DEEJAY 1: Hey, Las Vegas, it's 7:15, and the temperature's already 108 degrees. ...and get into the fight. ...already 108. ...triple-digit temperatures. It's so hot, you could cook an egg on a sidewalk. No relief in sight.
Help! Ma'am, you all right? There's a baby inside the car! It's not my car. Help! Get back! Help!
Registration's not here. Shopping plaza. Mother can't be too far.
When are parents going to learn a car is not a baby-sitter?
108 degrees outside. You want to document the inside temperature?
How many of these have we had this year? I lost count after ten. This one makes 12. MAN: Hey, that's my car. Look, what the hell is going on? Hey, that's my car. What are they doing? Did somebody break in to my car? I'm Detective Brass, Las Vegas Police. Sir, do you have a son?
Oh, God! Joshua!
145 degrees inside the car.
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DEEJAY: and 110 degrees. There's a heat advisory in effect. Children and elderly and people with respiratory problems are warned to stay inside. If it's not babies in swimming pools.es That time of year. MAN: normally I'd sayid-- infant's been dead a couple of hours, but in this weather, it's possible the infant died no more than an hour ago.
I'm off for air, Catherine.
I brought a sheet. All these lookie-loos, I think we'd better treat this like the baby's still alive.
( softly ): Thanks.
MAN: during a routine patrol Boot prints and drag marks. Had to. Didn't want her floating away.
STOKES: Board shorts, aqua sock shoes. Dressed for sport. No sign of bloating. Chances are she's been dead less than 24 hours. Neck looks broken, her head's split, but there's no cone of foam. No what? Uh, we have air in our lungs-- add water, you get foam. It means she didn't drown. Well, apparently, to die out here.y way
( over speaker ): to drop Joshua off at daycare.
My wife usually brings him on her way to work.
It was a hectic morning. My cell phone was going off. Problems at the office. Look, I don't care how much pressure we get from the financier. Look... Oh, can you hold on a second? I have anoth... I'm sorry, I can't do this right now. I'm driving. Look, hold all the calls, call my wife, tell her I'll be... I'll be home late. I forgot he was in the back seat. How could you forget? I'm not the one who drives him. Vickie does that.
I was distracted. My-my job consumes so much of my mind... So, what kind of job you have that's so distracting? I'm an agent for the gaming commission. It's a 25-hour-a-day job, eight days a week. Your wife work? She works as much as me.
Joshua made it all worthwhile. BRASS: Where's your wife now? She's in L.A. on business.
What am I going to tell her?
We need something.
No birthmark, no scars, no tattoos.
It's a locker key.
You put in for the promotion, huh? Yeah. Yeah, last week. I still haven't heard anything about it. Yeah, neither have I. MAN: Hey, you ready for me? She's all yours. Heard you had a rough morning. I've had better.
Sara, take a look at this. What is that?
I don't know.
You were right about your dead swimmer. She didn't drown. Cause of death was a palpable fracture of the neck SIDLE: From the blow to the head. Probably. Cerebral contusion's beneath the skull fracture. Savage hit. Greg processed the sexual assault kit. Positive for semen. There were no physical findings for rape. Not a lot to go on here. Gastric lumen contained dark, pasty material-- maybe slightly digested meat, stringy vegetable matter. Does it give us a timeline? Emptying rates vary from person to person, but I'd estimate she ate two to four hours before death. All right, good. Ranger Stone came through-- found our locker.
Ms. Willows, uh, Chief Deputy D.A. Mm-hmm. It is. We're working on it. How long was the baby left inside the car? Based on the time of death, we estimate roughly an hour. The 9-1-1 call came in at 11:30 in the morning. Okay, and what time does Paul Winston start work? According to Captain Brass, uh, 10:00 a.m. ( scoffs ): Hour and a half. Come on, look, I've got a three-year-old at home, and I've left him inside a covered garage with groceries for two minutes, tops, but two hours, in this heat? I know. It's a tragedy. You know, cases like these almost never see the inside of a courtroom. This one will. Is there any worse punishment than losing your child? Yeah. Jail time. I want him behind bars, so the next time a parent steps away from their vehicle in triple-degree heat, they check the back seat before they lock the door. Doesn't change my job. Look... I-I need you guys to thoroughly document this case. I don't want any more surprises in court, so from the car to the kid, just try to cross your T's and dot your I's, okay? I always do.
