MAN: Isn't it great to get back to nature? You want to set camp here? We can camp on the moon. Just give me the shovel. Chill, chill. You got paper? I have what I need.
( insects buzzing ) Oh, my God! Angie? ( buzzing continues ) Angie! ( buzzing continues )
They're... they're everywhere. What the...?
That's a person. ( coughing ) DETECTIVE: Hey.
Hikers found her. Looks like a gunshot to the head. Did you find a weapon? No.
I hate bees. Just paper wasps. They're having too much fun to worry about us.
I never get used to this part, you know when the bugs get going. Just doing what God intended... ...recycling us back to the earth.
Yeah? Hey, Officer can I borrow some of your hot coffee, please? Sure.
Preservation.
John... Paul... George... Ringo. Beetles. No alkali fluids in the dirt so she wasn't killed here. Whoever dumped her must have been in a hurry. Didn't take the time to bury her. What do you think? You got any of that beef jerky you're always gnawing on? You can eat? I want to keep these little fellas alive. They're our first witnesses to the crime. Captioning sponsored by PARAMOUNT PICTURES
♪ 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!
BROWN: Cath, you want some coffee? Please. Cream with some of that fake stuff. There's nothing good to eat around here.
Hi. Sorry I'm late. Hey, how's the body with the bugs?
How do you know about that already? Hey, don't look at me. We, uh, played a hunch; checked with Homicide. You were late. What do you have for us? A Paul Sorenson... Missing since last night. Last seen at home of Richard Zeigler in-- ooh-- Summerlin. Summerlin... rich folks. Warrick, you can work this with Catherine. Don't you have a court date coming up? Yeah, the DA asked me to testify on chain of custody. I could do that in my sleep. Listen, juries need to have confidence in the evidentiary, process, so work with Catherine and break off when you have to appear. Yeah. Bye. Good luck. Bye. See you. Need help with your homicide? No. Sara's going to work with me. You get a missing person. Sheryl Applegate. Her husband notified the police that she took the car and headed to L.A., but she never showed up. A few hours ago, PD found her car at the bus station. They requested a CSI. She took the bus instead. Case solved. ( laughing ) Hopefully, you're right. But, until she's located treat her car like a crime scene.
Is everything okay? You've been quiet all night. Yeah. I got a call earlier today from Child Services asking about you and Lindsey. I don't believe this. They told me they'd notified you-- some investigation-- that Eddie had made a charge or something. Yes. He's pissed off because I won't let him back into my life so he sics Child Services on me. I never expected they were going to talk to my friends. Well, what did they ask? What did you say? Well, I... Hello. Hi. Sir, we're with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. We're here about a Paul Sorenson. I'm Richard Zeigler. Cops told me you were coming. Here, please, come in. Thank you. Thanks.
Well, this is, uh where the Sorenson was displayed. Sorenson is a painting. Paul Sorenson was an artist.
Early 1900s.
How dumb are we? What's he know about the forensic analysis of a friction ridge? Right on. I think I may have surprised the guy while he was stealing it. I came downstairs to read and I heard a noise.
By the time I got to the room, he was gone but the door was open.
Why don't we dust for prints? Mr. Ziegler, one more thing.
What about the security alarm? Somebody disengaged it.
BROWN: You thinking what I'm thinking? Oh, yeah. Inside job.
So... was it a disaster with Child Services? Disaster? What do you mean? Well, my job does take me away from my daughter. Nobody knows that better than you. Yeah, but you think I'd say that? Well, not intentionally. They just, you know, know how to ask questions. Are you finding anything? We're working on it, sir.
Your young woman from the mountains. Do we know who she is yet? I gave her prints to Homicide for ID. There's the blanket she was wrapped in. Whoever she is, last day on earth was not pleasant. .38 caliber gun, flush to the scalp. Shot clean through, right to left. Bullet out the other side. Stellate pattern and beveled wound confirms the proximity of barrel to scalp. No question this was an intimate killing. Full of sound and fury signifying what, Doc? I took these.
SIDLE: Let's see what we have.
Fracture to the nasal bone, orbital bone, mandibular... All facial fractures.
