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| “ | Tell me I'm a man. Best man you've ever had. | „ |
| ~ Mathers' signature line when he attacks his victims. |
Thomas Mathers is the main antagonist of the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Weak". He is a serial rapist who victimizes women suffering from some kind of vulnerability, escalating in violence until he eventually kills one of his victims.
He was portrayed by Dallas Roberts, who also played Dr. Greg Yates in Chicago P.D. and Abel Hazard in Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Biography[]
Thomas struggled with his sexuality all his life, feeling ashamed of his attraction to men. He convinced himself that he was "just going through a phase" and that he would be "cured" if he found the right woman; however, no women were interested in him. He grew to hate women in general for "making him gay".
Thomas started out peeping on women in East Lansing while attending Michigan State University. He later moved to Cleveland, where he began breaking into women's homes without attacking them in order to train himself for the next attacks. Finally he moved to New York City, where he started living with his boyfriend, Alan Richter, who was unaware of the anger he harbored inside.
He began assaulting women while he was living with Alan, stalking them, breaking into their apartments, and raping them while forcing them to tell him how much they wanted him in the hope that, if they found him attractive, he would be cured. He targeted women with some kind of vulnerability, as he enjoyed the greater control this gave him over them. His first victim was Miranda Cole, a paranoid schizophrenic who he stalked home from the library; she preserved the rape scene as part of her delusions about terrorists, but didn't initially report the attack due to her skewed perception of time.
"Weak"[]
Thomas stalks and rapes another woman, paraplegic Colleen Heaton, after stalking her from his manicurists. When this fails to help him, Thomas rapes another woman in the same building - Samantha Trador, a single mother on welfare. After his escape he attacks Gina Kownacki, who is on crutches, in an alley a few blocks away and tries to rape her, but is forced to knock her out and make his escape after she bashes him with her crutch.
The NYPD's Special Victims Unit investigate the triple rape but fail to get a good description of the attacker beyond that he wore sunglasses, smelled like an ashtray, had dirty fingernails, and drove a Ford Taurus. Meanwhile, Thomas' rage has escalated to the point that he rapes a fifth woman, Laurie Switzer, who is not vulnerable like the others, then kills her by breaking her neck.
A break in the case comes when Miranda Cole reports her rape to the SVU, who find that she preserved the crime scene at her apartment and are able to recover the rapist's DNA from a blood spot he left behind, which is linked to another sample left on Gina Kownacki's crutch. Miranda also recalls that the rapist made her say his name - "Thomas". The SVU soon discover that Thomas Mathers is the only "Thomas" who owns a Ford Taurus and who lives in the vicinity of all the attacks, and Detectives Elliot Stabler and Fin Tutuola interview him at his apartment. They are surprised to find that Thomas is gay and in a relationship with Alan, who tells them they were in bed together the night of the triple rape, which Thomas reluctantly agrees to.
Detective Olivia Benson easily disproves Thomas' alibi, finding phone records showing he was actually at his mother's house on the night. Tutuola and Detective John Munch then interview his mother, who tells them that Thomas left a few hours before the rapes; they also find that she is a heavy smoker, explaining why the rapist smelt like an ashtray, and that Thomas fixed her boiler while he was there, which would have left him with dirty nails. Thomas walks in during the interview and is arrested by Munch.
Thomas is interviewed by Benson, Stabler, and psychiatrist Rebecca Hendrix, who observe his self-hatred and inability to admit he is gay, leading them to realize he is trying to persuade himself he is straight by raping women. However, a DNA swab from his mouth does not match the rapist's blood, as Thomas had a marrow transfusion in college which means that his blood produces different DNA to the rest of his body, and they are forced to release him.
Benson re-interviews Miranda, who remembers another detail: she had seen her attacker once before, watching her in the library. She takes Miranda back to the library to point out where he was standing before obtaining a surveillance tape, which shows Thomas stalking Miranda. Stabler and Hendrix, meanwhile, obtain Thomas' medical records, discovering the marrow transfusion he got in college; this combined with the surveillance tape is enough to obtain a warrant to test Thomas' blood, matching it to the blood at the Miranda Cole and Gina Kownacki crime scenes. Thomas is soon arrested for the rapes. Miranda later kills herself as a result of her mental illness before she can testify, but the remaining evidence is still enough that Thomas is charged with Miranda and Gina's rapes and remanded without bail.
External links[]
- Thomas Mathers on the Law & Order Wiki
