(crowd cheering)
MAN: of 44th Street and 6th Avenue
where Harry Houdini made a 10,000 pound elephant
disappear back in 1918.
Magician-illusionist, Luke Blade,
will pay homage to the legendary Houdini
by performing three mind-bending stunts over three nights
in what he calls, "Luke Blade: Death Becomes Me."
You wanted to see the craziest stuff ever, right?
(cheering wildly)
I'm Luke Blade,
and this is one of three nights of "Death Becomes Me."
Are you ready?!
(cheering wildly)
(crowd cheering and hooting)
(whirring)
(cheering continues)
Go!
(cheering and whistling)
Go!
(yelling)
(saw winds down, yelling fades)
(cheering and whistling)
(panicked screaming)
(muffled whimpering and screaming)
(camera shutter clicking)
Clearly this trick didn't work.
Sawed right through her.
Based on the amount of blood,
and these bruises on her shins...
She was alive when he cut her in half.
(screaming)
Something tells me this girl
wasn't a volunteer from the audience.
♪ Out here in the fields ♪
♪ I fight for my meals ♪
♪ I get my back into my living ♪
♪ I don't need to fight ♪
♪ To prove I'm right ♪
♪ I don't need to be forgiven, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ Yeah. ♪
Captioning sponsored by CBS and CSI NY PRODUCTIONS
Handcuffs are plastic.
They weren't used to restrain her.
Our vic's still a Jane Doe.
We're checking missing persons.
Who found her?
Night watchman. 75 years old.
The paramedics are treating him for shock.
Says he left to check out the Luke Blade stunt,
he came back, found the vic.
Luke Blade.
He sawed himself in half, right?
Yeah, it's part of his three tricks in three nights thing.
Could be a copycat, could be a coincidence.
I'm going to check on the security guard.
Stella, transfer the body.
Let's get Sid working on this as fast as possible.
All right, guys, let's do it.
No signs of forced entry.
BONASERA: You two, over here.
(exhales) Wow, I gotta say,
of all the bodies, "most twisted" list.en
Yeah, it's no ordinary slice of life.
You work around the clock last night?
I had a grand jury, search warrant hearing,
then a 4:00 to 12:00, and that rolled into a midnight.
I'm catching my fourth wind-- I'm all right.
Check the rest of the stage.
(muffled yelling)
♪ ♪
What do ya got, Mac?
The killer took a bow.
What's the phrase?
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts"?
Do I even need to state the cause of death?
Can you estimate the time?
Most likely between 8:00 and 10:00 last night.
Serration marks are consistent
with the saw you found at the scene.
Bone is not easy to cut through.
Whoever did this had to be very strong.
And very angry.
Okay, Sid, enough of the boring stuff.
I know you-- you always have something up your sleeve.
Well, as it happens,
I do have a little something.
BONASERA: Black light reflective ink.
It's just like a conventional tattoo,
but it's only visible under an ultraviolet light source.
What's the point if no one gets to see it?
You don't have to worry about hiding it.
It's seen when you want it to be seen.
SID: Mind, body and spirit.
Yeah.
We've got her mind and her body.
We just need to find out who took her spirit.
♪ ♪
BONASERA: Hey, Mac, check this out.
Got a lead-- Rupert Lanigan.
Hawkes lifted his print off the wooden box.
He have a connection to the victim?
He stalked her.
Three arrests: harassment,
aggravated harassment and criminal trespass.
The complainant in each case was a Vienna Hyatt.
She's a perfect match to our vic.
You know where to find him?
Yeah, a place called Magic Paradise
at the corner of Broadway and 46th.
He's the manager there.
And the picture on the handkerchief...
is the store's logo.
(bells jingling)
Rise tiny creature. Rise.
Go forth into the world and prosper.
Welcome to Magic Paradise, gentlemen,
where anything is possible, if you believe in magic.
(buzzing)
Fake fly?
Sodium chloride.
Introducing a fine, nearly invisible pinch of salt
onto the waterlogged fly
reestablished the salt to water equilibrium necessary
to enable the fly to conduct its cellular metabolism.
I like the fake fly theory better.
What are you, the magic police?
That was easy to explain.
This is a little trickier.
Is that Vienna?
Did something happen to her?
FLACK: She was murdered last night.
You think you can wave your hand over her,
bring her back to life?
