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| “ | I started shooting, and I couldn't stop myself. He destroyed Aidan's life! | „ |
| ~ Debra confessing to killing her husband. |
Debra Connor is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Families". She is a wealthy woman who murders her husband after discovering that he is the biological father of their son's girlfriend.
She was portrayed by Jane Seymour, who also portrayed Cathy Ames in the TV miniseries adaptation of East of Eden, Genevieve Teague and Duchess Gertrude in Smallville, and Rachel Argyle in Ordeal by Innocence.
Early life[]
Debra married wealthy building contractor Jason Connor, with whom she had a son, Aidan. The Connors were one of the richest, most socially connected families in New York City, with Debra being particularly well-known for organizing charity events attended by the city's social and political elite.
Beneath their public image as a glamorous star couple, however, Debra and Jason's marriage was deeply troubled. Unbeknownst to Debra, Jason had been cheating on her for years with their friend and neighbor Susan Coyle and covered it up by conducting the affair out of the city during Jason's frequent (and sometimes invented) business trips, and by making sure the three of them never socialized; they arranged this by making Debra believe that Susan's husband Barry - who did not actually exist - thought that he and Susan were too good for the Connors.
When Aidan started dating Susan's daughter Shannon in high school, Debra forbade him from seeing the girl, but they carried on the relationship in secret - unaware that Shannon was, in fact, Jason's biological daughter, making them brother and sister.
When Shannon got pregnant, Jason told her that he was her father and Aidan was her brother, meaning that her unborn baby was the product of incest. She had a panic attack and pushed him away, in the process losing her footing, falling, and hitting her head, causing a brain hemorrhage that killed her instantly. Jason then fled the scene.
In "Families"[]
Because Shannon had sex with Aidan shortly before she died, police responding to the crime scene think she was raped and contact the NYPD's Special Victims Unit. Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler investigate Shannon's death as a rape-homicide and question the other students at her school, including her best friend, Lisa.
She tells them that Shannon had been with Aidan the night of her death, and that Aidan's parents did not want him to date her. Benson and Stabler consider Aidan their chief suspect, but medical examiner Melinda Warner informs them that he could not be the father of Shannon's baby because she and the baby's father were related.
Shortly afterward, Jason is found shot dead across the street from one of his construction sites. They briefly suspect Aidan of killing his father because he saw him and Shannon together, but they think again when they discover that the gun that killed Jason was registered to Susan and learn from Warner that Shannon's unborn baby had a "double grandparent": Jason. They realize that Shannon and Aidan are half-siblings, and that Aidan truly is the father of Shannon's baby.
Susan is caught trying to flee the country with her son, Brian, so Benson and Stabler arrest her for murder and interrogate her. Susan tells them the truth about Shannon's accidental death, which she had witnessed. They investigate Jason's financial records and find out that he had taken some of Debra's jewelry out of their safety deposit box and purchased a one-way ticket to Cuba for himself and Susan, and that Susan had cancelled the purchase. This leads the detectives to think that Debra killed him as revenge for cheating on her, but Aidan confesses to the crime before they can arrest her.
SVU Captain Donald Cragen is skeptical about Aidan's confession, so he asks forensic psychiatrist George Huang to evaluate him. Huang does not believe Aidan's story either, but he thinks that the boy knows who the real killer is and is trying to protect them.
Cragen allowed Debra to observe as Aidan tells Huang that he feels guilty about Shannon's death and wishes he had killed himself. Unable to stand the sight of her son in pain, Debra confesses to killing Jason for what he had done to Aidan. She waives her right to a lawyer on the condition that Aidan be released immediately, and she is imprisoned for life.
External links[]
- Debra Connor on the Law & Order Wiki
