( yelling ): Joe! Joe! I'm not your damn secretary and your wife's not my boss! You hear that, Cheryl? This is a company phone.
If this is an Indian burial ground, I'm totally screwed. I'll be in litigation for months. I can't make any promises, sir, but I don't think the Paiute wore heels.
Hey! What's it look like? Well... The body's been encased in something. It's black. It's flexible... But it's pretty stubborn. I think it's roofing tar. It keeps the smell and the animals away. It makes our job a lot harder. We've got disturbed soil in a three-by-five perimeter. Okay. Gentlemen! Start your shovels!
Do you think our Jane Doe was buried alive? Whoever buried her sure had access to a lot of tar. Maybe a construction worker. Nick, did you get that last soil sample? Yeah, but I think I got something else, too.
Hey, guys. Check this out. A third foot. Ugh... Means there's another body.
I don't know if she was buried alive, but... she wasn't buried alone.
Captioning sponsored by CBS, C.S.I. PRODUCTIONS
♪ Who... are you? ♪ ♪ Who, who, who, who? ♪ ♪ Who... are you? ♪ ♪ Who, who, who, who? ♪ ♪ I really wanna know ♪ ♪ Who... are you? ♪ ♪ Oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Who... ♪ ♪ Come on, tell me who are you, you, you ♪ ♪ Oh, you! ♪
Two sets of hands. Two sets of feet. Two skulls, two bodies. Both appear to be female. Jane Doe Bottom's curled up. Jane Doe Top's laid out flat. WILLOWS: This looks like... barbed wire. It's in her mouth. Could be a dental appliance. Or maybe some kind of torture device. You're thinking ritualistic? I don't know what I'm thinking.
Hey. They told me you dug up two bodies covered in tar? So. How you going to separate them? I'm not sure yet. Obviously I can't saw through without potentially destroying evidence, so... If the tar were harder, I could chisel it. If it were softer, we could peel it off. I have an idea. Of course you do, but last I checked, the backlog on grave was about... mmm... a hundred cases? You've been spending too much time with Ecklie. I'm off the clock. I came in early for this.
You ever done this before? Nope... but I do know that tar becomes as brittle as glass at about minus 200 degrees.
Okay, Mr. Wizard.
Not much left of her but the clothes. Well, let's see what our other one looks like, shall we?
Huh. ( clearing throat ) Oh, boy. I gotta get my shift started. Good luck with the case. No, no, no. You're not going to just destroy this skull and split. You can make a nice mold from the impression. I'm short-handed as it is. I think Sara just wrapped a case. If you need her, she's yours.
Wow. Look at you, Mr. Straightedge. I did not know that your hair could do that. I look like a dork. No, no. No, you look like a pro, which is what you are. Let me guess-- a prelim for Sherlock? Yep. Uh-huh. Who's your judge? Uh... Dudley... Anderson? Yeah. Well, not the sharpest tool in the shed. ( clears throat ) Speak slowly. Use simple terms. You're gonna nail it. Sara. You're mine tonight.
♪ The ups and downs and roundabouts ♪ ♪ Where are they leading to? ♪ ♪ The in-betweens and silly thoughts ♪ ♪ How do we make it through? ♪
♪ Homeward ♪
♪ Ah, ah ♪ ♪ Heading homeward ♪ ♪ Tell me what becomes of us ♪
♪ Ah, ah ♪ ♪ Heading homeward ♪ ♪ Tell me what becomes of us ♪ ♪ Ah, ah ♪ ♪ Heading homeward ♪ ♪ Tell me what becomes of us ♪ ♪ Tell me what becomes of us. ♪ Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Jane Doe Top. Nice job. Thanks.
Thank you, Sara.
Well, Doc Robbins told me that she had severe trauma to the skull, probably what killed her. Well, that would explain the blood David found on her shirt. Mia's running DNA right now to find out if it matches the victim, or any suspects, for that matter. Remember, now, she had a broken jaw. That was 26-gauge stainless steel. It's used to surgically wire jawbones shut.
What's with the fingers? Distal phalanges were cut off. Both vics, both hands. I cast tool marks, Looks like some kind of opposed blade tool. Jagged on one side, smooth on the other. NICK: Well, if it was pre-mortem, that would support torture. Yeah, but if it was post, they probably did it to conceal identity. Hey, you guys still working on that mass- grave theory? Yeah. You know what I like about flesh decomposing in soil? It's predictable.
