'In the criminal justice system,
'sexually based offences are considered especially heinous.
'In New York City, the detectives investigating these vicious felonies
'are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
'These are their stories.'
I reserved them last week.
Yeah. Hold on one second.
Hello? Yeah. What's it at? Well, hell, yeah, that's a great price!
Let's do it. We'll buy again when it gets back down to 30.
No, don't buy it now, we're gonna sell it all. Can you hear me?
We're gonna sell it all! Hello?
Josh, are you still there? Josh?
Age of technology, my ass...
'Wall Street Station. Wall Street.'
Open your mouth, I'll slit your throat, bitch!
- The A or the C train? - The C, now stopped at Spring St.
Line is shut. Let's get moving on this.
- Same guy? - Same MO.
Waits till the train's almost at the station, seconds later he's gone.
- No one says, 'How typical!' - Seven times in six months.
Makes it three times this month.
Hey, what's the matter with you?
Today is my wedding anniversary.
Excuse me. Which one?
Exactly.
- Between Fulton and Chambers Street. - Two stops before this one.
- So the train kept rolling? - Right.
Took her that long to find a Transit cop?
Hey! Who are you?
- He's a Post reporter. - Nick Ganzner.
- We're all working together. - Yeah, right.
Anyway, once we heard, we shut down.
- And the stations two stops back? - Got 'em wrapped up like a present.
- Good. No peeking. - When can we get the train rolling?
- Anything? - Everything and nothing.
- Covers your ass. - Problem?
- I hate bureaucrats. - Don't look in the mirror.
- I try not to. - Anti-graffiti metal. Resists oil.
The spray-paint resists oils in the hands.
- No prints? - Several hundred on the window.
- Footprints? - Just a couple of partials.
- What else? - Right here.
If I hadn't stopped for coffee, I'd have got a different train.
- It's not your fault. - I know!
- Jen, where'd you get on the train? - Hoyt-Schermerhorn.
I was headed up to 50th Street. At the station I stopped for a latte.
Did you see him at the coffee house? On the platform?
I don't know.
- What did you do when he attacked? - I just stood there.
It all happened so quickly, I couldn't believe it.
So much for taking kick boxing.
We've a description from the previous attack...
Excuse me. From the previous attacks.
Does this man look familiar?
Well, yes, that looks like him. It also looks like the Unabomber.
Did you get a good look at him?
Yeah.
He was thin,
sandy brown, a pointy... beak nose.
- How tall was he? - I don't know.
He had me pinned, you know.
He had a knife or something.
Did you see what he was wearing?
Yeah. He was wearing, uh, dark clothes
and a... a hooded sweatshirt.
He was panting at me.
He was panting like a dog.
I don't believe this guy.
And anyway... he left his mark on my dress.
I wasn't even sure what he was doing at first. I get so in the zone.
On the train, ignoring people selling things, you learn not to see.
- And when you weren't in the zone? - He was on her and gone.
- Notice him before? - I'd just gotten on.
- Did he get on with you? - I don't know.
- You get a look at him? - He was white, shorter than I.
How tall are you?
I'm six-three. So, uh... five-ten.
You look at his face?
No, he had a hooded sweatshirt and a heavy jacket.
- What kind of jacket? - Navy.
- A pea coat? - I was Air Force... Yeah, a navy pea coat.
- What about his pants? - His what?
Pants. His pants.
Dirty. Drips, streaks, like a painter. I kept my distance.
- I didn't want paint on me. - Notice him before he was on her?
No.
So he's on her and you're worried about your coat?
Today's attack between Chambers Street Station and Fulton
fits into our pattern, which is that there is no pattern.
- We can assume... - You assume, we do the footwork.
Your footwork lead to any profile yet?
It did. A guy who wants to get caught.
So put decoys and ghosts on the trains and look for pervs.
Why don't you request Transit cops and security cameras on all trains?
- Get with the 21st century, right? - We are. Next year.
But all the computers in the world won't stop a guy
- sticking his hand up a girl's skirt. - Rape, Greenberg!
