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Description[]

The 1982 murder of a popular college student is reopened after someone defaces his grave. The detectives have no shortage of suspects after the victim is linked to the rape of several girls on campus.

Synopsis[]

The episode opens on May 18, 1982. A man named Mike Delaney, who is in college, gives the valedictorian speech for his graduating class. Three girls are angry and depressed as they listen. The next shot shows Mike's lifeless body, as he was shot on the school quad during graduation celebrations. The box is titled Delaney, M.

Lily Rush and Scotty Valens go to the cemetery, where they see somebody has vandalized Mike Delaney's grave and spray-painted the word "RAPIST" on it.

The detectives find out that Mike Delaney raped a girl back in 1982. Kat Miller and Nick Vera go to Maggie Lafferty, who was a police officer in 1982 and handled the girl's case. They both find out that the victim was Tessie Bartram.

Lily and Scotty go to see Tessie. Tessie tells them how she met Mike in the school library. Tessie says that she regrets that day.

The detectives look into Mike's yearbook. They see that he drew a rose on four girls' pictures. They soon see that more girls were targets of Mike, and of course the victims of rape.

Will and Nick call all of the girls whose pictures Mike Delaney drew a rose on. Though they could not bring in Shaina McNulty, who committed suicide in 1982.

Lily first talks to Melinda Levy. Melinda chose not to tell anybody what happened, because she thought that it was her fault.

Kat talks to Karin Hensley. Karin says that she told her roommate and best friend about what happened, but the girl believed Karen asked for it.

Lily talks to Regie Kunze. She tells Lily that she met up again with Mike after the incident outside of the school, where he denied any wrongdoing. Later on, Regie told the Dean of what Mike did, but nothing happened.

The detectives talk to Shaina McNulty's father, Jason McNulty, and he admits to not believing that his daughter was raped back then, which he regrets. Jason also tells them that he saw a female cop, Maggie Lafferty, outside of Shaina's room, holding her diary.

Lilly and Kat come to talk to Maggie, who states she felt bad that Mike raped more than one girl and there wasn't enough to charge him. She reveals that she went into Tessie's apartment to explain her that if she was in imminent danger, she could kill Mike in self-defense and wouldn't be put in jail. Maggie put a gun in Tessie's mailbox to allow her to "protect herself".

The detectives talk to Tessie once more, along with her lawyer and younger brother, Jimmy Bartam. Jimmy refuses to let Tessie speak to the detectives of what happened. They leave the interview room.

Lilly and Will go to the old women's bathroom at college, where the students kept notes for each other and such. The four girls all left messages on the wall, referring to the aftermath of their rapes. Shaina wrote: "MD Raped Me, I told my dad and he said it was my fault". Regie wrote: "I told the Dean and nothing happened", Tessie wrote: "I told the cops and nothing happened", Karin wrote: "I told my roommate and she said I asked for it", Melinda wrote: "I didn't tell anyone because it was my fault". Also, all the girls wrote "We must stop him together FOREVER".

The police talk to Melinda, Karin and Regie. They admit that they did meet up with Mike in school, with Tessie holding the gun. But Tessie didn't shoot him and recalls "I don't want to be like him". She walked away, along with Regie, Karin and Melinda.

Lilly and Scotty go and talk to Jimmy and Tessie, having realised that Jimmy lied about being home the night Mike Delaney was murdered. Jimmy, who was 12 years old back then, admits that he followed Tessie and after the girls left, he picked up the gun from the trash can. Then, Jimmy shot Mike as a way to avenge his sister and make up for not having been able to help her. Lilly and Scotty coax him into saying he picked up the gun because he was scared and he felt Mike was a threat to his life; Will and Nick are observing and they choose to ignore the coaxing. As a consequence, Jimmy didn't get arrested and the murder was ruled to be a justifiable homicide.

After Jimmy's testimony and the end of the whole nightmare, he and Tessie hug each other tightly. As Nick checks on the documents of the now-resolved case, he briefly sees Mike's ghost in the file room and shoots him a cold glance before the ghost fades away. Maggie is seen at work, overseeing a bunch of female rookies in the shooting grounds. Jason is seen on his own, drinking from a beer bottle. Regie, Melinda, and Karin meet up in the streets and share a hug as Lilly watches them from afar.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Co-Starring[]

Notes[]

  • The ending song "Save a Prayer" by Duran Duran was also heard in the second season episode "Schadenfreude", which also took place in 1982.
  • Lilly mentions at the start that the twenty-fifth anniversary of Mike's death was coming up, but Mike was killed in May of 1982, while this episode aired in the fall of 2007, so the twenty-fifth anniversary would have already come and gone months earlier.
  • Mike was explicitly said to have been killed on the night of graduation, which was dated May 18, 1982. However, his headstone gives his date of death as May 29, 1982.
  • At twelve years old, Jimmy Bartram is tied with Ariel Shuman from "The Sleepover", Darnell Odoms from "Time to Crime", Chuck Pierce from "One Small Step", and George Marks from "Mind Hunters"/ "The Woods" as the youngest doer seen on the show.
  • The episode was remade as the twenty-sixth episode of Cold Case - Door of Truth.

Music[]

  • A Flock of Seagulls "Space Age Love Song"
  • Psychedelic Furs "Sister Europe"
  • Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
  • The Cure "Secrets"
  • Psychedelic Furs "Love My Way"
  • Closing Song: Duran Duran "Save A Prayer"
Season 5 Episodes
Thrill Kill | That Woman | Running Around | Devil Music | Thick as Thieves | Wunderkind | World's End | It Takes a Village | Boy Crazy | Justice | Family 8108 | Sabotage | Spiders | Andy in C Minor | The Road | Bad Reputation | Slipping | Ghost of My Child

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Season 2
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Season 5
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Season 6
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