The constituent elements diffuse into the ground over time. The longer they're there, the lower the concentrations. I tested the soil samples Nick took from around each body. Curly Sue was on the bottom for at least five years, and Flat Sally was on top for only two. So we've got a killer who digs a grave, dumps a body, covers it with tar, comes back three years later, digs again and dumps another one on top of it? Ten to one, it's domestic abuse. Beat up, then shut up.
WOMAN: You hitting every E.R. in town? Seems like it.
These are all the jaw fractures that came in from two to three years ago. Thank you. We don't get as many of these as we used to. Domestic violence laws have forced men to get smarter about their hitting.
♪ ♪
Why don't you, uh, you wait for me here, 'kay?
Mr. Melton, take a seat.
I married, uh, June about a year after Svetlana left.
And when was the last time that you saw Svetlana? It was about two years ago. She didn't come home one night. Next thing I know, the cops are knocking down my door. I thought something happened to her, but they were there to arrest me. For hitting her. Are you saying that you didn't? We were married for three years. I never hit her. Why would she lie? I don't know. Why would she lie? I don't know.
And then what happened? After that, I... I was done. I went looking for her to sign the divorce papers, but... it was like she fell off the face of the earth. Or got buried a few feet under it. MELTON: Look, I took out ads in the newspaper every day for a month. She never responded. Yet you didn't file a missing persons report. I'd been accused of abuse. How would that have looked? You seem to care a lot about the way things look, Mr. Melton.
WILLOWS: Well, we're gonna need a list of Svetlana's friends and family. She didn't have any. She spawned from nothingness? Her parents died in some kind of industrial accident in Odessa. Russia? Yeah. How did the two of you meet? Through an agency. Svetlana was a mail-order bride? We were introduced through an agency. So what happened, the Russian agency denied your application for another wife, or, uh, you lost your taste for white meat? Too tough? You know what, lady? I am not gonna feel bad about my decision. I dated American women, like you. They don't want to be anyone's wife, or mother-- you mention the word "domestic," they're done with you. It's nice to be needed... not resented. Yeah, I find isolation and dependency really sexy, too. You know, what, you can think whatever you want.
SIDLE: Look, all I am asking is to have a black-and-white do regular welfare checks. Did the wife ask for help? Well, that's kind of hard to do when you don't speak English and you're a sex slave. I'm sure she doesn't know her rights. ( sighs ): You can't arrest someone for marrying the wrong person. You would know. If the guy's an abuser, if he killed his first wife, we will build a case and we will nail him. And in the meantime, he can just keep using her as a punching bag. Sara, I was there-- there wasn't a mark on her. Not that we could see, Catherine. You know... every time we get a case with a hint of domestic violence or abuse, you go off the deep end. What is your problem? Yeah, I probably do, What is your problem? Yeah, I probably do, and you let your sexuality cloud your judgment about men, and I'm gonna go over your head. Sidle.
Get in my office. Now.
You are a law enforcement officer and a representative of this city. That means I expect you to conduct yourself in an appropriate manner, in and away from this lab. You know what, if this is gonna be one of your "for the good of the lab" speeches, don't bother, I've heard them. Just take a seat. Willows is a supervisor-- that means you treat her with respect. Insulting her in front of coworkers... She's not my supervisor. All right-- your superior. Sara, you berate witnesses, you disrespect the people you work with, you luck your way out of a DUI. Take a look-- you got a half a dozen complaints in your jacket. And if Grissom really documented your performance, there'd probably be a dozen more-- that's not the kind of person I want in my lab. The only reason this is your lab is because Grissom doesn't kiss ass. You couldn't hack it in the field, so you fail your way up, you break up our team, and now you just hang out in the hallways waiting for one of us to screw up. Sidle, you're on one-week suspension without pay, and when you get back, Great. you're apologizing to Catherine. No, I'm not.
What's going on around here? ( groans ) I don't want to talk about it. Okay, so, this is the jacket that Svetlana was wearing the night that she went into the hospital? Yeah. I pulled it out of the vault from the original abuse charge two years ago. Most of the blood is Svetlana's, although there is a small portion that comes from an unknown male. So I'll see if the husband's willing to give us a comparison. Don't bother, he already voluntarily gave a sample the night that this happened, and it's not a match. So he was telling the truth? Eh... I did find this... in her pocket. Is that the husband?
