CSI: Crime Scene Investigation s09e19 Episode Script
The Descent of Man
Okay, we're rolling.
Let's go! Un, deux, et tro! Come back, come back! Now! Come together! And break! Bye-bye! Buddy, are you all right? Are you alive? All right, don't move! Pierre! Oh, my God! Where the hell is the ambulance! Go, go call an ambulance! Go! Okay, help, somebody! Pierre, baby, baby, are you okay? It's all right, sir, do you feel your legs? I'm gonna check his airway.
His airway's good.
Sir, I'm gonna take your helmet off.
Careful.
It's okay, sir.
Do you know where you are? Let's get that airway.
Let's get that airway package.
Let's get the backboard.
Do you understand me, sir? We're crime scene investigators, Sheriff.
We don't normally get called out on something like this.
But I'm telling you, this is a crime.
Look, I know the jumper, all right? Pierre Delongue and I served together in the French Foreign Legion.
What? It's a real thing.
Pierre's logged over 1,500 jumps.
He's absolutely fanatical about preparation and safety.
His school hasn't had a single citation of any kind.
You know what? He-he's too careful to have mething like this happen by accident.
All right, we're gonna need to talk to some witnesses.
I'll round 'em up.
What do you got, Riley? A helmet videocam.
I ink it's still on.
You gonna help us out here? proudly presents sync:ßÇÈâÈâ µ°¸â¸â Episode19 The Descent of Man Ma'am, we just need to know what happened.
I'm sorry.
I just I'm really emotional about this.
I just need a moment.
It's okay.
Take your time.
Did Pierre give any indication that there was anything wrong during the jump? I don't know what happened.
You know, we've made this jump, like, a hundred times.
Everything was going perfect.
We formed the star, backflipped, 360'd, reformed exactly as planned.
We deployedbut, he just kept falling.
Everything was perfect, it was like Well, did you ever do it? Well, I've done a little paragliding.
Oh, you should try the real thing.
You know, bodies linked in air.
And And the Earth coming at you like the fist of death, and the wind is, like, it blows up your leg holes.
Pierre lived for that.
Bonjour.
They told me Pierre have an accident.
Yeah.
Who are you? I'm Max Girard, Pierre's partner.
Pierre and I, we have a jump school there.
Is he dead? He's at Desert Palm, man.
He's in pretty bad shape.
At least we can take comfort in the fact that he died doing what he loved.
- He's not dead yet.
- Regard Pierre and I are brothers.
Not really brothers, but like brothers.
We come here together from Belgium, we build this business.
What happened to your leg? Same thing that happened to my car.
It's nothing.
I will go to see my partner.
- I want to go, too.
- So do I.
Sir, we may need to talk to you later.
here can we find you? At the hospital.
At Pierre's side.
Hey, les deux, into the car.
Go, go, go, go! So what do you think? I think if you jump out of a plane enough times, that one day, one way or another, your luck's gonna run out.
When I first noticed Cathartes aura, the common turkey vulture, I assumed they were scavenging, some, uh, large desert mammal.
When I got closer imagine my dismay.
And exactly what were you doing out here all alone, sir? I'm a landscape photographer.
I used to be a bird-watcher, but I gave it up-- too much death.
The DB is a white male, probably in his 30s.
Exposed flesh on the face, neck, arms, legs appears to be scavenged.
The eye sockets are empty and bloody.
Uh, birds of prey always go for the eyeballs first.
Yes.
They're moist, nutritious, easily reachable, well before the hide has a chance to ripen and burst.
The victim's clothing suggests a person of a religious or ascetic nature.
The legs are folded in the lotus position; he may have been meditating when he died.
Amongst the various animal tracks, consistent with the predation, there is a single set of shoe impressions leading to the body.
I swear, I never got any closer than this.
Will you lift your feet, please? Officer, you walked in to check out the body and walked out using your own steps? I took a class.
There is a single set of barefoot human tracks.
I will document them, determine whether they belong to the victim.
There appear to be no other tracks, but judging from the sandy quality of the terrain, it is possible someone walked in and covered their tracks on the way out.
Such a lonely place to die.
