♪ ♪
Here you go, miss.
( over walkie-talkie): Purse-snatching, sector one.
On it.
There he is.
Hey! Security! Stop!
( guests screaming ) Out of the way!
( grunts )
Stupid ass.
Give me the purse.
What is this stuff?
( grunts )
Holy mother...
Alexx... what do we got?
New one, Horatio.
Poor thing's covered in slime, and it's not suntan oil.
I'm sending it to Trace.
What are the marks on the face and neck?
Puncture wounds.
Two rows of 'em.
Couldn't tell you what made 'em.
What in the world happened to you, sweetie?
We get an ID?
Yeah, uh, friend identified her as Tanya Fhurman from Chicago, here to celebrate her 21st birthday.
Well, she won't have a 22nd, will she?
TRIPP: Friend said she came down to drink mojitos and catch some sun.
Well, it looks like... something....
caught her.
♪ Yeah! ♪
Captioning sponsored by CBS, C.S.I. PRODUCTIONS ♪ We don't get fooled again ♪ ♪ Don't get fooled again ♪ ♪ No, no! ♪
GUY: Go on.
Take just one more.
GIRL: I'll drink you guys under the table.
GUY: You mean bed.
DELKO: You believe these people?
No reason why a little homicide should interrupt your sun time.
TRIPP: Well, look who's here.
Horatio and Alexx filled us in out front.
Surprised they had anything to say.
No COD, no eyewits.
So what do you have?
You're looking at it.
That's the crime scene.
All right, look, you snap, I'll dust.
Okay.
( camera shutter clicking )
What is this stuff?
We've never seen anything like this before.
Excuse me.
Can you help me?
( sighs ) I'm sorry.
WOLFE: I got it, Delko.
I know you're dealing with a bigger thing, but, um, my purse was stolen this morning, and I think that Security might've recovered it?
Yeah, yeah, they did. Patrol gave it to us.
It's the chain of custody.
Do you have any identification?
In my purse.
Right.
Hey, I got you covered.
WOMAN: Well, I'm just grateful you got the guy.
That handbag cost me half a paycheck.
All I need is your name, date of birth and social.
Karla Jane Gardner.
July 21, 1980. 998-87-2646.
Okay, perfect. Perfect.
All I have to do is run your license.
That's a nice picture.
Thank you.
( computer beeping ) Uh-oh.
KARLA: What?
Your license has been flagged.
You're wanted for fraud.
No, I'm not.
Uh, you haven't paid your car loan in six months.
The bank has filed charges.
I know, but not against me.
Are you Karla Gardner?
Yes, but there's this girl impersonating me.
Oh, yeah? She do your accent, your mannerisms, stuff like that?
She stole my identity.
I write checks to my creditors.
She drains my account while they're in the mail.
I get charged with fraud every few months.
That's why I carry this.
"Affidavit of Fraud"...
Federal Trade Commission.
Identity theft site told me to get it.
The FTC can't file criminal charges against this person, but it does help in situations like this.
I'm sorry.
It's not your fault.
It's not anyone's fault. That's the problem.
But if I find this girl, and she ends up dead...
You know, if that's a bona fide threat, I'm going to have to detain you.
It's wishful thinking, okay?
Really.
Okay.
Alexx, the liquid on the girl is gastric acid.
Then I'm not crazy, 'cause I'm pretty sure these puncture wounds are teeth marks.
Something devoured this poor girl head-first.
She was passed out from too many mojitos.
Something with a very strong stomach.
WOODS: Pythoncholic acid?
Horatio, you telling me it was a snake?
Could be a python or a boa, maybe as large as 200 pounds.
Makes sense.
Got petechiae, several broken ribs.
She had the life squeezed out of her.
CAINE: Every time you breathe out, the snake tightens his grip, doesn't he?
After she was dead, snake swallowed her.
Got your slime.
Explains the nasty teeth marks.
They're from walking up her.
So one question, Horatio: where's a snake like that come from?
That is a very good question, Alexx.
( phone rings ) Excuse me. Eric?
Yeah? Yeah, okay.
No way I heard that right.