Nyet.
BROWN: Well, they're looking pretty friendly here. And you could write some teen poetry from the words that are highlighted in this dictionary. Well, maybe Andrew found out that Svetlana wasn't as lonely as he thought she was.
Catherine, I heard Ecklie suspended Sara. What can we do? Nothing. What can we do? Nothing. No? Mm-mm. Sara's always been there for anyone who needs her. She's always had my back. So what if she flew off the handle a little? Greg, she crossed the line with a suspect; she was inappropriate with me and with Ecklie; she needs the time off.
BROWN: A lot of blood on that blouse. Yeah, well, her wounds don't just trickle, man, they-they gush. Were you able to get anything off these jeans? Uh, found this paper. It was found in the pocket. Decomp trashed it, though. That reminds me of the time I as at the Ghost Bar, and I ran into this hottie. I mean, the girls was an absolute dime. And I didn't have my phone on me, so I wrote her number down on paper, and put it in my pants. The jeans ended up in the wash. Ouch. Yeah. But... Yeah. STOKES ( chuckles ): Whoa... Fatty acids dissolve the ink, and it leeches onto the pocket lining. Yeah. Huh. That must've been a pretty hot number you had there, boss. Yeah, it was. LITRA: All right, first we mirror it, and then we remove the background texture of the cotton weave. Sharpen the contrast, will you?
"Madame..." "Matryoshka's." "Tuesday... g a.m."? Some kind of appointment. "g a.m."? Do you know what matryoshkaare? Sure. ( laughs ): Russian nesting dolls. Oh, yeah, yeah, the dolls that look alike, that fit inside of each other, right? My grandma had a set. Anyway, people who've gone from writing Cyrillic to English often write their nines as lowercase G's.
( clears throat ) You have appointment for haircut? Nah, I'm trying to get a Rastafarian thing going.
Is there an actual Madame Matryoshka? ( speaking Russian): ...polizia... We're polizia. Yeah.
Chloe Daniels. What can I do for you? I'm Detective Jim Brass, Las Vegas Police. This is Nick Stokes from the Crime Lab. We're here about Svetlana Melton. Yeah, she used to work here. In what capacity? Hairdresser. You mean wife-to-be. Yeah. For money? Yeah. Sounds a lot like prostitution to me. Yeah, well, it's not.
Look, I didn't invent this. Go on line-- there are dozens of sites with thousands of women. They advertise these exciting trips to Kiev. I just bring Kiev to you. I sponsor 90-day work visas, teach the girls a trade. They cut hair for men. So men shop for a wife. You screen the guys? You pick up a woman at a bar, does the bartender screen you? You take her home, take her to your bed. How well did you screen her? You should be sainted. STOKES: Mm, I don't know about that. Svetlana ended up dead. You recognize this guy? DANIELS: Yeah. Ken Wellstone. Lives down the street. Actually comes in for haircuts. Isn't interested in my service. Not the marrying kind, I guess. Yeah, I-I'm sorry, there seems to be a really fine line here between, uh... peddling marriage and peddling flesh. When is marriage anything else? BRASS: Nick is, uh... he's an old-fashioned guy. Really? ( laughs ) Well, what do you think engagement rings are? Just proof that a man can pay for his bride. Look, caveman would go steal a woman from a neighboring clan. He'd tie her hands and her feet till she wouldn't run away. Once she'd stay put, he would only tie her finger, just to remind her. So you're a romantic. Marriage is not romance. It's a contract with the state. It's an investment in your future. I'm not making it about money, it just is.
Uh, she cut my hair. She licked your cone. Well, I-I took Svetlana out once for... for ice cream. It was... it was a hot day. That's it? Yeah, that's it. That's it? Yeah, that's it. She, uh, gave me some sob story about how she was married to some abusive guy, you know, and how, uh... She begged me to help, and... blah, blah, blah, blah. I don't... I don't need that kind of drama. Mr. Wellstone, what do you do for a living? I'm a real estate agent. You're not in construction or anything? No. Why?
Something happen to Svetlana? Yeah, she was murdered.
Oh. We're gonna need to get a DNA sample from you, and I'm gonna take a look around your place. Is that cool? Sure. Yeah, go ahead. Is that cool? Sure. Yeah, go ahead.