What place isn't, my friend? What place isn't? We find at least a couple guys like this out in the desert every year.
The sands tends to call out to the spiritually inclined.
It's all very biblical and very dusty.
He had plenty of water.
So I guess he didn't die of dehydration.
Pistachios.
My favorite nut.
Salty and easy to open.
Speaking of which shall we? Indeed.
Nice ink.
Holy Steven.
Spread the word.
I am come.
And you is gone.
How's the jumper? Well, you could ask his pelvis, which you will find in his rib cage.
His neck is broken, his legs are broken, his ribs and fingers are broken.
Basically, all of him is broken.
- Is he still in surgery? - Yeah.
Okay.
Here's what I got.
This is Pierre's rig, and this is an identical, properly-packed chute.
Uh, we know the E.
M.
S.
team cut Pierre out of his rig before they moved him.
But the canopy is only connected to the harness on one side.
That would've tangled the chute.
Main chute rip cord's here, cutaway harness here.
Both were deployed.
Okay, hold on.
What's a cutaway? Okay, the cutaway mechanism's designed to release the canopy from the harness entirely.
It's not meant to be deployed in mid-air, unless this main chute here is tangled.
So if it was deployed, why didn't the main chute detach completely? Because of this pull-up cord right here.
It's designed to crimp these straps together on the chute while packing it.
It's then released before the jumper puts on the harness.
But on Pierre's chute, a little piece of it's broken off, preventing the three-ring mechanism from releasing the riser.
So what you're saying is it's simple equipment failure? If that were the only thing wrong, yeah, I would be.
But Pierre's reserve chute was still packed.
It failed to deploy, even though he pulled the reserve handle.
How do you know that? Because of this little cable.
It's supposed to have a crimped cap on the end, like this.
Without it, the wire goes through the reserve chute's D-ring without activating it.
I'm telling you, the odds against a double failure like this are astronomical.
I thought these guys were fanatical about checking their own equipment.
They're supposed to be.
I'll swab these release mechanisms for touch DNA and see if anybody else put their paws on Pierre's stuff.
I'm thinking somebody messed with his chute.
Yeah.
All of the animal bites were postmortem.
I found teeth impressions-- probably coyotes as well as beaked birds of prey-- but they didn't get very far.
He wasn't dead very long.
When I got there, rigor was still full.
Interesting.
Amoeboid-shaped bleed on the cerebrum.
Spans the junction of the motor cortex and the sensory cortex.
It runs deep.
Yea, hematoma's definitely large enough to be C.
O.
D.
Corresponds to this injury here.
That doesn't look like an animal bite.
More likely blunt force trauma.
You're saying someone cracked him on the top of his head? Fall would have caused trauma to the forehead, back or side of the head.
This injury's right on top.
He was sitting cross-legged when he died.
It's virtually impossible to fall and hit the top of your head from that position.
Excuse me.
This is Langston.
Hey, Professor.
Yeah, I was running a check on Holy Steven.
He wasn't hard to find.
He likes to preach at downtown shelters.
Anyway, his name is not, uh, Steven, by the way.
It's, uh, Mark VonGrovestreet.
Why'd he change it? I have no idea.
Anyway, I have an address.
You might like to come along.
C***** Las Vegas Police.
I'm Detective Jim Brass.
This is Ray Langston from the crime lab.
Welcome.
Welcome, welcome, welcome, siblings.
Welcome to The Church Of The Holy George.
- And you are, uh - He.
George.
- Here, please.
- Thank you, George.
What happened to The Church of the Holy Steven? Oh, have you not heard the word? No, the Steven is the divine second coming.
He is the mouthpiece and messenger and clarion of God.
- He's also dead.
- Yeah.
You don't seem too surprised to hear that.
Why is that? I had a vision that it was so.
Oh, really? Okay.
So when was the last time you saw him? I mean, other than your dream? George? Yes, the Steven and I wandered in the desert for three days and two nights.
On the third day, the Steven instructed me to return to spread his word as my own to the people of the cities and towns.
And he bestowed his staff upon me, and then he continued on into the desert alone.
