Top 20 Real-Life Crimes That Inspired Law & Order: SVU

she got pregnant first said we all should welcome to ms mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 shocking crimes that inspired law and order svu i didn't see anything well you were with caleb and misha before it happened you were with caleb at the nightclub so i must have been in the ladies room when it happened for this list we're looking at episodes of this long-running police procedural series that were ripped straight from the headlines since we'll be going into plot details for these episodes a spoiler alert is now in effect which of these cases were you familiar with before seeing it on the show let us know in the comments number 20 bill cosby assault allegations in one season 17 episode a vlogger levels assault allegations against a famous actor despite other accusations against him piling up the star quickly denies any involvement as of yesterday the district attorney had elected not to proceed so she accuses me throws my name in the gut you saw that video no one's questioning whether it started consensually the episode aired just around the time the accusations against actor and comedian bill cosby were rising in the news so a lot of parallels were drawn between the svu storyline and the real life case the show forges its own path however by making amanda rollins go undercover to obtain tangible proof against the predator after the charges were initially dropped it does look bad chief i think you know i mean it's the same mo as christie same mo as the other victim we found too but both the fictional star and real actor lost a lot of public faith after the cases were concluded number 19 the case of devin moore and grand theft auto in june 2003 then 18 year old devin moore was arrested for shooting two police officers and a dispatcher in fayette alabama at his trial in 2005 his lawyers attempted to introduce evidence claiming that his use of the popular video game grand theft auto helped instigate the incident what we're saying is that devin moore was in effect trained to do what he did he was given a murder simulator but the trial judge prevented the evidence from being shown to the jury and moore was convicted of the crime the highly controversial case mirrors an episode where a teenage couple is arrested for committing brutal crimes against a young woman the characters also claim to have been inspired to commit their misdeeds by an action video game called intensity how could you not know because i didn't know where i was the streets we were driving down were streets from the game the people were characters from the game it wouldn't be the last time gaming would be linked to violence on television number 18 the cameron todd willingham case when cameron todd willingham's daughters perished in a fire that engulfed his texas home in 1991 he was arrested for orchestrating the horrifying incident despite maintaining his innocence throughout the trial willingham was convicted of the crime and executed at six o'clock cameron todd willingham was told that his time was up when he was asked by the ward if anything to say then he went into the statement where that he said he had been wrongly convicted and that he was innocent the case later raised several questions over willingham's guilt and the validity of the evidence used in convicting him while most of the questions surrounding the real life case remain unanswered an svu episode went a different route a fictional father-in-the-torch episode managed to convince the assistant district attorney that he didn't commit the crime i'm telling you that frank sullivan did not set that fire well then your bs detector is on the fritz i believe him eventually he hires an expert who's able to prove the fire was due to faulty electrical wiring number 17 the slenderman crime this episode was inspired by a harrowing 2014 case involving two young people who led their friend into the woods in search of a fictional entity called slenderman geyser and wire said their motive to become proxies of the fictional horror character slenderman inspired by fan fiction posted on the creepypasta wiki the duo inflicted severe wounds on their friend and left her for dead luckily the victim was able to get help from a cyclist was taken to the hospital and made a full recovery the show replaces slenderman with glasgow man and includes an initial suspect who was believed to be the fictional character in the end the entity turned out to be an innocent bystander so charlie was telling the truth he picked up that knife saying he needed the camera go give him the good news bring those girls back in here and tell their mothers why it's a particularly chilling episode that captured just how disturbing the real-life case was number 16 the taking of tanya nicole cash in 1996 a security guard named thomas hose asked a student named tanya nicole cash to live with him he then proceeded to keep her captive within his house for years before changing her name to further cover up his crime hoes made cash change her hair color and her name and with those changes came limited freedoms as she got out cash wanted more eventually cash got away from him and reported hose's sickening crimes the breakdown of the case came when cash told a store owner who she really was an svu episode mirrored the real life