Chantelle Shepard is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Sugar". She is the resentful daughter of tech CEO Vance Shepard who murders her father's girlfriend and forces him to help her conceal her crime.
She was portrayed by Melissa Farman.
Biography[]
Chantelle's father, tech CEO Vance Shepard, divorced her mother Joyce due to her obsessive and neurotic behaviour, leaving Chantelle feeling like her father didn't love her. One night she went to his building to see him; however, while she was waiting for her father, his girlfriend Emily Keefe walked in. Believing her father had blown her off to sleep with Emily, and seeing how much she looked like her, Chantelle flew into a rage and strangled Emily to death. Vance walked in moments later and saw what she had done; blaming himself for abandoning her, he agreed to cover up for her and the two of them came up with a plan to frame Emily's ex-boyfriend Owen Cassidy. The two of them stuffed Emily's body into a suitcase, and Chantelle dressed up like her before taking the suitcase to Grand Central Station, where she bought a train ticket to Florida in Emily's name. The plan was that Chantelle, still disguised as Emily, would take the train to Tampa, where Owen was working, and leave Emily's body to be found there; the police would assume she was going to see Owen and he would be blamed. But the train was delayed starting and Chantelle, growing increasingly stressed, couldn't take the pressure anymore and threw the suitcase out the window while the train was going through a tunnel.
"Sugar"[]
Emily's body is found in the suitcase by two geocachers searching the tunnel and her death is investigated by the NYPD's Special Victims Unit. The SVU initially suspect Owen Cassidy, but he is quickly exonerated because he can prove he was in Tampa when Emily's body was thrown off the train. The SVU then turn their attention to Vance Shepard after they find out he was dating Emily, with Vance giving the alibi that he was watching Chantelle's soccer game at Central Park. Chantelle is interviewed by Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson and tries to back up her father's story, but Joyce overhears and reminds her that she told her Vance never showed up, forcing Chantelle to reluctantly admit she lied to protect her father.
Vance continues to maintain his innocence until the detectives mention going over the surveillance footage from the station; Vance realizes that the CCTV will show that "Emily" was really Chantelle and, in a last effort to protect his daughter, gets his secretary to implicate him and then confesses. However, Vance's lawyer forces him to plead not guilty and claim he acted in a state of emotional distress. Benson and Stabler go over the surveillance footage to try and find evidence contradicting his claims, and Benson notices that "Emily" looks different in the footage and realizes she is really Chantelle.
Benson confronts Chantelle with the surveillance photos showing her on the platform disguised as Emily and holding the suitcase her body was found in. Chantelle confesses to the crime and boasts that her father taking the fall for her proves that he loves her more than Emily; when Benson tells her it isn't what a father should do, Chantelle retorts that her father must not have loved her, which shakes Benson as she was conceived when her mother was raped by a stranger. Meanwhile, Vance admits to Stabler that Chantelle killed Emily and asks to be allowed to see her one last time.
Heeding Vance's request, Benson and Stabler allow him to see Chantelle in the SVU squadroom before she goes to jail. A distraught Chantelle tells Vance that he promised he could protect her, but Vance sadly replies that he was wrong and tells her he's sorry before hugging her. Chantelle replies that she is sorry too, then grabs a pair of scissors and stabs Vance in the neck before being restrained by Benson. As Vance dies, Chantelle coldly tells him that he will never break another promise to her.
External links[]
- Chantelle Shepard on the Law & Order Wiki