Not fondling, unwarranted advances. Rape! On your subway, remember?
I get on at Nostrand, close to where I live.
- Always get on the train the same time? - Yes. Or sometime if I'm late
- I stop for grocery. - Ever seen the guy before?
Well, he looked like everyone else. Anyway, I don't look at men.
So you don't know if he was on the train when you got on?
Yes. Maybe.
- Did he ever talk to anyone? - Not to me.
Did you hear him say anything to the woman?
He said somet'ing.
I didn't hear what he said.
Maybe he wasn't on the train when I got on.
OK. Thanks.
Listen up, people. Excuse me. This is Dr Audrey Jackson,
a forensic psychologist.
The Deputy Commissioner decided she should join our team.
Nice to meet you.
- So? - A witness saw paint spots
- on the guy's pants. - A painter, construction.
- Does that narrow our priors? - We found a plasterer
with priors for flashing, but he lost a fight with a.44 last month.
Hardware stores, paint supply near the stations?
- I'm all over it, Captain. - Very good. This latest victim,
how does she resemble other victims?
All were women wearing skirts.
Women wearing skirts? That all you got?
- Women wearing skirts on the subway. - All different ages, races.
Body types? Big, little?
- Does he overpower them? - He uses a knife.
It's safe to say part of the thrill is overpowering them.
Yes, it's safe to say that.
I understand your resistance, but I'm here to offer psychological insight that may help.
We're over the moon to have your help.
So, what are your psychological insights?
On this guy? Well, he's a dog. What gets him off is the hunt.
Maybe he gets on a train when he has an hour free
or rides all day until he finds the perfect victim.
- You make it sound like foreplay. - To him, it is. With this guy,
you can't plant a decoy because he doesn't have a type.
So we wait.
- We wait. - Wait's over.
- The dog found another fire hydrant. - Let's go.
- What happened? - Made your life a lot easier.
- What happened? - Ballsy old lady sees the guy attack the girl.
Cries wolf. One guy wrestles him to the ground,
another pulls the emergency brake between Lincoln Center and Columbus.
I walk back in the tunnel, apprehend the suspect.
Call me the dog-catcher.
- What happened? - Train jerked, I fell against her.
- You fell? - I fell.
- How many times? - How many times what?
How many times did you fall against her?
- She overreacted. - Or underreacted.
I had one hand on the pole, the other in my pocket.
- 'Doing what?' - 'I was just standing!'
- 'It's how I stand.' - 'Witnesses put you on top of her.'
'The train jerked.'
What you got on your pants?
- Paint. - Will you stand up for me?
- Paint from what? - A window I did.
- What do you mean, a window? - I'm not sure I...
- I'm a little... - Confused, yeah. She means,
you paint houses for a living, you're in paint all day long. Right?
Now, how do you know that splatter came from... a window, right?
Right.
A window, my ass. Take off your pants, please.
- Do I have to? - Yeah, you do.
- Can I say something? - By all means.
- I wanna explain something. - Please.
- I meant a store window. - Explain further.
I kinda do window displays.
Kinda?
- Window displays, I make them. - Why didn't you say so before?
- People think it's a little fruity. - But you're not.
- You like women. - Yeah! No, I mean...
- Take off your pants, please. - You like him for this?
- Do I like him? - For this. The lack of eye contact.
Like a kid lying about a book he didn't read.
He's guilty about something.
Maybe he's Catholic, feels guilty about everything.
'Stay standing.'
We're gonna do a DNA check on the... sample in these pants.
We'll match it against... the seven other rapes that you did.
- I didn't do seven others. - Eight, if the old lady hadn't screamed.
- No, sir, no. - There's a pocket missing.
- There is? - You a leftie or a rightie?
- Leftie. - Left pocket.
- Naturally. - What are you getting at?
Oldest perv trick in the book.
'Want some change? Candy? It's in my pocket.'
But it's not coins or peppermints, it's your willy.
No. I keep my razor knife in my left pocket. It must've cut a hole.
- Where's that knife now? - In my tool kit.
