Breaking News: Body Found in the Bay

[Bridget Martin]

Good evening, Bridget Martin, Channel 2 CBS News reporter
June 26, 2007

Today a body was found in the Upper New York Bay where the Hudson River and the East River converge. A construction firm was dredging the river bottom to install a new pier in Brooklyn and discovered the body wrapped in chains, an obvious murder victim.

Lt. Chris Meloni, NYPD Special Victims Unit (SVU) detective, was involved in a missing persons case nearby so he hurried to the scene wondering if he could identify the body. It turned out not to be the person he was pursuing, but they assigned him to the case.

The body has tentatively been identified as a Shane King, based on the wallet found in his possession. Lt. Meloni is looking for anybody that might know this man and be able to confirm his identity and know who might have killed him.

We'll stay with this case as more information is obtained.

[Chris Meloni]

On Tuesday night I was walking down a Manhattans street near the Four Seasons Supper Club when I saw a female burst out through the doors. I recognized her as that Samantha I met in a coffee shop last week after I thought she was being hassled by an older man.

She tried hard to convince me he was an old friend, but my instincts after dealing with so many endangered or battered women told me otherwise. I gave her my card that night and told her to call me if she was ever in trouble or felt threatened.

As soon as Samantha saw me she bolted in the other direction, so I took off in hot pursuit. She evaded me for several blocks through dark alleys and a crazy dash across traffic where I thought that I'd lost her. Turned out she ran down a blind end alley and smacked into a brick wall. She was getting up when I entered and blocked the exit. There was a drunk living in a huge cardboard box back there and I hurriedly got her out of there and into a coffee shop next door.

I asked her to explain why she was running and if she was indeed living off the street. She claimed she had a job and a place to stay. She was almost calmed down when I mentioned Shane King. She jumped up and tried to run away again but I caught her at the door. She was screaming and fussing so I did what I'm sure was the best thing, I called in a squad car and took her to the 5th precinct for questioning.

She clammed up and asked to make her  one permitted phone call. She used that call to bring in Diane Neal as her attorney. After telling Ms. Neal that Samantha wasn't under arrest…… yet…. but that refusing to identify the victim and refusing to answer any questions made me wonder if she was somehow involved in the murder. She had shown up a week ago in the 5th Precinct asking to speak to Shane King who she thought was there and under arrest. The was no Shane King there, but I quickly connected the two when King showed up dead.

I've advised Nelle Porter, our NYC District Attorney, of the situation and we plan on interrogating Samantha Emeris as soon as her lawyer has finished talking to her.

[Nelle Porter]

First I met with Lt. Meloni to get his reasons for bringing Samantah Emeris in for questioning in the Shane King murder case. It became obvious pretty quickly that we agreed she was not the murderer, at least not on her own. What we needed to get from her was who else might be involved and she wasn't sharing squat with Chris. Chris first saw her in a coffee shop a few weeks back and he thought she was being harassed by an older man. When he saw her running out of the Four Seasons he hurried after her to make sure she was okay. As soon as Chris mentioned Shane King, she tried to take off again so he brought her in.

Next I met with Samantha's attorney, Diane Neal. She cleared up a lot of the history in this case. Samantha now has a job as a towel girl in the Carnegie Hill Spa and she's singing at the Four Seasons Supper Club several days a week, so she's not a vagrant on the streets. Samantha was raped, or at least used while drunk, by this Shane King and he knocked her up in the process.  Her son, Devin, is now six years old and apparently Shane King showed up in NYC shortly after Samantha arrived. King tried to abduct her using some unknown drug with every intention of gaining access to his son.

It seems that the attempt was made while Samantha was a customer in Mahoney's Irish Pub, but Denny Mahoney and another man managed to foil the attempt. Samantha thought that King had been arrested and showed up in the 5th Precinct asking to see him. She was told there was no such person there and sent on her way.

I told Diane we had no intention of arresingt her, but we wanted Samantha to identify the man in the morgue as indeed the Shane King that had been chasing her. We also wanted to learn where he obtained that drug he used on her.

Meeting with Samantha and Diane revealed that she thought Shane was working for a drug lord, who more than likely might have murdered him to shut him up. She refused to give us anymore information, saying she planned to pursue the manner on her own. As much as Chris tried to dissuade her, we had to let her go.

[Chris Meloni]

I wasn't surprised upon getting requests for information on the whereabouts of Samantha Emeris from people like Lindsay Davis, Tammi Hanlin, Denny Mahoney, Barbara Swan and her lawyer, Diane Neal.

In my gut I knew Samantha was heading off in pursuit of the drug dealer that was threatening both her and her son. I'd warned her not to go there, to let us handle finding this guy.

Late last night I was informed that Samantha is now in a Brooklyn hospital suffering from the results of more of that damn drug he's using on her. She was still sleeping when I arrived so I'm sitting here waiting for them to wake her up.

[Diego Farina]

I'll be watching for Samantha to possibly show up at the Four Seasons Supper Club tonight. I sent her her second bowl of fruit in that Brooklyn hospital last week and made sure that we have street people on the look out for the drug dealer that abducted her and drugged her again. Eoin says he's watching her closely now, but either the police, the feds, or our people need to track down this guy.

[Chris Meloni]

Late Monday night as I was completing my daily report at the 5th Precinct, my cell phone rang. I assumed it might be my partner, Olivia Benson, but it turned out to be a crying Samantha Emeris asking me if I could pick her up near the fountain in Central Park and take her home.

I grabbed the keys to one of the unmarked Fords and hurried over. She couldn't stop crying so I did what she asked, taking her home to her apartment on the fourth floor of Carnegie Hill. She said she was pretty sure where Joseph Alnarshi might be hiding and promised to tell me on Tuesday night, once she was sure her son was safe.

Chloe Barrow was baby sitting Devin and I left once I was sure Samantha was safely tucked away for the night. I'm anxious to hear whatever she's willing to share.

[Chris Meloni]

Late Tuesday night I stopped by Samantha's place to make sure she was all right and to garner any information she had and was willing to share. Turns out she knows that drug dealer Joseph Alnarshi is staying on a houseboat moored in the East River next to Queens.

I gave that information to Lisa Cohen, the Director  on the FBI in New York City. She has assigned Special Agent David Moore to the case and they'll take over the drug case from now on. We're still interested in this man since he might be a suspect in the murder of Shane King.

[David Moore]

Working with Chris Meloni and the NYPD, we finally located the potential houseboat on the East River off Queens where we believe Joseph Alnarshi is residing. We are working in shifts watching the houseboat, hoping to catch Joseph as he returns.

The NYPD can pick him up for questioning regarding the incidents with Samantha Emeris and the murder of Shane King. Once we have him in the interrogation room, we hope to garner enough information to obtain a search warrant and inspect the houseboat.

We're hoping that will lead us to the new drug found at the hospital when Samantha escaped his clutches. We need to learn how and where the drug is being developed and shut down the entire operation.