Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Episode 5 recap - Captain Benson brings down a deceptive predator

Episode 5 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 presents a new and strange case for the SVU unit to solve. They meet their victim, Natalie Tanzillo, a woman in active labor, who claimed to have been kidnapped.

However, the team learned that there was more to Natalie's story, as most of what she had been telling was proving to be completely false. Their investigation further proved that Natalie wasn't actually a victim but a predator who victimised her doulas. Benson turned the tables back to her and got her arrested, and later, ADA Carisi helped in bringing the criminal to prison.

Here's what happened in Episode 5 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27.

Disclaimer: The article contains spoilers. Reader discretion is advised.

---

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Episode 5 recap - Natalie is abducted

In Episode 5 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27, Rollins joins the SVU unit with Natalie's case being her first in three years. Natalie Tanzillo was in active labor when she claimed she saw her r*pist and tried to run away.

However, everything was a lie. Natalie was neither abducted nor pregnant. Rollins's background check revealed that Natalie's claims of meeting her r*pist at work were also a lie, as she hasn't worked in two years. But they thought perhaps she might have met the man when she was volunteering in the NGO.

When the team found her, she was taken to Presbyterian, as she did not want to go to the nearby hospital. The doctors there declared that Natalie wasn't pregnant, which twisted the case as the team had found several details that indicated that she was pregnant, such as sonograms and baby clothes.

---

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Episode 5 recap - The SVU team began to look into Natalie

The doctors' information shocked the SVU team in Episode 5 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27. Benson deduces that while she might not be pregnant now, she might once have been. Olivia believed that an assault could be the reason behind Natalie thinking she was pregnant.

The team talked to her supervisor when she worked in a charity. He revealed to the team that working with Natalie was hard because she was always making up fake illnesses. The story perfectly fits as Natalie's trauma response to an assault.

However, as they discovered that the custom onesie in Natalie's house was actually sent by one of her previous doulas, a birth companion. The doula revealed a shocking truth that Natalie wasn't the victim in the case but the predator.

---

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Episode 5 recap - Benson gets Natalie arrested

In Episode 5 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27, the SVU team learned more about how manipulative and dangerous Natalie was. The doulas had a message board where Lilli posted about Natalie. Soon, numerous doulas responded and came to tell their story to the team.

They reveal that Natalie was never actually pregnant, and this was all her plan to get women alone with her, who would bathe her and dress her up. She made them uncomfortable with her s*xual activities, but none of them could say anything. It was when Natalie called Benson and thought she could manipulate her that she got her into the team's grasp.

Benson made her reveal all her lies and learned that she was never assaulted or had any illnesses; she was simply a predator who had assaulted 30 doulas. She was arrested and brought to the court, where her defense lawyer came up with the lie that Natalie was suffering from Munchausen disease and was making up fake illnesses.

However, ADA Carisi's questioning revealed all the lies about Natalie forcing her to take a plea deal. While she was put behind bars, she did not go for s*xual assault but only for the fraud charges.

---

Keep reading Soap Central for more such stories.

Also Read: 9-1-1 Season 9 Episode 3 recap: Chaos erupts as Athena and Hen fight to survive in space