Chicago P.D. Season 13 Episode 8 Recap: A Child Trapped, a Killer Grandpa, and a Race Against Time

Back after the winter finale the episode picks up right where we left off, with Julie Bell trapped and terrified in her grandpa’s house. She calls for help, and Officer Imani is the first on the scene. Imani searches the house, trying to find Julie, but it’s not easy. The basement proves even more dangerous than it first seems. Going down the stairs, Imani finds Cal semi-conscious, his hand pinned from the sick obsession that Raymond Bell and his son had with hands. Before she can fully assist him, she realizes she’s trapped in the basement. While trying to get out of the steel door she is locked behind she notices Julie. The child is zoned out, frozen with fear, and insists she can’t help because her grandpa is so angry. It’s a tense, almost unbearable moment, showing just how much control the family had over her and how frightened she is.

When Imani finally gets out of the basement, she still has no cell service. She heads upstairs to try to call for backup, and that’s when Raymond opens fire with a shotgun. Imani barely manages to avoid being hit and barricades herself in a room until the shooting stops. She knows Voight and the team are on their way, but by the time she runs out, Raymond has already fled with Julie on foot. Every second feels critical, and the stakes couldn’t be higher as the officers must track both of them and make sure Julie stays safe. 

With Voight on the scene he instructs Burgess to get patrolmen to canvas the area because they may not have gotten far,

and he instructs Kevin to search the house. Maybe a clue can tell them where Raymond went. Just then Voight gets a call about a car jacking not even a mile and a half away. Before he can go check it out Kevin lets him know they have found a mummified body in a window seat. The team checks it out. Voight lets Kevin know to bring in forensics and search the home while they check out the carjacking. The team discovers the horrifying evidence inside Raymond’s home. Kevin finds multiple bodies hidden in holes and walls, some mummified, showing the full scale of the crime. 

At the site of the carjacking they notice there is a ring camera. Playing the video back to see Raymond and Julie. Raymond beats the man trying to get in his car to death, Julie bites him. After the attack Raymond bashes Julie into the car head first and then forces her to get into the car. Torres reaches out to Voight to tell him Cal is not conscious and ready to talk at the hospital. Torres goes over what happened and how Cal got into Raymond’s basement. Cal recalls eating a hotdog in the back parking lot of a store when a silver Mercedes pulls up. He says he was taken by surprise, beaten unconscious and put in the trunk. When he woke up he was at Raymond’s house in the driveway. Cal says Julie saw him pull him out of the truck and didn’t seem surprised at all. He says she kept asking did he see Preston of Lockport. Torres again confirms Julie said the name Preston. 

Pictured: Arienne Mandi as Eva Imani -- (Photo by: Lori Allen/NBC)

Turns out Preston is related to Raymond. Imani says she dug into him when they were working the case earlier. The team begins piecing everything together, including Preston’s connection to Raymond, realizing just how close Julie came to being in far worse danger. It becomes a race against time to recover her, secure the suspects, and process the crime scene.

The team heads to Lockport to talk to Preston. They reach out to Preston to ask if he has seen his cousin. Preston says he is in Florida with his family on vacation. The team says they definitely believe Raymond went to Preston’s home to hide out. Preston is more than happy to help the team and gives the lock code to his home. 

In Lockport they surround Preston’s home to try and apprehend Raymond and find Julie alive. Once inside Raymond starts to shoot the shotgun again. He escapes outside when Kevin apprehends him. Imani has been all through the home and there is no sign of Julie. Imani presses Raymond on Julie’s whereabouts when he tells her she is dead. Raymond spins a story that she got out and ran at first, but the story keeps changing. Imani gets him to agree to take them to where they buried the body. Raymond directs them to the land his family used to own and proceeds to send them in a wild goose chase. Imani becomes irritated when approaching Raymond as he attempts to pull her weapon. She overpowers him and beats him. Voight calms her down and tells her all of this is about Raymond wanting control. 

Now they are still looking for Julie and Raymond says they will never find her. Imani takes out a map and lets Voight know she thinks she is close by and she doesn’t think Raymond killed her. Imani recalls driving over the bridge and Raymond had a smile on his face. She wants to go back to that bridge. Just as Imani guessed Julie is in a tube under the bridge. Imani tried to talk to Julie to coax her out, but Julie is traumatized and says her grandfather hit her so hard she went to sleep. Julie is also scared she will go to jail. It’s clear Julie will need major help coping with her new reality.

By the end, Julie is rescued, shaken but alive, and the officers finally have a moment to reflect on what they’ve been through. The episode blends intense suspense with the personal stakes of protecting a child, showing how persistence, courage, and quick thinking are critical when every second counts. It’s a tense, emotional continuation of the story from last week, full of danger, heartbreak, and ultimately, relief. 

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