Your fingerprint was found on the wooden box.
We sell these boxes here.
They're too big to have on display,
so I store them upstairs. I might've handled that one.
Tell me about you and Vienna.
I love Vienna.
Yeah, and nothing says I love you back
like an Order of Protection.
She used to come into the store a lot,
did Luke Blade's shopping.
She was a big flirt.
I might've taken it the wrong way, went a little too far.
No, no, no.
I might've taken it the wrong way, went a little too far.
No, no, no.
You went John Hinkley on her, Rupert.
Come on, three arrests in two months.
Why was she shopping
for Luke Blade?
She was his assistant.
FLACK: What were you doing last night between 8:00 and 10:00?
I was in hours 15 and 16 of my anger management class
listening to some bloke blame his dead ma
for punching a meter maid in the face.
Part of my probation.
Check it out, if you'd like.
Now, anything else?
(sets DVD on counter)
We'll take this.
(bells jingling)
You think Luke Blade was involved?
He's connected to the victim
and time of death doesn't rule him out.
When mind, body and spirit come together,
anything is possible.
Even murder.
BONASERA: Yeah, I bet it must be strange being back in Montana.
So how's the trial going?
Good. At least the prosecutor says it is.
When do you have to testify?
This afternoon.
It's weird. I've testified in this building
maybe a hundred times, but always as a forensic expert,
never as a witness to a crime.
Now you just get up there and you tell the truth.
Look, I know it's tough being on the stand,
but there's a few things you should remember.
Make eye contact with those jurors.
You're the only eyewitness,
and if you can make
a connection with them, if they can look you
in the eye, they'll understand what you went through.
And when you're on the cross- exam, keep your answers short.
Don't give them any ammunition to attack you.
That will allow the DA to object if necessary
and your response won't have to be stricken from the record.
Lindsay?
Yeah.
Yeah, I-I'll remember.
Hang in there, kiddo.
If you need anything, give me a call.
Thanks, Stel.
Say hi to everyone for me.
Will do.
(phone beeps off)
Stella?
Oh, am I interrupting?
Uh, no, no. It's, uh... I, uh...
I was just talking to Lindsay.
Oh, really?
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, really?
Yeah, yeah.
She doesn't sound quite the same.
Uh-huh.
She's going to be all right.
Uh-huh.
She's going to be all right.
Said to say hello.
So what do you got?
Oh, Flack called. Rupert Lanigan's
alibi checked out.
So I got a shoe print that's not in the database,
I got blood that only belongs to Vienna Hyatt,
and we got a psycho magician who kills for imaginary audiences.
And, unfortunately, his victim is all too real.
Look, we know you fired Vienna Hyatt
two weeks ago for trying to sell your secrets
to a tabloid.
Excuse me for one second please. Thank you.
Vienna chose money over family is what she did.
MESSER: So you decided
to split the family.
Why now?
Why'd she decide to sell you out?
Greed.
Look, I'm an illusionist.
It's what I am, it's not what I do.
Betray my craft,
you betray me.
Why now?
I guess she decided to show her true colors.
MAN: Luke?
Yeah, what's up, man?
Sorry to interrupt, but we got a final run-through
and a safety check in a minute.
If that's it, Detectives...
...I'm going to go light myself on fire.
Hey, Mac, you see what I see?
Check this out, Mac.
Could possibly match the footprint
at the crime scene.
Maybe murder runs in the family.
(crowd cheering)
Are you ready, New York?!
(cheering wildly)
Someone, please, light me on fire!
REPORTER: We're live in midtown Manhattan
where illusionist-daredevil Luke Blade
continues to burn alive.
Blade's plan is to stay aflame for four hours.
We'll continue to bring you
live coverage of this amazing story as it develops.
All right, they say burning is the most painful of deaths.
I love that. How do they know? What, did they take a poll?
64% of dead
people surveyed...
Hey, Dan, if you want to go home and catch
people surveyed...
Hey, Dan, if you want to go home and catch
some sleep, I can finish this up.
No, no, no. No, it's all right.
I'm good. Let's get this done.
Okay. So on the right,
we've got the shoe print at the crime scene.
Austin Cannon's shoe print on the left, right there.
BONASERA: Right, let's see what we got.
Same tread marks, same voids...
Matching wear pattern on the instep.
