HowLaw & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay Helped a Real-Life Prosecutor Solve Thousands of Sex Crimes

Mar. 15, 2025

Mariska Hargitay in May 2024.Photo:Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Recently,DatelineNBC’sAndrea Canningjoined theTodayshow to discuss the newest episode ofDateline True Crime Weeklyand revealed that Hargitay, 60, helped one Michigan prosecutor with thousands of sexual assault cases.

TheLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitstar funded prosecutor Kym Worthy on her path to solving thousands of cases. Worthy first discovered that over 11,000 untested rape kits were sitting on a shelf in an evidence room. She took matters into her own hands and worked to get all of them tested.

However, money was needed to get all of these kits tested, and as Canning said, “So, who stepped in? None other thanLaw and Order’s Mariska Hargitay.”

Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson.Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Canning, 51, explained that the actress “helped them raise the money to get this done.” As a result, thousands of cases were solved and they discovered 22 serial rapists.

TheDatelinebroadcaster also noted that Worthy and Hargitay’s work is “having a ripple effect across the country [and] is making changes everywhere — for police departments for prosecutors’ offices.”

Kym Worthy in Detroit on April 7, 2021.AP Photo/Paul Sancya

AP Photo/Paul Sancya

At the time, a witness told PEOPLE that the little girl had been separated from her mother in the Anne Loftus Playground in Fort Tryon Park and asked the actress for help. Hargitay obliged and then halted production for 20 minutes to help the child locate her mother and to console them both.

The witness noted that the young girl was both oblivious to the film crew and Hargitay’s scene partner,Ice-T.

Ice T as Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola, Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson.Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

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TheDateline True Crime Weeklyepisode will drop Thursday, Aug. 15 across podcast platforms.Law & Order: SVUseason 26 premieres Thursday, Oct. 3 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.

source: people.com