Lindsay Monroe - Background

Background

Lindsay is a native of Bozeman, Montana . Her Western manners, such as removing her shoes before entering a suspect's home, are a novelty to her co-workers. Because of her roots, she is particularly sensitive about cases in which the victim comes from a small town. Ten years before her arrival in New York, she was the lone witness and survivor to a multiple homicide in which three of her friends and a waitress were killed (episode 3.12, "Silent Night", episode 3.18, "Sleight Out of Hand"). Lindsay, when she was a child in school, was out at a diner with several of her friends. Lindsay escaped what became a massacre at the diner after she had gone into the diner's bathroom. While inside, an armed robber named Daniel Katums entered to rob the patrons and employees. Katums, even after receiving the money, still shot everybody he found inside the diner, not looking for survivors who were elsewhere. It was because of this that Lindsay was able to identify Katums. Katums escaped but was arrested after a decade on the run. As the sole survivor, Lindsay was called back to Montana to testify against Katums but was still too traumatized to speak up at first. It seemed without her testimony that Katums might get acquitted, but to Lindsay's happy surprise, Danny Messer who had flown out to Montana provided the moral support Lindsay needed to help convict Katums and send him to Montana's death row. This event both motivates and hinders her as a police investigator. It has left some deep scars; she finds it difficult to talk to mothers of crime victims, and is particularly rattled by the sight of young female murder victims.

In Late Admissions(Season 9), Lindsay returns home to Montana to witness Katums' execution. Lindsay visits Katums to confront him and demanded to know what the cost of all those lives he took was worth it, referring to the proceeds of the robbery. Katums does his best to convince Lindsay he is innocent and that as a child, Lindsay could not offer a proper description of the assailant, Lindsay of course disregards Katums' plea and before the lethal injection is administered, Katums finally confesses. It is suggested Lindsay and her father differ on their views on capital punishment with her father asking his daughter what good could be gained from Katums' execution, but Lindsay being flooded with memories of better times with her friends, remains steadfast in seeing Katums pay the ultimate sentence for his crimes. When Lindsay returns to New York, she finds Danny waiting for her on the stoop of their apartment building.