Typical for battered women. These aren't fresh, are they? The old fracture lines indicate this woman was in a long-term abusive relationship. Any idea how long she's been dead? The elements really got to her. Grissom and his insects are going to have to figure that one out. Have we lost you, Grissom? "The worms go in "the worms go out "the worms play pinochle on your snout." Shakespeare again? An old nursery rhyme. ROBBINS: A very special insect, Dr. Seuss? A muscid fly-- typical only in urban areas. But you found her in the mountains.
How many people have access to your home-- keys and security code? Just my wife and my two sons and, uh... my daughter. WILLOWS: Can you get them all here? They might be able to help us with evidence. Hey, Catherine check this out.
You see that? Helix, antihelix, helix rim, tragus, antitragus. I think the thief must have pressed his head against the wall to check if the painting was wired. Come on. An earprint? Hey, a jury convicted a first-degree murderer based on a print just like this two years ago in Washington. Yeah, I know, I know. I'd like to see that one on appeal. Well, photograph and lift. We'll have someone to compare it to soon enough.
Okay, bear with me. I mean, you're one of ten guys in the country that understands this stuff. I think there's at least 15, but go on. What don't you get? Insects arrive at a corpse in a specific order, right? Like summer follows the spring. And you can pinpoint time of death based on the type and age of insects present on the body? I watch the insects mature from eggs to larvae to adults and then count backwards. Linear regression.
How old are those creepy crawlers? They're not done maturing yet. Oh. But when they are, I'll be able to tell you how old they were when I found the body. Which will tell us when the woman died. I ID'd her body through AFIS, and located her husband. Let me guess. Downtown? The Fremont district? You know, I'm not even going to ask. Synthesiomyia Nudiseta is the Latin name. SIDLE: It's a muscid fly. Only breeds in urban areas but Grissom found one on our girl which means she was probably killed downtown and then carried into the mountains. Well, the neighbors heard a gunshot at their apartment five days ago. The "grieving" husband... His name is Scott Shelton. What was her name? Kaye screamed at me a lot, that's for sure but I didn't kill her. In fact, I was out of town last week at a convention. Yeah, in New Orleans soaking up the gumbo. You told us. When was the last time you saw your wife? Five days ago. When I came back from my trip she was gone. And you didn't think to notify the police? I keep my personal business private. If Kaye had left me again, I wasn't going to broadcast it. BRASS: So this neighbor lady who told me that she heard a gunshot and a woman scream inside your apartment... What, she just imagined that? It was probably our TV.
Mr. Shelton... did your wife drive race cars? You're kidding me. No. The two most common causes of facial trauma in adult women: motor vehicle accidents and domestic violence.
These are your wife's X rays. Every face and neck fracture your wife has sustained over the last six years is highlighted.
Kaye can get wild. If I came home late with friends I've wrestled her off me. I admit that. Three complaints against Scott for spousal abuse in the last two years. Kaye was excitable. Like I said I've wrestled her off me but I never, ever laid a hand on her. How about a gun?
You have your hands full with her. So do you. We're going to investigate your apartment. Do we need a warrant or are you going to play nice? Come on over. I've got nothing to hide. We'll be the judge of that.
Detective Secula. Mr. Stokes. What's up? You got stuck on this one, too? Yeah, well, missing person-- could be interesting. Husband reports his wife missing and her car's at a bus terminal. Come on. Lady took a trip. Didn't want him to know where to. Not much of a mystery. Auto unit been by yet? No. We just slim-jimmed. We checked for a body-- didn't find one. Big surprise. Yeah. No. I didn't touch a thing.
Secula... something wrong?
We had dinner last week. I thought it went great. You never called. That doesn't mean I wasn't going to.
Is our missing person a redhead? Yeah. Call in a tow to the CSI garage. This case is now officially interesting.
WILLOWS: It's just like a fingerprint... for your ears. RICHARD: Now, wait a minute. Are you thinking one of us did this? Well, there's no forced entry. Someone shut off your alarm. That tells us that we eliminate the family first before we widen our investigation. I'll tell you what. I'm not putting that crap on my ear. Well, we can get a warrat. RICHARD: Oh, no. Nobody's getting a warrant against this family. We'll humor them, and get this over with. WILLOWS: Thank you, sir. Tell me what you want me to do. You're a good sport.
I'm just going to press this against your ear.