At least now we know what we're looking for.
But snakes don't normally go after humans.
Why attack the girl?
Probably because she was sunburned.
Snakes use infrared to track their prey in the dark.
They have, uh, heat-detecting pits around their mouths.
Gives them a thermal image of the prey.
So we know how it found her. Howdo we find it?
Well, unlike humans, snakes don't go far from the scene of a crime.
Usually look for a dark, snug place.
They move along walls, in, uh, crevices...
So think like a snake.
If you see it, don't try to catch it yourself.
You don't have to worry about that.
Delko, I got something.
So, what have you got?
That slime.
GUY: Here you go.
One, two, three...
Atta girl...
Follow it with this guy.
Excuse me.
MDPD. I'm going to have to ask you to get off the bed.
Dude, could it wait?
TRIPP: Sure.
The big snake under there'll eventually come out.
Snake?!
Hey, slowly, slowly.
Let's go.
Want to help the lady?
This hole in the mattress...
Got you.
TRIPP: Delko, you said snakes don't like to travel?
DELKO: That's right.
TRIPP: Check that out.
Broken branch.
Maybe came out of the window, down the tree?
DELKO: Led right to the cabana.
TRIPP: Girl never saw it coming.
DELKO: I hope not.
TRIPP: What the hell are you doing?
Apprehending the suspect.
I don't know.
Give me a hand, Frank.
( bystanders gasp )
( grunting )
( woman shrieks ) Think I'm going to be sick.
Relax. It's dead.
How'd that happen?
I don't know. Necropsy will tell us.
Look, I'm going to call H.
If the snake was in one of those rooms, that means someone checked it in.
Got something on the window ledge.
Scales.
Same color as the boa.
TRIPP: Gentlemen...
Front Desk says a Low Dawg Productions booked this room.
Who is Low Dawg Productions, Frank?
Offshore holding company out of the Bahamas.
No taxes, no liabilities.
Okay, let's figure out who owns it.
I do love a challenge.
All right, Frank.
Check this out.
That may have been how they got the snake in here, Eric.
Yeah.
Answers one question and raises another.
Is that a tooth?
Yeah. Too small to be from our snake, and it's definitely not human.
Okay, let's get it to the lab and figure out what else we're dealing with.
All right.
( elevator bell dings ) Excuse me. Can you help me?
I'm looking for CSI Wolfe?
Speaking.
A policeman at the Dominick said that you had my purse.
A guy snatched it from me this morning.
Karla. You're Karla?
Oh, please do not tell me that she did it again.
A girl showed up about my age. Said she was me?
Her picture was on the license, and, um, she had an Affidavit of Fraud.
From the FTC?
Did it look something like this?
Or how about police reports from three different cities, or how about my notice to the fraud unit of the FBI?
Would you wait here while I contact a more...
um, senior colleague?
I spoke with patrol.
If it's any consolation, we apprehended the man who stole your purse.
And then he gave it to my thief.
All due respect, she had proper identification.
It would be easier if Florida licenses had thumbprints, like some other states.
No, 'cause she would've gotten around that, too, because she gets around everything.
I am sorry. I'm frustrated.
When did this start?
It started a year and a half ago.
Coral Gables PD looked into it, thinks that she got it out of my trash.
Some mailer that I threw out for cheap loans.
She filled it out, had it sent back to her address.
The funny thing is, I'd just gotten divorced.
I thought I was going to start this whole new life.
And she took it.
Would you excuse us for a minute?
Of course.
What do you think?
Well, the other woman had documentation, too.
And talked a good story.
Yeah, for all we know, she could be the identity thief.
Do you have the address the other Karla gave you?
1122 Panama Street, Number 19.
I scanned it into the Hummer.
I'll go pay her a visit.
I'll put a call to the State Attorney.
Eric?
DELKO: The tooth we found in the duffel bag is reptilian, doesn't belong to a snake at all, though.
Caiman lizard.
Native to the Amazon Basin of South America.
So it had to be shipped here.
Exactly.
I checked with Customs.
Got a crate of caiman lizards yesterday at the Port of Miami.
