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| “ | I grabbed her shoulder. I wanted to shake some sense into her. And she went limp, like she wanted to be punished. And then I had my hands around her neck, wondering what I was doing choking her! | „ |
| ~ Ben Jr. confessing to murdering his wife, Sylvia. |
Benjamin Hadley, Jr., also known as Ben, Jr., is the secondary antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Misleader". He is the son of a prominent conservative Christian minister who murders his wife after finding out she was cheating on him, unaware that her lover was his own father.
He was portrayed by Bo Foxworth.
Early life[]
Ben, Jr. was the son and namesake of Benjamin Hadley, Sr., the founder and chief executive of Midvale College, a fundamentalist Christian university based in Baltimore that was influential in conservative politics and the Religious Right. Ben, Sr. gave him a job there as a professor, but he treated him more like an employee than a son; when Ben, Sr. paid attention to him at all, it was to criticize and belittle him.
As a result, Ben, Jr. lived his whole life in his father's shadow, having too little self-esteem to distinguish himself as a teacher or a theologian. He was close to his mother, Sharon, but she did nothing to protect him from Ben, Sr. because she believed it was a sin for a wife to question her husband.
He married a woman named Sylvia Stone, but their marriage was a rocky one, with her regularly chiding him for failing to do anything on his own and mocking his teaching job, saying that he only got it because his father ran the school. She began taking frequent, unexplained trips out of town, and Ben, Jr. suspected her of cheating on him. He was correct in his suspicions, but he was unaware of just how deep her betrayal was; she was sleeping with Ben, Sr., who eventually got her pregnant, fathering his own grandchild and Ben, Jr's half-sibling.
When Sylvia went to New York City with Ben, Jr.'s parents on a business trip, he secretly followed her and sneaked into their hotel while his parents were away at a meeting. He accused her of cheating on him, and she retorted that his accusation was the only original thought he had ever had. Enraged, Ben, Jr. strangled her to death. Upon realizing what he had done, he panicked and called his father for help. Ben, Sr. altered the crime scene to make it look like Sylvia had been robbed, raped, and murdered by a random stranger, and sent Ben, Jr. back to Baltimore.
"Misleader"[]
When Sylvia's body is discovered by hotel staff, the NYPD's Special Victims Unit investigates the murder. Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler interview Ben, Sr. and Sharon as well as Ben, Jr., who took a flight back to New York City as soon as he landed in Baltimore in order to maintain his cover story. Ben, Jr., who is still dealing with his guilt over what he did, appears angry and confused when the detectives question them, which they mistake for grief and rule him out as a suspect.
Meanwhile, Ben, Jr. and his father try to incriminate Brad Weber, Midvale College's money manager, in Sylvia's murder by insinuating that he and Sylvia had been having an affair. Benson and Stabler arrest Weber after interviewing witnesses who say they saw him with her on the night of the murder, but he proves his innocence by submitting to a blood test. The detectives begin to investigate the Hadley family after finding out that Midvale College is in serious financial trouble and seeing Ben, Sr.'s press conference in which he starts a charitable foundation in Sylvia's name.
Benson and Stabler find out that Sylvia was two months pregnant, and Sharon tells Benson that Ben, Sr. had confessed to her that he and Sylvia had an affair. The detectives bring in Ben, Jr. and his father in for questioning, believing that one of them killed Sylvia. While they wait in an interrogation room, Detective John Munch finds surveillance footage proving that Ben, Jr. was at the hotel the night of Sylvia's murder, while her autopsy reveals that she was carrying Ben, Sr.'s child, thus making a convincing case that Ben, Jr. is the murderer.
Benson, Stabler, and Captain Donald Cragen interrogate the pair, presenting evidence that Ben, Jr. killed Sylvia and revealing that Ben, Sr. fathered Sylvia's child. Ben, Jr. curses his father and tearfully confesses to killing Sylvia. Sharon embraces her son and tells Benson, Stabler, and Cragen that Ben, Sr., whom she plans to divorce, staged the crime scene - not to save Ben, Jr., but to cover up the fact that he fathered his own grandchild. Ben, Sr. goes to jail for evidence tampering and obstruction of justice, while Ben, Jr. goes to prison for life for murder.
Trivia[]
- Robert Foxworth, who portrayed Ben, Sr., and Bo Foxworth, who portrayed Ben, Jr., are father and son in real life.
External links[]
- Benjamin Hadley, Jr. on the Law & Order Wiki
