Melinda Warner

**Chief M.E. Melinda Warner** is the chief medical examiner in the New York City Police Department.

## History

After working as a doctor in the United States Air Force to pay for medical school and serving two tours during the Gulf War, Dr. Warner left the military to take care of her daughter, and became an Assistant Medical Examiner for the New York City Police Department.

In 2000, Melinda reached the rank of Medical Examiner and she was assigned to the 16th Precinct to replace M.E. Elizabeth Rodgers who had begun to work for the Major Case Squad in addition to the Homicide Division. Warner then permanently replaced Rodgers as the Medical Examiner of Special Victims Unit.

As years went by, Warner has become an essential part of the Special Victims Unit and her personal skills have contributed to the unit's high success rate in closing cases.

She was shot by Dr. Sophie Gerard, a anthropologist who was a troubled and grieving mother and a suspect in the kidnapping and murder of her son Nicholas, during a hostage situation inside the morgue. She later returns is seen back on the job; when Stabler and Benson question her ruling a death as a homicide, she claims that she was shot in the lung, not the head.

When it was suspected that her boss, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Carl Rudnick was a serial killer and psychopath, Warner was brought in to reevaluate autopsies that Rudnick performed on his own victims. When she asked what was going on, Detective Tutuola discreetly warned Warner to be careful of him.

After Carl Rudnick was arrested and imprisoned for life on multiple murder charges, Warner expressed how furious she was with him, stating that every body he examined had to be re-examined and that he had caused a huge mess in the medical examiner's office.

In 2018, Warner was promoted to Chief Medical Examiner

She examined the body of Benson's brother, Simon Marsden, after he died from an accidental overdose and notified Benson, who came to the morgue to identify her brother.

Warner was intimately involved in the COVID-19 pandemic response, telling Benson and Fin during one case that she had examined heaps of bodies of people who had died from COVID-19.

After another man dies, Warner examined his body to identify the cause of his death, which SVU believes is connected to Richard Wheatley. Warner then asks Benson how Stabler was doing and that she wrote her condolences but never heard back. Later, Warner reexamined the body of Simon Marsden after Benson suspected that he did not die of a suicide but was in fact murdered by two female rapists and murderers. Warner later ruled his death as a homicide. (SVU: "Trick-Rolled At The Moulin'")

### On OC

Whilst Stabler and the squad was investigating a bombing, Stabler approached Warner who became curious as to why Stabler was there since Hate Crimes was on the case. Warner then gave Stabler information about his victim and the circumstances around his death which causes Stabler to have a flashback to the night that Kathy was murdered. Warner then asked if Stabler was okay and Stabler agreed that he was fine. Stabler then hugs Warner which confuses her. Stabler claims that it's a form of apology since he got Warner's voicemail after Kathy's death but struggled to reach out to her. (OC: "Deliver Us From Evil")

## Appearances

* Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
	+ Season 2: "Noncompliance" • "Pixies" • "Abuse" • "Secrets" • "Pique" • "Scourge"
	+ Season 3: "Repression" • "Stolen" • "Rooftop" • "Tangled" • "Redemption" • "Care" • "Ridicule" • "Monogamy" • "Counterfeit" • "Denial" • "Silence"
	+ Season 4: "Chameleon" • "Vulnerable" • "Lust" • "Angels" • "Dolls" • "Juvenile" • "Resilience" • "Rotten" • "Mercy" • "Tortured" • "Privilege" • "Desperate" • "Appearances" • "Dominance" • "Futility" • "Grief" • "Perfect" • "Soulless"
	+ Season 5: "Loss" • "Serendipity" • "Shaken" • "Escape" • "Brotherhood" • "Hate" • "Ritual" • "Families" • "Careless" • "Sick" • "Lowdown" • "Criminal" • "Painless" • "Bound" • "Poison"
	+ Season 6: "Birthright" • "Scavenger" • "Conscience" • "Charisma" • "Doubt" • "Weak" • "Haunted" • "Identity" • "Quarry" • "Game" • "Hooked" • "Intoxicated" • "Night" • "Parts" • "Goliath"
	+ Season 7: "Design" • "Strain" • "Name" • "Starved" • "Rockabye" • "Storm" • "Infected" • "Blast" • "Taboo" • "Manipulated" • "Gone" • "Class" • "Venom" • "Fault" • "Fat" • "Web" • "Influence"
	+ Season 8: "Informed" • "Clock" • "Recall" • "Uncle" • "Confrontation" • "Underbelly" • "Choreographed" • "Scheherazade" • "Loophole" • "Dependent" • "Haystack" • "Sin" • "Responsible" • "Annihilated" • "Pretend" • "Screwed"
	+ Season 9: "Alternate" • "Harm" • "Fight" • "Paternity" • "Snitch" • "Streetwise" • "Signature" • "Undercover" • "Closet" • "Authority" • "Trade" • "Cold"
	+ Season 10: "Confession" • "Lunacy" • "Retro" • "Babes" • "Wildlife" • "PTSD" • "Smut" • "Stranger" • "Hothouse" • "Selfish" • "Liberties"
	+ Season 11: "Unstable" • "Hammered" • "Spooked" • "Users" • "Turmoil" • "Perverted" • "Anchor" • "Quickie" • "Confidential" • "Bedtime" • "Conned" • "Beef" • "Ace" • "Wannabe" • "Shattered"
	+ Season 12: "Merchandise" • "Trophy" • "Gray" • "Rescue" • "Pop" • "Dirty" • "Pursuit" • "Bully" • "Totem"
	+ Season 13: "Scorched Earth" • "Personal Fouls" • "Missing Pieces" • "True Believers" • "Russian Brides" • "Lost Traveler" • "Hunting Ground" • "Strange Beauty" • "Rhodium Nights"
	+ Season 14: "Lost Reputation" • "Vanity's Bonfire" • "Presumed Guilty" • "Brief Interlude" • "Her Negotiation"
	+ Season 15: "American Tragedy" • "Rapist Anonymous" • "Criminal Stories" • "Post-Mortem Blues"
	+ Season 16: "Undercover Mother" • "Daydream Believer"
	+ Season 17: "Devil's Dissections" • "Criminal Pathology" • "Melancholy Pursuit"
	+ Season 19: "Pathological"
	+ Season 21: "Murdered at a Bad Address"
	+ Season 22: "Remember Me In Quarantine" • "Trick-Rolled At The Moulin'"
	+ Season 23: "The Five Hundredth Episode"
* Law & Order: Trial By Jury
	+ Season 1: "Day"
* Chicago Fire:
	+ Season 3: "We Called Her Jellybean"
* Law & Order: Organized Crime
	+ Season 4: "Deliver Us From Evil"