Wait a minute.
Yesterday?
Shouldn't they still be in quarantine then?
They should be, but they got special exemption.
How did that happen?
The importer's some big shot herpetologist.
How did that happen?
The importer's some big shot herpetologist.
His name's Dr. Rod Merrick.
He, uh, checks out the lizards before they go to the zoo.
Gets a pass from Customs.
Well, he's not gonna get a pass from us.
Bring the doctor in.
MAN: What a waste.
I haven't imported a boa in five years.
I wouldn't even know where to put one this size.
Yeah, well, somebody put it in a bag with caiman lizards.
You do import those, don't you, Rod?
Yeah, I do.
And half of my last shipment arrived dead.
Well, a snake this size could do that.
There was no snake.
Look, I've been making these shipments for years, okay?
I've never had a single problem.
Till now.
And quarantine exemption makes it easy to sneak anything past customs.
And by "anything," Mr. Delko means drugs, Rod.
Wh... What are you talking about?
I'm not sure, yet, till I open that snake, but till then, I want you to stay put.
Looks like part of a pill.
Our snake was a mule.
Let Horatio know.
There were probably more.
Snake absorbed some of it before it died.
So that explains why it regurgitated the girl.
Whoever opened up this snake knew where to look.
But had no surgical skill.
That rules out our snake expert.
Got what looks like broken glass, too.
WOODS: Squeezed the girl, broke a vial.
Overdosed.
I'm gonna need that pill.
( phone rings ) Frank, go ahead.
Found out who Low Dawg Productions is.
It's an old friend of yours. You near a computer?
I am.
Registered with Florida Department of State.
Okay, good.
Florida Department of State, please, Low Dawg Productions.
( beeping ) ( typing ) ( beeping )
CAINE: When you're in Miami, we never close.
Excuse me.
Yes, um, Clavo Cruz, please.
He is?
Which pier would that be?
Thank you.
Now, that is sick.
Just look at it, huh?
Sweet. Wait till I get my dubs on, huh?
Yo. Wipe your feet.
Lieutenant Caine.
( chuckles ) Clavo Cruz.
Hi.
Clavo, is that your brand-new Lamborghini over there?
Yeah. The last one I had, it's no good to me anymore.
Some puta painted it red.
Some puta?
Yeah.
You know, Clavo, I haven't forgotten Tess Kendall.
And I haven't forgotten you.
Neither has my brother.
So you remember, Clavo, what I said to you the last time we met?
Yeah.
"We never close."
Yep.
Yeah, "We never close."
Just like 7-Eleven, dawg.
Speaking of which, Low Dawg Productions, Clavo.
I got no idea what you're talking about, but the Vienna Convention-- that's still for shizzle.
Clavo, I don't care about your diplomat father.
Are you smuggling drugs into South Florida?
Drugs?
No, see, I was in Italy, picking this baby right off the assembly line.
I just went through your room at the Dominick, Clavo, and your exotic "mule" has just killed a girl.
( whispering ): Are you deaf?
( loudly ): Because I got immunity.
Just like your brother, as I recall, and we both know where he is, don't we?
I'm nothing like Ramon, Caine.
You're not gonna catch me floating around in international waters, Caine.
But you know what?
I'm gonna catch you doing something.
You're threatening me, Caine?
That's not a threat.
That's a guarantee.
Buckle up, ma'am.
WOLFE: Calleigh.
You go to your Karla's place?
Her place was an office building, and Apartment 19 was a PO box.
WOLFE: It's an amazingly simple scam.
Look.
An electronic transfer for Karla Gardner's paycheck into a bogus Karla Gardner checking account.
DUQUESNE: Someone's living high on the hog.
Spa... Lux lease.
Fake Karla runs up the bills; Real Karla gets charged with theft.
WOLFE: Lunch at Zobu.
She eats well.
Looks like every Monday.
You know what today is?
Be right back.
Dimitri. Is my table open?
Hi.
Officer.
Hi. Did you want to join me for lunch?
WOLFE: Sure, as long as we take it to go.
Do you mind?
I've got a dozen more.
