After Fisk makes himself a public figure at Vanessa's urging, Karen begins digging into his life looking for incriminating evidence against him. She finds out that his mother Marlene Vistain is in fact alive and well, and living in a nursing home in upstate New York. Accompanied by Ben, she talks to Marlene and learns about how Fisk beat his abusive father to death when he was a child. Marlene informs Wesley of this visit, prompting Wesley to abduct Karen as she is returning to her apartment. He takes her to a warehouse, and tries to intimidate her into backing down by threatening to have her friends and loved ones killed. However, he makes the mistake of leaving a loaded gun (which he procured from the head of Fisk's security detail) within arm's reach of Karen. When Wesley is distracted by his phone picking up an incoming call from Fisk, Karen grabs the gun and shoots him to death She is deeply traumatized over her second time to shooting someone since shooting Todd, having nightmares in which Fisk appears in her living room and strangles her to death with his bare hands. She is further wracked with guilt when Fisk personally murders Ben after finding out from a mole at the "Bulletin" about his and Karen's visit to Marlene. Nonetheless, Karen composes herself and helps Matt and Foggy track down the hiding place of Carl Hoffman, one of the corrupt detectives who investigated her for Fisher's murder and who in the interim has been coerced by Fisk into killing his own partner, allowing Matt to bring him in and have him give up Fisk.