Callous and vengeful framer Vanessa Vargas
Vanessa Vargas (Nancy Rodriguez) is a villainess from "Beef", episode 11.20 of Law & Order: SVU (airdate April 21, 2010). She was the wife of Jorge Vargas, a former meat cutter who once worked at meat processing plant Donna Rosa's Meats. It was revealed that Jorge was fired from Donna Rosa's Meats due to his habit of flirting with numerous female employees, with his philanderous ways causing significant strain in his marriage to Vanessa.
During the events of the episode, Jorge became the prime suspect in the murder of his colleague Laura Santiago, with his DNA matching the semen found on Laura's corpse. Vanessa made her first appearance when Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler came to the Vargas residence, where she revealed that she was kicking her husband out of their home for cheating on her. As she was packing Jorge's clothes, Vanessa suddenly remembered how he had thrown out a pair of pants a few days prior that were torn and bloodied, which seemingly confirmed that Jorge was Laura's rapist/killer. However, after an unidentified sweat sample was found on the pants, the detectives (including John Munch) realized the truth: Jorge was being framed.
Benson and Stabler also realized that Vanessa was the only person capable of framing him, as she had easy access to his semen and had a motive by way of her husband's infidelity. The pair confronted the callous conspirator with a security camera photo of her carrying a cooler two hours before Laura's demise. After unsuccessfully claiming that she had went on a picnic with a friend, Vanessa angrily declared she had done nothing wrong, all while ranting about her husband's affair with Laura and also his past affair with another woman. The vengeful villainess also showed pictures of Jorge and Laura to the detectives, which she stated were sent to her by a woman who sent said pictures with a letter in which she claimed to be another one of Jorge's illicit lovers and was plotting to exact revenge on him for leaving them both for Laura by falsely accusing him of rape.
The woman in question (later revealed to be Rosa Doletti/Rosa Reilly—the owner of Donna Rosa's Meats, Laura's actual killer, and also the episode's true main villainess) enlisted Vanessa to become a part of her plot, asking that she provide her with Jorge's semen in addition to one of his shirts and a pair of his pants, with the evil woman obtaining her husband's semen by saving a condom he used during a recent tryst with her. She then stored the condom and clothing in a cooler, and left said cooler under a park bench as instructed by "Jane Smith," who later mailed the pants back to Vanessa in a box that contained a letter telling her to give them to the police if they came. After detailing her villainous deeds, Vanessa attempted to defend herself by saying she hadn't realized Jorge would be framed for murdering Laura and asked if her unfaithful husband would be released from jail now that the truth was out. Benson confirmed Vanessa's suspicions before handcuffing the latter and placing her under arrest for obstruction.
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