Bruce, we're gonna put you under arrest.
We'll see how his story jives with the witnesses.
- The older woman? - And the guy who wrestled him down.
Nobody looks at anybody on the subway,
except for this guy staring at this girl, boring holes in her.
- Then he started to circle her. - On a full train?
He still had room to move, which got my attention.
Nobody moves on the subway until the train nears the station.
- This guy had no reason to move. - So they were both standing?
He had his hands shoved deep in his pockets,
she was leaning against a pole, reading.
- Then what happened? - The train jerked.
He grabbed hold of that metal pole so he wouldn't run into her.
Did he touch her?
As he adjusted himself, was it the train throwing him up against her
or was it on purpose?
Who knows? But when he bent his knees and started to rub up against her,
- that was on purpose. - What did she do?
Nothing! That's why I said something. Shouted it out to the whole car.
For all the times I've stood there and taken it, enough already.
- Missed you at Columbus Circle. - Missed you too.
- Bruce Abbott, 41, arrested today? - What do you want from me?
- Deep background. - Looks promising.
Is he the one? People wanna feel safe.
- People should never let their guard down. - No, they shouldn't.
Chinese Wall.
- Moo shoo? - Dim sum. Eight o'clock.
I didn't see much, not until I heard the old lady screaming.
- Did she scream or say something? - At first, I heard, 'Cut it out!'
But then she kept going on. 'Somebody help!'
So I looked. She points and I see the guy on top of the girl.
- On her how? - On top of her, pushing into her.
So, with the lady yelling, I figured this had to be the guy.
- I ran over, put a nelson on him. - Full or half?
Full. How's she doing, by the way?
- She's being taken care of. Thanks. - You're welcome.
She says he never penetrated her. I did a pelvic, no signs of trauma.
- Did you do a UV on the clothes? - Yeah. And nothing.
- She says nothing happened. - So she's in denial?
Maybe, or nothing happened.
Did he rub up against me? Yes. Is that unusual during rush hour? No!
- Somebody always touches you? - Half of subway travel
is keeping your purse zipped, jacket buttoned.
- What's the other half? - Keeping people's hands in sight.
- Kinda hard if you're reading. - No, you read a line, scan the car.
Read a line, scan the car. And mind your own business.
- Which that lady should do. - He didn't rape you?
He didn't even flash me. That happened two weeks ago
- as we pulled into Lexington Avenue. - What?
They can't get rid of the smell in the subway.
Everybody's BO, fast food... I wish I had a Mustang and lived in the 'burbs.
Amen, sister.
- He didn't rape her. - Maybe he didn't get the chance.
- The seven other CWs? - Bring 'em here, do a line-up.
How do we do that? Each one was assaulted on Public Transit.
- Gonna let them get the train here? - Good point.
- Not our problem. - Really?
You think we should bring each woman down here personally?
Yeah. Every time these women get on the train,
if they still do, their anxiety level goes through the roof.
It's a bad state of mind to make an ID. Which is our problem.
Maybe we could have the Transit guys help us out on this.
Or not.
- Let's bring 'em in ourselves. - All seven.
All seven. Like Ms Jackson said,
I want these seven IDs to go as smooth as possible.
Guess I'll still be taking cabs.
Number two.
Number two?
Number two's eyes... at least.
And his hands.
Like number four's.
- Number four? - Yes. No.
I see... parts... of him everywhere.
- Every man on the street. - Do you see him in there?
No. But I wish more than anything that I did.
Yeah. Number one.
I don't know. Could be number four.
- What if I'm wrong? - Then it becomes a trial issue.
- Trial? - By then the DNA results will be back.
The, er, stuff on my dress.
So it doesn't really matter if I'm right or wrong.
- You don't need me at all. - We need your ID to get an indictment.
But in front of a jury, it doesn't matter what I see here.
All that matters is that the stuff on my dress
matches his... genetic material.
How that material got there is what's crucial.
I don't see him.
You can rearrest him if the DNA tests ever match up.