See?
We got a match.
WILLOWS: What do you think? BROWN: Jason? What? Earprint talking.
Why would you steal from me?
Sir, are you going to want to press charges? No, no. God, no. No. I just... We'll get help for Jason. I don't want court records. WILLOWS: Jason, do you still have the painting? What if I told you I sold it? Well, that would be selling stolen property and you would be arrested, no matter what your dad says. Okay. Painting's in the trunk of my car.
Can I get you guys something to drink? Soda, ale? SIDLE: No, thanks.
Not a lot of room for Kaye. She's shy.
Does it get cold in here in the winter? Sometimes. Why?
That's why you'd need a blanket on the couch, huh?
A green one, I bet.
Looks like your gun's just been cleaned.
Yeah, I, uh, cleaned it before I left town. Took out the garbage, too. Does that make me guilty of something?
No bullets missing here.
Bullets missing here, though.
I fired them at the shooting range last month. I go there with a couple guys from work.
We're going to need to borrow your bullets.
This back door lead to your car? To a car. I drive a different demo every day. Perk of the dealership.
You smell that, Grissom?
Did you do laundry back here today?
I got news for you, Scott. Bleach doesn't make blood disappear. You just can't see it with the naked eye.
I have no idea how that got there. It "got there" when you shot your wife in the head before you wrapped her in a blanket and you dumped her in the mountains! Get your finger out of my face, bitch! You touch me again, you draw back a stump! Look at her. Sara! Can't you control her? Get him out of here, Jim. I told you she was a handful. Come on. You don't know a handful! Hey. Hey. What is the matter with you? I am a woman, and I have a gun. And look how he treated me. I can only imagine how he treated his wife.
Thank you. Hey. Hey. Nicky, how's it going? Good, good. Are you putting one of Lindsey's drawings into evidence?
If only her artwork brought in this kind of dough I wouldn't need to worry about her college tuition. Yeah, I heard your missing person was a painting.
At least we solved our case. Oh!
Keep walking. Give me an evidence tag for this painting. Okay, now I know that these are rich people and it's just a painting and nobody died, but... this just doesn't feel finished. I know, every time you say that, I'm looking at more overtime. I know. ( pager beeping ) You know what? I got to be somewhere. Court. Yeah, right. Can you handle this from here? Yeah. Cool. I'll see you later. Hey, Warrick. Are you going to tell me? What? About Child Services? Oh, I told them as far as mothers are concerned, you're the bomb. Really? Yeah. And I also told them your ex is pretty screwed up.
No worries.
What do we need to nail him at trial? The neighbor puts him in the apartment five days ago. You tell me she's been dead five days and a jury is going to ump all over that coincidence. The post-mortem insects will tell me when she was killed. No, all I'm saying is five days is what I need. Jim, please don't try and compromise my end of the investigation. Good luck.
The bullets from Scott's gun are unusual.
Since we didn't find the spent bullet I sent one from the box over to Trace.
Everything else stacks up. He killed her.
What did you get? ( sighs ) She's been dead three days. Are you positive?
Not five?
Three. My client was in New Orleans three days before his wife's body was discovered on that mountain. He couldn't possibly have killed her. Unless I misunderstand what you've explained to us, Mr. Grissom-- your "linear regression." You understand it. Okay, forget time of death. How does your client explain Kaye's blood all over his apartment wall? Quite simply. Scott has three prior complaints for abuse. What's to say the blood didn't get there during one of those altercations? "Altercations"... upgraded from "wrestling"? BRASS: This is good. Admitting to prior abuse to cover up actual murder. My client and I are leaving.
And, Mr. Grissom, thank you.
Hey, tough luck about the, uh, wife abuser getting released. There's no secrets around you, are there, Conrad? You think I wanted you to whiff out on that? Your reputation as an entomologist elevates this entire crime lab which elevates my stature by association. Well, then, you must feel very small today... by association. You're dropping the ball in other areas, though. Administratively? Did I miss one of your status meetings?
Warrick Brown had one of my guys sub for him in court. So? I'm sure something came up. Hey, he told my guy it was an emergency but I have it on good authority that he was gambling. At the Monaco. What? That's right. On CSI time. I don't like him using one of my guys as a cover. I figure if he brings anybody down with him it should be from your shift.
