( approaching plane )
MAN: Flight 906, outbound Miami to D.C.
Dropped off the radar at 0820.
Crashed right after takeoff.
How many on board?
NTSB confirms two pilots, six passengers.
Total of eight souls.
Eight souls unaccounted for, okay.
Look, they're advising we wait for fire...
Tell them we were four miles away when we took the call.
First responders provide aid no questions asked.
We're taking this.
Call MDPD.
Tell them I want to set up a forward command post at Levee 67.
Mobile Recovery, biohazard gear-- the works-- and then call in the night shift.
We need all hands on deck.
Yeah. Eric Delko, hold on.
Shh.
What? What is it?
Right here.
We've got a survivor right there.
Hold on, sir, I'm coming!
Yeah, this is Horatio Caine.
This is CSI priority.
I need an air rescue.
I am located six miles south of the Tamiami Trail at Spillway 346.
Hold on!
He's not breathing!
Come on, breathe, breathe, breathe.
Come on, breathe!
Eric.
( louder ): Eric.
( panting ) He's gone.
( panting ) I lost him.
It happens.
He could have told us something.
We don't need him to.
We've got the whole story right here.
Captioning sponsored by CBS and CBS Productions
The jet was registered to a Scott Erik Sommer.
He made the Fortune 500 insuring half the Gulf Coast.
Did you get a flight plan yet?
It went straight to NTSB.
They've got a go team flying in.
They'll be here within the hour.
What about fire rescue?
They just went out to look for survivors.
Delko's with them.
Is it as bad as it looks?
It's actually worse than it looks.
NTSB is on the way in.
They're going to want updates-- site logistics, weather, eyewitness reports.
Welcome back, Megan.
I didn't know you were going to be in this week.
Any survivors?
Nothing new.
They'll be found in the first few hours if we find them at all.
How we doing on safety?
We got it covered.
This is a Level Two biohazard site.
We should be taking precautions.
All search personnel should have Tyvexx overalls on double gloves, masks, and decontamination after every shift.
Everyone doses up on antibiotics.
The water's full of blood-borne pathogens and bacteria from body decomp not to mention 6,000 pounds of Jet-A fuel.
No shift should last more than 20 minutes.
No food or water on site.
They won't be able to eat out there.
Spray from the airboat props will cause contamination.
We're treating this as a crime scene which means no object too small.
Any doubts, bag it and tag it.
All right.
See if you can find me a copy of the flight plan.
It's nice to see you, too.
You thinking bomb?
Well, the jury's still out.
Welcome back, Megan.
Why do you ask?
You're the expert.
Well, no gas washing no pitting, no thinning of metal no thermal effect.
We still have to swab for RDX, PETN but I think we'll know more when the evidence comes in.
NTSB told us to hold off on recovery.
Yeah, but they're not here yet, are they?
Horatio, we've been through this before.
ValuJet in '96-- I recall it well.
Then I don't need to remind you the Feds have jurisdiction over any air crash.
They deputize local agencies.
We're working for them.
The Everglades is a slow-moving river with a current that travels about four feet per hour.
I know.
The crash site is degrading while we're standing here.
We're losing evidence.
Four feet per hour.
We need to start processing right now.
That's not your call, or mine.
Okay.
Listen, I am sorry for the way things turned out for you but I did not ask for this job.
I know.
Anytime you want to take it back, let me know.
( rueful chuckle ) That's not my call either.
Until then, let's get to work.
( sighing )
How are we doing on survivors?
Not good.
How many you got in here?
Four or five, depending on which pieces match.
Injuries are consistent with catastrophic blunt force trauma.
Pretty normal for this type of crash.
Wasn't normal for you.
You didn't get up this morning thinking it would be your last, did you, honey?
Ask him if he knows what brought the plane down.
Well, I think he just might have answered your question.
Small entry wound in the upper torso.
We got a through-and-through.
Calleigh, please.
Take a look at this.
Looks like a medium caliber.
Maybe a .32 or a .38.
And the bullet may still be lodged in the fuselage.
Do you think we could find it?
Does Elvis wear a white jumpsuit?
What else can you tell me?
We were just out there fishing.
Heard a noise-- real loud-- looked up, and boom!
That's all we saw.
Did you approach the plane?
No, sir. We high-tailed it out of there.
Called 911.
And you didn't think to look for any survivors?
Hey, we called you, remember?
Shouldn't we get a reward, or something like that?
( sighing ) Fishing, my ass.