What is this all about?
Identity theft.
Good. I'm sick of this girl passing herself off as me.
( buzzing ) This is humiliating.
What is this thing?
It's a fluoroscope.
What's it do?
It reads bones.
And how does that tell you anything?
The real Karla Gardner sustained some fractures.
Interesting. How would you know that?
We got a hold of the broker who underwrote the medical insurance policy back in '99.
That was four years before the identity theft happened.
Makes the girl whose fractures match this, the authentic Karla.
Documented proof: The real Karla Gardner broke her right arm windsurfing in college.
I'm such a klutz.
I don't know what I was doing out there.
We're gonna scope you next.
You better.
( fluoroscope buzzing )
Did you also break your femur in two places?
Maybe.
With attendant radiating fractures?
You're under arrest.
What's your real name?
I'm not saying another word.
What does this mean?
Well, your life's going to get better.
Oh, my God.
You're free to go.
How I can thank you both?
We're just glad we could help.
Thank you again.
Yeah. Take care.
Bye.
Calleigh, what's going on?
The State Attorney says the case won't make.
But we've got a paper trail.
We got fake loans, illegal money transfers.
We can't prove that the real girl didn't do that.
QD can help us show that the signatures are fake.
Ink analysis, rag content.
Nonviolent crime is not a priority.
And we cannot ask the State Attorney to prosecute.
I can't believe this.
This is not what I signed up for.
Well, we got the real girl her life back and I think that counts for something.
And if the fake goes out there and steals somebody else's identity?
You're going to drive yourself crazy with hypotheticals.
I'll see you later.
Results on the pill we pulled from the snake?
( whistles ) It's not "E."
Paramethoxyamphetamine. PMA.
Red Death.
It's usually stamped with three diamonds.
Kids think it's ecstasy.
Yeah, except it takes a half-hour longer to kick in, so kids re-up, makes it easy to overdose.
PRICE: That's why it kills half the people who take it.
Once it gets to the lower intestine, it dissolves into the bloodstream, makes its way up to the hypothalamus, which is the body's thermostat, and then it turns up the heat-- quickly-- 107, 108 degrees.
Cooks your brain like an egg.
This stuff is seriously dangerous.
Yeah, and so's the guy importing it.
WOMAN ( on radio): 19-year-old male dead from overdose of an unknown substance.
Site of rave at Palm Towers Hotel parking structure B.
Excuse me. Are you Hillary?
We understand that was a friend of yours.
Kevin, yeah.
You and Kevin buy pills for today's get-together?
Pills? No.
CAINE: Hillary, the drug that you purchased is called Red Death.
It's poison.
The guy said it was "E."
Did you take any?
Didn't do anything at first.
My friends all re-upped, but I decided to wait it out.
Where'd you get it?
I don't know, some guy.
Hillary, more people are going to die.
Is that what you want?
He was off of Ocean, by the parking structure.
Thank you, ma'am.
MAN: Get your hands off me.
Put your hands up.
What is this?
I ain't bothering nobody.
Who dimed me out?
Hmm. Thank you, Frank.
Billy Palmero.
One death, Billy, and two overdoses from the drugs you're selling.
I ain't selling.
Hey, those aren't mine.
Let me guess: you're holding 'em for a friend?
A friend that knows you work on the docks, Billy?
So I pull some shifts down at the Port.
So what?
Do those shifts involve Animal Control?
Look, I just wanted my fair share.
Of what? Your share of the drug money?
I'm risking my job scanning imports, so the guy that harvests the dope makes all the cash?
Come on.
Why don't you tell us this guy's name?
It's Clavo.
Cruz.
Can I count on your testimony in court, Billy?
No way I do that.
I'm a dead man.
Another one of these kids dies, you may wish you were.
DUQUESNE: What? Where?
Hey.
I've been looking for you.
31-- guy in a car down at the pier.
Okay. Thanks, Alexx.
I was so bummed about the case being over, I never thanked you for pulling me out of the fire with the purse mix-up.
The case may not be over.
What?
The victim at the pier?
It's Karla Gardner's ex-husband.
