Help! Please, help me!
(sobbing) Please help me!
Help! Please, help me!
(woman screaming) (screaming) (grunts) (smack) (screams) (engine starting) (tires squealing)
(instrumental TV news theme plays) The city of Miami has been gripped with a local news story, first reported here on WETX yesterday afternoon.
The victim: innocent; the crime: shocking.
And all of it caught on tape.
Local college student Sherry Williamson was brutally carjacked early yesterday morning.
A nearby security camera, the only witness.
With us, we have special correspondent Ryan Wolfe, former CSI with the Miami-Dade Crime Lab. Welcome, Ryan.
Thank you, Heather.
It's nice to be here again.
Now, the unnamed suspect is still at large.
What can your forensic background tell us about the scene of the crime?
Okay, uh, well, you see, the average person would look at the center of the action, but as a CSI, I'm trained to look from the outside, and work inward.
Now, if we focus here on the attacker...
we're never going to see his face.
So, we have to, uh, analyze the environment around him.
Okay, right here.
If we isolate this image, and then we magnify it, and then we enhance it...
...you'll see the attacker's identity clear as day.
If anyone has information regarding this man's whereabouts, please call the station's hotline at 555-0111.
(sirens blaring)
♪ ♪
It's quite a crowd, Frank.
Yeah, word spread fast.
Everybody clamoring to sneak a peek at public enemy #1.
Carjacker.
Yeah.
Whose face Ryan plastered all over television about an hour ago.
Did we get a name?
No.
No ID, and nobody's talking.
City on the hunt.
Looks like vigilantes took it upon themselves to be the guy's judge and jury.
Judge, jury and executioner.
♪ Yeah! ♪ Captioning sponsored by\h CBS C.S.I. PRODUCTIONS ♪ We don't get fooled again ♪ ♪ Don't get fooled again ♪ ♪ No, no! ♪
♪ ♪
(garbled radio transmission)
Is it just me, or have people gotten a little too casual about seeing a dead body?
(garbled radio transmission) Easier when decomp's at a distance.
Believe me.
(camera shutter clicking)
We've got at least a dozens footprints here.
If an angry mob got to him, that would explain our boy's injuries.
Ligature mark on his ankle, possibly held in restraint.
Baby boy didn't go down quietly.
Bruising, lacerations.
Fingernails on both hands are torn.
Wait a minute.
Is that something under the nail bed?
(camera shutter clicks) It's like a wood splinter.
It's going to be impossible to process this scene.
People have contaminated it.
Someone also contaminated the body.
Smell's unmistakable. It's urine.
It's not just enough to kill somebody.
You've got to make a statement.
Media blew this carjacking way out of proportion.
Maybe Ryan fueled the fire.
He didn't just fuel the fire.
He lit the match.
Miss Williamson...
Miss Williamson, I know this is difficult, but can you tell me if that's the man that hurt you?
Yes, that's him.
What happened?
I just left the bank and was going to my car.
He came out of nowhere.
Hey, how you doing? Hey.
Hey!
(screaming) Help, please! Help me!
Did he have a weapon?
No.
Guess he really didn't need one.
Now he's dead.
I can't help but feel responsible.
Why do you say that?
All the craziness this caused.
Yes, I wanted justice, but...
not like that.
I understand.
MAN (over speaker): Stand by. 15 minutes to air.
All remaining talent to the set, please.
Cameras to your places...
Hey.
DUQUESNE: Hey.
How's it going?
Thanks for coming down.
Yeah, I'm good. I'm good.
You look different.
Must be the eyeliner.
I wear makeup now.
(laughs) You must think it's pretty, uh, pretty silly.
No, that wasn't the adjective I was looking for.
(sighing heavily) Well, I got to earn a living.
So, congratulations.
I heard you found the carjacker.
Is that why you called me down here?
To ease your conscience?
You know, you may have gotten a man killed today.
I didn't really think it would go that far.
Well, that seems to be a pattern with you.
