Sid Maxwell (born Todd Bissell) was a fashion photographer who sexually harasses and assaults the models he works with.
History[]
Maxwell was born Todd Bissell in New York. Twelve years prior to the start of the episode, Bissell was arrested for public lewdness and his fingerprints were put in the system. At some point after this he changed his name to Sid Maxwell and founded underwear modelling company Skintight Apparel. As his business was a highly sexualized environment, Maxwell took advantage of his position to harass the woman modelling for him. "Employee of the month" was said to be interchangeable with "hooker" if Maxwell took a liking to a female employee. One model, Bonnie Allman, sued Maxwell for sexual assault after he forcibly removed her shirt during a photoshoot at a St Patrick's Day parade, but Maxwell's high-priced lawyers kept delaying the case until Bonnie ran out of money and was forced to back off. Maxwell retaliated against Bonnie by sending her abusive and misogynistic text messages for six months.
Shortly before the events of the episode, Maxwell almost ran another car off the road because he was driving at seventy-five miles per hour whilst on his phone. The person he nearly hit was so angry that they took a picture of him in his car and posted it on FlashPosse.net, a website dedicated to "corrective social action". Many of the website's users became needlessly angry and, combing all information available online, quickly identified the car as belonging to Todd Bissell. They also tracked down Maxwell's address and other details and posted it to the site. Appearing on the website led to Maxwell's car being vandalized. One of the site's users was a delusional and mentally ill woman named Kerry Sands, who posted hundreds of messages threatening Maxwell with death. Despite knowing that Sands was clearly insane, the site's webmaster Jim Leary made a point of contacting her whenever information about Maxwell/Bissell was posted, including details about how to get into Maxwell's apartment.
Maxwell first appears at a photoshoot, where he quickly gets angry at both the quality of the photos being taken and the music playing in the background. He fires the DJ and then kicks out everybody except the model so he can take the pictures himself. Off-screen, Maxwell makes the model (hired after Bonnie left) come back to his apartment and watch him subject himself to autoerotic asphyxiation. The model claims that she needs to buy cigarettes and leaves, although she makes sure that Maxwell isn't going to suffocate first. Shortly after, Kerry Sands uses FlashPosse to find and break into Maxwell's apartment before tying his hands behind his back and escaping, leaving Maxwell to suffocate to death. Maxwell's body is found early the next morning when his neighbor sees that his door was left open. (L&O: "Human Flesh Search Engine")