Don't you think?
( kettle whistling )
Sara?
Sara? You okay? Fine. Yeah. Did you sleep here? I was working till 4:00 a.m. I combed every demo Scott's driven. Zilch.
What's up? I need you to do some background for me on Warrick without letting him know why. Oh. Warrick-- your favorite CSI. That's why I want you to handle it so that Ecklie can't accuse me of favoritism if it turns out that Warrick's clean. What do you want to know?
This painting's a forgery? Where does it say that? I was reading up on Sorenson, and I found a site that says that 15% of all museum art is fake. It's not our job to authenticate art. Case is closed. You're so right, but if this is a forgery we've got a new crime.
This ElectroThermal atomizer is set at the excitation wavelength for titanium which was not used in oil paint before the 1950s. So, an authentic Sorenson would be titanium-free. If it's present, the canvas will fluoresce and we've got a forgery. Hit the lights.
WILLOWS: Mm-hmm. No doubt about it-- it's a fake. Okay, so if the owner purchased this painting from a reputable auction house they would have run a similar test to this? Absolutely. So, the kid stole the original painting from his pop and gave us back a forgery. This kid's in college, right? Let's check his dorm room.
There's no more hair. Not even a trace. No signs of foul play.
And the carpet's clean. Yeah. Yeah, too clean... ...which begs the question... What lies beneath? Hand me the phenothaline, please.
You're checking for blood? Well... I am checking... to see why someone scrubbed this carpet so clean.
If there is blood present... ...we'll know why.
It looks like our missing person might be a homicide. Right.
( knocking ) Hey. Did you find out anything about Warrick? Um... I'm-I'm here about something else.
You... you know how you say, "We're the victim's last voice"? Mm-hmm. I thought it was ou job to speak for Kaye Shelton. You don't crunch evidence to fit a theory.
What if you hear the victim's screams?
In the car, at the store. You have empathy for her, Sara. You want someone to pay for what was done to her. That's normal. You want to sleep with me?
Did you just say what I think you said? That way, when I wake up in a cold sweat under the blanket, hearing Kaye's screams... you can tell me it's nothing. It's just empathy.
So, you planning a little late-night luau? Roast pig? It's an experiment. Maybe Kaye was dead five days. I thought your bugs never made mistakes. They don't. People do.
The victim was wrapped in a blanket. Normally a blanket or clothing doesn't impact insect maturation. The insects usually fight their way in anyway. But I examined the folds in Kaye's blanket. She was wrapped tight-- maybe tighter than I realized-- which would have decreased the corpse's exposure to insects. So it took longer for the insects to get in there? And deposit their eggs. Maybe two whole days. I've wrapped Porky here pretty tight. Well, let me ask you this. You killed a pig just for this? This poor ham was already on its way to someone's Christmas dinner table. I mean, wouldn't a rabbit be easier? Got to be a pig. Interestingly, they're the most like humans. Yeah, I've been saying that since I was a rookie. You're on your own, pal.
Thanks.
How's the case going? Hey. Dead end. How about you? Just got a hit on one of our missing lady's credit cards. A motel. Her abductor sold her card or is using it himself. What motel? Four Aces. That's right around the corner from where we found her car. I've got some uniforms meeting us there. Good job.
Las Vegas Police!
All right, don't move! Put your hands where I can see them!
Are you Sheryl Applegate?
MAN: Oh, whoa, man! Ow! Oh, what's going on here? Michael, shut up! Las Vegas Police. Your husband reported you missing. Can she put that gun away? You, uh... you haven't been abducted have you, Mrs. Applegate? Not really. We found evidence of blood in your car.
I saw an injured dog last week and drove it to the vet. ( clears throat ) Uh, Nick, let's get out of here. clears throat Wait!
What are you going to tell my husband?
That you're okay. You're going to have to fill in the blanks. ( muffled laughter) So the pig's insects matured at a rate consistent with a five-day-old corpse? Once I took the blanket into account. Your initial computations were wrong. You went back, adjusted conditions and proved actual time of death Five days, not three. Which places the victim with her husband who's already guilty as sin. Captain Brass do you understand Grissom's insect evidence?