WILLOWS: Car seat's fastened correctly. Most aren't.
Hey, Gil. Look at this. What do you see? Um... Nothing. Exactly. There's no indentations in the leather. Well, maybe this wasn't the primary vehicle for transporting the baby. Yeah. Same thing the father said. What is that?
Oh.
Negative for blood. ( sighs ) What are you thinking? I don't get people.
...reporting a record number of heat-stroke victims. Please be advised to drink plenty of fluids... ( camera shutter clicking )
You with me? I am now. I passed off the baby case to Catherine. It's hot in here. Hell, yeah.
Super came in to the check the A.C. and he found him like this. S.C. Jones. 33. In his massage chair. No signs of forced entry. It doesn't appear that robbery was a motive.
A small bruise on his fingertip, but no outward signs of trauma. I had a case once where a soda can was the murder weapon. Suspect used it to bash in the victim's head.
Diet shake, fitness magazine, cookie crumbs on the baking sheet. This guy trying to start a diet or falling off of one. He's got a workout schedule. And today... a three-mile run. Whew.
Fat metabolizers, containing ephedra. Scorching heat and ephedra-- that's not good.
( grunts ) ( panting ) Sounds like a heat stroke to me. Yeah. Feel the burn.
Hey. How we doing on that swab? It should be ready any minute. Another baby. Hear the D.A.'s really gunning for the father. What do you think they're going to charge him with? Murder? Not likely. Child endangerment, child... neglect, child abuse. Sounds like a slap on the wrist to me. You and the D.A. can shake hands. ( printer humming ) Your printout's ready.
The red stain in the car... Brompheniramine maleates. USP-one. Cough syrup.
( coins rattle ) Dollar slots? Is there truly no place left in Las Vegas without slot machines?
University student I.D. Sophia Renatta. 20 years old. SIDLE: A guy's wallet? No credit card. No driver's license.
Well, this is too big for Sophia. It's a double extra large. Well, that's definitely a guy's. Cold be a boyfriend or beach buddy. Suspect? Yeah. I remember her... and her punk in shinning armor. He wasn't a cool guy? The dude stiffed me, twice, bro. Rents my Waverunner, doesn't bring it back. And his cheap-ass plastic's got a 2-K limit. SIDLE: Ouch. Did they look like a couple to you? She was a pretty girl with a problem. He knew an "in" when he saw one. You got a credit card? No, this is all I have. No, why don't you ask dad. We got a line here. Why don't you step aside. Maybe, maybe I can help.
So you think they just met? It's a hot day... something must've been in the air. We'll need to look at your rental log if you don't mind. Thanks. Thanks.
Here it is. Mark Young. Checked out the Waverunner 11:45. But he and Sophia didn't hit the water until 2:15. Well, if he did just meet her, he's a pretty smooth operator. Bailed her out, bought her lunch, and still had some coins left over to play the slots. Classic lake date.
Boy meets girl... girl ends up dead.
Mrs. Winston? I asked my husband to do one thing. One thing. I got up early. I fed Joshua. I got him changed, dressed. All he had to do was drop him off. WILLOWS: You flew to Los Angeles, Mrs. Winston? ( sighs ) I had, uh, business in Anaheim. I'm in horticulture. My company is designing a garden for a new hotel. How'd you get to the airport? I drove my car. I'm assuming you have a baby seat in your vehicle. Of course. It's the law. I... I put it in Paul's car before I left.
Mrs. Winston, did... Joshua have a cold? He had a slight cough. There was a bug going around daycare. Did you give him anything for it? Cough syrup. Last night. How about this morning?
There's a rule in our house that only one parent medicates the child. But I told Paul to go ahead and give it to Joshua if he was still coughing.
Why?
Thanks for coming in. We're all done. Thank you.
