'Law & Order' Season 21 Episode 3: Jack and team tackles case inspired by Gabby Petito's murder
The previous episode of ‘Law & Order’ Season 21 saw a wealthy businessman getting killed in New York’s Central Park. The NYPD detectives and the DA's office did everything to make sure the killer is convicted, but it turned out that the accused is also a narcissistic, wealthy businessperson. During the trial, the accused woman tried claiming that the man used to beat her every day. The claims were false and Nolan destroyed the woman for misusing ‘Me Too’.
However, the latest episode of the NBC series tackled a case that is quite fresh in people’s minds. The story of Amanda Larson’s disappearance was quite similar to the disappearance of Gabby Petito, a 22-year-old girl that was allegedly murdered by her own fiancé Brian Laundrie.
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'Law & Order' Season 21 Episode 3: Is Amanda Larsson's story inspired by Gabby Petito's case?
Amanda came to NYC and was living in her van. After one week, the NYPD detectives Bernard (Anthony Anderson) and Cosgrove (Jeffrey Donovan) found the van and started investigating the crime scene. The window of the van was busted and a bloody hammer was found near the vehicle. When they searched for the girl on the internet, they found that Amanda was quite famous on social media and made a vlog for every moment of her life. She was last seen at a party where she had a conversation with another influencer, Toby Crawford.
The photos of the crime scenes were leaked on the internet and everyone got to know what happened with Amanda. It turns out, Amanda and Toby were in a relationship together, but they broke up sometimes back. However, they were living together to work on their brand and monetization. The investigation led the detectives to a man named Joseph and they found Amanda’s ID in his closet. Joseph was arrested. He confessed that he tried breaking into Amanda’s car, but saw her having an argument with a man. The man pulled her into the van and he didn’t know what happened afterward.
Police tried looking for clues in her vlogs and found that a man was stalking her continuously. At Amanda’s ritual, the detectives asked a woman about the man and she told them that Amanda met this guy through a dating app and his name is Daniel. He was last seen near the woods and the detectives tracked him down. And because Daniel had called his lawyer, the police could only hold him for one day. The case was then sent to DA’s office.
Although ADA Nolan (Hugh Dancy) felt that the case was weak, DA Jack McKoy (Sam Waterston) told him to move forward with the case because the attempt was “a hell of a lot better than the alternative.”
The trial started with Daniel’s attorney claiming that Amanda is “alive” and is enjoying a holiday in the Bahamas. The judge still remanded him with no bail. To have a strong case, the attorney thought of taking Daniel’s anger and how he used to turn violent once women got to know that he was catfishing them. However, the judge did not allow that to happen.
In the middle of everything, a photo appears on Amanda’s social media in which she can be seen enjoying at the beach. Amanda’s mother told everyone, including the DA’s Office, that the photo was fake.
Now, it was time for Daniel to take the stand and as soon as he appeared in the court, Nolan did not waste any time painting him a “catfish”. A few moments later, we see Bernard calling Price and telling him that Amanda’s other shoe has been found by a woman. McCoy told Nolan to put that woman on the stand.
The woman was brought to the court and Daniel’s attorney grilled her for coming here just to grow her social media brand. After the grilling, Knight cuts out a deal with the prosecution and gave them two options: either they give a lesser punishment or the Larsons never find their daughter.
The show ended with the jury finding Daniel guilty of murder. Nolan feels that they did the right thing, but it seemed the Larsons didn’t feel that way.