Departure From SVU
After three seasons, Cabot makes her departure from SVU in the Season 5 episode "Loss," in which she is prosecuting a rapist named Rafael Zapata Gaviria, who worked for the notorious drug lord Cesar Velez. Zapata had brutally raped and murdered an undercover NYPD officer who was working with the DEA. Cabot receives a threat on her life, as well as that of her mother. Despite warnings from the rest of the SVU squad, Cabot continues to prosecute the case, unwilling to let Zapata scare her. Timothy Donovan, a key witness and DEA special agent, is murdered in a car bombing right before Cabot's eyes. Cabot initially wants to try Zapata, even with no witness and her own life on the line, but after pressuring from the SVU detectives and District Attorney Arthur Branch (Fred Thompson), she drops the charges. However, Zapata is immediately arrested by Federal Agents for the witness' murder.
At the conclusion of the episode, she is apparently killed in a drive-by shooting while saying goodnight to Benson and Stabler. In the following scene, a cold, quiet SVU squad-room is shown with Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) reading a newspaper proclaiming her death. Benson and Stabler are called to a deserted area by Federal Agents where Cabot emerges from the car. She tells the stunned detectives that she insisted on telling them the truth before she disappears into the Witness Protection Program. She is replaced in the following episode by ADA Casey Novak (Diane Neal).
Read more about this topic: Alexandra Cabot
Famous quotes containing the words departure from and/or departure:
“Some departure from the norm
Will occur as time grows more open about it.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Some departure from the norm
Will occur as time grows more open about it.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)