What is wrong with you?! How could you leave him in the car?! What is wrong with you?! ( sobbing )
Mr. Young, your son was last seen with a young girl. We know that he rented a Waverunner. Now that young girl is in our morgue and we don't know where your son is. I can't believe this is happening. Mark has a job. There's no reason for him to be on the lake during a work day. We contacted Mark's manager at work. He called in sick. What are you saying? That he killed this girl? What is this?! No, no. No one's saying that. We're just... Mr. Young, when is the last time that you saw Mark? Yesterday morning. He came by, got something to eat and he left. I mean, at this age, I can't keep track of him. Hey, believe me, I understand. I've been there. Mr. Stokes, my son is not a criminal. We're not saying he's a criminal. All we're saying is your son had contact with the victim and now he's missing. What we'd like to do is get a warrant to search your house. A warrant? But maybe we don't need one. If we could just come by there and collect some of Mark's things, uh, we could get a DNA sample, exclude him as a suspect. You can take whatever you want. Mark didn't hurt that girl.
Go ahead, pinch him.
There's no tenting. So he wasn't dehydrated. No, heat stroke. Vitreous urea nitrogen and creatinine were normal. Same for sodium. What about drugs? Tox was negative. Heart attack? Organ was normal, under 400 grams. Left ventricle less than 1.5 centimeters. I've run out of questions. Well, I would've missed this one if it weren't for you.
Oh, you sectioned off that fingertip bruise. Look at the scope.
The skin cells look stressed out. It's called nuclear streaming. It occurs when an electric current passes through tissue. He was electrocuted. But how come there's no burn marks? Low-power shock. Uh, current crossed the heart. No damage to the muscle, but havoc on the rhythm. Ventricular fibrillation. A precision clock becomes a bag of worms.
All it takes is a little current. And a point of contact. The substance on her hips is suntan lotion. Waterproof, zinc oxide, high SPF. Well, that's odd. The victim had a deep, even tan. We collected low SPF oil from the locker. It's a simple transfer-- him to her.
What about the green substance in the head wound? Mm.
Navicula, Hannaea, Achnanthes, Cymbella. Algae. Yeah, not the free-swimming kind. These are epilithic diatoms. Attached to rocks. Girl's out at the lake. She meets some random guy she knows nothing about and she goes off with him. She places herself in a bad situation. WILLOWS: And bad things happen. ( screams ) Sophia takes a header off the Waverunner. This algae grows everywhere. A Waverunner... point and throttle. ( sighs ) We have no idea where they went. Heard you guys narrowed your search area to 44 square miles. That could take like months.
And I'm sure you're here to shed some light on the situation.
Your case is a boy-girl thing, right? Mm-hmm. Body was washed up near Windmill Cove? These two coves to the north-- Cotton Wood Island, Tequila-- huge make-out spots. But nearly impossible to get to by land. And how would you know that, Greg? A gentleman never tells. Anyway, I thought that would be a good place to start. If you guys need an extra set of hands... Uh, no. No. I think we got it, boss.
"Howard Aston Winston."
The Clark County Health Department still advises all citizens to stay hydrated and... I got the state medical records for Howard Ashton Winston-- born August 12, 2000. Would've been three years old. When did he die? Last year-- Tay-Sachs Disease. Oh, that's incurable. Like MS, right? Yeah, I worked with a cop in New Jersey whose son died from it. Aw, the poor kid went blind, couldn't swallow. In the end, he couldn't even lift his head up. The Winstons never mentioned they had another child. Losing one kid is tough, but two? I know it.
These wires are all insulated. No burn marks. Current didn't pass through this chair. Whoa-ho! What you got? Ultimate power. I could program this bad boy to make me a cup of coffee. Is there any sign of electrical surging? Well... this remote control's got plenty of juice, but... the board's clean, no scoring. You know, if I had my choice about how I was going to go out, it would not be electrocution. I think an aneurysm in my sleep-- quick and painless. I like surprises.
Bingo. Look at that.
Current went through the phone. Heat lightning. Storm rolls through the desert, sometimes it strikes in town.
( zapping continuing ) ( groans ) Electrocution through the phone line? I thought that was a myth. This look like a myth to you?