- That'll take a miracle. - They happen.
I'd rearrest him on a lesser charge.
Third-degree sexual misconduct for fondling? Why cop to that
- if he's got a pass on the rapes? - Because he knows he's guilty.
So use it.
- It's about time. - Meter's running. What do you care?
- My client can ill afford... - Shut up, Counsellor.
Hi, I'm Audrey Jackson. I'm a court-appointed shrink.
- How you feelin'? - I don't know. Not that hot.
OK. Well, the police aren't gonna charge you with the rapes.
They know you didn't do it.
- 'I didn't think they believed me.' - 'They didn't, but that's their job.'
'You like ridin' subways?'
Yes.
Well, the motion, you know?
It rocks you, side to side. Front to back.
- It's soothing? - Yes.
- Like... like being in a womb? - Please! What's the point of this blather?
- To help him feel better. - That's my job.
Your job is to get him a lesser charge of fondling.
I... came here from South Dakota.
I was the geek in a farming community.
I was artistic. So I came to New York. It was... my dream.
OK. What happened?
I don't know.
Everything just... evaporated.
The other day, I got drunk.
I went to some porno place where they dance behind the window.
The next thing I knew, my face was against the glass and I was weeping.
- For everything. - So when you got on the subway,
you had already relieved yourself?
- So you weren't looking for sex? - No! I just...
Just what, Bruce?
I was lonely.
And I saw her.
Then when I realised what I was doing, then I pulled back.
I just... wanted... some contact.
OK.
- He's not violent. - He has a box-cutter.
- To open boxes with, Captain. - Tell me why he's not the rapist.
You're looking for your classic power rapist.
A guy who feels powerless, disenfranchised.
- Right. My heart bleeds. - You asked my opinion.
He uses violence to gain control. Once he gets it,
- he uses it to prove his virility. - Afterwards...?
Afterwards, he goes back to feeling powerless.
That's why he wants to get caught.
- This guy ran. - Right.
He's not ready to get caught.
- This, er, subway rapist... - Hold on, Nick.
- Are we flirting or working? - We're always working.
- So you're not flirting? - No.
I'm offering my undying love for the ten millionth time.
Maybe tonight. Ten million and one, you may get lucky.
Really?
Maybe your subway rapist wants to spread his seed.
Why is he my subway rapist?
You've written 300 inches about this guy. What are you saying?
That if flowers and candy fail, there's always an alternative?
Some people are saying that. They sell a lotta books.
- I should write a book. - You should. You know these people.
No, I don't.
You do. That's why people move away from you on the sofa.
You get inside sex offenders.
Gee, how nice for me.
- Well? - Well what?
I'm not moving away.
I can see that.
- What? - Nothin'.
We don't have to do this. It's fine. You started it.
I know. And I want to. It's just, uh...
- It's just what? - Sex crimes. You know?
Ah, yeah.
- What, you're seeing what I see? - Yeah. I mean, you close your eyes.
Is that it? To have sex?
I have sex with my eyes wide open.
- Tell me what you see. - Aw, let's not talk.
OK, I just...
- Just what? - I just want to.
Me too.
- Let's pretend. - Pretend what?
That I'm the guy on the subway.
- OK, stop it. - Just for fun.
- Really, stop. - What would you do?
Oh, my God!
Wow. I'm gonna go wash my face and my hands and my mouth and there's the door.
Make sure you're out when I get outta here. Gone.
Hey.
- Have a seat. - I just wanted to...
It's uncanny.
What is?
How this reporter, Nick Ganzner, seemed to get into the rapist's head.
- Yeah, Captain... - As if it's straight from the horse's mouth.
- He's got quite a vivid imagination. - Is that all?
He was at my apartment. I asked him to leave and... I turned my back.
Never turn your back on a reporter.
Believe me, I won't.
- You want me to handle this? - No. I will.
There's been another rape. Delancey Street Station.
- Unbelievable. You and Jeffries. - Are we...?
- How's the woman? - In shock. She's gone to hospital.
- Anything different? - A witness said
that a card or something fell out of the guy's pocket.