Did you see the size of that rifle in their boat?
.30-06.
They were poaching gators.
There are panthers out in the Glades.
How do you know the rifle's not for protection?
How do you know they didn't borrow the boat?
Owner left his rifle inside.
( sighing ): I trust my gut.
It seems pretty obvious.
You sound just like Horatio.
The problem with the obvious, Tim is that it can make you overlook the evidence.
( shutter clicks )
CAINE: What do you make of this?
Electronic fuel injector, like in my car.
Look closer.
Serial number looks like it's been worn down.
Could be strip-and-dip.
It's a used part.
Shined up, given a phony serial number, sold as new.
It's an old trick.
I'll have Speedle look into it.
I need Speedle here for collection.
I'll take care of it.
Thank you.
( shutter clicking )
Hey, Herb Ritts, come on.
You want to do this while we're young, or what?
I need a minute.
Look, how about I take the pictures and you go out there and backstroke through that crap?
Are you all right?
Yeah, I'm fine. Are you all right?
Gentlemen?
DELKO: Sorry, H.
Stay focused.
We were just talking about after a plane crash like this they used to find all these passengers without any feet.
They couldn't figure out why.
But it turns out there's a support bar under the seat that was acting like a guillotine.
This seat belt is unbuckled and undamaged.
Well, the flight wasn't full.
That's, uh, six passengers, eight empty seats.
Yeah, but I've already counted nine unbuckled belts, so, that would mean one of the passengers was unbuckled during takeoff, doesn't it?
It might have been the guy who shot the pilot.
It might have been.
How's everyone holding up?
They're fine.
They're doing their jobs.
What have you got?
Nothing.
Not a pen, not a piece of paper not a paper clip-- nothing.
Who travels with an empty briefcase?
That's odd, right?
Yeah.
DELKO: H, come on!
Rescue, I need a paramedic, now!
We got one with a pulse!
CAINE: Eric, don't let him go into shock!
Got a pulse, H!
Sir, sir, can you hear me?!
Stay with us!
Breathe, breathe!
Stay with us!
Okay, I'll meet you there.
Good.
H, we got a Scott Erik Sommer.
Resides in Gables Estates.
He's unconscious but hold on, guys.
Well, he can't tell us anything then.
Maybe he can.
What do you see?
No friction burn, right?
Means no seat belt.
So, he might be our shooter.
Yes. The question then becomes why would you shoot your own pilot?
Thank you, gentlemen.
Horatio?
Yeah.
Got a call about a floater five miles from here.
I... I can't possibly take another scene right now.
Horatio, it is your scene.
O... kay.
WOODS: How did you get so far away from your friends?
Did you fall out of that plane?
Is that how you ended up all alone out there?
All by yourself?
In more ways than one, I'll bet.
Only woman on board.
That couldn't have been easy.
You were with them but not one of them.
"All-Boys Express."
Been on that flight.
CAINE: Ladies...
We may have an ID on the flight plan.
"Christina Maria Colucci"
was Sommer's senior accountant.
Hello, Christina.
WOODS: Preliminary exam indicates no friction burns on her lower torso.
Which also means no seat belt and a second passenger was out of their seat.
I rule out the bathroom, then.
Mile-high club?
I don't think so.
It's such a small plane, it would be hard to have an indiscreet affair with your boss, I think.
Not if he was picking up the tab.
This stuff's all designer.
Red suede.
450 bucks a pair.
Price alone could have killed her.
( soft chuckle ) WOODS: I put a rush on her tox screen.
Blood alcohol is point-oh-nine.
Legally drunk at 8:00 in the morning?
We also found traces of fluoxetine.
She was on Prozac.
Who isn't?
Anything you want to share?
Not currently.
Could I have a grid, please?
C-six enlarged, please.
Zoom times four and hold.
Zoom eight times and hold.
What in the heck are those?
Could be impact related.
Something she hit?
Or something that hit her.
She's a lovely girl.
Mrs. Colucci I found this at the crash site.
It was empty and it has what I believe are Christina's initials on it.
I was wondering if that belonged to her.
We, um...
We gave that to her when she got her promotion.
Has she, um...
recently...
suffered any setbacks either personally or professionally?
Not that I know of.
My daughter battled depression when she was in high school.
That was a very long time ago.
She would never try to hurt herself...
would she?
I don't know.
Ever since she was a little girl she was so good at keeping secrets.
( crying ) Will you help me, please?
I will.
( crying ) I will.
Never seen one of those before.
This old thing?
