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“ | I hit him. It was a lug wrench next to the boiler. I hit him on the head. I saw that he was dead and I... I put him inside the wall. I'm sorry. | „ |
~ Messimer confessing to murdering Tommy Keegan |
Thaddeus "Thad" Messimer is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "In Memory Of". He is a pedophile who molested and murdered a six-year-old boy, Tommy Keegan, in 1961, and got away with it until the boy's remains are discovered 30 years later.
He was portrayed by the late Michael Higgins.
Biography[]
Early life[]
In the early 1960s, Messimer and his wife Catherine lived in an upscale apartment building in Manhattan with their daughter, Julie. He worked as an insurance salesman and made a comfortable life for himself and his family, but he hid a dark secret: he was a pedophile who preyed on young boys. He was also a heavy drinker who often committed his crimes while intoxicated.
In 1961, he befriended Tommy Keegan, the six-year-old son of his widowed neighbor Doris Keegan. He took Tommy to baseball games with Julie in tow to earn his and Doris' trust. One day, he lured Tommy into the basement of his apartment building, where he molested the boy. When Tommy threatened to tell his mother, Messimer panicked and hit him on the head with a wrench, killing him, and buried him behind a wall. That night, Julie saw him washing Tommy's blood out of his clothes and was so frightened and confused that she blocked out the memory. Tommy was presumed dead, and suspicion fell on a gay couple who lived next door to the Messimers.
A few years later, Messimer was quietly fired after he was caught propositioning a preteen boy. He drifted from job to job over the years, presumably molesting other children. He was also emotionally abusive to Julie, resulting in her developing severe depression as an adult.
"In Memory Of"[]
In 1991, Tommy's remains are found by a construction crew renovating the building, and NYPD Homicide Sergeant Phil Cerreta and Detective Mike Logan investigate his death as a homicide. After finding out the boy's identity, they interview his former neighbors, including the Messimers, who had long since moved out of their old neighborhood. Messimer casts suspicion on the gay couple, but Cerreta and Logan soon find out they are innocent.
Cerreta and Logan interview Julie, as well, but become concerned when she faints while talking about her childhood friendship with Tommy. While talking to forensic psychiatrist Elizabeth Olivet, Julie begins to uncover long-repressed memories of seeing her father washing Tommy's blood of his clothes.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone and Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette look into Messimer's past and discover his history of molesting children. After they indict him for murdering Tommy, Messimer manipulates Julie into recanting her testimony. With help from Olivet, however, Julie discovers that her memories are real, and finds the courage to finally stand up to her father and become a witness for the prosecution.
Desperate, Messimer shows up at Julie's apartment and tries one last time to bully her into recanting, but Julie nonetheless testifies against him. Defeated, Messimer pleads guilty to murdering Tommy, and is sentenced to eight-and-a-third to 25 years in prison.
Trivia[]
- Messimer and the case are inspired by two real-life criminals:
- The late Stanley Rice, a serial rapist and murderer of prepubescent boys, who often bludgeoned his victims to death
- George Franklin, the father of Susie Franklin, who remembered her father murdering her classmate through repressed-memory recall. While Franklin's conviction would later be overturned, Susie would later testify that he raped her and her sister.
External links[]
- Thad Messimer on the Law & Order Wiki
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