I held his rod and staff, and I saw that it was good.
But then I wept, for I knew that Steven's quest was for reabsorption into the Total Animal Soup of Time.
You mean you knew that the Steven was going to die? Oh, no.
There is no death, only transmogrification.
Well, that's a relief.
So, uh, when did all this happen? - Uh, what's today? - Friday.
Yes.
We left on Saturday, and then I returned on, uh, Tuesday.
And that's when you renamed your church.
I I did.
You saw.
Yes, I did.
Is that the staff there? Oh, yes it is.
Indeed, it is.
Wow, this is just like Sunday school.
Here's the Gospel according to Jim I think you took that staff and clubbed the Holy Steve like a baby harp seal so you cou bece the number one sky pilot and take over this whole operation.
- You do? - Yes, I do.
Yes.
Yes, I did.
I raised the staff, as Abraham to Isaac, but there was no angel to stay my hand, so I smote him.
You smote him.
You realize that's a confession, George? - You understand that, right? - Yes, yes.
Are you, are you going to arrest me? Yes, I am.
Yes.
Yes.
Okay, testing, testing.
Uh, what did one dehydrated Frenchman say to the other? What do you want me to do, Pee Air? - Okay, let's go.
- Pierre, you're so funny! It all looks like standard operating procedure.
Hello, mon 'ti chou.
Hello.
Hey, baby.
Okay Looks like a little bit of tension between the two ladies there.
Hold on, freeze it, right there.
Look at their hands.
Either one of those chicks could have deployed Pierre's cutaway release right there in free fall, after he'd already checked his rig on the plane.
You ever think about skydiving? - Not anymore.
- Keep playing it.
I think it's about time I had a little chat with the ladies.
Pierre, Max, Mink and me, we were like, we were like one big happy family.
Closer, even.
We trusted each other with our lives every day.
We all loved each other so much.
Pierre loved to make me laugh.
He was so funny.
Pee Air-- get it, Pierre? He was a wild man.
Big where it counts-- in his heart.
I mean, I don't even know what I'm doing here.
My fianc\ is dying, and I just don't understand what all of you people want from me! "Fianc\"? Wait.
She called him that? She called him her fianc\? She doesn't even speak French.
He was never gonna marry her.
That pathetic, deluded bitch! She called me a bitch? That bitch! She thinks that I don't know what she was doing-- sneaking around, trying to take him away from me.
I am the one he loved.
He was just doing her out of pity.
Pity? She said that? Unbelievable.
What a slut.
You know what I think? I think maybe you killed Pierre out of jealousy.
- What? - You heard me.
Really? Eh, don't let either of them fool you.
In my opinion, they could have decided to kill him together.
Just to get off on watching him die.
They're both conniving, diseased, camel-hooved 'ores.
- Ore - Whores.
"Whores.
" Well,it's cozyfor a morgue.
What do you have for me,Wendy? I got the results from the staff of Holy Steven.
Um,I recovered epithelials on the handle,in the normal grip positions.
And all the DNA was either from Steven himself or from his disciple,George.
What about the business end? Nothing,actually.
That's what's weird-- there was no blood from the victim,no epithelials so honestly,I don't think he used that to whack him.
Why would he confess to killing Steven with it? I don't know.
I want to show you something.
Okay.
Take a look at this.
The Gospel according to Steven.
Greetings,siblings.
Today we learn the lesson of the barista who taught me-- Steven-- this lesson.
I did not want whipped cream on my half-caf venti mocha latte.
But when it arrived so and I mentioned it,the barista said, "Dude,we're slammed here.
Can't you just spoon it out?" And I realized I could,and I did.
And thus,I freed myself of the conflict that would afflict all the other good people in line.
So remember,siblings,in all things,be supple of thought and pliant of deed The central tenets of this faith seem to be based on the concept of acquiescence.
Well,I suppose there are worse things to base a religion on.
I suppose so.
You don't think he did it.
No.
But I think the power of Steven may have compelled him.
So according to this,you said that you struck The Steven with his staff.
You smote him.
That isn't true,is it? Yeahno.
What did you hit him with? - Oh,it says here a large rock.