Yeah.
It's a borescope.
The swamp boys use it for a sneak and peek.
I think it's kind of cute.
Can I take a peek?
Be my guest.
So, uh...
what exactly are we looking for here?
Ballistics evidence.
We think we may have had a shooting on the plane but so far, nada.
You know, I heard of you.
You're the, uh, the "Bullet Girl," right?
What does that make you?
"Airplane Boy?"
Yeah, I guess you could say I know my way around an airframe.
Really?
Then what are those?
Those are bayonet pins.
They hold the door shut.
Oh, I know that.
I meant what are those?
Some type of scoring.
Could mean the door failed.
Or someone wanted it to.
Eric, how are we doing on those black boxes?
I'm headed back out now.
I just came by to dose up on some antibiotics.
Soon as you know.
Okay.
I just spoke to the pilot's widow.
How's she doing?
A radio car is with her right now.
She's pretty hysterical.
The thing is, boss, she kept going on about Sommer and all his top brass screwing over the rank-and-file.
You want to know why they were going to D.C.?
They were being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, weren't they?
These are copies of subpoenas for Sommer and his chief financial officers.
It's classic.
Company fails, the management bails.
Boss sails into retirement on a golden parachute with a big, fat severance package, right?
Yeah, and Joe Cubicle gets a nice little pink slip and a frozen pension plan.
That whole planeload was on their way to Washington to be grilled by the SEC.
You're not going to believe this.
What's the matter?
Bayonet pins that hold the exit door in place were filed down. NTSB concurs.
That door opened in-flight.
Well, that explains how our victim ended up five miles from the crash.
Sabotage?
Company is in trouble.
Lot of employees ticked off at the boss.
Exit door pins were tampered with.
Most likely by someone who knew their way around jet aircraft.
Means, motive.
All they needed was an opportunity.
Let's find out who worked on that plane.
( metal scraping )
Good as good?
Good as good.
Nice going.
Señor Esparza, we know that you have been using old parts on company planes...
and I wanted to know why.
You making money on the side?
No. No para mi.
You trying to get back at someone?
¿Quieres venganza?
Is that why you sabotaged the exit door?
No lo comprendo. I did nothing wrong.
We've matched the markings to your tools.
We know it is you that filed down the pins.
Para que sirvieran. To make them fit.
We didn't have the right parts.
Oye, trabajo muy duro.
I work hard.
I get those planes up in the air.
Nobody asks how at 30,000 feet.
The plane was climbing.
How high did this plane get, Calleigh?
Tower radar said no higher than 4,000 feet.
4,000 feet.
I'm cutting him loose.
Why? He just confessed to using faulty parts on that plane.
And they were flying too low.
There was no depressurization.
That's right.
Which is why that door couldn't have come off by itself.
Faulty pins or not.
It was opened from the inside.
Which reduces this to two possibilities, doesn't it?
Suicide or murder.
( sighs ) You need to talk to your survivor.
He's in a coma.
Not anymore.
Grace Memorial just called.
He woke up.
Did, uh...
Did anybody else, any of them, make it?
Just you.
I'm sorry.
Well, we're going to take care of them.
Their families, I mean.
We take care of our own.
That's very commendable especially in light of your company's recent financial difficulties.
I'm not sure I know what you mean.
We hear the SEC is very interested in how you take care of your own.
Can I ask you where this is heading?
We'd like to get your fingerprints and a sample of your DNA, if that's all right with you.
Wait a minute.
Do I need to have a lawyer present?
Mr. Sommer we are merely trying to establish what happened on the plane from your point of view.
That's all.
I don't remember. I...
It's all just, uh... it's fuzzy.
Well, maybe I can refresh your memory, then.
What we do know is that your employee, Christina Colucci fell to her death sometime before the plane crashed and she fell out a door that had been opened from the inside.
Does that ring a bell?
No. I-I... I didn't see anything.
I was, I was in my seat.
Actually sir, you weren't in your seat and neither was Christina which is why there were no friction burns from your seat belts.
So...
would you like to try again?
I didn't want to say anything because I wanted to protect her.
Christina was acting strangely that morning.
She was very agitated and she had been drinking.
Don't take that with alcohol.
Get off of me!
You're saying...
she committed suicide?
I'm saying she jumped out the plane.
Why didn't you stop her?
I tried to.
There was just no time.
When that door opened...
she was gone, just like that.
I don't remember anything after that.
There is something I wanted to ask you.
When did you hear the gunshot?