Nail file.
Yeah, looks familiar.
Can't say he didn't see it coming.
File went in the cornea, through the ocular nerve, lodged in his brain.
Lights out.
He struggled with his assailant.
There's hairs in his hand.
Will you get those to DNA, Ryan?
Alexx?
Go ahead, baby.
I can't do much else till post.
Nice ridge detail.
You called me and now, you won't let me see him?
My number's still in his phone and you won't let me see him?
No. No.
Miss Gardner.
My phone is right...
It is probably best if you don't stay here.
No, you realize that she has not missed a step.
We don't know that she did it.
My wages started being garnished a month ago to pay for Phillip's alimony.
That is a thousand less in "her" account a month, and what happens when you let her out of jail?
One step at a time.
Let us just take a look at the evidence.
You know, God, I would love to say that I have faith in you people, but you are letting a woman get away with murder.
Miss Gardner, please, behind the yellow tape.
Great, okay.
So I'm the criminal again.
Lieutenant Caine, Antonio Cruz.
This is my wife, Dona Marta Cruz.
Mrs. Cruz.
I understand you have a... a problem with our son?
Yes, General.
Clavo is involved in drug trafficking and murder.
Marta, would you leave us alone?
This is a conversation for men.
You moving in now, Red?
I'll be upstairs if you need me.
Lieutenant.
My son is innocent.
Clavo?
Whatever this guy says is a lie, Papi.
He's setting me up.
General, I have witnesses to Clavo's crimes.
Hey, big man... you want some more DNA?
( hocking ) Clavo!
Sit.
Down.
Lieutenant Caine is an American law enforcement officer.
He should be treated with respect.
Thank you.
My apologies.
The stitches are fresh.
The price one pays for looking good in public.
Understandable.
Thank you.
Sure.
Due to diplomatic immunity, you know you cannot arrest my son.
Not without your help, General.
Do you really think I'm going to send our youngest son to prison to join his brother?
That's up to you.
Yes, it is.
And I've made up my mind.
General, you are protecting a murderer.
I may spoil my children, but they are my children.
Blood is everything, Lieutenant.
Have a good day.
You never close, dawg?
I guess you're closed now.
CLAVO: And I'm nothing like Ramon.
You're not going to catch me floating around in international waters.
DELKO: You looking for me?
Yes, I am.
This is the General's blood.
Let's get that to DNA.
Sure.
And while we're at it, let's lift Michelle Cormier's file from last year.
That's the dead model.
Clavo's brother killed her.
Or so it would seem.
Okay.
I'll let you know something as soon as I do.
Thank you.
Horatio, just got word that Clavo's about to take a trip.
Yes, his parents are attempting to spirit him out of the country.
Apparently, the mother spearheaded it.
They're going to take a plane, as soon...
Frank, I need to keep them in the country for a few more hours.
Well, I don't know how we can do that.
Let's detain him.
Well, unless something's changed, he's...
We cannot prosecute, but we can arrest, Frank.
All right. On what charge?
You leave that to me.
Mamacita, it's my father's same speech.
I heard it a thousand times.
Willy, what are you doing?
Get her a mojito, huh?
Somebody in here get me a light!
Gracias.
You're welcome.
Frank, am I crazy, or is that a Cuban cigar?
Looks like it to me.
Those are still illegal, aren't they?
Damn straight, they are.
I got it from Fidel himself.
Got a caseload of them down at the dock, huh?
Hmm. Interesting.
You're coming with us.
Yo, dawg. Dawg, you can't do that to me, huh?
Yes, I can, dawg.
It's illegal to sell or purchase Cuban cigars on American soil.
Somebody call my father, huh?
Tell him what they're doing to me!
Going to be an international situation, Caine! International!
Not for long.
How did you do with those hairs in the car?
Only one strand had a follicular tag, but it only takes one.
DNA profile's inside.
Thanks, Valera.
Sure.
That's the print from the nail file in the guy's eye?
Yep.
Our identity thief.
Or, as I refer to her, the one without radiating fractures to her left femur.
DNA's hers, too.
Surprised?