- Yes.
- No,wait a minute,a branch of a tree - Yes.
- No,a hockey stick.
- Yes.
- You didn't really kill Steven,did you? - No.
So why'd you confess to murder? Well,I try to live my life according to the 17th Proclamation of The Steven.
From his second sermon at the Starbucks.
Oh,I missed that one.
"It is better to beagreeable than to be right.
" That's not religion,that's marriage.
That'svery So you didn't kill Steven.
Yesno.
- You did? - Yes.
- You killed him? - No.
Are you clinically insane or just incredibly annoying? What would you prefer? Look,would you mind submitting to a psychological evaluation? No.
I don't even know why I asked.
So in another words,he's crazy? Or crazy like a fox,or there was evidence of someone else at the scene and I didn't find it.
Well,you've got no murder weapon and no other suspects.
I mean,maybe your vic just fell over and bumped his head.
It's been known to happen.
I'm going over to P.
D.
to wait for the D.
H.
S.
psychologist.
I'll fill him in on agreeable George.
Okay.
- Hey,Catherine.
- Yeah? I just caught a double You interested? Let's do it.
All right.
Okay,we got two dead bodies.
The wife discovered the two victims when she returned from L.
A.
from visiting her sister.
Her name is Gretchen Javid.
Oh,you're not listening to me.
- I am telling you,my husband was never without his bodyguard! - Please,please.
Hold her.
Sir,my husband was never without his bodyguard! And his bodyguard is missing! Please,somebody help her out.
Get her some medication.
You need to stay calm,ma'am.
I'm having an anxiety attack.
Help me.
please.
Officer Akers,uh,was the first respondent on the scene.
Okayso victim number one is Ismail Javid.
He's the owner of the house.
And victim number two is his business partner,Allen McKenna.
Now,they own a company called Isfahan Marble & Tile.
They did the new lobby at the Marrakesh.
I've seen it.
It's grotesque.
This is worse.
When I arrived,I found no sign of forced entry.
Nothing disturbed in the house.
No sign of a struggle.
And they still had their wallets,so robbery doesn't seem to be Excuse me.
Sorry.
Must have been something I ate.
Uh,well,I don't need you puking on my crime scene,Andy,so go ahead and take off.
I've got it covered here.
Thanks.
I don't see any external wounds or injuries,and they're just coming out of rigor.
So,they've probably been dead since early last night.
Maybe a little longer.
Whatever killed them looks like it hurt.
Yeah,both their necks are flushed.
That's usually a characteristic of heart attack.
Simultaneous coronary seizures? That's kind of unlikely,don't you think? Very.
Maybe they were poisoned.
I'll take that stuff to tox.
So I ran the DNA from the female skydivers against the sample that you took from the,uh Cutaway handle? Yes,thank you.
And anyway,neither one of them was on it.
In fact,the only DNA that I did find was from Pierre himself.
Really? Langston.
Hey,yeah,Ray,um,I'm just wonring when you're,uhgoing to be getting back here.
'Cause,uhcall outs are starting to pile up.
Well,I'm all done here.
I should be back at the lab in 15,20 minutes.
Oh,perfect RayRay,what's going on? This is dispatch.
We need paramedics.
I'll take care of him.
He was in coronary arrhythmia,very close to full arrest.
Is there a history of heart disease? None.
Hey,Andy.
How you feeling? Fine.
Just get somebody to take these wires off,and I'll go home.
That's not going to happen anytime soon,son.
Andy,I need you to walk me through exactly what you did when you reported to the 420 in Seven Hills.
I responded to the call.
Arrived first,ahead of E.
M.
S.
Wife met me at the door.
Led me to the backyard.
I checked the vics for pulse,but they were gone.
So I taped the scene off and I waited for you guys to show up.
Were you wearing gloves? No.
And there was no reason to.
Wa-Was there? Something at the scene induced heart attacks in both my victims.
I think Akers was exposed to it,too.
Think it came from something they both touched? I do.
Out of the way,please.
Clear the way,coming through! I am telling you I'm having an anxiety attack! Help me,please! That was the victim's wife.
