Chicago P.D. Season 13 Episode 19 Recap: Ruzek Solves a Dark Motel Murder as He Says Goodbye to His Father
- Zakiyyah
- 23 minutes ago
- 4 min read
The episode starts out on a pretty normal, almost domesticated level. Kim is talking about Mack and the new school, and there’s this ongoing tension about selling the house. Even in those small family moments, he feels distracted, like his attention is already somewhere else. With all that is going on with his father it’s understandable. Selling the house and watching his father’s memory slip away day by day is very distracting to Adam. Kim says lately he always seems like he is somewhere else.
That “somewhere else” shows up when Adam comes across an old videotape that he found in his father’s belongings. It immediately feels wrong to him. The labeling looks official, almost like it came straight out of a case file. It doesn’t take long before he starts questioning what this tape is doing in their home and whether it connects to something serious.
Adam tries to go to his dad first, but with him struggling to remember everyday memories, Adam is alone trying to figure out where this tape is from. He decides to reach out to an old friend of his dad’s. Bob’s friend says he remembers the tape and it was just a prank. Says that Adam’s dad tried to work the case for about a month and nothing. Adam takes the tape back to the precinct, enhances the video and gets some leads.
Adam follows the lead, and it points him toward a case from 2019 at the Crestline Motel. The tape itself is disturbing, a recorded murder that clearly wasn’t supposed to be sitting in storage somewhere forgotten. The more Adam looks at it, the more it feels like something that was never fully resolved. That’s what pushes him to the Crestline Motel.
At the motel, Adam starts digging, and that’s where he rents the same room from the video and notices wires. Adam follows the wires to the rental office. This time no one is there. He follows the wires to a room. It leads to a room full of televisions that have each room under surveillance. The tension mounts and next we see Adam in the hospital.
When Adam wakes up in the hospital, Kim Burgess is there with him, along with Dr. Patel. Adam is disoriented and dealing with a concussion. Dr. Patel explains that he has short-term memory loss from the injury, which is why he can’t recall the attack or the moments leading up to it. Kim Burgess makes it clear he’s not leaving the hospital yet, even though Adam wants to get back out there.
Kim is there and Adam is fine, but he is suffering from a big concussion. Kim fills him in on what they found out and she tells him he wasn’t found at a hotel. Kim tells Adam she is going to get food. On the way downstairs she passes the man that rented the room to Adam unbeknownst to her. Researching a photo pops and Kim knows she just saw this man and runs to Adam’s room. He is fine and she lets him know that she thinks the man that was in his room was his attacker. Kim calls it in and the team goes to take the guy down. Kim tells Adam to stay in the hospital, but he convinces her he is good.
At the precinct they interrogate the man and he says he was off that day, it could have been anyone and he gives other employee names. Adam goes to visit his dad again and while there his memories come back. Adam leaves and then goes back to the hotel. At the hotel Adam seeks out Carlos. Carlos works maintenance there, and from the moment Adam starts asking questions, it’s obvious Carlos is uncomfortable. He tries to back away from the conversation, but he can’t hide that he knows something about what happened in 2019.
Carlos eventually brings up “Voodoo,” someone connected to illegal surveillance and drug activity at the motel. The mention of hidden cameras and recordings changes everything. Carlos insists he didn’t personally commit the murder on the tape, but he clearly knows more than he wants to say. Things escalate quickly after that.
Back at the motel angle, Carlos is brought in more directly. Under pressure, he admits there were illegal cameras installed throughout the Crestline Motel and that people were being recorded without their knowledge. He keeps circling back to “Voodoo,” describing someone involved in drugs, surveillance, and violence tied to the property.
As the investigation tightens, Mark Knight becomes the main suspect. His name connects to ketamine distribution and prior arrests, and his phone data places him near the Crestline Motel around the time of the 2019 murder. Imani and Kim push the case forward as more evidence stacks up, including links to a gray hatchback and suspicious movement tied to the motel’s records.
Eventually, the team confirms Mark Knight’s location. The unit breaches the location and takes Mark Knight into custody. The arrest brings everything that started with the videotape to a head, and Mark Knight is charged in the murder of Joe Verlaye. After the arrest, things finally slowed down. Adam is still in recovery. Imani continues coordinating final updates with the team.
By the end, the case is closed, but Adam is still left thinking about his dad. He gets a call from his dad’s facility. While there visiting he tells his dad that they closed the case. In the middle of telling him it dawns on him that his dad will not remember. Adam starts a heartfelt monologue to his dad letting him know how he feels about him and how wonderful a dad he was. We see a montage of little Adam and his dad through the years all the way up to his academy graduation.
Back in real time Adam kisses his fathers hand and tells him he can go. The room is silent and then we hear a loud last breath of Disco Bob Ruzek. Very poignant that Adam is there holding his fathers hand while he takes his last breath.
A very beautiful ending to an episode that had so many twists and turns. Scenes like the last scene shows the true heart of Chicago PD.
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