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| “ | This is a conspiracy to keep me from Donald. | „ |
| ~ Boyd revealing the severity of her delusions |
Susan Boyd is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Animal Instinct". She is a mentally ill stalker who murders her victim's wife.
She was portrayed by Frances Fisher, who also portrayed Ruth DeWitt Bukater in Titanic and Antonia Slade in Criminal Minds.
Early life[]
Boyd suffered from erotomania, a psychiatric disorder that causes people to have delusions about total strangers being in love with them and sending them "signs" of their supposed devotion through everyday actions that, in reality, have nothing to do with them.
She got a job as a clerk for a federal judge, claiming to have graduated from Yale Law School, despite never even having applied. While she had no qualifications, however, she read so many legal textbooks that she became knowledgeable enough about the law to perform first-class work. During her job interview, she claimed to be the widow of a concert violinist, who was in fact alive and had never even met her.
She began stalking the judge after she took his sharing his takeout Chinese food with her as a declaration of love, for which she was quietly fired. She then decided to become a scientist, reading enough scientific literature to get a working knowledge of the subject in lieu of actually going to school for it.
After getting a job as an assistant in Hudson University genetic research professor Faye Walsh's lab, she met Walsh's husband and fellow geneticist Donald and instantly became obsessed with him. She openly flirted with him, but he ignored her advances. When she began leaving messages on his answering machine pledging her love, Faye suspected that she and Donald were having an affair and hired a private detective to follow them.
Finally, Boyd grew tired of waiting for Donald to leave Faye - which, in her deluded mind, she believed he had promised to do - and killed her by shooting her in the back with a shotgun as she was working. She then vandalized the lab with animal rights slogans to make it look like radical environmentalists killed her.
"Animal Instinct"[]
NYPD Homicide Detectives Lennie Briscoe and Mike Logan investigate Fay's murder and question Boyd, who tries to steer them toward suspecting one of Faye's students by saying that she was a harsh grader. Eventually, however, they find out that Faye had hired a private detective, who plays them the messages Boyd left on Donald's answering machine and shows them hotel reservations for two that Boyd made in cities where Donald was giving lectures.
Boyd insists at first that her relationship with Donald is strictly professional, but she eventually says that they are in love, although she denies that they wanted Faye dead. Donald, meanwhile, says that he never cheated on Faye with Boyd or anyone else. When they find sales records of Boyd buying the shotgun shells that killed Faye, however, Briscoe and Logan arrest both her and Donald for second-degree murder.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone and Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette make a deal with Boyd to testify against Donald in return for dropping the charges against her. She claims that Donald had talked to her about killing Faye, but she denies having anything to do with her death, saying that she bought the shotgun shells for a hunting trip they took together. She then begs Stone to tell Donald that she was forced to turn against him.
Boyd testifies against Donald, once again claiming that he told her that he would marry her if Faye were dead. When Donald's attorney gets her to admit that Stone had coached her on what to say to the jury, however, the trial judge strikes her testimony from the court record. Donald is ultimately found not guilty.
Stone and Robinette suspect that Boyd lied to them and start looking into her past, in the process finding out about her history of stalking people and fabricating tragic stories about her life. They consult with forensic psychiatrist Elizabeth Olivet, who says that Boyd fits the profile of an erotomaniac. They have Briscoe and Logan search Boyd's house, where the detectives find a shrine of pictures of Donald - including ones with Faye's face blacked out - as well as a fake ID with Faye's name on it and the shotgun shells that killed her. The following day, they arrest her for Faye's murder while she is on her way to work.
While meeting with Stone and Robinette, Boyd claims that she and Donald are in love, and that the judge she stalked "took advantage" of her. When Stone calls Donald into his office, he tells Boyd that they do not have a relationship and that she is insane; without missing a beat, Boyd accuses Stone of making Donald lie that he does not love her. She then produces as proof of Donald's love a bracelet that she bought herself and a memo he wrote to security the night of Faye's murder that she would be working late, prompting Donald to leave, speechless and horrified.
Stone offers her a plea bargain in which she would go to prison for manslaughter instead of murder if she underwent counseling, but she refuses to admit she is sick. When her lawyer tries to talk her into taking the deal, she fires him and tells Stone that she will represent herself. She is denied bail, but she uses the prison library to draft so many appeals that the trial is delayed indefinitely; Stone remarks that her work is better than that he has seen from actual lawyers.
External links[]
- Susan Boyd on the Law & Order Wiki