Jim,we need to quarantine the crime scene in Seven Hills.
I think there's a contact toxin involved.
Include the entire house and adjacent yards.
And no one enters without hazmat.
So I found a very faint,powdery trace on all the surfaces I examined.
It's a digitoxin.
A naturally occurring organic compound.
It's a cardiac glycoside.
Used in heart medication.
Yeah,in small doses it is beneficial to healthy heart function, but in higher doses it causes arrhythmia and in extreme concentrations, such as those found in the tissues of both vics,death.
Fortunately,it becomes inert fairly quickly.
Okay,so that explains why Officer Akers and Mrs.
Javid survived the exposure.
We have to go back and check the yard.
Is there a reagent that can detect the digitoxin? Yeah,a diluted solution of perchloric acid exposed to U.
V.
light will induce fluorescence.
Try saying that ten times fast.
The glycosides are completely contained within the backyard.
What does that dispersal pattern suggest to you? Well,that the house was targeted and that the toxins were dropped from above.
Yeah,yeah,that's what we think.
Well you had said that the victims looked like they were caught completely unaware.
What kind of aircraft can fly that low and that quiet without them even noticing? Way ahead of you,Hodges.
Ultralights.
They're extremely maneuverable,and able to fly very slow without stalling.
If they used one of these,they conceivably could have gained altitude, then cut the engine,and glided silently,very low across the yard.
Then after the drop,the pilot could have restarted the engine and landed just about anywhere.
We know that the TOD was sometime the night before last.
Greg,get me a latitude and longitude for the yard.
I got an idea.
Okay,I've got tracking data from the tower at McCarran for overflight of latitude36-10-27,longitude 1-22- 15-10 at 2238 hours the day before yesterday.
There's one ultralight in the area.
There's the house.
And that's where the craft dropped off radar when it descended and dropped the digitoxin.
I wonder how they knew the vics would even be there.
Bodyguard must have tipped them off.
Did the craft transponder relay any registration info? I'm not getting anything.
Can you widen the view and show me where they went? He headed towards Denim Field.
Also the apparent point of origin.
That must be where he landed.
Let's check out the perspective view.
Whoever was piloting it brought it in on this ancillary runway.
Private airstrip.
No security.
Wait.
Go back.
There.
Stokes.
Hey,Nicky,I think your jumper case just got tangled up in mine.
Hey,Pierre? a va? Bonjour,Max.
How's the patient? They say maybe,uh,he never walk again,huh? Never speak.
Imagine.
Can you hear me,Pierre? Yes.
Good.
Look I got a problem,and I think maybe you two guys can help me out.
I already told you all that I know about Pierre's accident.
No,it's not about the accident.
It's about the fact that your glider was used in a poison dump to kill a couple of guys the night before last.
Hey,I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about.
Well,maybe not.
But I bet Pierre might have something to say about it.
There is nothing to tell.
Is that right,Pierre? 'Cause I get the feeling that you really want to tell us what happened,in every detail.
Right? Yes.
Pierre,be very careful what you say,my friend,huh? Yeah.
Be very careful.
Now,tell us what happened,word by word.
I don't care how long it takes; I can wait.
Was night.
Cell ring.
Max.
He want me to fly.
Okay.
Okay There was a man,a very bad man,he want me to fly him at night.
He say,uh,he want to make aerial photography.
He offer me $5,000,but I did not believe him.
I say no,I have no license to fly at night.
But then he get meaner-- he threaten to hurt my family.
He knows my children's name,where we live,tout a.
So I agree to,uh,meet him at the airport.
But I was so nervous,I got in car accident.
Pierre! Pick up,pick up! Hello? Pierre! For the love of God,just meet this guy at the airfield,take him up in the ultralight, follow directions,and don't ask any questions! I pay you $5,000.
I can do this for you,my friend.
Merci.
Yes,my friend.
Pierre has business to attend to.
Pierre had no idea whatas going on.
- He said take it down! Now! - D'accord! Think,uh,it's starting to rain? He knewhe had done something terribly wrong.
He was very upset.
But,uh,I told him to calm himself.
I told him,uh,we had to do our jobs and,uh,keep silent.