STOKES: Nice call, Greg. There's our Waverunner.
Signs of sex; no sign of blood. Half a tank of gas. Why didn't he just take this to get out of Dodge? Well, if he leaves the dock with Sophia, comes back alone... somebody might notice. So... he just hoofs it out of here? How? There's an access route about two miles east, but in this heat, no way.
Well, if you kill somebody... you find a way. Check it out.
WARRICK: Strike map from the National Lightning Detection Network. ( computer beeping ) This is Vegas in yellow.
Hasn't had a lightning strike in three days. You got another theory? All I got is a fried phone. One point on the electrical path to ground. If the phone wasn't the way in, maybe it was the way out. ( grunting ): You good on your end? Yeah, fine. All right. That's good. Good. This about it? Yeah. Okay... now, electricity is fickle, right? Yeah. One centimeter can mean the difference between a little zap and dead. So, let's assume that the current went out through his right index finger and the phone. For it to cross his heart, it must've come from the left side of his body, right? We've ruled out the fan and the chair. Can was in his left hand, so... the point of entry must've been somewhere else on his body.
WARRICK: His bare foot touched the floor.
Path of least resistance.
SIDLE: That's got to be a 50-foot drop. Yeah, but when you're young, it just looks like a whole lot of fun. Not for Sophia. Come on, go for it. It'll be a rush. I don't know. ( screams ) ( water splashes ) Well, if that's where she died... the evidence isn't up here. It's down there.
SANDERS: Catherine... Hey, I got your results. Found a therapeutic level of cough syrup in the baby's system, no more than the recommended dosage. So, between the cough syrup and the heat, Joshua probably fell asleep and the father forgot that he was there. Maybe. I also found organophosphates, more specifically Disulfoton.
Pesticides.
What the hell's he doing with pesticides in his system?
( locker closes ) ( doorbell rings ) BRASS: Mrs. Winston, we have a warrant to search the premises. WILLOWS: Where do you keep your gardening supplies?
Spiral search pattern. The anchor chain is your center point. Do a 360, then drop your depth. Now, you're not done till you hit the bottom, okay? SIDLE: You're looking for anything she might've hit her head on, probably something covered with algae. STOKES: Good luck.
What do you got? That's got to be Mark Young.
Yeah.
Mr. and Mrs. Winston, why don't we get out of this heat?
Why didn't you tell us you had another child who also died? How dare you bring up Howard. I'm a mother in mourning. I've already buried one child. I have to bury another. One was in God's hands, the other in the incapablehands of my husband. Show some compassion. I'm not the guilty one here! I'm guilty. I'm not a bad parent; I was negligent. I take full responsibility for what I did, but leave Howard out of it. We found pesticides in Joshua's bloodstream. I'm going to have to get a court order and exhume the body of your first child. ( sighs ) Vicky and I went through hell watching Howard deteriorate. Can't you let my boy rest in peace? I'm afraid not.
ROBBINS: With exhumations, you always hope for a good embalmer, and I think we've got one. Body's well-preserved. Tay-Sachs is a genetic disorder. You see the retarded musculature? Classic symptom. Night and day, compared to Joshua.
Quite a lot of Vitreous Fluid left. I stand corrected-- great embalmer.
Run this?
No cough syrup. No pesticides. Traces of monocycline. Anti-inflammatory. Sometimes prescribed for Tay-Sachs. Well, it's the same principle of giving marijuana to glaucoma patients-- doesn't really cure the vision problems; it just buys you time. Band-Aid. Yeah. Maybe the Winstons didn't want Howard to suffer. So, they don't kill their first child, who's dying. Why kill the second child, who's healthy?
So both Howard and Joshua Winston were patients of yours? Yes. I was with them when Howard died. That was a dark time for them. And, I must say, it took a lot of courage for them to try again. And since both parents carry the Tay-Sachs allele, there was a 25% that the second child would be born with it. But Joshua dodged the bullet. We tested Vicki early in the second trimester; the results came back negative.