- Where? - Stairs to the platform. Be my guest.
Nah, it's... it's nothing.
You use the subway, why do you need a parking stub?
- Commuter? - Queens, 6:50am today.
- Hm, fresh lead. - Fresh indeed.
The car's not here? This doesn't surprise you?
- Can I see your records? - How does one claim a car
- without a ticket? - Lost ticket pays maximum.
This one was picked up a few hours ago.
Lost ticket, you keep maximum.
- I don't want to get fired. - Did you know this guy?
- Always parks here. - What'd he look like?
- White, skinny, pointy nose. - What kinda cars?
A couple of different kinds. A van, a truck...
- But from the same place. - Where he works?
I guess so. Uh... Dewell's. Dewell's Painting Contractors.
- One white guy, Sal Avalino. - How long's he been here?
A year. Moved here from somewhere. He's only part-time. Not even that.
- What do you mean? - When he takes a car,
you never know when he'll come back.
This morning he went out, he comes back three hours later.
I'm gonna can his ass one day.
- Does he go at the same time every day? - Depends on the job.
A few days ago, he goes on a lunch break that lasted all afternoon.
- Maybe he drinks. - I drink. Him, it's something else.
- He here now? - Should be.
- Hey, Sal! What?
- Empty all your pockets, Picasso. - I get it back?
$12.36. Can we voucher Mr Avalino's vast personal fortune?
I'm just a house painter.
Like Hitler. Another impotent case who needed violence to get it up.
Y membership, credit card, driver's licence. Two of them!
- Why two driver's licences? - Mr Avalino?
- I found it. I was gonna return it. - But you forgot.
- Who's Sidra Lonstein? - I don't know.
She's an organ donor. Sal, who is she?
- I don't know her. - Yeah, you found it. Where?
In the street. Maybe on the job.
Or maybe in the subway. We'll find out.
What else we got? Ooh, a Metro card.
A record of your travels. Let's see where the day took you.
- Aw, great. - What?
- System's frozen. - You call this doing your part?
- Ancient technology. What do you want? - The dates of the attacks.
February 12th, March 19th, March 28th, April 11th. We need them.
Again I ask you, what would you like me to do?
I'd like you to go sit on the third rail.
My client can't do a line-up now.
- He can rest between the IDs. - OK.
- But he wants to be first in line. - You wanna be number one, Sal?
- Yeah. - What, is that your lucky number?
- As a matter of fact, it is. - OK, number one it is. Good luck.
- Number one. - I'm sorry, you have to wait
till all five are present.
Number one.
OK.
- Now what? - We'll contact you about testifying.
- OK. - Hey, Jen, you did great. Thank you.
Yeah.
- I forgot my scarf. - I'll...
- It was short and quick. - Like him.
- Little bastard! - Everybody stop! You can't...
- I can't what? - Oh, great!
- What did Jen say? - That it was quick.
- They can't talk! What... - It happened so fast!
- Work on your reflexes, son! - Hey, in the street, I'm fine!
I got six women yakking at once!
They had prior knowledge my client was in the line-up.
What was said was that the process was quick.
- 'Like him.' - Meaning your client?
- Yes, Your Honour. - Which prejudices the others.
The certainty with which this victim identified her attacker as Sal...
A spectre of impropriety hangs over all the witnesses.
Apart from their contaminated testimony, my client is linked to these crimes
- by an unpaid parking stub. - Plus a Metro card and eight DNA samples.
Which means nothing without IDs except that they had sex.
Exactly.
- Your Honour... - Move to dismiss.
Case dismissed.
Consensual sex with a stranger on the subway holding a box-cutter.
- What planet is this judge from? - Planet of the Apes.
What about the Sidra Lonstein woman?
Hasn't returned our calls. DMV hasn't renewed her licence yet.
Sal Avalino is well over 21, he doesn't need fake ID!
Her credit card numbers changed months ago. So did her address.
She could be one of his victims and an uncontaminated witness.
- Could we be that lucky? - Take your partner and find out.