Okay, so this about the, uh, it's about the gambling...?
It's about everything, Ryan.
You assaulted a police officer.
You leaked information to Erica Sikes.
Okay, well, all that is done now.
Not doing it anymore.
Are you not doing it in the way that you burned the counterfeit money and promised you would never bet again?
Doesn't this job ever get to you?
I needed an outlet.
I wasn't hurting anyone.
Really?
You were being blackmailed by a suspect who you owed money to.
And I paid him that money so that he wouldn't have any power over the investigation that I was a part of.
You gambled on the clock so that you could pay him back.
And I did it in a card club.
And I wasn't breaking any laws.
You broke all the rules.
And because you have, every case you have ever worked on is being called into question, so if you say that you weren't hurting anyone, think about all of the people left behind to pick up the pieces for you.
Speaking of which, I'm needed in DNA.
I have to go. Wait a second. Wait.
Just wait a second.
(sighing heavily) After my segment ran, the station received a lot of phone calls-- including about a dozen death threats-- to the carjacker.
These are the, uh, names and numbers.
Hopefully, one of them is your guy.
CAINE: Are you familiar with the South Pointe area, Mr. Hewitt?
Yeah. Yeah, that's where they found that guy.
The carjacker, right?
The carjacker you threatened.
And we found your DNA on his clothes.
It was nice work, and quick.
I'm a fan of law enforcement, you know?
Yes.
But you don't believe in the law, do you? I do.
But sometimes you-you got to take things into your own hands.
I saw the carjacker on the beach in the morning.
Recognized him from the news.
Did to him what he did to that poor girl.
With a little interest.
(urinating) (zippering) Come on. Step outside the badge a second.
You got to admit.
Streets are much safer without this guy on them.
That's not up to you.
(applause, siren blaring) MAN: Sir, were you brought in for questioning?
Are you a suspect? I'm not a suspect.
I did it. I killed the carjacker.
Is there anything else you'd like to say?
You bet. People of Miami, we can take back our city.
Make it safe for our families.
So you admit it? You are a vigilante?
You can call me whatever you want.
I'm just a concerned citizen.
Let's take back our city!
(cheering) Take it back!
(crowd chattering, engine starting) Excuse me, Officer?
Is that him?
The guy who killed my brother?
Your brother?
I'm sorry, but I'm not at liberty to discuss an open case.
Came as soon as I heard.
I still can't believe it.
What's your brother's name?
Jason.
Jason Billings.
I just saw his picture on the news.
Think you would feel comfortable identifying his body for us?
Sure. Whatever you need.
Okay.
You heard it live.
Derek Hewitt, a mechanic from Homestead, has confessed to the murder of a still unnamed suspect who was caught on video assaulting young Sherry Williamson in broad daylight yesterday.
Hewitt, a self-described vigilante, urged others to "take back the city" by any means necessary.
H, Natalia called.
She spoke to the victim's brother.
And we got a positive ID on him. It's Jason Billings.
Did you get a cause of death?
Yes. It's a Jefferson fracture.
Vertical force to cause a broken neck.
Check out these photos Alexx sent over.
She documented all the injuries he sustained.
Several to his rib cage were postmortem.
And then there's this.
That looks like a shark bite.
Yeah, also postmortem.
So if Jason was already dead when he was bitten, that means he died out on the water and then somehow made it back to shore.
Before he was ID'd on the news.
Yeah, before Ryan broadcast his face.
So our vigilante didn't kill the carjacker.
He just wanted the credit.
So if he didn't kill him, who did?
DUQUESNE: Well, I mean...
(sighs) Wednesday.
Yeah.
(laughing): I don't know.
I mean, in all honesty, I've been...
Mm-hmm.
Bye.
Hey.
Great to see that smile.
It's nothing.
Who was that? Jake?
Um, yeah, I told him that if people would stop killing each other, we could have a proper meal.
Is that info on the carjacker?
Yeah.
Guy's name is Jason Billings.
Born into money.
