Mariska Hargitay Reunites With Former Law & Order: SVU Costar Christopher Meloni: Benson and Stabler Together Again!

Actress and founder of the Joyful Heart Foundation is producing a documentary, Shelved, about the backlog of untested rape kits in the Detroit area

By Natalie Finn Mar 11, 2014 1:40 AMTags

Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson, together again!

Mariska Hargitay ran into her former Law & Order: SVU costar Christopher Meloni at an event last week and, happily, she shared evidence of their reunion on Instagram for fans who are still holding out hope that her onetime TV-partner of 12 seasons will return to the NBC procedural for a visit. (That continues to be unlikely, we're sorry to report.)

But at least there are these pics. 

"Look who I found! #Togetheragain," Hargitay captioned one selfie with her fellow thesp, who's currently shooting the upcoming Fox series Surviving Jack.

"Good times," she added to another smiley pic. (Apparently neither one could stop laughing long enough to take a steady shot—all of the pics suffering from can't-stop-giggling-plus-it's-dim-in-here blurriness).

But while Friday night was about fun and old friends, Hargitay is super-serious about her latest project. The 50-year-old actress and founder of the Joyful Heart Foundation, which provides suppor to victims of sexual assault and other forms of abuse, is producing a documentary about the backlog of rape kits in the Detoit area.

Called Shelved, the film will at least in part follow Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's efforts to get state of Michigan at large to help share the cost and man power required to process the more than 10,000 untested kits currently collecting dust in Detroit.

Hargitay appeared alongside Worthy at a press conference today to discuss the Detroit Rape Kit project and the Sexual Assault Kit Evidence Submission Act bill currently on the table in the state capital of Lansing, according to the Detroit News. The White House also announced last week that it would be earmarking $35 million to go toward processing untested kits around the U.S., establishing cold case teams to investigate new evidence and provide support for victims.

"Every day in the United States women and men take the courageous step of reporting their rape to the police," Hargitay told reporters. "And because of what those individuals have suffered, their bodies are crime scenes. They're living, breathing, feeling crime scenes from which doctors and nurses collect evidence in a sexual assault collection kit."

Hargitay also recently made her SVU directorial debut with an episode guest-starring Alec Baldwin that's slated to air this spring.

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