Just saw this episode that I recorded and suddenly had a brainstorm to maybe make it into a story... I read on TV.com for the episode that the original script said the victim kills herself and Stella takes a shower to get the blood off. Anyone have the DVD for season 1 and can answer that for me? Did the victim really kill herself? Was thinking the rapist gets out during season 6 or so and goes after Stella again or something. It was just Flack and Bonasera who talk to the accused rapist, right? I deleted it so...
No, the victim did not kill herself. Stella took a shower to calm down and collect her thoughts and think because she was so frustrated at the lack of evidence since the rapist's sperm didn't contain any DNA and she couldn't find anything more than the most circumstantial connections to anyone. Which was why at the end once Mac had wrapped up the case he and Aiden had been working on, he and Danny and Aiden went to the lab to help Stella look over everything again and he found the trace of tree sap on both the rapist's pants and the victim's underwear. And yes,it was just Flack and Stella who actually interviewed the rapist. As for when he would have been released from jail, s6 would have been the earliest he might have gotten out on parole. Depends how lenient the judge was with his sentence and probation hearing when he was eligible for parole.
I did see your answer a little while after you posted but didn't want to respond in case I had another question. Whattya know, I have another question. :lol: Was the guy too young at the time or did he have a medical disorder? I guess after he gets out in season 6 or 7, he would have DNA in his semen.
Oh it's a medical disorder, and an irreversible one. Without getting too technical, there is sperm count and sperm morphology (how they're formed and behave). In some men, one or both of these is off, and if it's off by enough, the result is that there is no detectable DNA in their semen. This was the case of the rapist in COTN. Granted that's a really overly-simplified explanation, but that's the essence of it. It doesn't matter how old he got or what he did, that man was always going to be 'shooting blanks'.
What was the name of the rapist? Billy Rendish? I looked up the episode and checked out Fred Koehler and he looks like the guy I remember Flack/Stella talking to and being arrested. Did they ever state what the disorder was or just left it as an irreversible medical condition?
Yes, his name was Billy Rendish. And it's just an irreversible medical disorder, at least, to the extent that Billy had it. Sometimes if the sperm count is just high enough and their morphology isn't too screwed up, hormone therapy can improve a guy's fertility (and even without hormone therapy there'll still be DNA). But if Billy was lacking in sperm to the extent where there was no detectable DNA, there's no fixing that.