Yeah, more than likely puts Mr. Stunt Engineer
at the crime scene.
But not necessarily at the time of the murder.
We need a motive before we talk to him.
It was getting late and the place was closing up.
Everybody had pretty much cleared out except for us.
We just sat there talking forever.
About boys,
school, going away for the summer.
(laughter)
We talked about how much
we were going to miss each other over those months
and how we would stay friends forever.
I remember Kelly...
saying that she, uh, hadn't even packed yet.
She usually stayed home for the summer, but...
this was going to be her, uh,
her first summer away.
And what happened next?
I got up to go to the restroom to wash my hands.
I could still hear them laughing outside the door.
(distant laughter)
And I was only in there for about 15 seconds
when I heard the bells chime at the front door.
(bells jingling)
And, uh...
(bells jingling)
And, uh...
that's when I heard the first shot.
(gunshot)
I froze.
I didn't know what to do.
I just froze.
And I could hear them screaming
(girls screaming)
in the other room.
(girls screaming)
in the other room.
(crying): And then I heard another shot.
(gunshot)
And then... another.
And another.
I just curled up in the corner, and I covered my ears.
Just take your time.
I know this is hard.
I... I'm sorry.
I, uh... I...
Can we stop?
Your Honor,
this might be a good time to take a break.
Perhaps we can finish Miss Monroe's testimony tomorrow?
JUDGE: Court's adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.
(gavel bangs)
So, Mac, Austin Cannon's
shoe print matches the shoe print
I lifted at the crime scene,
but not the bloody one.
And I spoke to a guy in Luke Blade's crew.
They aren't exactly La Cosa Nostra.
He was more than willing to go against the family.
He told me that
Austin was dating Vienna Hyatt,
and that recently things got rocky when he caught
her sleeping with Luke Blade.
Austin was going to leave the family.
Merlin, what are you doing here,
trading in your crime scene kit for a magic kit?
(laughs): Oh...
MESSER: That's impressive.
It's not a butterfly, but it's nice.
BONASERA: All right, spill it.
How'd you do it?
Experimentation and observation.
No, Mac, I'm talking about the mechanics of the trick?
A magician never reveals his secrets.
But you're right.
It's in the mechanics, the engineering...
Which is Austin's expertise.
TAYLOR: The hard part is creating the trick.
The rest is showmanship.
Austin Cannon does the legwork...
But doesn't reap any of the benefits.
So maybe Austin Cannon
was tired of making Luke look good.
(crowd cheering)
(groaning)
(cheering)
(screaming): No!
CROWD: Ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
four, three, two, one.
(cheering)
(crowd cheering)
(indistinct radio transmission)
Danny, help me turn the body.
Well, so much for questioning Austin Cannon.
Looks like the trick's on us.
WOMAN: Is it a case of art imitating life
or life imitating art?
For the second night in a row, police have found a body
killed in a fashion consistent with the tricks performed
by master illusionist, Luke Blade.
Blade reportedly is cooperating with the police
and has agreed not to perform his final trick.
New York Crime Scene Investigators
are continuing their search for clues.
We'll continue to bring you live updates on this story
as they develop.
Mac.
Found this in the trash can.
This is second vic connected to Mr. Magic, Luke Blade.
We're going to have to entertain the idea
that this guy's good enough
to be in two places at the same time.
I'm not going to go at him with nothing up my sleeve.
We need evidence.
Hopefully, we'll get a print off that.
It started here.
He had the victim on his knees.
No!
Oh.
You hear that?
What do we got in here?
The end is charred.
(screaming): No! No!
Abracadabra.
Figure it out yet?
He disappears at 11:00
and the anonymous 911 call--
the cries for help from the alley--
comes in at 10:58.
So it appears that Luke Blade did not commit the murder.
What if that's not Luke Blade on fire at all?
What if a switch was made before he was even lit.
Well, he prides himself on executing all his illusions.
I mean, he wouldn't do a fire trick
if he wasn't the one put on fire.
Okay, okay.
But there's got to be a switch at some point.
All right, well, if there was a switch,
there would have to be some kind of deviation
in the pattern.
The only pattern I found is this...
See every half hour his team
comes in to refuel.
The blankets are soaked with a flammable liquid.
They're used as a wick to keep him going.
Last two are here, 10:00 and 10:30.
Mm-hmm.
