Summary: Jeremy Irons returned to guest star in his role a sex-addiction psychiatrist – who’s no longer under investigation by SVU but is now helping them investigate their cases. He’s called in to help profile a killer when a seven-year-old girl is found dead and sexually assaulted, her body stuffed in a suitcase. At first, the detectives think the killer is the girl’s mother’s new boyfriend, who’s been accused of sexually assaulting a girl before. But Dr. Irons thinks the killer must be a woman, because the little corpse was wrapped in sheets with a doll tucked in the suitcase with her. These are hallmarks, he says, of a feminine killer. The detectives soon close in on the girl’s pretty piano teacher. While they’re in her house, they find some evidence of the crime, but the house has been scrubbed with bleach. Dr. Irons goes on a charm offensive, and soon the piano teacher confesses to killing the girl and placing her body in the suitcase. The teacher says she herself was a victim of sexual abuse as child, at the hands of her own mother. But then Elliott and Olivia suspect the piano teacher didn’t do it. They go to question her mother, and discover mom’s living with another younger daughter, who she’s still sexually abusing (there’s only one bed in their posh apartment). The younger sister is seriously messed up from the mother’s abuse. The younger sister ultimately confesses that she killed and sexually assaulted the little girl. The piano teacher confessed to the murder in order to protect her younger sister.

Verdict: B+

What they got right: As horrific and outlandish as it sounds, this was based on the real case of Sandra Cantu, an eight-year-old girl whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase and dumped in an irrigation ditch in California. Medical examination revealed that she had been sexually assaulted with a rolling pin before she was killed. The assailant turned out to be a female Sunday-school teacher named Melissa Huckaby.

Female sexual predators are uncommon, but real. Most child sexual abuse is committed by men; but studies show that women commit 14% to 40% of offenses reported against boys and 6% of offenses reported against girls. Some experts speculate that there is much more female-on-female abuse, but it goes unreported because of the stigma. If you’re interested in reading more, here’s a good article called “Female Sexual Abuse: the untold story of society’s last taboo.”

What they got wrong: In the vast majority of cases with this fact pattern, the assailant would have been the girl’s mother’s new boyfriend. That’s so often the case. From my perspective, the most dangerous person in any kid’s life is the new boyfriend that mom brings into the home. Uncles, stepfathers, fathers, and male cousins are also responsible for a lot of sexual violence against children. But an unrelated male, who has no biological or emotional connection to the child but who lives in the same house with them, is the perpetrator in the bulk of child sex cases. In this case, where mom’s boyfriend had been previously convicted of molesting children – forget it. It would’ve been him.                
                  Was anyone else bothered by the fact that Elliott and Olivia were all buddy-buddy with the piano teacher by the end of the episode? The woman was still guilty of serious crimes: obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting a homicide. She didn’t kill the girl, but when she discovered that her sister had, she stuffed the body in a suitcase and dumped it on the sidewalk. She used bleach to sanitize the crime scene. She threw out evidence of the crime, then lied to the police. You can’t do that. If you find a corpse in your house, call the police. Tell them everything you know. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. This piano teacher should be facing a long stint in Rikers.
                   And I have to raise an eyebrow at their choice of Jeremy Irons as a police psychiatrist. Don’t get me wrong; I love him as an actor. Everything he says in that British accent sounds smart and sexy. He could tell me, “I’d like some ketchup with my fries,” and I’d probably faint. But I wouldn’t suggest using a guy you were once investigating for sexual assault as your police psychiatrist for new cases. Hey Doc, good news: you’re not under arrest, so … uh … can you help us with this new case? It’s not illegal, but it doesn’t exactly have the foundations of a great team.