He had some pretty expensive hobbies.
Like what?
Like racing anything he can get his hands on.
Horses, cars, boats.
Why would a guy with that much money to burn need to steal a car?
Had to be out of desperation.
We need to find out where Jason docked his boat.
Miami-Dade PD.
Is this Jason Billings' boat?
Yes, it is.
Is he in some kind of trouble?
Not anymore.
He's dead.
Oh, my God.
How do you know him?
I just... I work for him.
I keep his boat clean and running.
Did you clean it today?
No, no, I just, I just got started.
Check out the kill switch.
The strap's torn.
Didn't our victim have ligature marks on his ankle?
What, do you think somebody pushed Jason out of his boat? Yeah, and it means Jason took the kill switch with him.
If it disengages, the motor shuts off.
It means the killer had to get it back to ride the boat back to shore.
Yes, leaving Jason to die.
Where were you this morning?
I was in the Keys.
Party went late. I slept in.
I got, like, 30 people who can vouch for me.
Really?
Well, you're gonna need more than 30 hungover college kids. Like what?
Like DNA, prints.
Yeah, sure, whatever.
What am I supposed to do now?
Why don't you take the rest of the day off?
We'll look after the boat.
Okay?
This is a sweet ride.
It's a custom-built twin-engine Donzi.
1,400-horsepower.
This thing's so fast you can barely see it on the radar.
(laughing): This is such a guy thing.
I mean, there's really only one reason to buy a boat like this.
Try to look cool.
Oh, there's another reason.
How about drug smuggling?
See these markings on the hull here?
Mm-hmm. Cement.
It's used to affix what's called a blister.
Okay, I've heard of those.
That's what they hide the drugs inside to avoid detection.
Blisters are usually made of fiberglass and painted the same color as the boat.
Easy to pry off in case the Coast Guard spots them.
This blister's long gone, though.
But the cement left a mark.
Looks like there's something in it.
Looks like sand.
There's no reason to run a $500,000 boat aground on purpose.
Nope, not unless you're in a real hurry to offload a drug shipment.
Oh, great.
Now we got to search hundreds of miles of Florida coastline.
BOA VISTA: I'm all up for a treasure hunt and everything, but this is a lot of ground to cover.
(laughs) And that's why I brought along our new toy, the Profiler.
It's electromagnetic, so it picks up more than a metal detector.
Yeah, but so far all we've got is an iPod, four beer bottles, and a beach towel, but no fiberglass blister with the drugs.
So we keep looking until we find the blister.
Hey, Calleigh.
Is that who I think it is?
Yeah, Ryan Wolfe with on-the-spot coverage.
God, he just keeps anticipating our every move.
Want me to go talk to him?
No, let's keep working.
No.
I don't have my tripod, Wolfe.
How do I get a decent close-up of them from here?
You're not shooting them, Eddie. You're shooting me.
What's the matter?
Afraid your CSI colleagues will steal the spotlight?
I'm respecting their work.
Come on, man.
A little closer.
Come on. Get closer.
There's no crime scene tape.
Hey, man, just 'cause you heard about this on the police scanner doesn't mean you get to interfere with a murder investigation.
You understand that?
You got that?
(sighs)
I'm going to do my opener from here, all right?
Yeah, looks good, looks good.
I just want it a little wider.
Yeah.
(screaming) Get it off!
Hey, hey, Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, relax!
Get it off me! I can't.
I can't get it off or you're gonna bleed to death.
Hold on.
Call for help!
Call Emergency!
Get Rescue out here now!
Oh, get it off! Hold on, man, hold on.
All right?
He lost a lot of blood.
It's going to be close.
(sighs) You know, us being here and us following you around, that's not my idea.
The assignment editors wanted me to follow up on a story.
Just in case you were wondering.
No, I, I, I wasn't.
It's just that, um...
it's just that I'm on somebody else's payroll now, and it's weird.
I know.
I mean, I-I've been there.
When I worked for the feds, it was easy to lose sight of whose side I was on.