Had you seen Joshua recently? A couple days before he died. It was a regular checkup, or...? No. Vicki called in a panic, said something was wrong. I told her to bring him right in. And despite the fetal test, Joshua seemed to be exhibiting all the classic signs of early Tay-Sachs. Floppiness, poor head control, unable to turn over, decreased muscle tone. When they brought him in it was Howard all over again. The only conclusion was that the fetal test was a false negative. What are the odds? Under one percent. When I saw Joshua's retinas there were red spots-- classic Tay-Sachs. I sent out an enzyme test to confirm it. And did you confirm it? Results haven't come back yet.
ROBBINS: Mark Young. Cause of death is asphyxia due to fresh water drowning. No bruises or other injuries. Except for a ruptured tympanic membrane. Hmm.
Hmm.
Tear's red. It's ragged. Ante-mortem injury. In water, burst eardrums typically result from rapid decent. Sudden changes in pressure without equalizing. STOKES: She went in first. ( screaming )
Whoo-hoo!
And he jumped in after her.
This was an accident, Sara. He was trying to save her. That's a great theory. But we can't prove that. 26 feet under with a busted eardrum? If not to save her, why dive that deep? I don't know.
Case is over. Almost over. BROWN: Found this mineral residue that led all the way from the massage chair to this burnt-out power strip across the room... water stain. Well, there's your conductor. I also found them on the cookie sheet and this water-damaged magazine right here. And I found this plastic bag in the kitchen garbage.
"Ice Block." Add that with the fan, you got yourself a homemade swamp cooler.
( electrical crackling ) ( groaning ) Inventive. Guy was just trying to stay cool.
Thanks. No, it's my pleasure.
Hey, Nick. Hey. What are you doing? What do you mean? What did you tell him? His son died a hero? Look, I'm just trying to give the guy a little peace, you know? Oh, well, who are you trying to help feel better, him or you? Hey, let me ask you something, Sara: you're Mr. Young, would you rather know this much or nothing at all? You know, if the evidence doesn't support the answer, a CSI shouldn't be asking that question. Well, okay, if that works for you. Be careful.
I was in the garden this weekend. Why are you so interested in everything we do? I mean, when did our lives become an open book? When your second son ended up dead. When you were in the garden, was Joshua with you? No. Yes, he was. We had a fight... Vicky, it's your turn. I've had him for the past four hours. What, are you counting hours now? He's your son. Look, if you're not gardening here, then it's at work. I've had him all day. It's your turn. Here. Thank you. See the pretty flowers, Joshua?
( sighs ) I guess he was. But the moment he passed Joshua off to me I went inside. Did you wash your hands? Honestly, I don't remember. I'm in the garden a lot, so I'm sure I washed my hands. Well, I met with your pediatrician, Dr. Garner. When you brought Joshua in on that emergency call, it was because you feared that he, too, had Tay-Sachs. PAUL: We had the test before he was born. Dr. Garner said we were fine. I can imagine for both of you it must have been like reliving the nightmare. One child, now two. WILLOWS: Did you know that repeated exposure to certain pesticides, even in small amounts, can have an adverse effect in infants? Even mimic the signs of Tay-Sachs? BRASS: The symptoms are similar. Floppiness of the head, arching of the back. Blindness... inability to swallow. You know, like that. WILLOWS: You work with pesticides, Mrs. Winston, on your job and in your garden. And you handled Joshua-- we suspect that that's how the traces got into his system. I'm just speculating here, but I think this is what happened next: No, Paul. I went through hell with Howard, I can't go through that with Joshua. We'll wait for the enzyme tests. No. No more tests. No more drugs. No more kids. No more! I can't live through that again, and neither can you.
WILLOWS: You gave Joshua cough syrup, Mr. Winston. Why did you medicate him? BRASS: 'Cause, maybe, you just didn't want him to suffer?
( car alarm squeals ) ( softly cries )
You have no idea what it's like to watch your child die.
We couldn't go through that again.
WILLOWS: The shame of it is you didn't have to. ( sighs ) The enzyme test that Dr. Garner ran came back negative.
Joshua didn't have Tay-Sachs.
You killed a perfectly healthy baby.
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