an immense hindrance in her case. Regarding suspects, Gina's boyfriend, Wayne West (another addict) was believed to be her killer, as it was his car that Gina was found in. However, Wayne revealed that he was paid $25,000 by Darren (who had cancer and had weeks to live) to convince Gina to give up her parental rights, leading to Darren being suspected of carrying out Gina's murder.
However, when Brenda returned to the home with Sgt. David Gabriel, their attempts to get into Darren's locked room were not only unsuccessful, but it ended with Darren committing suicide via gunshot. The words, "I killed her. For Cody. I'm sorry," were found typed on his computer, after which the statements were portrayed as a confession from Darren before his death. Regarding Gina's autopsy, she was revealed to have had meth in her system, which meant that Darren would have received full custody of Cody anyway. That and a look into Darren's computer ended up clearing him of Gina's murder, as Lt. Mike Tao discovered that he was busy checking the scores of his game on the night in question. This led to both Sheila and Arthur being called in by Brenda, with both of them being suspected, only for Sheila to confess to killing her ex-daughter-in-law.
As Sheila stated in her confession, she and Arthur wanted Cody because she would be all that was left of Darren, and they figured that the family would gain full custody due to Gina's drug use. However, Darren informed his parents that Gina actually tested clean, and it meant that Gina would get Cody following Darren's passing. After failing to gain custody through the legal process, Arthur attempted to set up a meeting between him and Gina, but when Gina refused, Sheila went in his place--while also bringing Darren's gun inside her purse. Sheila and Gina's meeting in Wayne's car turned sour when Gina lashed out at her ex-mother-in-law and stated that she and Arthur would never seen Cody again following Darren's passing, and after hearing those words, Sheila turned heel and shot Gina to death.
The villainess revealed that the gun belonged to Darren, and that Arthur had no knowledge of her actions (a claim that was revealed to be true). In addition, Sheila stated that Darren didn't know about her actions until he was shown a photo of his gun, and she tearfully stated that while she didn't plan on killing Gina, it had to be done. Brenda revealed to Sheila that Gina actually had meth in her system, meaning that they would get custody of Cody, but in response, the sinister Sheila stated that the drug use was only known due to her shooting Gina. Following her tearful confession, Sheila was arrested (off-screen).
Quotes[]
- "I just knew it had to be done. Gina was surprised to see me but I told her I just wanted to talk. She was hungry, so I offered to buy her dinner. I was low on gas and Gina's license had been revoked, so we got in Wayne's car. But before we drove away, I asked Gina where she was comfortable going considering how she was dressed. And she took that entirely the wrong way. She ended up screaming at me. That's when she said that after Darren died we would never see Cody again. There was nothing left to discuss. I got out of the car. She was so mad, she wouldn't even look at me. I reached into my purse for the gun I leaned into the car and I shot her in the head." (Sheila Tatum confessing to killing Gina Decker)