What do you think I should do?
Short term: get away from the cameras; and long term: you're just going to have to decide what your own priorities are.
You sure you're okay?
I'm fine. Thanks.
Natalia, that trap was put there to protect something.
Will you bring your camera?
Yeah.
Thing looks like something out of Vietnam.
Or drug runners trying to protect their stash.
What is it?
Looks like when that trap was triggered, it disturbed a lot of the sand around here.
It's the blister.
(camera shutter clicking) Can you help me lift this?
Yeah.
(chuckles) Well, there's our buried treasure.
(camera shutter clicking) It's wrapped in banana leaves to protect from moisture.
It's a common practice in Cuba.
Jason Billings was in deep.
This is a big stash.
If you bury something this well, you don't draw attention to it by setting a trap.
You do if you intend to kill the person that's following you.
By looking into your brother's past, Mr. Billings, it shined a light on your own.
What do you mean?
It turns out the boat is registered to you.
Yeah, the boat's in my name, but I gave it to Jason.
So what?
Jason may have been killed on the boat.
Wait, I thought the vigilante guy killed him on the beach.
We have new information, don't we?
Like that the boat was being used for drug running.
I...
I thought he was into something.
But it was his business.
I didn't ask. We believe that Jason was offloading drugs.
We want to know for who.
Do you have any idea who he hung out with?
There was this one guy.
Tony.
Tony... Decker.
He had those eyes, you know, like he wasn't afraid of anything.
That's going to change.
♪ ♪ Tony Decker.
Can I help you?
I think you can, Tony.
Jason Billings.
I know a lot of people.
I'm, uh, not so good with names, though.
Jason used his boat to smuggle drugs for you and now he's dead.
Wow, that's... that's creative, man.
I understand you have a connection with the Sovantes cartel of Cuba.
Connection to a drug cartel, now... now you're just flat-out insulting me.
Listen, I have three homes.
Okay, a yacht, solid rep.
Life is good, man. Why would I kill anyone?
Maybe to keep it that way.
Well, when you have proof...
then we'll talk.
Looking forward to it.
BOA VISTA: So what have we got?
Well, my friend, you dug up 20 kilos of pure heroin, street value: $1.4 million.
Wow.
Do you have any idea who was handling the banana leaves?
Sand destroyed most of the prints, but I found one on the underside that was willing to cooperate.
It belongs to the left index finger of this guy.
Cole Telford.
Yeah, H got a reference sample from him earlier, including that ten card.
Doesn't he work on Jason Billings's boat?
I guess.
When he's not smuggling heroin from Cuba.
♪ ♪
I'm not a drug runner, sir.
I promise you.
I'm not interested in getting bounced out of Dade University.
See, we found your fingerprint though, Cole, on ten kilos of pure heroin.
Explain that to me.
Whenever Jason offered to take me for a ride, it was usually for a mile for two.
One day he says, "How about Cuba?"
I was all over it.
That far. That fast.
It was awesome.
What happened when you got there?
It was like an Indy pit stop.
Some guys directed us in to refuel.
And Jason asked me to help him.
Hey, don't just stand there.
Give me a hand with this, will you, buddy?
What is it?
Come on. What does it look like?
No, I can't, man. I shouldn't.
Well, you don't, you're not coming back with me.
You helped him load the boat?
I didn't have a choice.
He had this look on his face I'd never seen before.
Did you help him bury the product when you got back?
No, my involvement ended when we docked here.
He told me to keep my mouth shut, and I did. That's it.
Well, I guess we're going to find out, huh, Cole?
Hmm, that is gruesome.
So you found something in the trap?
Yeah, epithelia, but they're not from our unfortunate cameraman.
It matches the reference sample of Cole Telford.
The college kid.
I found skin in this hinge right here.
He must've gotten pinched trying to put this contraption together.
(loud snap) (screams) He lied his way out of the prints, but I think he's going to have a tough time with this one.
