History Recap / LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS10E11Stranger

* SecretKeeper: At some point after Heather disappeared, Mrs. Hallander found out that Nikki killed her. However, she chose to cover it up because she still loved Nikki and didn't want to lose her too. The only daughter who wasn't involved, Erica, is furious when she finds out.

* IJustWantToBeLoved: Kristen pretended to be Heather because she wanted a real family after years of being sexually abused by her father.

* CallingTheOldManOut: Heather’s eldest sister Erica does this upon learning that not only did Nikki murder Heather, but that their own mother found out and ''kept it from the rest of the family for years'', giving them false hope that Heather was still alive.

* [[BigBrotherBully Big Sister Bully]]: Nikki repeatedly mentions insulting her sister Heather about her weight and calling her a "heifer", most importantly on the day she ran away and was never seen again. The twist is that Heather never ran away, nor was she kidnapped: Nikki pushed her down the chimney stack years ago [[HeKnowsTooMuch so she wouldn't tell their parents about the latter's drug habit.]]

* DarkSecret: Nikki murdered Heather after the latter discovered her drug habit and threatened to tell their parents. Not long afterwards, their mother found out but hid it from the rest of the family because she "couldn’t lose two daughters".

* ParentalIncest: It's eventually revealed that "Heather", whose real name is Kristen, was abused and raped by her own father.]]

* AbusiveParents: Carl Vucelik, who kidnapped his daughter Kristen and sexually abused her for years, holding her captive in the basement and threatening to kill her if she tried to escape.

* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler:Nikki tearfully claims she never meant to murder Heather and that pushing her down the chimney stack was an accident. We don't find out the truth because she and Heather were the only ones there when it happened.]]
* [[BigBrotherBully Big Sister Bully]]: Nikki repeatedly mentions insulting her sister Heather about her weight and calling her a "heifer", most importantly on the day she ran away and was never seen again. [[spoiler:The twist is that Heather never ran away, nor was she kidnapped: Nikki pushed her down the chimney stack years ago [[HeKnowsTooMuch so she wouldn't tell their parents about the latter's drug habit.]]]]
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Kristen and her mother are reunited while her father is arrested, but the real Heather has been dead for years, and it’s heavily implied that her family will be irreparable after the revelation that it was her sister Nikki who killed her, and their mother kept the truth a secret from the rest of the family after discovering it not long after the fact.]]

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Munch had a hunch that there was more to what happened with Nikki and Heather than just Nikki bullying Heather into running away. [[spoiler: Turns out, Nikki ''murdered'' Heather]].
* DarkSecret: [[spoiler:Nikki murdered Heather after the latter discovered her drug habit and threatened to tell their parents. Not long afterwards, their mother found out but hid it from the rest of the family because she “couldn’t lose two daughters”.]]
* [[spoiler:DeadAllAlong: Heather has been dead for years thanks to Nikki killing her and Mrs. Hallander eventually finding out. Only Erica and Mr. Hallander, who were LockedOutOfTheLoop, are truly shocked to discover the truth about her death.]]

* ImposterForgotOneDetail: [[spoiler:To impersonate Heather, Kristen got a tattoo on her wrist of a four-leaf clover that matched hers. When the detectives compare reference photos of both tattoos, they notice that the stem of Heather's clover curves to the right, while Kristen's curves to the left.]]
* IJustWantToBeLoved: [[spoiler:Kristen pretended to be Heather because she wanted a real family after years of being sexually abused by her father.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:Mrs. Hallander knew the truth about Heather's death the whole time, letting Erica and Mr. Hallander hold on to false hope for years that Heather was going to come back. She didn't want to lose two daughters but in the end, she lost all three of them with Heather DeadAllAlong, Nikki going to jail, and Erica being disgusted with her choice to keep her DarkSecret.]]
* OutOfTheFryingPan: {{Downplayed}}. [[spoiler: After years of being held captive and sexually abused by her father, Kristen escapes by posing as a missing girl. Unfortunately, the "missing" girl she chose to impersonate was actually murdered by her psychotic sister, who threatens to kill Kristen if she doesn't go away and later almost follows through on her threat]].
* ParentalIncest: It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:"Heather", whose real name is Kristen, was abused and raped by her own father.]]

** [[spoiler: Kristen's fear that the Hallanders would kill her if they found out she wasn't Heather makes sense when you learn that Nikki Hallander murdered Heather years prior, and told Kristen she'd do the same to her if she didn't leave]].

* SmokestackDrop: A young woman impersonates a girl who went missing several years ago, but it's revealed that [[spoiler:her "sister" knew she was a fake all along, because she killed her sister the night she vanished by shoving her down a large chimney stack. At the end of the episode, she intimidates her by dragging her to the roof and forcing her to look and see where the real sister fell to her death, and threatening her with the same fate.]]

* CallingTheOldManOut: [[spoiler:Heather’s eldest sister Erica does this upon learning that not only did Nikki murder Heather, but that their own mother found out and ''kept it from the rest of the family for years'', giving them false hope that Heather was still alive.]]
-->[[spoiler:'''Erica:''' You knew? ''You knew this whole time?!'']]

* [[BigBrotherBully Big Sister Bully]]: Nikki repeatedly mentions insulting her sister Heather about her weight and calling her a "heifer", most importantly on the day she ran away and was never seen again. [[spoiler:In a twist, it turn out that Heather never ran away, nor was she kidnapped: Nikki pushed her down the chimney stack years ago [[HeKnowsTooMuch so she wouldn't tell their parents about the latter's drug habit.]]]]

** After Heather's photo ends up on the front page of the newspapers with the headline "Sex Slave in the City", her oldest sister Erica angrily tears into the detectives for not doing more to protect her, since they were out with her when it happened.