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| “ | You're trying to take my children away from me. I know how you people are. | „ |
| ~ Marilyn ranting at Casey Novak |
Marilyn Nesbit is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Home". She is a severely paranoid woman who abused her eldest son Daniel and manipulates her middle son, Adam, into murdering her youngest son, Jacob.
She was portrayed by Diane Venora.
Early life[]
Marilyn never really bonded with her parents as a child, and as a result developed both borderline and narcissistic personality disorder, growing up to believe that the entire world was out to get her and that anyone who failed to accept her beliefs without question was her enemy. As an adult, Marilyn settled in New Jersey, married, and had three boys, Daniel, Adam, and Jacob, with her husband. The responsibility of raising a family initially kept her paranoia in check, but when her husband was murdered, she became convinced that the outside world, particularly the U.S. government, was trying to destroy her and her family. She inundated her sons with anti-government conspiracy theories and lurid stories of children being raped and murdered; she also forbade them to have a life outside of her, punishing them if they tried to make friends with other children.
Eventually, Daniel began questioning Marilyn's beliefs, which enraged her to the point that she beat him within an inch of life, out of resentment for his indirect role in her husband's death. When he went to school covered in bruises, the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) investigated and found Marilyn to be an unfit parent, resulting in Daniel being put into foster care. Before they could take the other boys, however, she took them with her to New York City and told them that Daniel had been murdered by the government.
She also became an even more severe disciplinarian, beating and starving Adam and Jacob whenever they displeased her and raising them in squalor. She also home-schooled them - with the "lessons" consisting of warnings that they would be abused and murdered if they ever left her side.
"Home"[]
When Marilyn's neighbors find Jacob eating out of their garbage, they call the NYPD's Special Victims Unit to investigate what they suspect to be child neglect. Jacob tells Detective Elliot Stabler that food is not allowed in his house. Stabler and his partner, Detective Olivia Benson, question Marilyn, who claims that store-bought food causes cancer; she also rants at the detectives that her children are only safe with her at home because the outside world is full of violence and child abuse.
Alarmed by Marilyn's rages and the state of her house, Benson and Stabler call in Child Protective Services to check on Adam and Jacob. Frightened and angered by the idea of a government agency taking her remaining children away, she decides that Adam and Jacob are better off dead. She cannot bring herself to kill them, however, so she manipulates Adam into shooting Jacob dead and then tells him to turn the gun on himself, telling the boy that he and his brother will go to a better place after they are dead. Adam shoots Jacob, who calls Stabler for help just before he dies. He and Benson arrive at the Nesbit house to find Jacob dead and Adam about to turn the gun on himself, but they manage to talk him down from suicide and arrest him.
Marilyn claims to have been out shopping at the time of Jacob's death and says that he must have found the gun and accidentally shot himself. When forensic tests rule out that possibility, Benson and Stabler look at her as their main suspect - until Adam confesses to killing his brother to "save" him, saying that Jacob is better off dead than in a foster home.
Adam is charged with Jacob's murder, but Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak is convinced that Marilyn manipulated him into killing his brother and is thus ultimately responsible for Jacob's death. She speaks with Marilyn's neighbors and fellow homeschoolers the Kesters, and their daughter, Polly, who gives her a number of emails that Adam sent her in which he explicitly said that Marilyn wanted him to kill Adam and himself. With this information, Benson and Stabler arrest Marilyn for the murder of her son.
At the grand jury hearing, Marilyn claims that "the system" is persecuting her because of the way she chooses to raise her children, and singles out the police, the district attorney's office, and DVFS as her tormentors. Because there is nothing in the case file linking Marilyn to DVFS, Benson and Stabler go to the agency and find records of Marilyn losing custody of Daniel, a son whom she has never mentioned. They locate a now-adult Daniel, who tells them about Marilyn's abuse and how he thought his brothers would be safe, but breaks down at what has happened.
Novak meets with Marilyn and Adam, bringing Benson, Stabler, and Daniel with her. Upon being reunited with his brother, Adam realizes that Marilyn lied to him and tells Novak that his mother told him to kill Jacob and himself. At the DA's office, Marilyn tried to manipulate Adam again but he condemns her for her actions, realizing that she has lost control of her sons, Marilyn accuses the police of destroying her family. However, she received a shock when Daniel comes in and states the cops told Adam, before sarcastically greeting his mother and her defense goes up in flames. As she rants and screams at Novak for destroying her family, Benson and Stabler take her into custody. Her behavior leaves Adam crying at everything.
In the end, both her sons testified against her and she is imprisoned for life for murder and child abuse while Adam moved in with his older brother.
External links[]
- Marilyn Nesbit on the Law & Order Wiki