events by having a story begin with a merchant trying to help someone who came into the store and then this woman grabs me and begs me to help her also in romanian what was wrong a man she's trapped in a situation she cannot escape from after a few major twists the authorities are able to save an innocent woman just in time number 15 the case of dede and gypsy blanchard the story of dede and gypsy blanchard is one that shocked audiences when it was detailed in the hbo documentary mommy dead and dearest in a classic case of munchausen syndrome by proxy dede gave her daughter gypsy medication for years to make her appear sick what medical conditions did you believe you suffered from leukemia asthma both vision and hearing impaired muscular dystrophy and seizures when gypsy finally became aware of her mother's actions she and her boyfriend conspired to exact a cold-blooded revenge on her the highly publicized incident clearly inspired this season 19 episode where two young people with physical disabilities lash out at their mother and what happened she said i was her daughter forever that i'd always need her to take care of me so i hit her with the hammer in both cases a parent's mistreatment builds up to a point where they pushed their offspring to a violent breaking point number 14 what happened to kitty genovese the life of 28 year old bartender kitty genovese came to a gruesome end in march 1964 when she was assaulted and fatally wounded just outside her apartment building after the incident the new york times erroneously reported that 38 people witnessed the crime and did nothing to help her there was a front page new york times article which started out describing the situation this way 38 people watched over the course of a half an hour and did nothing the infamous case was instrumental in the creation of a centralized 9-1-1 emergency number and initiated the theory of the bystander effect or genovese syndrome this effect came into play in the aptly titled svu episode 41 witnesses in which a drunk woman is assaulted outside her apartment building investigation by the svu team uncovers a host of witnesses who like in the now debunked new york times article ignored her cries and never came to her aid so at least 10 residents saw or heard an assault everybody thought someone else was calling the cops police could have been here in two minutes now this woman might die number 13 elizabeth smart's captivity on the morning of june 5th 2002 edward and lois smart woke up to find that their daughter elizabeth had been abducted right from their home for the next nine months elizabeth was held captive by brian david mitchell and his wife wanda barzee i was terrified i had grown up in a very happy and a very happy home and i really didn't know what the definition of fear was until that moment she was fortunately discovered and rescued by police this agonizing case laid the groundwork for the season 4 episode perfect although similarities abound in the motives of their abductors and the conditions under which they're made to live both cases still differ greatly they don't need permission to get pregnant no matter how they do it so that's it we can't touch him not unless we can prove he is in some way connected to samantha tassler's death smart's eventual return home contrasts that of the svu victim in the fictionalized story the investigation kicks off when the authorities find the victim after it's too late to save her number 12. jesse smilet's hoax famous for starring in the hit series empire jesse smilet won a lot of sympathy in 2019 when it seemed like he was the victim of a hate crime jesse smollette says that attack happened just a short distance from here today police don't have any suspects or even a solid description of the men a reported crime that has rattled hollywood and just about everyone else that sympathy quickly wore off as a police investigation revealed that the incident was all a hoax orchestrated by smallet himself the actor had hired two men to verbally and physically attack him and tried to pass off the story as real a couple of months after the incident svu drew inspiration from it for the episode down low in hell's kitchen in which a pop star named mathis lies about being assaulted by a serial predator actually oh it was number six as with smolet in real life mathis's stunt backfires phenomenally and results in his reputation going down the drain number eleven dominique strauss khan's alleged crimes before the events of may 14 2011 dominique strauss khan was a high-ranking french politician who was said to be a front-runner in the 2012 french presidential election his reputation suffered a heavy blow when he was arrested on that day strauss khan was charged with assault and attempted assault against nafisa to diallo a hotel maid i was so scared had you seen dominique strauss khan before that day i never see him before physical details about the diplomat and maid are changed in the scorched earth episode however the maid's credibility was questioned in both the show and real life after she lied about certain details in reality the real life case was dismissed before it was even brought to a jury the fictional universe sees the diplomat acquitted of assault but found guilty of unlawful imprisonment on count three what say you on the charge of unlawful