Law & Order: Los Angeles Episode 1.07 Ballona Creek

It was once a real waterway, but now Ballona Creek is a lined with concrete, garbage and gang graffiti. Still, Watershed Management Division worker Don Heller continues to take water samples, and City employee Louis Valdez continues to pick up the trash. When a bunch of gangbangers throw rocks at Heller, Valdez asks if he'll be all right going it alone. The next day, a rollerblader points Valdez to a body that's washed up in a drainage net further down the creek, and yes, it's Heller. On the scene, Medical Examiner Nishizawa points to multiple stab wounds on the torso and defensive wounds on Heller's right arm, all from a serrated blade; clearly he's been in the water overnight. Valdez tells detectives about the gangbangers, lamenting that he should never have left Heller alone.

At RHD, Cindy Heller explains that her husband Don was an engineer, and the sweetest guy ever. With no weapon and no crime scene, the detectives figure that Heller was killed upstream, then dragged to where he was dumped. When his work truck turns up in Venice 13 territory, the detectives rush over to investigate. Heller's ignition is popped, his toolbox has been jimmied, and there's a box of water samples on the seat. The last one was taken off Berryman Street at 4:24 p.m., and that's where, under a freeway bridge, TJ and Winters find their bloody crime scene. Maybe the murderer dumped the truck to throw them off his trail and onto the trail of Venice 13?

The chief at Watershed Management dispatch explains that Heller was a bit of an amateur detective. A few years ago, he discovered a neon company was dumping mercury in Ballona Creek, and had the EPA shut them down. Winters flicks through the GPS history on Heller's car, finding two South Central addresses that are nowhere near the creek. One address is a nasty taco stand in a nasty neighborhood where Winters spent his rookie days amidst prostitutes and baseheads. The detectives decide to visit Cindy Heller, where TJ finds a stack of computer print-outs of female murder victims, all stabbed to death in South Central before 1991. One unidentified victim's corpse was found at another of the addresses on Heller's GPS.

Before long, Winters is pinning photos of the serial killer's eight victims to a crime map. All of them were disenfranchised black women, all stabbed with a serrated knife prior to 1991. At that time, Heller was living in Glendale and teaching college; he didn't start working for the city until 1997. Winters finds one more case that fits the killer's profile. Diana McDermott was attacked in 1991 - and survived. Diana shows police the scars that cover her body; her emotional scars still haven't healed. She knows Heller wasn't the guy who stabbed her, and she remembers the guy who did sucked on her bra, but not much else. TJ and Winters are soon called to another crime scene. The unidentified victim is missing her bra and was stabbed 12 times with a serrated knife. Did their serial killer come out of retirement?

TJ tells Gonzales the working theory: Heller suspected someone he knew to be the serial killer, and his poking around got him killed. There are no prints on Jane Doe. Since their serial killer was working before the LAPD was pulling DNA off victims, the guys check out the evidence room, only to find that the evidence boxes relating to the serial killer are in total disarray. TJ finds some bras, so Winters suggests testing for DNA, since Diana said her assailant sucked on her bra. In the meantime, the detectives visit the parents of victim Sylvia Watson, who identify a pink bra from the evidence room as belonging to their daughter. The Watsons are shocked to learn that Sylvia was killed by a serial murderer - no one ever told them!

TJ and Winters are disgusted to learn that no one ever told South Central residents that there was a serial killer on the loose back in '91, and the press wastes no time in dubbing the "Slauson Slasher." When trace DNA from saliva on Sylvia's bra doesn't get a hit from the DNA database, Gonzales orders a familial DNA search, which requires permission from the State Attorney General. Eighteen-year-old Brandon Duffy, convicted of joy-riding two years ago, is a match. The detectives proceed to the Duffy house, where Brandon's dad Mark immediately goes on the defensive. Warning the cops to stay away from his son, Marc huffs off to call his lawyer, but not before TJ picks up one of his discarded cigarette butts.

It's going to take a week for DNA results to come back from Mark Duffy's cigarette, so the detectives begin to investigate Brandon's other male relatives - all upstanding citizens. Duffy files a restraining order against the LAPD and before long, everyone's in court, with the ACLU's lawyer Julia Caffey backing up Duffy's lawyer Nick Groban. Groban claims the cops are harassing Duffy's family members, and the ACLU argues that familial DNA searches are an invasion of privacy. Dekker reminds that the cops are trying to catch a serial killer who's been on the loose for 20 years, but the judge issues a restraining order to stop all further testing of Duffy DNA, and suspending all surveillance without probable cause. When court is adjourned, TJ runs up with photos of a new victim, LaTanya Weaver, found three hours ago. Dekker shows the photos to Caffey, explaining that the next victim is on her.

