  |
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. |
| “ | Dwyer: Who is this? Olivia Benson: This is the police. We know exactly where you are. Dwyer: No, you don't. [hangs up the phone] |
„ |
| ~ Exchange between Dwyer and Olivia Benson |
Richard Dwyer is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "911". He is a pedophile who imprisons nine-year-old Maria Racinos and exploits her for child pornography.
He was portrayed by the late Christopher Evan Welch.
Biography[]
Dwyer is a day trader and the proprietor of an electronics store once owned by his father. He is also a pedophile who makes several videos of himself and other men sexually abusing little girls and puts them on the dark web. The FBI considers him "one of the worst child pornographers in the U.S.".
He buys nine-year-old Maria Racinos from a human trafficker who was smuggling her over the border from Honduras. He tells her that her mother is dead, and that he is her father now. He then records himself and the other members of his pedophile ring sexually abusing her, and puts the videos online. He keeps her locked up in the store's basement, threatening to kill her if she ever goes outside.
"911"[]
While Dwyer is at work, Maria manages to get hold of a cell phone and calls 9-11, and the call is routed to Detective Olivia Benson of the NYPD's Special Victims Unit. Because of the technology Dwyer implanted in the phone, however, the device's signal switches across several locations, making it nearly impossible to trace the call.
That night, Dwyer returns and finds her talking on the phone and knocks her unconscious with chloroform. After learning he is talking to the police, he taunts Benson before hanging up. He then puts the unconscious Maria in a garbage bag and buries her alive in a burned out lot across the street, with the intention of letting her die of suffocation.
Moments later, Benson and fellow SVU Detective Fin Tutuola arrive at the store, having deduced its location from the descriptions Maria gave Benson over the phone. Benson recognizes Dwyer, who is about to drive away, from Maria's descriptions of his glasses. She stops him at gunpoint, and Tutuola discovers that he has the same first name as the kidnapper. They take him into the store, demanding to know where Maria is. Dwyer claims not to know what they are talking about, saying that he was merely checking on the store on his way home from a business meeting. When Benson becomes frustrated, he levels a cold, menacing stare at her as he demands his lawyer.
Just then, Benson notices mud on his shoes and calls Tutuola into the room. Dwyer soon demands to be allowed to leave if he is not under arrest. However, Benson asks him how he got his shoes dirty during a supposed business meeting. Realizing that he is caught, Dwyer panics and tries to run, but Benson and Tutuola quickly hold him down while taking off his shoes. Benson tell him the mud will tell them where she is. Having the upper hand, Benson once again ask him where is Maria.
He tries to attack Benson, but she elbows him in the face for his crimes, knocking him to the ground and bloodying his nose. Dwyer watched in horror when Benson and Tutuola find burned embers in the soles of his shoes and intuit that he has buried Maria in the lot of the burnt store. Fortunately, they manage to save her in time.
Dwyer, meanwhile, is imprisoned for kidnapping, attempted murder, child sexual abuse, and possession and distribution of child pornography.
External links[]
- Richard Dwyer on the Law & Order Wiki