Well, there you go.
He deviates from the pattern right here,
but it's only blocked for, like, a second.
Yeah.
Wait a second.
Let me run that back.
Okay, right there. You see that?
Sort of a brighter glow
behind the blanket.
It's got to be
when the switch was made.
There's a second person on fire behind the blanket
causing a more intense glow.
Okay.
Okay, so if the 911 call came in at 10:58,
Mm-hmm.
and the switch was made at 10:30, that gives him roughly
a 30 minute window to commit the murder
and reappear with the fire extinguisher.
The crime scene's only three blocks away.
But it's just not enough to say that he had the opportunity
to commit the murder.
We can't arrest him for that.
We got to place him in that alley.
♪ ♪
I'm losing my mind.
No match.
Well, well...
if it isn't the great debunker.
What can I do for you this time, Detective?
I'm looking for a way to make my caseload disappear, Rupert.
You got that in your bag of tricks?
They're not tricks, they're illusions.
Whatever.
Actually, we're looking for these items.
Are they sold separately
or they come in some sort of kit?
You won't find these on any shelf.
This stuff dates back maybe 30 years.
HAWKES: You know where we can find them?
Our shop manufactured a bunch of kits,
but only-only one included handcuffs.
I might have one out back.
Would you do us a favor and look?
You think Houdini knew the impact
he would have on Mafia lingo?
I'm sorry?
It's like when they whack somebody,
they say, "We made him do a Houdini."
You think that would make him proud?
Are we actually having this conversation?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Can you explain the difference between DNA and RNA?
Is that better?
'Cause that's scintillating conversation right there.
It would be if you knew...
RUPERT: This is what you're looking for.
It has all three items you showed me in those photographs.
You better return this, though.
It's a collector's item.
I don't want to find out you two pulled a Houdini on me.
Thank you.
♪ ♪
The substance I recovered from the gas can is, uh...
Stunt Gel.
Why do I even bother if you know the answer, Mac.
Everything has to be backed up by science, you know that.
Hey.
When we're done here, you go home.
Take the day.
Normally I'd fight with you, but I'm too tired.
That sounds great.
You want to do the honors?
Are you lighting your arm on fire in the name of science?
What other job allows you to set your boss on fire?
Going once,
going twice...
Sold. But if you go up in flames, I get your office?
You're telling me you don't feel that?
Oh, I definitely feel it.
But I imagine this heat is nothing
compared to a full body burn for four hours.
All right, so tell me again why you're doing this?
Luke Blade is using his tricks as his alibi.
He claims to blur the line between reality and illusion.
And his guilt is becoming very clear.
(yawns)
Go with your instincts.
REPORTER (on TV): NYPD has confirmed that the two victims
in this case of black magic are Luke Blade's former assistant,
Vienna Hyatt, and stunt engineer, Austin Cannon,
seen here working with Luke Blade on his last stunt.
Speculation among police officials
is that Luke Blade himself is involved,
orchestrating his deadliest illusion yet.
But that hasn't stopped thousands of fans
from purchasing Luke Blade paraphernalia
as sales have gone through the roof.
Nothing like murder to increase your profit margin.
The DNA Danny recovered off the magic wand came back.
Run it through CODIS?
Yeah.
You ready for this?
The donor isn't in the system.
However, his father is.
George Clark.
In and out of prison since he was 16.
Well, find him-- maybe he can tell us where his son is.
George Clark passed away three years ago.
What's more interesting is who his son is...
Luke Blade.
Apparently, George's wife died giving birth to Luke.
Confident that he wasn't going to be a good single father,
he gave Luke up for adoption.
He find a family?
He was adopted by a Sylvia Walker.
She probably thought she couldn't have children,
so she and her husband adopted Luke as an infant.
It says here that Luke started to exhibit
signs of fetal alcohol syndrome
at the age of six.
Sylvia was pregnant.
They gave Luke back.
Yeah.
The onset of
fetal alcohol syndrome is violent mood swings,
impulsive behavior,
temper tantrums.
She must have been worried
about Luke being around the newborn.
Records indicate any personal belongings?
Mmm, here it is.
Uh, personal property: a magic set.
Like was made to disappear.
Thus began his fascination...
with the art of illusion.
Yeah. He bounced around the system for the next 15 years,
in and out of institutions and foster homes,
and most definitely harboring feelings
of abandonment by his family.
