This Chilling SVU Episode With Modern Family's Ariel Winter Will Stick With You

Winter guest starred in SVU Season 21, Episode 2 ("The Darkest Journey Home") as a young woman named Raegan James.

The episode began with Raegan drinking at a bar with friends after getting into an argument with her fiancé, Richard (Stephen Cefalu, Jr.). She attempted to get her friends to join her a club by offering them cocaine, but they turned her down and she opted to head home. After ordering a car service, she passed out, waking up to see a man who claimed he was a fellow rideshare passenger.

As she struggled to keep consciousness, the other passenger asked if the driver was dropping her off first. She popped a breath mint and passed out again on the window.

Raegan woke up the following morning "sticky, sore," with bruises on her wrists and sand in her bed, and realized she'd been assaulted but had no memory of the events.

Raegan opted to report her potential assault, and ended up at the SVU.

After speaking with Benson and Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), two things happened. One, they looked at her car service app and discovered she'd somehow changed her route and, instead of heading to her home in upper Manhattan, ended up going over the bridge into Queens and then miles away to a bar in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. (The fare also went from $15 to $140.)

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And two, they asked her to go to the hospital to have a forensic rape exam, where it was determined that she had had been held down and viciously sexually assaulted, possibly by more than one perpetrator. Benson worked with Raegan to jog her memory from the assault, but it was no use; she only remembered multiple people and the sound of rushing water.

Ultimately, her tox screen came back for several different drugs, and her rape rape kit came back with a DNA hit — but not for the ride share driver or passenger. It was Dennis Callahan, Raegan's former employer, with whom she admitted she's had oral sex the afternoon of her assault.

Multiple people called into question her mental health over the course of the investigation. The other ride share passenger, Julius (Teo Rapp-Olsson), told Fin Tutuola (Ice T) that she came onto him but was acting "bipolar" and he wasn't interested (though he'd initially hit on her in the ride share). Raegan's friends claimed that she had a history of blacking out drunk and making stories up for attention.

Meanwhile, Fin and Amanda investigated her apartment, where they found the sand in her shoes and sheets.

Benson and Raegan decided to retrace her steps from the night of the attack to jog her memory, which led them to Sheepshead Bay and the bar her app showed she'd gone to — which was along the docks. Ultimately, Raegan remembered the bar, and a large man dragging her barefoot onto the docks. She said several men were singing to make fun of her, recalling them calling her "uptight girl." After Benson pointed out a boat named Uptown Girl, the memories rushed back to Raegan, leading her to run back towards the shore in a panic.

After arresting Julius, rideshare driver Besnick "Nick" Pavlovic (Mark Puchinsky), and the boat's owner — a man named Anthony Martino (Nick Cordero) —  Rollins and Fin found footage from the bar that night. It showed a fourth man with Martino — Frank Corso (Martino Caputo).

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Raegan was able to identify the tattoo on Corso's arm and he, too, was arrested. After investigating the scene, the squad found DNA from all four men on the boat, and Corso's DNA in the rape kit. They also discovered that Martino was the one who'd called Corso to join.

Following their arrests, Martino, the boat owner, admitted to letting Julius use the boat, but said he wasn't involved; he couldn't explain Corso's presence. Pavlovic, the driver, gave a statement that the gang rape was Julius' idea and he'd called Martino, who, in fact, was involved; the driver said he didn't participate but had taken Raegan home, worried that the other men might kill her. All four pleaded guilty, and Raegan avoided a trial.

At the end of the episode, Benson and Raegan met up at a park, where Benson explained that healing would take time. 

"You survived the assault," Benson said. "And you're going to survive this."

"You've said that before," Raegan said in an accusatory tone.

"I have, because it's true," Benson replied.

"How do you know?" Raegan asked.

"Because I did," Benson told her, flashing back to her kidnapping by serial killer William Lewis.

Her vulnerable admission helped bridge the gap between the two, and clearly gave Raegan hope for the future.