Judah Demsky
Judah Demsky
Paul Blackthorne as Judah.
Portrayed By Paul Blackthorne
Gender Male
Date of Birth September 12, 1970
Age 37
Zodiac Sign Virgo
Aliases Jude
Place of Birth Atlantic City, NJ, USA
Current Location New York City, NY, USA
Occupation Police Detective
Known Relatives Reuben Demsky (father), Esther Demsky (mother), Leah Demsky (younger sister, deceased)
Known Abilities None
First Appearance As Real As Sewer Gators

Judah Demsky is detective with the New York Police Department where he works as a crime scene investigator and blood spatter analyst in the city's CSU.


History

Judah Demsky, eldest and only son of Reuben and Esther Demsky, was always a quiet child. So quiet, in fact, that when he was a toddler, his parents feared there was something desperately wrong with their boy because, despite all their love and coaxing, he did not speak. Judah was four and a half before he uttered his first real word – “Leah,” the name belonging to baby sister. As he grew older, Reuben and Esther gradually came to accept the fact that their son, while intelligent, did not socialize well with other children or adults, and – in addition to his problems with speech – possessed difficulties when it came to interpreting facial expressions, body language and voice inflection. Still, he did well in school, and seemed to have a promising academic life ahead of him to compensate for the social skills that he seemed to lack. No one in the Demsky family was surprised when the closest Judah came to making friends was a loose association with several students on the high school debate team to which he belonged. Instead, his constant companion during his adolescent years turned out to be his sister Leah who, despite being four years his junior, he was able to bond with the same way one bonds with a twin. They were inseparable.

When Judah graduated from high school in the top ten percent of his class, he announced to his parents that he wanted to study philosophy at Cornell, to which they agreed that it would be a good opportunity for him – if he could find a way to fund his tuition. Through a combination of scholarships, student loans, and a portion of an inheritance that his parents had tucked away when his grandparents on Esther’s side passed away some years before, the young man was able to get his foot in the door. It was all that he needed. Over the next four years, he immersed himself in his studies, soaking up the writings of dead men and women with whom he felt a connection like no other. In the spring of 1992, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree and a positive view on life. That same year, tragedy struck the Demsky family.

To celebrate their graduation, Judah and several of his former classmates took a trip to Leipzig, Germany. Their plan was to visit the birthplace of Friedrich Nietzsche, but for Judah the vacation would be cut abruptly short. One evening, he received a frantic call from his mother, who told him that Leah had gone missing on her way home from the antique store where she worked part-time for friends of the family. Within two days, Judah was back in the United States and trying to comfort his distraught parents. Although there were no overt signs of foul play, both the police and the Demskys feared the worst. Their intuition proved to be correct, and on July 8th, 1992, the decomposed remains of Leah Demsky were found in a wooded area off the Interstate. An autopsy revealed that she had been strangled to death and then raped by her assailant.

The murder of his sister brought about a change in Judah, but it took him several years of grieving and living with his parents before he decided what he ultimately wanted to do with his life: become a police detective. He returned to New York and settled down in New York City to pursue his new career path with renewed vigor. His efforts paid off, and within five years, he was working as a police officer and making a good impression on his superiors. In 1999, he was promoted to detective and assigned to the city’s Crime Scene Unit – exactly where he wanted to be. Over the next few years, aided by skills of deductive reasoning, he found a niche in blood spatter analysis and began dividing his time equally between the field and the lab. He has remained there since.

Although the murder of Leah Demsky remains a cold case, Judah hopes that one day investigators will find new evidence and open it up again. Until then, he is waiting.


Timeline


Quotes

Trivia

  • Judah has worked on the Virginia Gray case, which was opened in November of 2006. Like most everyone else in the CSU, he believes her son Gabriel to be a person of interest.
  • Although he comes from a Jewish family, Judah has not practiced or observed the faith since his second year at Cornell. Instead, he is something of nihilist and, in spite of his chosen profession, believes in neither a higher power nor "true morality." This has led to a strained relationship with his parents, though they regularly keep in touch.
  • Because he is almost forty and has never been married or romantically connected with anyone, there are rumours circulating the NYPD bullpen that Judah is gay. He will neither confirm nor deny this, on the grounds that it isn't anybody's business but his own.

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