Gunshot?
What gunshot?
No gunshot.
Um...
would it be okay if we took your prints now?
You ran a chemical profile on her hair?
Mm-hmm. Trace elements can generally be found in the follicles.
Luckily, she was a brunette.
Right. Dark hair stores higher concentrations of most contaminants.
Mm-hmm.
Nice thing about hair is it grows at an even rate.
about a half an inch per month.
Gives us a nice timeline.
Yeah. She'd been using antidepressants for the past year.
Prozac and Zoloft.
Six months ago, she smoked some pot.
And they say blondes have more fun.
Here's the interesting part.
Three months ago-- huge spike of Dilaudid.
Painkiller? Maybe she had a car accident. Surgery.
Not according to her medical records and not at these levels.
CAINE: A suicide attempt?
Mass spec doesn't lie.
Suicide's the only explanation.
She was front and center in an SEC investigation.
She knew where all the bodies were buried.
Maybe she couldn't live with that.
Maybe someone couldn't live with her.
She tired to kill herself three months ago.
Tried and failed.
Well, maybe this time she succeeded.
Listen, most whistle- blowers are women and I think she was planning to take the company down.
Well, we'll never know that, will we?
Her testimony died with her.
Much to her boss's benefit now that she cannot testify.
If you want to kill someone there are easier ways than shooting the pilot especially when you're on the same flight.
A woman was murdered on that plane.
That's a hunch talking.
Where's the evidence?
Show me you're right.
That can't be good.
DELKO: What does she think?
She can waltz in here after six months of being gone and just take over?
You know...
you're an ass.
What did I say?
She lost her husband.
What did they give her-- two weeks off?
She needed a little bit of time.
Big deal.
Man, I didn't know.
Yeah, well, there's a lot you don't know.
Gentlemen, those black boxes?
Yeah, uh, we've been over the site twice and-and the sonar pingers are supposed to activate automatically when the boxes hit the water but we're doing everything we can.
We need to do better.
As soon as you can.
Maybe you just missed them.
No way.
They're gone and I-I don't know where else to look.
( exhales ) You know what? I think I do.
Survey says...
Okay, so we've run the prints.
The green ones are Christina's.
The red ones belong to Sommer and he is all over this door.
He said he tried to stop her.
Mm-hmm, that's what he says.
Let's go through his story.
Christina's going to kill herself.
She gets out of her seat...
and goes to the door, but Sommer comes after her, to try to stop her.
They struggle...
Why does he have a handprint so high up here?
Maybe her other hand was here.
Okay but he's got prints on the handle down here.
Could've put his hand there to brace himself.
Okay.
Why doesn't he just take both hands, grab her and pull her away from the door?
She's trying to get the door open.
Maybe he's trying to stop her.
Or maybe it was the other way around.
It's inconclusive.
There's any number of ways it could've played out.
Unless... now, bear with me, bear with me unless...
Sommer said that Christina fell out of the plane as soon...
as the door opened.
She was hanging on.
No.
She was hanging on.
Nurse, the patient that was in this room-- where is he?
He checked himself out about an hour ago.
What the hell is this?
That's a warrant to search the premises.
For what?
For items looted from an air-crash site.
What'd you think, you were going to sell them on e-bay?
Hey! You got a locator signal?
Yup.
( clicking tongue )
Then why don't you go get 'em?
Why don't you?
They're just babies.
What are you waiting for?
Let's go.
On three.
One...
two...
three.
( grunts ) ( laughs )
SPEEDLE: Okay, so, black boxes-- understand that they're really orange.
This one over here is a cockpit voice recorder.
Records the last 30 minutes of conversation over the cockpit mics.
This is a flight data recorder-- documents 48 parameters of the flight: Airspeed, flaps, trim-- the works.
So this will help us with a timeline to figure out why it went down. Peter?
Mm-hmm.
AIR-TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Eaglet 9-0-6 fly runway heading runway 9 left, cleared for takeoff.
PILOT: Set takeoff power: 100 knots.
COPILOT: Power is set.
See that game last night?
Dolphins are pretty good this year.
Never make the playoffs without a quarterback.
The first four minutes after takeoff were normal.
It gets pretty funky after that.
This is the captain.
Our flight time to Washington, D.C.
is two hours, 20 minutes.
Temperature is 72 degrees.
( loud clunk ) What was that?
We've got a light on.
Could be electrical. Did we lose a bus?
Exit light is definitely on.
We got a door open.
What the hell's going on back there?
