Vanessa Carville is a talk show host and a serial sexual abuser of female employees in her studio, which resulted in her being targeted by an extortion campaign.
History[]
Carville was one of three hosting women of a talk show titled The Sisters, involving entertaining debates on current events. In spite of her being married and having children with her husband, she was also responsible for coercing and intimidating her female colleagues to engage in drug abuse, drinking, and sexual abuse with her. Her victims included Sara Bradley and Megan Kerik. They both quit and changed jobs, Megan specifically leaving her production assistant position for a freelancing gig at Citysmear.com, a local New York City gossip network. She used this in gathering evidence and information to oust Carville for her crimes, meeting with Sara and regularly speaking with her to motivate her to provide her account for the report.
After a final late night meeting between Megan and Sara in a restaurant, where Sara was hesitant but still left the door open for the report having a chance, Megan was strangled dead and left near a highway. When Sara was tracked, she revealed how she was reporting on Carville with Megan's encouragement, leading to Megan's previous job at the studio also being revealed. Shortly beforehand, Carville had received a package at her door, with proof of her lascivious actions, stating in a blackmail if she didn't pay $3 million to an offshore Cayman Islands account, a book wold be released that would scandalize her. She had none of it and reported it to McCoy personally, but her DNA was still taken to rule her out for Megan's murder, which successfully did so from not matching.
When the extortion and murder took precedence, Carville worked with the legal officials to trap the blackmailer, but the scheduled call never went through. The meeting was changed to a park, where Megan's boyfriend, column editor Dennis Di Palma, arrived for the payment. Carville started a confrontation to challenge him as a human being and get answers, but Di Palma nervously rushed the exchange. Carville bitterly gave in and sent the payment, leading to DI Palma's arrest. However, when someone else collected the millions, another blackmailer was revealed.
The police anonymously received a video of Di Palma "strangling" Megan on a bed, but the third man was seen in a reflection. Di Palma revealed Derek Fanning, his sub-editor, pulled all the strings, making him and Megan perform in that video as a fake while being held at gunpoint. Di Palma was threatened with the frame job if he stopped the campaign or sold Fanning out. Fanning was arrested and arraigned, but a conviction could be secured without Di Palma and Carville willing to testify, as they both retracted to save their careers and lives. So to reverse the "daisy chain" of extortion, Carville was threatened with drug charges in regards to her sexual abuse and exploitation crimes. She resisted, but eventually begrudgingly agreed, which made Di Palma take a plea and got Fanning convicted on the maximum charges and penalties under grounds of premeditation.
It's unknown what, if any, career downfalls or penalties Carville faced in the long run. (L&O: "Blackmail")
Known Victims[]
- Numerous unnamed women (all coerced into drinking, drug use, and sexual abuse)
- Megan Kerik (coerced into drinking, drug use, and sexual abuse)
- Sara Bradley (Coerced into drinking, drug use, and sexual abuse)