You realize this makes you an accomplice.
You know that,right? I understand.
But I really had no idea what was going to happen.
Did one of the killers mess with your parachute? Did he tamper it in any way? No.
Itwasme.
Because you couldn't bear what you'd done, - and you decided to kill yourself.
- Yes.
You didn't want to be thought of as a coward,so you rigged your own chute to fail.
But even that failed,isn't that so? Yes.
Max.
I need a name.
A professional boduard and a second, unidentified man were arrested early this morning for the alleged killing of Ismail Javid and Allen McKenna, co-owners of Isfahan Marble & Stone,just two days ago.
There is speculation that the second man, a Kurdish crop-duster who was reputedly obsessed with the movie North by Northwest, was hired by the owner of rival Iranian marble importers to kill the men, possibly in a dispute over contracts in the dwindling housing market.
Authorities have declined to make a statement at this time Well,there's a story for you.
I think I'll sell it to Holly-weird,get rich.
I thought we had a trade embargo onIranian imports.
We do,but those guys just ship the product to a second neutral country in the area, like the UAE, transship it here,resell it to themselves at cost.
It's technically legal,and,uh,Commerce turns a blind eye.
And then they kill each other here over construction contracts.
Those Persian dudes are tough,man.
Well,they were once an empire that stretched halfway across the known world.
The Greek playwright Aeschylus wrote about the territorial ambitions of the Persian Empire against Greece in his great cycle of tragedy and war, The Persians,um,fifth century,B.
C.
I will definitely put th on my reading list.
Does anyone want to grab some breakfast? Yeah,yep.
Why are you always thinking about food? None of you has read Aeschylus? I've been meaning to.
Well,you should.
He was a writer of tremendous power,great beauty.
His death was As an old man in 456 B.
C.
,Aeschylus,the great body of his work behind him, left Athens for the last time before he traveled to Sicily, seeking solitude in the wilderness in which to contemplate the meaning of his life.
Though he had fought and survived the endless bloody wars against the Persian kings, Darius and Xerxes, it was here,in silent meditation, that a beautiful act of a most violent nature brought himto Elysium and eternal paradise.
Are you really gonna put that in your report? Birds of prey drop shelled animals onto boulders to get at the meat.
Now,from the air,Holy Steven's head must have looked like just another rock.
You can Google it if you don't believe me.
The DNA on the shell was a match.
What are the odds,right? Before it happened I would have said slim,but since it did happen,a hundred percent.
Seems like a lot of things keep falling out of the sky,right? Poison,people,turtles.
Tortoises.
Whatever.
Maybe I should start wearing a helmet.
Or at least carrying an umbrella.
Let's go! Un, deux, et tro! Come back, come back! Now! Come together! And break! Bye-bye! Buddy, are you all right? Are you alive? All right, don't move! Pierre! Oh, my God! Where the hell is the ambulance! Go, go call an ambulance! Go! Okay, help, somebody! Pierre, baby, baby, are you okay? It's all right, sir, do you feel your legs? I'm gonna check his airway.
His airway's good.
Sir, I'm gonna take your helmet off.
Careful.
It's okay, sir.
Do you know where you are? Let's get that airway.
Let's get that airway package.
Let's get the backboard.
Do you understand me, sir? We're crime scene investigators, Sheriff.
We don't normally get called out on something like this.
But I'm telling you, this is a crime.
Look, I know the jumper, all right? Pierre Delongue and I served together in the French Foreign Legion.
What? It's a real thing.
Pierre's logged over 1,500 jumps.
He's absolutely fanatical about preparation and safety.
His school hasn't had a single citation of any kind.
You know what? He-he's too careful to have mething like this happen by accident.
All right, we're gonna need to talk to some witnesses.
I'll round 'em up.
What do you got, Riley? A helmet videocam.
I ink it's still on.
You gonna help us out here? proudly presents sync:ßÇÈâÈâ µ°¸â¸â Episode19 The Descent of Man Ma'am, we just need to know what happened.
I'm sorry.
I just I'm really emotional about this.
I just need a moment.
It's okay.