Luke referred to his crew as his family.
He's targeting those who betrayed him
and violated a scared trust.
PROSECUTOR: Miss Monroe, could you please tell the jury what happened
after you heard the gunshots?
It was quiet.
But I could hear footsteps outside the door.
And the faucet was still running.
I remember being scared that whoever was out there
would hear it.
PROSECUTOR: Miss Monroe?
I'm not sure why, or what I was thinking,
but I, uh... I-I went to the door,
and I opened it just enough to see out.
PROSECUTOR: What did you see?
MONROE: I saw a man holding a shotgun,
covered in blood.
PROSECUTOR: The man you saw,
is he in this courtroom today?
Yes.
He's sitting right there, in the grey suit.
PROSECUTOR: Miss Monroe, was there a time after
that you left the restroom?
Yeah, I heard the front door chime again,
(bells jingling)
and I waited a few seconds, and I went out.
PROSECUTOR: And what did you see, Lindsay?
I saw my friends.
There was so much blood.
Sarah, the girl who worked there,
I saw her on the floor near the register.
And then I went to the counter, and I called 911.
YOUNG MONROE: Someone help me, please.
He shot them. He shot them all.
Well, there's still no info on Sylvia Walker's whereabouts.
And no one's seen Luke.
We tried his hotel,
his office, his dressing room.
None of his people know where he is.
Flack is tracking down every angle.
Three tricks in three nights. Two victims down.
Luke's adoptive mother is the finale.
(muffled screaming)
(stifled cries)
You don't know who I am,
do you?
It doesn't surprise me at all.
It's been... what, 25 years?
I've grown just a bit since then, haven't I?
Take a closer look.
(crying)
No? Nothing?
You don't remember your own son?!
He's mimicking his own act when he kills.
What was his last trick supposed to be?
An homage to Houdini.
He submerges himself in a tank of water
wearing a straightjacket,
has to escape before he drowns.
The nature of the crimes are consistent
with fetal alcohol syndrome.
Yeah, difficulty telling fantasy from reality,
and an inability to reason from cause to effect.
He was a ticking time bomb.
When his crew-- his family-- started to pull away from him,
he snapped.
(snaps fingers)
(muffled crying)
That's right.
It's me, Luke.
The prodigal adopted son returns.
Truth be told...
I should thank you.
(crying)
Along with all my misery,
you brought me the one thing
that means more to me than anything.
Magic.
And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
But you're a far better magician than I'll ever be.
Because you taught me...
... that people can disappear.
So here we are.
You and me.
Mommy.
He would create the illusion that he was on stage,
and then escape to commit the murder.
Then return to the stage in front of a live audience
to complete his alibi.
Now that his final trick is canceled,
he doesn't have an illusion to hide behind.
We gotta move.
Luke's people reported one of their trucks missing.
LoJack just picked it up on the corner of 23rd and 11th,
next to the warehouse where Luke stores his stuff.
Showtime.
Ladies and gentlemen!
I want to thank you all for coming to the show.
For my next trick,
this is something I've been working on for many, many years.
It should not,
can not be repeated,
and most importantly,
it has to be performed by a highly pissed off professional.
Now, I'm looking for a volunteer from the audience.
Oh, madam, you look like a brave soul.
(whimpering)
Let's give her a hand, shall we?
What makes this trick so amazing...
is... I'm sorry, what was your name, madam?
Sylvia.
...Sylvia has absolutely no training in escapology.
You might be asking yourself,
"How in the hell is she going to get out of this one?"
Well, let me save you the suspense.
She's not.
As Houdini said...
"My brain is the key that will set me...
free."
Ah.
Have you ever seen anything like this?
Is this guy good or what?
No! No!
No!
Here. It's okay.
(coughing and gasping)
(growling)
(gasping)
JUDGE: Will the defendant please rise?
Madame Foreman, you've reached a verdict, what say you?
FOREWOMAN: In the matter of The People v. Daniel Katums,
we find the defendant...
guilty of murder in the first degree.
JUDGE: This court is now adjourned.
(bangs gavel)
Thank you, Madam Forman and jurors.
(excited murmuring)
(handcuffs clicking)
Captioning sponsored by CBS
and CSI NY PRODUCTIONS
Captioned by access.wgbh.org oup at WGBH