DUQUESNE: So you're a mechanical engineering major?
Yeah, got one semester to go.
Hmm. I wouldn't be in such a hurry.
What's that?
Oh, come off it, Mr. Telford.
Your DNA already broke the news.
You set the trap, and I'm willing to bet you built it.
Yeah.
It was spring-loaded for 125 pounds of pressure.
Jason loved the idea.
(loud snap, screams) Oh, get it off!
Jason was paranoid.
He thought Decker was tracking us, that he'd do anything to get his heroin back.
The trap was to send him a message.
Well, you're going to have a lot of time to work on your communication skills.
Is he going to be okay?
The guy in the hospital? He's recovering.
Well, I guess I got lucky.
Yeah, real lucky. Now you got 20 years to figure out how to build your next trap.
♪ ♪
Afternoon, Mr. Wolfe.
Good afternoon.
Who are you here to see?
Yeah, bring him in.
All right, listen, I've got to go.
Yeah. Bye.
(clears throat) You're late, pal.
What, did you get, uh, stuck in the makeup chair?
That's very funny.
Where's your visitor's pass?
Are you serious?
Yeah, I'm serious.
All right, so you're pissed at me now, too?
No, Wolfe, I got my own problems.
Now put your visitor's pass on before I get my ass thrown out of here, all right?
Now, what have you got for me?
This is so strange.
Yeah.
This is the footage you dissected from your TV show?
You know, uh, "As a CSI, I like to work from the outside inward."
You have an uncanny gift for impersonations.
I actually should've practiced what I preached.
Take a look at the part where Jason gets in the front seat.
There. You see that?
No, see what?
All right, roll it back.
Go back to where you started.
Now, go slowly.
At 30 frames per second, the surveillance cameras record too slow to pick it up.
Right there on the roof.
Yeah, some kind of spark.
And you were able to see that?
Not until I looked between the frames.
That's a good eye, Wolfe.
How many times have you watched this?
After the, uh, citywide manhunt, I started...
A few.
Now, that spark-- I think it's a ricochet.
Somebody fired a bullet.
Yeah, well, Sherry Williamson didn't mention anything about gunfire to Horatio when she spoke to him.
She's been in on this the whole time.
Not bad, huh?
I still got it.
Yeah, it's, uh...
it's just too bad you can't do anything with it because I'm going to be the one taking it to the judge.
(laughing) Good work.
Nice shirt.
Wow...
Sherry.
The entire city knows your name.
You got citizens who wanted to kill the man who assaulted you, and yet...
you forgot to tell us that someone took a shot at him.
What? What are you talking about?
Come on.
I know you're covering for someone.
You're on the hook right now for conspiracy to commit murder.
Don't take the fall.
Give me the shooter.
(sighs) It was Jason's brother.
Jason's brother, Paul?
Yes. He came to me.
Asked for help.
Why you?
Paul and I are seeing each other on and off.
The money he offered me, it would've set me up for a long time.
So, for a price, you were supposed to lure Jason to your car?
He grabbed coffee at the same place every morning, early.
So I pretended to have car trouble.
Excuse me, sir. Could you help me?
My car won't start. Yeah.
Sure, where are you parked?
It's just right here.
SHERRY: I got him there. \h Paul said he'd do the rest.
Help! Please, help me!
(alarm chirps, screams)
(gunshot) DELKO: So Paul fired outside \h the security camera's range.
The plan was botched.
Paul missed.
And then I end up on the news, damsel in distress.
"Damsel in distress," huh?
Well, I'm afraid this isn't going to have a storybook ending, Ms. Williamson.
I hope your payday was worth it.
TRIPP: That's enough.
We've been down this dead-end road already.
You're in just as deep as your little brother.
Running out of ways to phrase this, guys.
It was his mess, not mine.
Why did you take a shot at him in broad daylight?
Talked to Sherry?
You should've paid her more.
She belted it out like an opera singer.
Jason was in deep with Decker.
His shipment numbers from Cuba weren't adding up.