Take your time.
Did Pierre give any indication that there was anything wrong during the jump? I don't know what happened.
You know, we've made this jump, like, a hundred times.
Everything was going perfect.
We formed the star, backflipped, 360'd, reformed exactly as planned.
We deployedbut, he just kept falling.
Everything was perfect, it was like Well, did you ever do it? Well, I've done a little paragliding.
Oh, you should try the real thing.
You know, bodies linked in air.
And And the Earth coming at you like the fist of death, and the wind is, like, it blows up your leg holes.
Pierre lived for that.
Bonjour.
They told me Pierre have an accident.
Yeah.
Who are you? I'm Max Girard, Pierre's partner.
Pierre and I, we have a jump school there.
Is he dead? He's at Desert Palm, man.
He's in pretty bad shape.
At least we can take comfort in the fact that he died doing what he loved.
- He's not dead yet.
- Regard Pierre and I are brothers.
Not really brothers, but like brothers.
We come here together from Belgium, we build this business.
What happened to your leg? Same thing that happened to my car.
It's nothing.
I will go to see my partner.
- I want to go, too.
- So do I.
Sir, we may need to talk to you later.
here can we find you? At the hospital.
At Pierre's side.
Hey, les deux, into the car.
Go, go, go, go! So what do you think? I think if you jump out of a plane enough times, that one day, one way or another, your luck's gonna run out.
When I first noticed Cathartes aura, the common turkey vulture, I assumed they were scavenging, some, uh, large desert mammal.
When I got closer imagine my dismay.
And exactly what were you doing out here all alone, sir? I'm a landscape photographer.
I used to be a bird-watcher, but I gave it up-- too much death.
The DB is a white male, probably in his 30s.
Exposed flesh on the face, neck, arms, legs appears to be scavenged.
The eye sockets are empty and bloody.
Uh, birds of prey always go for the eyeballs first.
Yes.
They're moist, nutritious, easily reachable, well before the hide has a chance to ripen and burst.
The victim's clothing suggests a person of a religious or ascetic nature.
The legs are folded in the lotus position; he may have been meditating when he died.
Amongst the various animal tracks, consistent with the predation, there is a single set of shoe impressions leading to the body.
I swear, I never got any closer than this.
Will you lift your feet, please? Officer, you walked in to check out the body and walked out using your own steps? I took a class.
There is a single set of barefoot human tracks.
I will document them, determine whether they belong to the victim.
There appear to be no other tracks, but judging from the sandy quality of the terrain, it is possible someone walked in and covered their tracks on the way out.
Such a lonely place to die.
What place isn't, my friend? What place isn't? We find at least a couple guys like this out in the desert every year.
The sands tends to call out to the spiritually inclined.
It's all very biblical and very dusty.
He had plenty of water.
So I guess he didn't die of dehydration.
Pistachios.
My favorite nut.
Salty and easy to open.
Speaking of which shall we? Indeed.
Nice ink.
Holy Steven.
Spread the word.
I am come.
And you is gone.
How's the jumper? Well, you could ask his pelvis, which you will find in his rib cage.
His neck is broken, his legs are broken, his ribs and fingers are broken.
Basically, all of him is broken.
- Is he still in surgery? - Yeah.
Okay.
Here's what I got.
This is Pierre's rig, and this is an identical, properly-packed chute.
Uh, we know the E.
M.
S.
team cut Pierre out of his rig before they moved him.
But the canopy is only connected to the harness on one side.
That would've tangled the chute.
Main chute rip cord's here, cutaway harness here.
Both were deployed.
Okay, hold on.
What's a cutaway? Okay, the cutaway mechanism's designed to release the canopy from the harness entirely.
It's not meant to be deployed in mid-air, unless this main chute here is tangled.
So if it was deployed, why didn't the main chute detach completely? Because of this pull-up cord right here.
It's designed to crimp these straps together on the chute while packing it.
It's then released before the jumper puts on the harness.
But on Pierre's chute, a little piece of it's broken off, preventing the three-ring mechanism from releasing the riser.
So what you're saying is it's simple equipment failure? If that were the only thing wrong, yeah, I would be.
