Helen Braidwell (Law & Order: SVU)

Helen Braidwell aka Cassidy Cornell (Mae Whitman) is a villainess in "Streetwise", episode 9.11 of Law & Order: SVU.
== History ==
Helen was born into a wealthy and privileged family and was a student at the prominent Saint Winnifred's School. Despite her lavish upbringing, Helen hated the constraint she felt her parents put on her and ran away, which led to her meeting Phalanx, a street gang of homeless children led by Cole Roderick, who acted as the children's twisted father figure. To integrate herself into the family, Helen took on the name Cassidy Cornell and claimed to have run away from an abusive home. Helen was taken in by Cole and replaced his original "wife", Larissa Rhedd, when she was caught having sex with a drug dealer. From there, Helen stood by as Cole ruled over the "family" with an iron fist, murdering anyone who disrespected him or challenged his authority.
Prior to the episode's events, Helen was in a park with Cole and the rest of Phalanx when she was spotted by Shelby Crawford, one of her former classmates from Saint Winnifred's. Not wanting her new life to be discovered, the evil Helen falsely told Cole that Shelby insulted him, resulting in Cole murdering Shelby. Helen also took Shelby's earrings off her corpse to pawn in for food.
== Events ==
When the SVU detectives began investigating Shelby's murder (originally believing her to have been raped as well), they uncovered the fact that Shelby's earrings were given to a pawn shop and find security footage of the transaction being done by Josie Knox, one of the children under Cole and Helen's care. After learning about Phalanx, detectives Benson and Stabler go to question Helen and her family, which she disregards. When Cole and the children arrive, he has them all scatter before running away. When the detectives managed to get Josie to talk to them about what happened to Shelby, Cole decided she had to be killed for betraying the family, not heeding to Helen's attempts to dissuade him. She went to the detectives after they discovered Josie had been abducted her from the crisis center she belonged to and begged for them to save Josie, but before they could begin searching, Josie was brutally killed by Cole.
After breaking down at the sight of Josie's corpse, Helen talked to the detectives and confessed to the murders Cole committed in exchange for a ticket to San Francisco, along with the warehouse where Cole was hidden out at. Helen went on to testify against Cole in court, breaking down as Cole screamed at her for disrespecting Phalanx until he was dragged out of court. Helen's lies were revealed when her parents came to the SVU station and revealed her true identity. When questioned by Stabler, Helen claimed that her parents smothered her and that her life was miserable (which Stabler and Benson rebuked). The interrogation was interrupted when Helen's father came in and told the detectives he was taking her home until they were going to arrest her. When on trial for Cole's murders, the evil Helen went on to feign innocence on the stand, claiming that Cole murdered Shelby on his own and painting herself as an innocent victim of his violence.
After that, Novak planned to have Helen charged with manslaughter, as her lie was what instigated Shelby Crawford's murder, and Benson convinced Cole to testify against her after revealing how she had deceived him. Helen was ultimately found guilty of manslaughter and the last thing we see her do is tell Novak that she hated her guts.
== Trivia ==
* Mae Whitman also appeared as the evil Roxy Richter in Scott Pilgrim vs The World.
==Gallery==
Helen Braidwell as Cassidy Cornell.jpg|Helen Braidwell, dressed in rags as "Cassidy Cornell"
helencassidysvu01.jpg
Category:2000s
Category:Brunette
Category:Deceiver
Category:Live Action Villainess
Category:Murderer
Category:Murder: Indirect
Category:Villainous Reveal
Category:Villain's Lover
Category:Fate: Guilty