Losing power.
Got a warning light: engine two!
We're losing airspeed!
We've lost number two!
Pull out! Pull out!
Can't get...
( static ) Okay, shut that off, please.
Something's missing.
There's no gunshot.
Can you play that back, Peter, from the announcement, please?
Mm-hmm.
Temperature is 72 degrees.
( loud clunk ) Okay, hold it right there.
Can you pull that up?
I'll run a reverse algorithm.
Just lose the pilots.
( beeping ) MAN: I'm not gonna let you...
WOMAN: Get off of me!
Ladies and gentlemen...
that is Sommer and Christina, isn't it?
( clank and whoosh ) And the door opening.
( whooshing, woman screaming) ( engines whining, screaming continues ) CAINE: So...
how long between the door opening and Christina's scream?
17 seconds.
She held on for 17 seconds.
Until he pushed her out of the plane.
Now all we have to do is prove it.
Speed, go to Christina's apartment and do a full profile.
What she ate, how she slept at night and how she made it through the day.
Calleigh, back to the airframe back to the pilot.
I want that bullet.
Eric, focus on the number two engine.
We still don't know what brought down that plane.
( meowing )
( hissing )
SPEEDLE: She didn't leave a note no shrine of personal items.
Only enough food to get the cat through one night.
That it?
Uh, full refrigerator, phone calls to return dry cleaning to pick up and ISS Courier, sent the morning she left.
Was she on her meds?
Yeah, she filled her prescription like clockwork.
This means she didn't kill herself and she was coming home.
Calleigh, the bullet?
There was no bullet.
Well how did the pilot get shot?
He didn't.
( rumbling )
"A rivet runs through it."
Metal stress during the crash must have popped the rivet loose.
The plane literally ripped itself apart.
That's what brought the plane down, right?
No, actually, uh, the shoe hit the fan.
I found a piece of leather in the number two engine.
Let me guess-- red suede, 450 bucks a pair.
Don't have the evidence to nail this guy.
We need the proof.
Where you going?
I am going where we're all going.
Back to those 17 seconds.
So I'm the largest insurer in the southeast but I've been cooking the books lately and the SEC wants to have a little sit-down.
DONNER: As senior accountant, I know where all the bodies are buried but I can't go through with it.
And I tell you so.
CAINE: But I'm not going to let you take the company down 'cause it's my life's work.
So we argue. I take off my seat belt to get away from you.
CAINE: But I don't let you get away that easily so I follow.
Just wait.
DONNER: And it gets physical.
I push you into that door.
Which flies open when I grab the handle.
No!
( screaming ) And there you are, hanging on for dear life.
And this is my opportunity.
For 17 seconds we struggle and I push you out of the plane.
Which can't be proven 'cause there's no physical evidence of an altercation.
And our only witness is Mr. Sommer, our suspect.
So...
what else would be here?
What else would be here?
We have the exit, we've got the handle...
the bulkhead...
cockpit door...
But what we don't have, ladies and gentleman is the fire extinguisher.
Here we go.
I know what happened on this plane.
Get off of me!
No!
( screaming )
( beeping )
He killed her.
But what about the other passengers?
They would have seen everything.
Sommer knew nobody on the plane is going to testify against him; they're all on the payroll.
It'd be against they're own interests.
Except the only one who knew everything.
Christina was good at keeping secrets.
Sommer was banking on that.
He just didn't bank on her having a conscience.
You okay?
Yeah. I guess I saved the wrong guy.
No such thing, brother. Not here.
Right, "Every man's a prince."
Mm-hmm. It's how we sleep at night.
Lieutenant.
We found Sommer.
Hmm.
DONNER: He checked himself out.
You're really swinging now, huh, Scott?
CAINE: There you are.
How you holding up?
Good.
What's this?
This is a copy of a report that Christina sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This is what she was working on.
I don't understand.
Well, she sent this the morning she died.
Now, Mrs. Colucci this was a very difficult decision.
But she did the right thing.
"To whom it may concern...
I hope I'm not writing this letter in vain."
( crying )
CHRISTINA: To whom it may concern I hope I'm not writing this letter in vain...
but I feel I have a responsibility to those who depend on us.
( engine revving ) To those who expect us to deliver an honest and fair accounting.
I feel a responsibility to speak the truth...
for those innocent victims who are powerless to speak it themselves...
because without the truth, we ourselves become powerless.
Christina Colucci.
Captioning sponsored by CBS and CBS PRODUCTIONS Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org