imprisonment in the second degree we find the defendant guilty number 10. the duggar family scandal in this season 17 episode a reality tv family notifies the svu team when their daughter gets pregnant after taking a purity bow the eyes of suspicion first home in on the reality show's cameraman pete matthews did this to lane our cameraman what can you tell me about him he's one of our long-term crew members kids grow up with him we trusted him but after he's cleared they fall on the pregnant girl's older brother although the sibling is vindicated by dna this plot is reminiscent of the once popular duggar family they were rocked with scandal when it was revealed that josh duggar assaulted five people josh has done some very bad things and he's he's very sorry tonight the duggar family speaking out for the first time about the secret that has haunted their family for more than a decade four of the victims were his own sisters thankfully none of these attacks resulted in a pregnancy the aftermath of the scandal led to the cancellation of the family's tlc series number nine jambene ramsay story what happened to the young jambone ramsay in her boulder colorado home is a case that has left detectives and the general public puzzled for decades a story that is gripping the nation it is the investigation of the murder of little john bennet ramsey the similarities between the ramsay case and the one featured in the sbu episode appearances are striking both cases revolve around a beauty pageant queen who dies via asphyxiation the svu victim is found on a bus eventually the team is able to trace the evidence back to the perpetrator and the ceo of the company that influences him you think she's gonna bargin in here sure we can we're arresting you for what facilitating the murder of sheree lathan you're joking does it look like i'm laughing why don't you turn around sadly the jambone case didn't have the same kind of resolution the identity of whoever took the life of jonbenet remains unknown number eight the jerry sandusky scandal the personal fouls episode detailed an investigation into the life of a famed basketball coach who is accused of inappropriate conduct with his students you should be in jail man not the hall of fame security get him out of here give a [ __ ] you're scum of the earth you should be ashamed of yourself i uh guess i didn't give him enough playing time you know what you did the episode is directly inspired by the real-life penn state scandal involving jerry sandusky he was a retired defensive coordinator for the state's football program through his non-profit charity the second mile sandusky took advantage of multiple victims over a 15-year period the shocking story has rocked state college pennsylvania long known as happy valley and home to the storied football team and legendary coach joe paterno his actions were notably enabled by the silence of peers who had suspicions that crimes were occurring svu remains largely faithful to the truth by telling a tragic story of the mental social and emotional costs of delayed justice number 7 the 2014 isle of vista crimes the student community of isla vista california was shaken on the evening of may 23 2014 when 22 year old elliot roger went on a rampage and took the lives of six people prior to that evening roger released a youtube video and emailed a lengthy manifesto and this 141-page manifesto detailing the troubled life of an alleged killer the document both outlined his frustrations at the world and his upbringing and his plans to punish humanity for it the details of this heinous case served as the backdrop for the 2014 sbu episode titled holden's manifesto while the criminal in the episode mimics the motives of the original perpetrator his eventual fate differs from that of the actual case idiots i'm right here and no one even notices me no one ever notices me but that is all going to change very soon everyone will know who i am in the real world roger took his own life before he could be apprehended by the police number six david reimer's involuntary experiment the shocking true story of david reimer served as the blueprint for a 2005 episode where twins exact their revenge on the psychologist who basically used them as lab rats he promised us as long as we were committed to raising her as a girl in real life reimer was raised as a girl without his knowledge after a botched medical procedure his parents were advised to make him undergo sex reassignment surgery and sent him to counseling sessions with his brother a horrifying psychologist named john money made them perform inappropriate acts and kept photographic records although reimer eventually reversed the assignment the experiment took a huge psychological toll on the twins but i didn't do it because i liked it i did it because i wanted so desperately the feeling because i was so lonely both of them suffered depression and died before they were 40. the episode's brutal outcome for the therapist doesn't make the case any easier to hear about number 5. rihanna and chris brown domestic case in 2009 reports and photos emerged certifying that a-list singer rihanna had been assaulted by her then boyfriend chris brown this happened to me and it can happen to anybody there are a lot of women who've experienced what i did but not in the public so it made it really