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| “ | Kristen's a good girl now. She would never say a word against me. | „ |
| ~ Carl Vucelik rationalizing kidnapping and raping his own daughter. |
Carl Vucelik is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Stranger". He is a kidnapper and rapist who held his daughter, Kristen, prisoner for six years, forcing her to be his sex slave.
He was portrayed by Peter Lewis.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Vucelik was married to a woman named Marcie, with whom he had a daughter, Kristen. He abused both of them until Marcie left him, and was awarded full custody of Kristen. Vucelik, who harbored incestuous desires for Kristen and considered her more of a possession than a person, kidnapped her and held her prisoner in a concrete bunker in his basement, starving her and making her use a hole in the floor as a toilet in order to break her spirit. For six years, he forced her to have sex with him, threatening to kill her if she disobeyed him.
During the time he held Kristen in captivity, he changed his name to Carl Vasko so Marcie wouldn't find them, and told Kristen that Marcie was dead. He passed himself off as a model citizen, volunteering with his church and taking Kristen with him to services, the only time he allowed her to go outside, as a way of flaunting his power over her. His neighbors knew him as a pillar of the community, unaware of his terrible crimes.
Vucelik allowed Kristen limited computer access, which she used to visit the Center for Missing and Exploited Children's website and discovered that she resembled missing teenager Heather Hallander. She came up with a plan to escape and convince the Hallander family that she was their missing daughter. As part of that plan, she persuaded Vucelik to let her get a tattoo of a four-leaf clover on her arm just like Heather's. One night shortly after Kristen turned 18, Vucelik got drunk and passed out, forgetting to lock his front door. Kristen saw her chance to escape and ran as far away as she could.
"Stranger"[]
Kristen showed up at the Hallander family's home and told them she was Heather, and that she had been kidnapped and held prisoner by a stranger. Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit try to find her kidnapper, but during the investigation find several inconsistencies in her story. After Kristen tries to kill herself, it comes out that she does not have the same blood type as either Mr. or Mrs. Hallander, meaning that she cannot be their daughter. (It is later revealed that the real Heather was murdered by her older sister Nikki.)
Benson and Stabler receive a tip from the priest at Vucelik's church, who identifies him and "Heather" as parishioners. They then find the tattoo parlor where she got her tattoo, and find out that Vucelik paid for it. After getting a warrant to search Vucelik's house, Benson and Stabler confront him, and he panics and runs. SVU detective Fin Tutuola knocks him unconscious, however, and Benson finds the bunker, giving them enough evidence to arrest him.
As Benson and Stabler interrogate him, Vucelik claims to have held Kristen captive for her own good to protect her from her mother, who he calls a "ball-busting bitch". Stabler wins Vucelik's trust by pretending to be as much of a misogynist as he is, verbally abusing Benson and accusing her of "being on the rag". Benson plays along and pretends to leave in a huff, and Vucelik comments that Benson reminds him of Marcie; he then says that he had made sure Kristen did not grow up to be like her mother, and let Kristen get the tattoo as a reward for being a "good girl".
That same night, medical examiner Melinda Warner examines Vucelik's DNA from the blood on Tutuola's sleeve from punching him, and discovers his real identity. Vucelik is then imprisoned for rape and kidnapping, while Kristen is reunited with Marcie.
External links[]
- Carl Vucelik on the Law & Order Wiki
