  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | What's the world coming to when a whore yells rape? | „ |
| ~ Foster demeaning one of his victims |
Mark Foster is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Unstable". He is a serial rapist and murderer who frames an innocent man for his crimes.
He is portrayed by Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, who also portrayed Cottonmouth in Luke Cage, Vector in Alita: Battle Angel, and Prowler in Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.
Background[]
Foster is a former stockbroker who lost his job after being convicted of beating his wife, who then divorced him and took their daughter. He then began physically and sexually assaulting prostitutes, eventually killing one. In 1998, he raped Katie Harris at knifepoint; Detective Elliot Stabler, then new to the NYPD's Special Victims Unit, arrested an innocent man, Victor Tate, for the crime because the victims mistakenly identified him as her rapist.
In "Unstable"[]
In 2009, Foster rapes another woman, a crime investigated by Stabler and his partner, Detective Olivia Benson, with assistance from Detective Nate Kendall. The three of them interview a potential witness, a crack addict named Layla Foster, and find out that she and her young daughter had been abused by Layla's ex-husband, Mark Foster. They come to suspect him of committing the rapes.
They bring Foster in for questioning, but he denies the charges. They are forced to let him go, but they keep investigating until they connect him to four rapes and a rape-homicide. They go to Foster's last known address, where he lives with his elderly father, Malcolm, who does not seem surprised when he learns what his son has done. When Foster comes home from work, he sees the detectives and runs until he is cornered. Desperate, Foster pours gasoline on the ground, produces a lighter, and threatens to kill himself and everyone else there. Fortunately, Stabler and Kendall are able to subdue him.
During interrogation, Foster realizes that his luck has run out, and coldly admits committing a murder and several rapes - including the one for which Stabler arrested Tate. Before he can be officially charged with that crime, however, Foster dies after falling out of a four-story window as Kendall leads him to be transferred to jail (it's ambiguous whether he killed himself or was thrown out the window by Kendall). Because Foster's confession was not entered into an official record, it cannot be used in a court proceeding, meaning that Tate will remain in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Trivia[]
- Foster is primarily inspired by serial killer Lonnie Franklin, Jr., a.k.a. “The Grim Sleeper”. Victor Tate’s false imprisonment is inspired by the case of Ronald Cotton, a man wrongfully convicted of rape.
External Links[]
- Mark Foster at the Law & Order Wiki
