| “ | You'll never convict me. You know that, right? | „ |
| ~ Swanson taunting ADA Samantha Maroun |
Kyle Swanson is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Wicked Game". He is a wealthy, politically connected serial killer who preys on young, Black, gay men.
He is portrayed by Currie Graham.
Overview[]
Swanson is a wealthy businessman and political power broker who has ties to some of the most powerful politicians in the United States, and leads an opulent, playboy lifestyle in which he gives young, Black, gay men money and gifts in return for sex.
Behind his image as a kingmaker, however, he is a sadistic psychopath who derives sexual pleasure from injecting his lovers with methamphetamine to the point that they overdose, and then deciding whether they live or die. He justifies his actions by dismissing his victims as "useless" and declaring that they do not deserve to live.
By the time of the episode, he has murdered five young men, later putting their bodies in luxury suitcases and leaving them on the street like garbage. One of his surviving victims describes him as "pure evil".
In "Wicked Game"[]
After Swanson's latest victim, Darien Mitchell, is found, NYPD Lieutenant Kate Dixon notices similarities between his murder and that of another young, Black, gay man she had investigated two years earlier, and suspects that a serial killer is at work. Detectives Kevin Bernard and Frank Cosgrove learn that Mitchell had attended one of Swanson's fundraisers and interview Swanson himself, who denies knowing Darien and even arrogantly assumes that he must have been one of "the help".
Suspicious, Bernard and Cosgrove return with a search warrant and find that Swanson owns several of the same luxury suitcases Darien had been found in. During the ensuing interrogation, Swanson admits to having a casual sexual relationship with Darien and to finding his dead body, but denies giving him drugs. After Swanson's surviving victim Andre Walker agrees to testify against him, Dixon convinces Assistant District Attorneys Nolan Price and Samantha Maroun to charge Swanson with murder, with Price even adding a hate crimes charge because Swanson preyed on victims in minority groups.
In the middle of the trial, however, Walker says that he cannot testify; a recently paroled ex-con, he fears that his parole officer will send him back to prison if he admits to using drugs. Price reluctantly strong-arms him into testifying, however, and his story so horrifies the jury that they find him guilty of second-degree murder. Swanson flies into a fit of rage and has to be physically dragged out of the courtroom, threatening the police and prosecutors all the while. He is then presumably imprisoned for life.
External links[]
- Kyle Swanson on the Law & Order Wiki