( folk guitar playing ) ( knocking )
Well, if you're here, it can't be good. Can I come in?
Want to ask me if I'm drunk? We both know that's not your problem. I spoke to Catherine.
Ecklie? He wants me to fire you. I figured. ( sighs ) Can I get you anything? Sure. An explanation. I... lost my temper. That seems to be happening quite a bit. Do you know why? What difference does it make? I'm still fired.
It makes a difference to me.
I have a problem with authority. I choose men who are emotionally unavailable. I'm self-destructive. All of the above. Have you ever gone a week without a rationalization?
It's from The Big Chill. One of the characters explaining a basic fact of life-- that rationalizations are more important to us than sex even. I am not rationalizing anything. I crossed the line with Catherine, and I was insubordinate to Ecklie. Why? Leave it alone. No, Sara.
What do you want from me? I want to know why you're so angry.
It's funny... the things that you remember and the things that you don't, you know. There was a smell of iron in the air. Cast-off on the bedroom wall. There was this young cop puking his guts. I remember the woman who took me to foster care. I can't remember her name. Which is strange, you know, 'cause I couldn't let go of her hand.
Well... the mind has its filters. I do remember the looks. I became the girl whose father was stabbed to death.
Do you think there's a murder gene?
I don't believe that genes are a predictor of violent behavior.
You wouldn't know that in my house. The fights, the yelling, the trips to the hospital. I thought it was the way that everybody lived. When my mother killed my father, I found out that it wasn't.
BRASS: So the tar from your carpet matches the tar that Svetlana Melton was buried in. Tar... I... where? I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about. We also found your blood on her parka that she wore to the hospital two years ago. I can explain that. That was from... So can we-- you beat her, you killed her, you buried her. No, I didn't. No, stop, please. She... she ran away.
Put that in here.
"Ken, do not look for me. "I need to go away. Svetlana." You know, after everything that we'd been through and everything, this just seemed really, uh... It was cold. Didn't sound like her. She usually called me... Kenski. So what was your relationship, Kenski? What was my relationship? My relationship was, uh... We were, uh... we were in love. How did her husband feel about that? Her husband bought her, so he thought he owned her. And Svetlana was way out of his league. And what she wanted to do was fast track her divorce. So she thought maybe if she made it look like Andrew had beat her, that that would do it, but that didn't do it because he'd actually never hit her. So... How'd she break her jaw?
Huh?
She begged me. Please, Kenski. Please. Hit me hard on face. It is only way for me to leave this horrible man. Please, Kenski. Hit me if you love me.
I just loved her.
BROWN: All of the blood on Svetlana's sweatshirt was hers. Nothing from Ken Wellstone? No, but some of the drops look a lot like dried blood, but they came back "Aubergine Sheen number 315," professional grade hair dye. Well, she worked in a hair salon. Some of the patterns look a lot like cast-off. WILLOWS: Hair dye was present when she was being attacked. BROWN: Ken still could have done it. True, but his story is so absurd I almost buy it. Yeah, well, admit the punch and you go to jail for a night. Admit the killing and you go to jail for life. Find anything you like, buddy? ( chuckles ) WILLOWS: So, you can't sell your kids, but you can buy their mother. NICK: "I looking for kindest, noble man." Well, I got news for you, sugar pants. Buying women ain't that noble. Well, life is short. Dating's complicated. This makes it much simpler, doesn't it? It's not supposed to be simple. Complicated is the whole point. It is? Yeah. Hey, wait a minute. You're not telling me you're into this stuff? Me? No. But you know, for a guy who's over 40, lonely, tired of the bar scene, got a little cash, wants to buy himself a sweet honey, be his companion... He needs a translator, 'cause you're not even speaking the same language. That's the best part. Ugh...! ( chuckling softly ) Best part of what? DANIELS: What's all this about? We have reason to believe Svetlana Melton was murdered in your salon. We have a search warrant. ( sighing ) Let them in.
Jagged on one side, smooth on the other.
WILLOWS: I got blood spatter next to the hair dye. Svetlana was a tall girl. Spatter looks a little low. Maybe she was sitting. These chairs don't match.
I think somebody's hiding something.