- I'll go with you. - Where's Jeffries?
- She's waiting to arrest him. - I see.
Detective, I want you to run this down for me. Thanks.
- Help you? - We're looking for Sidra Lonstein.
Ah, Sidra, the cleaning lady with the Mona Lisa smile.
- Is she around? - She's at work.
- Where? - Subway. 34th Street.
- That's five blocks from here. - She always laughs about it.
She's gotta ride the subway to 96th Street, punch in, then back here.
Five blocks from her house. Never complains, though.
- She must be a saint. - She is.
- Nice article, Nicky. - Olivia. I was just gonna call you.
Of course. I got reamed by my boss for letting you read
- a confidential police transcript. - I dug it up on my own.
I know. Reporter's instinct. But my captain won't care about details.
- It looks like I screwed up. - You're being too hard on yourself.
Why don't you save it? Really.
- What's this? - Read it. It's a cold case.
You want a good story, check that out.
Philip Sternhagen, convicted of a strangulation torture.
- Who the hell is this? - A man with a rich fantasy life,
who couldn't stop.
A man who uses women without a twinge of regret.
OK. OK.
A man like you, Ganzner. A man like you.
- Anniversary? - Longest days of the year.
She's the one on the right. Sidra?
Detectives Munch and Stabler.
Hello. This is my friend, Kelli.
And is this... your... licence?
Yes. Thank you.
- How did you lose it? - On the subway.
Some guy bumped into me.
You don't have to go to this trouble.
You've been on your feet all day. It's not a problem.
- We're all just civil servants here. - Please. I'm a subway janitor.
But still, it's a tough job. When are you due?
Eight or nine weeks. I'm not really sure.
I understand that. Before my wife and I had our first child,
I always thought nine months, 36 weeks, boom.
But it turns out to be more like ten. Depending on time of conception.
- It's all a mystery. - Yes, it is.
Right. But in your case...
My case?
Your situation. You told detectives a man bumped into you on the subway?
About seven months ago?
- Right. - And he took your wallet?
I guess so. Oh, I'm so grateful you got my licence back.
I need it to cash cheques, even though I don't drive.
What... kind of bump was it?
Uh... it was an accident.
- The car was crowded. - Were you in uniform?
No, I was off duty.
Were you wearing a dress?
Yes. Why are you asking me these questions?
- You know about the subway rapist? - Yes.
- Know how much damage he's done? - Not to me.
OK, it's just we need your help. We really do, Sidra.
OK.
Is the man that bumped into you one of these men?
- He's that man. - OK.
OK. Thank you very much, Sidra. Are you hungry?
We don't have ice cream and pickles, but there is a machine.
Detective Stabler can take you.
Take my arm. Not my hand, cos I'm working on a cold.
OK. We'll go straight down to the left.
- It's enough to pick him up, but... - She won't say rape, no conviction.
Then get him to say it.
- Can I have some coffee? - No.
I have a court order to perform an amniocentesis on a witness.
- Jane Doe number eight. - Amnio? For pregnant ladies?
Stick a needle into the womb, get DNA from the unborn child.
Which we know is yours.
- You do? - Yep.
This is some kind of bluff, right?
Read it. It's technical, but it means
you were on that train and you lifted up women's skirts.
- The women who ID'd you, you got lucky. - But the eighth woman?
Bad luck. You knocked her up.
- Sidra, you feeling OK? - Fine.
Funny, so am I. I've had a cold for a week.
You touched my hand, now it's gone. Can you explain that?
- No. - Neither can I.
- You'll get fed! - But I haven't had anything...
- You! Is it you? - Wait, wait, wait, wait...
It is!
- It's me. - Yeah.
The girl in the flowered dress? Tulips? Red and yellow?
They said you were number eight. I wondered what happened because...
Because what, Sal?
Because I knew that... when I did you, that something beautiful could happen.
Yeah... That you'd get pregnant and have my baby.
- My baby... - Let's go.
When I get out, we'll be together. A family. A family. It's my baby.
It's my baby!