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Karen Campbell is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Poison". She is an abusive mother who puts her adopted daughter in a coma by making her drink dish detergent, and who later murders her.
She was portrayed by Cynthia Gibb.
Early life[]
Prior to having three children of their own, Karen and her wealthy husband, Pete, adopted a girl from Romania named Alexis. While she doted on her biological children, she neglected Alexis, viewing her as both a burden and a rival; the adoption had been Pete's idea, and Karen resented the stress of raising her, as well as the attention and affection her husband gave the girl.
Karen's neglect soon turned into full-blown abuse, striking and spanking Alexis for the slightest misbehavior, or even for no reason at all. Eventually, she tried to give Alexis back to the adoption agency without Pete's knowledge, but the agency refused.
Later that same day, she caught Alexis drawing on the wall with a crayon and yelled at her to clean it up, handing her a sponge and a bucket filled with soapy water. When Alexis started crying, Karen lost her temper and shoved the sponge into the girl's mouth, and again when she spit it out. Alexis ingested a large amount of the soap and threw up, which only made Karen angrier; she forced Alexis to stand in the corner even though she was losing consciousness. Soon after Pete came home from work, Alexis passed out, so he took her to the hospital with Karen in tow, unaware of what Karen had done to her.
"Poison"[]
The emergency room doctors immediately suspect that Alexis is being abused, so they call in the NYPD's Special Victims Unit to investigate. Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler question Karen and begin to suspect her, as well, disturbed by her apparent lack of concern for Alexis. Their suspicions are confirmed when they talk to Pete's sister Wendy, who tells them that she had seen Karen hit Alexis. They arrest Karen in the hospital, even as she and Pete protest that she is a good mother and that Karen is lying. Nevertheless, Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak charges her with attempted murder.
During her trial, Karen testifies that Alexis put the sponge in her mouth on her own, and that she rushed the girl to the hospital the minute she realized she was sick. While cross-examining her, Novak brings up Wendy's allegations of abuse and points out that Karen waited until her husband came home to take Alexis to the hospital, even though she had been sick for hours. Ultimately, however, Judge Oliver Taft - who is of the same social class as the Campbells and therefore considers them "good people" - rules that Alexis' poisoning was an accident and dismisses the charges against her.
Soon afterward, Pete brings Alexis home against the advice of her doctors, who continue to suspect Karen of abuse despite Taft's ruling. Overwhelmed by the prospect of caring for the still-comatose Alexis for her entire life, Karen smothers her to death with a pillow. Upon finding Alexis dead, Pete calls 9-11, and her doctor calls SVU. Benson and Stabler then arrest Karen again, this time for murder.
Karen claims that Taft had told her ex parte that it would be "better for everyone" if she were to kill Alexis. Benson and Stabler arrest Taft for criminal facilitation, but he protests that he had merely suggested to her that she should get additional help with her stepdaughter. Taft is found not guilty, but he is nevertheless transferred out of Criminal Court to Civil Court, while Karen is imprisoned for life for murder.
External links[]
- Karen Campbell on the Law & Order Wiki