difficult there are many parallels between this case and that featured in the funny valentine episode both followed a female singer who has to deal with the media frenzy that arises when her pop star boyfriend assaults her how you feeling you had to do this to caleb he did it to himself and to you not according to my twitter feed they either calling me a hoe or begging me to forgive him after the initial story coverage rihanna continued to have a healthy and fruitful career however the svu writers strayed far from reality with a dark turn in the episode the rising female star on the show chooses to remain with her boyfriend and ends up losing her life number four the disappearance of eitan pates while some svu storylines are nearly identical to the real-life crimes that inspired them this 2012 installment is only loosely based on their source material the 300th episode of the show manhattanvigil was based on the 1979 disappearance of eitan pates who was abducted on the way to a school bus stop begged his parents to go to the bus stop they lived in a very family oriented area of new york back then soho everyone knew each other he was walking and he went out of view and that was the last time they saw him pizza's disappearance remained a cold case until a man named pedro hernandez owned up to the crime and received a life sentence for it in the svu episode a young person is taken more than a decade later after a similar incident the detectives are then able to learn from their past mistakes and are able to solve the cold case that had haunted them for years you're not going anywhere this time louis see it's over you want to know why because we have witnesses putting you at all those crime scenes number three the ariel castro case the second part of season 15's two hour premiere involves an abandoned young man leading detectives to a den where others are held captive there's somebody in here hey come cut this open gonna need an ambulance the episode is a dramatized account of the case around real-life criminal ariel castro after taking women hostage in the early 2000s he held them captive for years one of his victims even gave birth while in captivity the harrowing ordeal came to an end in 2013 when one of the women escaped with her daughter and led police back to the house she comes out with a little girl and she says call 9-1-1 my name is amanda berry did you know who that was when you when she said that when she told me it didn't register until i got the call in 9-1-1 castro received a life sentence plus a thousand years for his crimes however he ended up taking his own life shortly after his imprisonment began number two the death of kaylee anthony the trial of casey anthony drew significant media attention in 2011 after the young mother was accused of being responsible for the death of her daughter kaylee the victim was first reported missing in 2008 by her grandmother who suspected foul play after the trial went on from may to july 2011 anthony was acquitted we the jury find the defendant not guilty and the acquittals continued from there not guilty on all of the most serious charges against her this case set the backdrop for the season 10 episode that aired before anthony's trial even began the episode borrows heavily from the real-life crime however its conclusion which incorporates themes of anti-vaccination and religion is a major deviation from the actual story the lack safeguards of the new york park system allow people with deadly and communicable diseases to mingle freely with the elderly and children we are suing the city of new york for a hundred million dollars before we continue be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications number one the pregnancy pact in 2008 a school in massachusetts made international headlines when it was revealed that some students had allegedly planned to get pregnant together the nation was shocked when reports broke that 18 high school girls from gloucester massachusetts all decided to have babies at the same time as some of the girls were very young the news was met with strong criticism and raised questions about assault the svu episode babes presents a fictional account of the case during the narrative the pact serves as a backdrop in the investigation of the deaths of two people you wanted to get pregnant yeah we all did we grew up together now we're gonna have kids together how sweet is that the real story has been dramatized in multiple media however the actual subjects of the case have gone on record to deny the existence of any pact this time around the show's fiction may have been stranger than reality do you agree with our picks check out this other recent 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Channel: MsMojo

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Keywords: Crime, SVU, Streaming, TV, True Crime, ariel castro, caylee anthony, chris brown, crimes that inspired SVU, crimes that inspired law & order, crimes that inspired law & order: SVU, david reimer, duggar family, etan patz, isla vista, jerry sandusky, jonbenet ramsey, law & order, law & order: SVU, list, mojo, msmojo, pregnancy pact, rihanna, shocking crimes that inspired law & order: SVU, top 10, watch mojo, watchmojo

Id: NG5xKSSJGPI

Length: 22min 51sec (1371 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 27 2022