No. I asked patrol to pick her up.
Monday. Dinner at Joe's Stone Crab.
Delicious.
This is harassment.
I didn't kill the guy.
Murder isn't like electronic theft.
Your DNA...
from your hair...
found clutched in Phillip's hand.
Your fingerprint on the murder weapon.
Let's be logical.
Why I would kill her ex?
To get one of these.
A Certificate of Death.
You present that to the bank, they quit garnishing Karla Gardner's wages.
No more alimony payments.
That's $4,000 more a month for you to write checks with.
You have the right to remain silent.
I'm going to tell you the truth.
My real name is Eve Martinkus.
Sure, it is.
Anything you say can and will be...
I had one vacation here in South Beach, and never wanted to leave, so I steal identities.
I'll give you the names of 20 girls I've stolen, but I didn't kill this guy.
So, those are not your hairs in the victim's hand?
DNA's lying. That's what you're saying?
I don't know, but I didn't kill him.
WOLFE: Fine.
You were in the car, and he killed himself.
I was never in the car.
Calleigh.
What's up?
It's probably nothing, but the hairs-- Valera said she only found one follicular tag.
A struggle to the death should produce more than one ripped hair.
Maybe Valera stopped at one.
Or something else is going on.
She's ours for 24 hours. Let's get into it.
There's no tag on this hair either.
RYAN: That's a total of 32.
32 out of 34.
It is not possible to get into a struggle and only have two hairs torn out at the root.
No, it isn't.
Meaning Eve's hairs were planted in the victim's hand.
What's that white stuff?
Adhered to the hair?
I don't know, but I saw it on some of the other hairs, too.
Where's Aaron?
Uh, probably on break.
Not anymore.
So, what's the goop?
Something you guys use every day.
More specific, please.
Every once in a while, when you use a roller, I pick it out of evidence.
A lint roller?
It's adhesive?
Yeah. So, whoever got these hairs...
Got them after they were shed.
I'd like to see your car.
Why?
Tell me where it's parked.
Are you still trying to pin this on me?
Tell me or I'll beep the lock.
( alarm beeping ) RYAN: Convertible.
Makes it easy and explains a lot.
The average human sheds up to 100 hairs a day.
Here's some adhesive.
I thought if I can put her in prison, I can get my life back.
And get rid of those pesky alimony payments?
Yes.
We know how you planted Eve's hair in his hands, but how'd you get her nail file?
She taught me how.
Eve?
I just did what she had done to me-- dumpster diving.
And then what, asked your husband to meet you, talk about old times?
Close.
I told him I wanted to give him an alimony check.
Back payment.
Well, it's about time you came to your senses.
Do you have the check?
Right here.
( yelling )
You thought you killed two birds with one stone.
RYAN: Instead, Karla, you're going to lose your own life.
Is it almost ready?
The handkerchief?
Getting there.
Horatio found his loophole.
Thanks.
Hey.
Eric.
Check it out.
Nice work.
Lieutenant.
Yes?
Where is he? Where is our son?
General, Clavo has been arrested for manslaughter.
That boy's drug overdose? We've been over this.
I understand. Follow me, please.
So worried about you.
Clavo, get up.
We are leaving.
Lieutenant, you'll be hearing from your State Department.
Actually, that's not going to be necessary, General.
I would appreciate it if you and your wife would take a seat.
We'll stand. We have a plane to catch.
You took one of our sons.
You're not going to take another.
It's quite true, ma'am.
Turns out that Clavo is not your husband's son.
We ran the DNA, and Clavo and his brother have two different fathers.
Mama?
Marta...
Tell them this is a mistake.
Antonio...
Oh, my God.
General, under the Vienna Convention, you are still legally Clavo's father.
That's right.
But I need to remind you now you have the power to rescind his immunity at any time.
Papi, don-don't, don't let him do this to us.
General...
Rescinded.
Antonio, don't.
I'll have the consulate draw up the papers.
Don't do this to him. No.
Marta...
Stonemore Hotel, please.
Captioning sponsored by CBS, C.S.I. PRODUCTIONS Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org