Tim Bayliss - Adena Watson Case

Adena Watson Case

Tim Bayliss had originally worked for the mayor's security, but his ambition had been to work at Homicide. His first case as primary detective was the rape-murder of Adena Watson, and he was never able to close it. This case haunted him throughout the series, but particularly in the first four seasons. At times, it led to friction between himself and his partner, Frank Pembleton, who scolded him for putting too much of himself into his cases. In the Season 4 episode "Stakeout," he learns that Risley Tucker (Moses Gunn), an arabber who was the prime suspect, has died of natural causes. Pembleton and Bayliss had put Risley through a long interrogation in hopes of getting him to admit his guilt, but without success.

The Season 4 episode, "Requiem for Adena", centers on the murder of a young black girl that shows similarities to the Adena Watson case. Bayliss becomes obsessed with the idea that the two cases are connected, to the point that his actions begin to jeopardize Pembleton's efforts to get a confession. He learns that many of the people connected with Adena and/or Tucker have moved on from her death much better than he has, and he states that he has begun to hate Adena because he cannot do so himself. At the end of the episode, he takes a framed photo of her from his desk (where it had stood ever since that investigation wound down), packs it into an envelope with a carnation from his lapel, and drops the envelope into a trash can.

In the Season 6 episode, "Finnegan's Wake", Tim wrestles anew with the Watson case when he learns about the longest-running unsolved homicide on the BPD's books, the rape and murder in 1932 of a little girl named Clara Slone. Pembleton tells Tim that the senior detectives all decided to not tell him about the Slone case because it strongly echoed Adena Watson's case, not least because the lead detective in 1932 was a very young cop who saw the case quickly spiral out of his control. Tim is having dreams about the case, and tells the retired cop who helped Falsone solve it that he wondered if he had true evil (Risley Tucker) in his sights and let him get away.