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| “ | You're a bad mother. | „ |
| ~ Sibert's signature line, said to all his victims. |
Noah Sibert is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Trials". He is a serial rapist who tricks one of his victims into marrying him and adopting a son with him.
He was portrayed by the late Luke Perry, who also portrayed Benjamin Cyrus in Criminal Minds.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Sibert's father ran out on him when he was younger and he was raised by an abusive mother. He grew up to hate women, especially those he viewed as abusive or neglectful mothers. He ran away from home as a teenager to join a band.
As an adult, he would stalk women with children, break into their houses while wearing a mask, and rape them. During the assault, he would tell his victim, "You're a bad mother". He stalked one of his victims, a woman named Gwen, who he met at a shelter but she never gave him any attention and he contrived an "accidental meeting" with her; because he had been wearing a mask during the rape, she did not know who he really was. He comforted her and swept her off her feet, leading to their marriage, and he talked her into adopting a young boy named Christopher, the son of another victim, Caitlin Ryan who had serious emotional problems. He played the part of a loving, supportive husband and father, but in fact paid little attention to either Gwen or Christopher, even while Gwen began to crack under the pressure of dealing with Christopher's frequent, increasingly violent temper tantrums.
"Trials"[]
When Christopher steals Noah's car and goes on a rampage, he claims that he is trying to get away from his adoptive parents. Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit are called in to assess whether his behavior is the result of abuse. They interview Sibert and Gwen and find no signs of abuse in their home, but Benson discovers that Christopher is the biological child of Caitlin Ryan, a rape victim whose case she had investigated. Caitlin had given him up for adoption after she lost her job and apartment and struggled to care for her son. When Benson tries to comfort her, Caitlin says she only found Chris a new home, as Gwen was with her at survivor therapy meetings.
Benson finds out the rapist had also told her, "You're a bad mother.", which matched the patter of the rapes of three other women, one who killed herself and two who were again questioned. Sibert soon becomes the prime suspect, as he used his bandmates' names on dating profiles used to stalk Caitlin and another victim, as well as formed a business partnership with yet another victim. While he protests his innocence, DNA from him giving Christopher a kiss on the cheek proves that he is the culprit, but specifically in Gwen's rape, the only rape where he left DNA. He tries to pacify Gwen by saying he had fallen in love with her after raping her, but she finally sees through his through his manipulation and upset that she married her own rapist, she knees him in the groin. The amused detectives then proceed to load him into the car.
Sibert is then charged with multiple rapes, and Gwen all too willingly gives custody of Christopher back to Caitlin. Assistant District Attorney Kim Greylek threatens Sibert with hate crimes charges and a penalty enhancement of 25 years if the case goes to trial since he targeted a specific subset of women; not wanting to risk it, Sibert agrees to plead guilty and receives the maximum sentence.
Trivia[]
- Sibert is primarily inspired by Robert Napper, a.k.a. "The Plumstead Ripper", a serial rapist and later serial killer responsible for raping women in front of their children, which escalated to the murders of two mothers and even one child.
- Sibert marrying a rape victim and adopting another rape victim's child is inspired by the TV film Sin and Redemption, which is based on true crimes. Cynthia Gibb, the leading actress of the film, would later go on to portray child killer Karen Campbell in another Law & Order: SVU episode.
External Links[]
- Noah Sibert on the Law & Order Wiki
