Larissa Welsh is an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse who became the reluctant star of a series of child pornography videos during the 1990s.
Background[]
As a child, Larissa Welsh spent much of her youth in the foster care system. Around the age of 10, she lived with a total of seven other foster children. During that time, she was kidnapped by a known pedophile and child pornographer named Orville Underwood who sought to use her in one of his videos, as he had done with other children. For the videos, Underwood named her "Brandy", and partially due to a star-shaped birthmark on her shoulder, she became popular among other pedophiles. In order to intimidate her into cooperating with him, Underwood threatened to send an organization known as The Coventry after her and her family, who in reality were unaware that she was even missing.
During her captivity, Welsh found sympathy from a boy who was also abducted by Underwood before her. Daniel Brooks, who she only remembered by his first name and smile, was also forced into videos with her, but befriended her. Brooks helped Larissa escape from Underwood's porno ring and seemed to drop out of sight. Larissa spent the remaining years remembering Daniel as her savior. Six months after her escape, Larissa spotted Underwood, who was arrested after they heard her scream. Unfortunately, the limited evidence against him ended up setting him free. Larissa grew to view Daniel as her savior, and also to hate the name "Brandy" as well as certain outfits that Underwood made her wear for his videos.
Years after the "Brandy" movies, Larissa struggled in vain to put the memory of her ordeal behind her. However, she is often ogled at by strange men, many of which are her perverted fans. In spite of this, she managed to allow a boyfriend in her life, named Patrick Binder. Due to her shyness, he struggled to form a relationship with her. Though they had known each other for two years, they only started seeing each other for six months.
Possessed[]
One day, an overweight, developmentally disabled man named Eldon Balogh, who was obsessed with the Brandy videos, broke into her apartment and dressed her like the little girl she was in the videos. He poorly shaved her arms and legs, forced her to wear a pair of underwear with the name "Brandy" stitched into the front, made her swallow Rohypnol, and tied her to a chair. Before he could rape her, her boyfriend tried to find out why she wasn't at work that day. Investigating, he found her unconscious and tied to the chair with the door latched shut. As he broke in and tried to save her, Balogh attacked him, dressed only in his underwear and a clear plastic mask. Binder tried to fight him off but lost the fight, and both he and his girlfriend wind up in the hospital during Balogh's escape.
As the SVU arrived at the hospital, they questioned Binder about the fight he had with Balogh and his relationship with Walsh. He offered skin samples to them, but he was only identified after other cases were revealed. However, as they were about to arrest him, they found he had rigged his computer with a live video feed to the hospital that led directly to a room that he chose where he would finish raping her. Frustrated with the inability of hospital security to protect her, she left and found out just how far Balogh had gone with her. When the SVU arrested Balogh for molesting Larissa twice (along with raping other young girls prior to attacking the former "Brandy"), they found old photographs and other material they intended to use against both Balogh, who was actually proud of himself for attacking her. He attributed his success to Orville Underwood, who he admitted he reluctantly tried to kill in frustration. While seeking the body of Underwood, the detectives found him to be alive, but injured.
A childhood photograph of Larissa Welsh belonging to Underwood, that was found in Balogh's possession.
Realizing that Underwood was guilty of enabling Balogh to attack Larissa, they began to question him when he was out of the hospital. He instead concocted an elaborate cover story to con them into believing he was innocent, claiming he was visiting Balogh and felt the urge to masturbate when a pornographic magazine caught his eye. Gillian Hardwicke realized that as absurd as his claims were, they still worked as an alibi he can use to walk free and presented Underwood as a sick old man being unjustly harassed by the NYPD. As Underwood left the precinct, he stumbled upon Larissa who had just arrived in a taxicab. Terrified by his presence, she vomited on Detective Stabler. Later, Stabler and Benson informed her that Balogh was murdered in prison, and urged her to help find Daniel in the hopes of convicting Underwood on other charges. She agreed and watched footage of herself and other kids, including her savior. Through various "wishing jars" buried in a garden, one of which included a leather wrist band that Daniel gave to Larissa, they found his full identity through his DNA, as well as a criminal record for shoplifting and prostitution. They also found he bought an abandoned factory at 701 East 13th Street in Lower Manhattan. When they tried to find Daniel, they found he had become a child pornographer himself, and to make matters worse, he had been brainwashed to the point of denying his former victimization by Underwood, and thus was rendered an unreliable witness.
During the trial, Underwood acted in his own defense, and used the argument that the books that Balogh used as a guide to finding Larissa were mere works of fiction that had nothing to do with her rape. Unfortunately, with the death of Balogh, Daniel's refusal to testify, and no other sufficient evidence, the prosecution was unable to make a case against him. However, Larissa was convinced she could convince Daniel to testify. As she arrived at Rikers, she expressed her disappointment that he became everything Underwood was. However, Daniel was convinced that the both of them could never return to a life without pedophilia. Nevertheless, he secretly told her that Underwood was still molesting children. Larissa arrived at Underwood's house as he was in the process of forcing another prepubescent girl into a life of child pornography, and shot him to death before the NYPD arrived at his house. Due to the fact that he had kidnapped and intended to rape the child at the time, Larissa was not charged on the grounds of justifiable homicide. However, while Underwood and Balogh were now dead, she still doubted that there were no more perverts waiting for her around the corner.