To a degree. You know... in a general way. Do you think a jury will understand your "adjustments"? Or do you think they'll realize your "conditions" can make the evidence say anything you want it to say? I can make a case to any jury against Scott Shelton for the murder of his wife. Your arresting officer can barely understand it. I read the file. Other than bugs is there anything else?
Get something a jury can understand, or move on.
Hello. Oh, good. Hello, Mr. Zeigler. Yes. You brought my Sorenson. Good. I'm glad it's back.
Nice campus you got there, Jason. What? We were by your dorm earlier with the police here. We'd like to ask a favor of you Mr. Zeigler. A private viewing of the painting.
My God, my-my... my Sorenson's a forgery? That's not all, sir.
Wait. I have $10 million worth of forgeries? BROWN: No, sir.
The police recovered your originals from Jason's dorm room today. What?
I don't even know you. BROWN: What, did you have an art major do your fakes for you, Jason? WILLOW: Robbery checked with your school. They actually teach classes in how to copy the masters. My friends helped me out. They didn't know what I was doing with the copies. And what exactly were you doing? Your son stole all your originals replacing them with forgeries. But, the other night, his little scam was interrupted.
BROWN: He didn't have time to make the switch If the hook hadn't dislodged from your Sorenson you would have spent the rest of your life admiring fakes. And you never even knew the difference, did you, Dad? You're right. You don't know me. Where are your pictures of me? You're too busy staring at your masterpieces, and they're not even real! I'm right here, Dad. You don't even see me.
The police are going to want to know if you're pressing charges this time.
I am.
You want my attention, Jason?
You got it.
I heard you were going into an autopsy.
How can you just move on to another case? They're laughing at us. You know that, right? They think we're a couple of science nerds. They threw out our findings. That body should be up in a few minutes, Mr. Grissom. Thank you, David. You know, there was a murder recently in a village on the other side of the world. Every man in the village denied having any part of it. The victim's throat had been slashed with a shovel. So this one guy-- I guess you could call him a science nerd-- asked all the men in the village to bring their shovels to the center of town and hold them spade-side up. And he waited. Eventually, flies started showing up on one specific shovel looking for microscopic bits of blood and flesh. "First witness to a crime." The investigator got his murderer, and... ...and forensic science was born. Sung T'su, 1235 A.D. You call 800 years ago recent? To an astronomer, it is. But then people forgot about forensic science, didn't they? And they had to be reminded again by Francesco Redi in the 1600s. And again by Bergeret d'Arbois in the 1800s. Every civilization learns what it needs to know and the next one forgets it. The sheriff... Well... it's not personal.
We're part of the cycle. Yeah, they laughed at fingerprints 70 years ago, and now it's law. Except somebody had to push for prints. And you're standing there saying "All things in their own time." You're confused, right? Yes. That's the best place for a scientist to be.
My body's here.
Kaye Shelton... Shall we?
SIDLE: Gave her a bath, huh? Routine cleaning. We had to do it sometime. Doc, what's this blue mark here? Why didn't we see this at the autopsy? It was under a gallon of blood. But the blue's embedded; it won't wash away. Didn't you say the suspect's ammunition was in Trace? Yeah.
"Lead, copper, zinc... Teflon." Teflon?
And? So? Strand of hair from our lady in the mountains. The blue dust from around her entrance wound-- that's from the bullet's impact. It's made of Teflon. Now look at the next specimen.
The bullet is from Scott's personal ammo supply which I test-fired. See, the Teflon disintegrated into blue powder at the moment of impact. You're gonna leave me? is that what you think?! No, Scott, no! And all the guys are gonna see a woman walk out on me? No! Scott, no! You just try... ( gunshot )
You did very good. But this is just more circumstantial evidence. We're a long way from a conviction. But we can bury him under evidence. You're the one who's always saying it's better to have one piece of forensic evidence than ten eyewitnesses. What, do you tape everything I say? You still have to educate the jury. On bullets. It's got to be easier than bugs.
Less Latin.
( handcuffs clicking ) You know, I been waiting three days to do this. No, make that five days.
Let's go.
Hi. Hi. I checked out Warrick. His story about missing court was, uh... lame. I got this surveillance tape from the Monaco. He was in the casino.
I'm sorry.
Thanks.
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