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Law and Order: SVU season 26 episode 19, titled Play With Fire Part 2 aired on April 17, 2025. The episode was a crossover with the flagship series in the franchise, Law and Order season 24. In this second part of the two-hour event, the squad continues to investigate the murder of Maria Recinos, a rookie officer with a tragic past and a connection to Captain Olivia Benson.
Years earlier, Benson rescued Maria from a child trafficking ring, inspiring her to become a cop determined to protect others like her. When Maria is found burned in an oil drum while investigating a case involving undocumented migrant women, Benson takes a personal interest in finding her killer.
The trail leads to shocking revelations within the department itself. In a plot twist, it’s revealed that Maria was r*ped and murdered by her supervisor, Detective Paul Gomez. Gomez targeted vulnerable women and silenced those who tried to expose him. The SVU and the 2-7 piece together the truth and bring Gomez to justice after a rigorous trial.
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Law and Order: SVU season 26 episode 19: Father Alberto’s death casts suspicion on Detective Gomez
In Law and Order: SVU season 26 episode 19, following the murder of Detective Maria Recinos, Captain Benson and Detective Gomez begin questioning Father Alberto, a trusted priest who had been helping undocumented migrant women. Maria had been investigating a trafficking case tied to the community the priest served. When Benson and Gomez approach him, Father Alberto flees.
Gomez chases him down, and a physical altercation ends with Father Alberto being shot, supposedly after grabbing Gomez’s gun. However, Benson arrives just in time to witness a struggle and notices Gomez’s hand over the priest’s, casting doubt on Gomez’s version of events.
Father Alberto later dies from the gunshot, but Benson becomes suspicious. Alberto had been an ally to many of the women Maria was trying to help. It made no sense that he would become a predator himself. Benson suspects the priest may have known something, perhaps from confession, that threatened Gomez.
She sends Gomez’s DNA sample and compares it with evidence from Maria’s r*pe kit. The DNA matches. The priest’s death begins to look more like a cover-up than self-defense. Father Alberto is ultimately revealed as another tragic casualty of Gomez’s efforts to protect his secrets in Law and Order: SVU season 26 episode 19.
Law and Order: SVU season 26 episode 19: An attempt to intimidate Benson leads her to uncover more evidence
In Law and Order: SVU season 26 episode 19, after identifying Gomez as the likely perpetrator behind Maria’s r*pe and murder, Benson faces obstacles in securing the evidence needed to convict him. Without a warrant for Gomez’s DNA, the case against him remains circumstantial.
Things escalate when Benson spots a stranger attempting to lure her son, Noah, into a car after school. She chases the man off, realizing this wasn’t random. Someone close to Gomez is trying to intimidate her.
Benson reports the incident and places officers outside her home. Determined to push forward, she returns to the DA’s office and fights for a warrant to access Gomez’s phone records. She finds that Gomez had contacted notorious defense attorney Rita Calhoun just before the attempted abduction.
The threat to her son confirms the stakes and the lengths Gomez is willing to go to stay free. Meanwhile, advances in forensic technology allow the team to exhume Rosa Ortego, the murder victim from two years earlier.
Her remains yield a DNA match to Gomez as well, proving he was responsible for multiple murders. The team also gets testimony from a s*x worker whom Gomez manipulated to frame someone else for his crimes. Another survivor and Rosa's friend, Cassie, confirms Gomez's pattern of abuse and manipulation, leading to his conviction for r*pe and murder.
Stay tuned for more updates on Law and Order: SVU season 26.
