DENNIS FARINA GIVES POWERFUL PERFORMANCE AS DETECTIVE FONTANA RE-EXAMINES COLD CASE INVOLVING A MURDERED CHILD MODEL ON NBC'S 'LAW & ORDER,' OCT. 5 AT 10 P.M. ET/PT

NEW YORK -- October 3, 2005 -- On NBC's "Law & Order," a startling deathbed confession compels Detective Fontana (Dennis Farina) to re-examine a 10-year-old cold case of a child model raped and murdered in her home (Wed., Oct. 5 at 10 p.m. ET/PT). The prime suspect at the time, the girl's father, maintained his innocence in the face of strong physical evidence implicating him in the crime, but with no probable cause, an arrest was never made. The high-profile case took its toll regardless, as speculation soon ruined the family already devastated by the daughter's death. In the episode aptly titled "Ghosts," Dennis Farina gives a powerful performance as a detective who must revisit one of the most taxing unsolved cases of his career and face the father he originally fingered for the crime in light of recent evidence suggesting otherwise. Photos available at www.nbcumv.com.

When a mugger is mortally wounded in a shootout with two officers, Detectives Fontana (Farina) and Green (Jesse L. Martin) are shocked to learn that in addition to admitting his involvement in the recent crime, he confesses to the 10-year-old murder of Sara Dolan, a child model slain in her home. Instead of the victim's father, whom Det. Fontana is certain committed the crime, the new prime suspect is a former drug-addict who had ties to the thug. Dolan's father, ruined in the wake of the girl's death, is unwilling to cooperate, and the prosecution's most viable witness is disqualified on the grounds the new suspect's jailhouse confession was made in a spiritual context. Despite dwindling options, Assistant D.A. McCoy (Sam Waterston) continues to pursue a murder-two conviction despite a stern warning from his wary boss, D.A. Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson), who cautions against the fallout of losing this high profile case again. Annie Parisse and S. Epatha Merkerson also star.

"Law & Order" is produced by Wolf Films in association with NBC Universal Television Studio.