You work for Decker, too?
He told me to take care of it.
Yeah.
By killing Jason.
Or he'd kill us both.
I couldn't do it.
So I fired a shot \h off the top of the car.
(tires squealing)
Jason took you out on his boat.
What was the purpose of that?
He was asking me for help.
Someone tried to kill me this morning.
I think Tony's sent one of his goons after me.
Return the kilos you took from him.
It'll all go away.
(mumbles) I promise.
It's too late.
W-What are you looking for?
You still carry that Glock with you?
No, and I wouldn't give it to you if I did.
You're one of Tony's goons, Paulie?
No, it wasn't like that.
Go ahead. Finish it, Paulie.
Come on. Finish it.
Finish it, Paulie.
(grunting)
He never surfaced.
I recovered the boat's kill switch, rode back to shore.
Worked out well for you, didn't it?
I never wanted him to drown.
I just wanted him to give the drugs back to Tony.
I loved my brother.
Get him out of here.
(sniffles) He didn't leave him out there to drown.
Cause of death was a broken neck.
Guy's spinning us a yarn.
Or maybe he's telling the truth, and somebody else finished him off.
Jimmy, push it!
Get these guys off my ass!
Get inside.
MAN (over speaker): This is the United States Coast Guard and Miami-Dade Police Department.
Prepare to be boarded.
Everyone on board your vessel must immediately come topside.
Did you have an accident on your boat?
(camera shutter clicks)
(camera shutter clicks) It happens, you know?
Day on the water.
It gets slippery.
It certainly was for Jason Billings.
He was never on my yacht, man.
We found his blood on your deck, and his cause of death was a broken neck.
Jason, uh...
He drove the fastest boat in Miami, and when his shipments started coming in short, he would lie to me.
Blame my Cuban suppliers.
So you followed him.
DECKER: I had no choice.
I knew his brother \h wasn't going to finish the job.
He left him out in the water.
Hey, hey, hey.
Give me your hand.
(groans) Where are my missing kilos?
I don't know what you're talking about.
(groans) You don't tell me where it is, you're going right back in.
You understand me?
You won't kill me, man.
I'm the only way you'll get any of it back.
You're right. You're right.
(both grunt)
I cut my losses, man.
Kid didn't want to save his own life, I wasn't about to save it for him.
You're quite a humanitarian, aren't you?
Take him.
HEATHER: Here to comment on our latest \h breaking news story, our resident crime expert, former CSI, Ryan Wolfe.
Hi, Heather.
A woman in Pensacola drowned her two young children this afternoon before taking her own life.
Is this postpartum...
(no audio) What?
Is this postpartum pushed to the extreme, or is there some societal influence at work?
No, no, that's just horrible is what it is.
You know, to be honest, I don't think it's really our right to speculate on a mother who drowned her children.
But if you had to.
But I don't have to.
And I don't want to.
I'm sorry, I...
I'm sorry, Heather.
Look, my time spent here has been, uh...
It's been really fascinating.
It's been great.
But there's someplace else I think I got to be.
WOLFE: There are men and women who put themselves \h in harm's way every day.
It's their lives for ours.
And for them, it's not \h something that they do.
It's something that... \h that, you know, they are.
Now, I'm not going to try to make myself sound so honorable, but I took an oath.
I took an oath to protect people in Miami, and, uh...
I was born to be a cop.
And, um...
I think I lost that along the way.
So...
Hey, H.
You helped us, Mr. Wolfe.
Yeah, it was the least I could do.
But you consorted with a known felon, and that's not going to go away anytime soon.
You understand that?
I don't expect it to.
Everything you've done in the past, everything you do today will come under close scrutiny.
I may not get my job back.
But every case that gets reopened, I'm going to answer to.
I'm not going to abandon this team.
And we, Mr. Wolfe, are not going to abandon you.
Captioning sponsored by\h CBS C.S.I. PRODUCTIONS Captioned by access.wgbh.org oup at WGBH