BROWN: The stain on the chair was Aubergine Sheen Number Four hair dye. DNA from the bloodstains on the walls was too degraded, and Mia could not get a match. So, we know who the blood belongs to. We just can't prove it. I think we can, though. You know some guy was selling a grilled cheese sandwich on eBay for something like $20,000 because he claimed the burn pattern contained the face of the Virgin Mary?
How much you think I can get for the face of Svetlana in hair dye?
Hang on. There's something else.
A recycled love token. Now, that's tacky. Yeah, that is pretty tacky. But it's cause for a warrant.
Everything in order? I'm not giving you a damn thing until I read every last word. Take as long as you want. We're going to be here a while.
Do you believe this? What, that the guy locks up his food?
Locks his wife out. You think he's trying to protect his investment? Weight goes up. Value goes down. Control her food, control her destiny, I don't know. Look at this. She can't even call out for pizza. Or help.
The necklace.
No, no, no. No, no. I got it. I got it.
CATHERINE: Svetlana's blood was on the necklace worn by Andrew Melton's current child bride. Could you imagine a control freak like him having to spend the night in jail on a phony abuse charge? You know he went looking for her when he got out.
He beat her, killed her, and took back the only thing he valued. It'll never stand up, Rick. You know how it is, they'll say the blood could've come from anywhere. She could've left the necklace behind. We need a murder weapon. Yeah, well, good luck on that one. Crime's over two years old. ( groans ): All righty. We know that this guy did it. How do we prove it? Can we prove he buried her? I'm not convinced he did. Svetlana was buried in a pre- existing grave. Right on top of Jane Doe Bottom. And both girls' fingertips were removed by blending shears. Which we also found at the salon. And the only people with full access to the salon are Chloe and Vlad. Yeah, and Chloe doesn't really seem like the type that gets her hands dirty. All right, the relative size of the letters and the spacing between them appear to be consistent with both Vlad's appointment book and the good-bye note left by Svetlana. My opinion is it's the same writer. Well, it looks like the Vladski tricked the Kenski. According to your credit card statements, you purchased several buckets of tar two and five years ago... at a local hardware store. Tell me, what's a receptionist at a hair salon doing with that much tar? In Russia, I work for certain family. When they want body taken care of, I go to oil field, dump body in tar. None ever found. Sounds like fun. Tell me about Svetlana. Girl already dead. Nothing I can do. So you're saying you did not kill her? No. Then why'd you cover it up? Svetlana, time to lock up.
BROWN: You didn't call 911? You cleaned up the scene, buried her, and then you left a note for Ken. America is land of opportunity. Her death should be a total loss?
Andrew Melton is very good tipper. Was Andrew Melton a very good tipper five years ago?
No. Svetlana wasn't buried alone. There was another body in that grave. Many girls want American husband. Sometimes Chloe can't get them a visa. They come anyway... She came here in a suitcase, but she was dead on arrival, so you take her out to the desert and bury her in a hole?
Again, girl already dead. Nothing I can do.
Boy, women can really drive you crazy, huh? I mean, this perfect creature who needs you, who loves you. You think you've got it all worked out. Your Christmas card's gonna look like the Sears catalogue, right? And then what? I mean, you give her stuff. You give her clothes, money and shelter, and then she goes and makes up some bogus story about how you attacked her. Which I never did.
Man... a love like that. So pure. I mean, men have robbed banks for less, put their life on the line... would kill to protect it.
Everywhere we went, men were making love to her with their eyes, defiling her with their thoughts. It got so bad it wasn't safe to let her leave the house. But then she got lonely. Like a person I didn't recognize. You made her an American. In all the good ways... ...and the bad.
Svetlana!
You told them I hit you?! Why would you do that? Huh? Is that what you want? Huh? You want me to hit you?!
That you want?!
She never appreciated me.
Andrew, what happens? Andrew? It'll be okay, honey. It'll all work out. You'll see.
You wanted to talk to me about Sara? I haven't received her disciplinary action. What's the holdup? Well, I'm not firing her.
What action are you taking? I've taken it. I thought I was clear. You were. Now let me be clear. Sara's behavior is a direct result of my management. So I should fire you. But you won't.
Look, Gil... I've been there. We're human. We get attached to people, we try to fix their problems. It doesn't work. She's a great criminalist, Conrad. And I need her. I'm sure you do. You know what? She's a loose cannon with a gun. And she's all yours. Captioning sponsored by CBS, C.S.I. PRODUCTIONS
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