Preliminary investigation of LaTanya leads nowhere, and no Duffy relatives were anywhere near the crime scene. However, public records reveal that Duffy filed an Order of Protection from Maria Cordero several years ago. Dekker is convinced that Duffy's hiding something, so the cops proceed to Maria's Santa Ana home. A reluctant Maria explains that her daughter Angela was raped 20 years ago at the age of 17, right after her father died. Angela got pregnant, and gave her son Brandon up for adoption. Six years ago, when Angela learned she couldn't have children, Maria tried to see Brandon. Duffy filed the protection order because he didn't want Brandon to know he was the child of rape. TJ and Winters ask Maria for a list of all her male relatives, but she refuses, opting instead to call her lawyer.

With no cooperation, Gonzales has the guys find out if anyone else was living with Maria and Angela at the time the serial killer was active. Back in '91, Maria lived in South Central with her dead husband's brother Luis Cordero, who would be 54 now, and used to work at Rampart Division. TJ and Winters question some of the old-timers at Rampart, who remember a guy named Luis who used to work as a janitor. He loved to listen to the police scanner, and they used to call him "Bunny Man," because of his habit of repeating the last thing anyone said to him like an echo. Recognizing this tic, TJ and Winters know they have their man, and rush to arrest Louis Valdez, Heller's Ballona Creek buddy.

After searching Valdez' home, the detectives find a serrated knife cleaned with bleach, prostate medication, and two bras under his mattress. At the arraignment hearing, Valdez' lawyer Solomon fights for dismissal. Dekker argues that not only did Valdez change his name and social security number after his killing spree, but he's been hiding in plain sight for 20 years. The judge agrees and remands Valdez to jail without bail to await trial. Cops and lawyers gather in Dekker's office for good news: the DNA on Sylvia Watson's bra matches Valdez. But it's not a lock yet; Stanton informs that Solomon has teamed up with the Duffy family to file a motion to dismiss. They're claiming that since Brandon was a minor when he was arrested, his DNA should never have made it into the database.

The judge reviews the motion in closed chambers with only the lawyers in attendance. Solomon explains that the only reason the cops were able to find Valdez and the evidence against him was Brandon's DNA, which shouldn't have been in the database in the first place. Dekker pleads with the judge, who has to agree with Solomon, and opts to dismiss the charges and release Valdez. Dekker begs for one last chance, explaining he wants to put Valdez in a line-up in front of his one surviving witness, Diana Mc Dermott. The judge grants this request, but Diana is unable to identify her attacker from 20 years ago. Smug and smiling, Solomon takes his client home, as Dekker orders two cars worth of surveillance on Valdez, 24/7.

With their evidence gone, Dekker and Stanton have to start from scratch. The only way to get Valdez' DNA into the database legally would be to have him arrested, in which case he'll be swabbed automatically. Realizing they've overlooked one of Valdez' victims, Dekker visits Maria and Angela to try to persuade Angela into identifying her rapist. Angela finally breaks down, admitting her uncle raped her. Dekker instructs her to report the rape to the Santa Ana police. Later, he has to convince the Santa Ana DA of his plan to catch serial killer Valdez. TJ and Winters are on surveillance duty at Ballona Creek when several Santa Ana squad cars speed down the concrete creek bed to take Valdez into custody once again.

Back at RHD, the cops gather round the computer as Valdez' DNA goes into the database and gets a hit on Sylvia Watson. It's not long before Dekker's back in court to explain his reacharound. When Solomon argues that prosecution for Angela's rape is barred by the statue of limitations, Stanton points out that there is no clock for a previously unreported sex crime against a minor. The judge decides on a trial, and Solomon asks for a conference, where he promises to hold up the works for the next 10 years with ACLU-supported appeals. Dekker tells Solomon to do what he must - the only way this case will end is when Valdez receives a lethal injection from the State of California. When Valdez pleads for his life, Dekker resolves to show the same mercy that Valdez showed his victims.

In his opening statement, Dekker vents his determination to finally provide some sort of justice to the families of Valdez' victims. They didn't make the newspapers, the cops didn't give them their due, but now, Dekker promises to prove that Valdez is one of the most vicious serial killers Los Angeles has ever known.