But Pierre's reserve chute was still packed.
It failed to deploy, even though he pulled the reserve handle.
How do you know that? Because of this little cable.
It's supposed to have a crimped cap on the end, like this.
Without it, the wire goes through the reserve chute's D-ring without activating it.
I'm telling you, the odds against a double failure like this are astronomical.
I thought these guys were fanatical about checking their own equipment.
They're supposed to be.
I'll swab these release mechanisms for touch DNA and see if anybody else put their paws on Pierre's stuff.
I'm thinking somebody messed with his chute.
Yeah.
All of the animal bites were postmortem.
I found teeth impressions-- probably coyotes as well as beaked birds of prey-- but they didn't get very far.
He wasn't dead very long.
When I got there, rigor was still full.
Interesting.
Amoeboid-shaped bleed on the cerebrum.
Spans the junction of the motor cortex and the sensory cortex.
It runs deep.
Yea, hematoma's definitely large enough to be C.
O.
D.
Corresponds to this injury here.
That doesn't look like an animal bite.
More likely blunt force trauma.
You're saying someone cracked him on the top of his head? Fall would have caused trauma to the forehead, back or side of the head.
This injury's right on top.
He was sitting cross-legged when he died.
It's virtually impossible to fall and hit the top of your head from that position.
Excuse me.
This is Langston.
Hey, Professor.
Yeah, I was running a check on Holy Steven.
He wasn't hard to find.
He likes to preach at downtown shelters.
Anyway, his name is not, uh, Steven, by the way.
It's, uh, Mark VonGrovestreet.
Why'd he change it? I have no idea.
Anyway, I have an address.
You might like to come along.
C***** Las Vegas Police.
I'm Detective Jim Brass.
This is Ray Langston from the crime lab.
Welcome.
Welcome, welcome, welcome, siblings.
Welcome to The Church Of The Holy George.
- And you are, uh - He.
George.
- Here, please.
- Thank you, George.
What happened to The Church of the Holy Steven? Oh, have you not heard the word? No, the Steven is the divine second coming.
He is the mouthpiece and messenger and clarion of God.
- He's also dead.
- Yeah.
You don't seem too surprised to hear that.
Why is that? I had a vision that it was so.
Oh, really? Okay.
So when was the last time you saw him? I mean, other than your dream? George? Yes, the Steven and I wandered in the desert for three days and two nights.
On the third day, the Steven instructed me to return to spread his word as my own to the people of the cities and towns.
And he bestowed his staff upon me, and then he continued on into the desert alone.
I held his rod and staff, and I saw that it was good.
But then I wept, for I knew that Steven's quest was for reabsorption into the Total Animal Soup of Time.
You mean you knew that the Steven was going to die? Oh, no.
There is no death, only transmogrification.
Well, that's a relief.
So, uh, when did all this happen? - Uh, what's today? - Friday.
Yes.
We left on Saturday, and then I returned on, uh, Tuesday.
And that's when you renamed your church.
I I did.
You saw.
Yes, I did.
Is that the staff there? Oh, yes it is.
Indeed, it is.
Wow, this is just like Sunday school.
Here's the Gospel according to Jim I think you took that staff and clubbed the Holy Steve like a baby harp seal so you cou bece the number one sky pilot and take over this whole operation.
- You do? - Yes, I do.
Yes.
Yes, I did.
I raised the staff, as Abraham to Isaac, but there was no angel to stay my hand, so I smote him.
You smote him.
You realize that's a confession, George? - You understand that, right? - Yes, yes.
Are you, are you going to arrest me? Yes, I am.
Yes.
Yes.
Okay, testing, testing.
Uh, what did one dehydrated Frenchman say to the other? What do you want me to do, Pee Air? - Okay, let's go.
- Pierre, you're so funny! It all looks like standard operating procedure.
Hello, mon 'ti chou.
Hello.
Hey, baby.
Okay Looks like a little bit of tension between the two ladies there.
Hold on, freeze it, right there.
Look at their hands.
Either one of those chicks could have deployed Pierre's cutaway release right there in free fall, after he'd already checked his rig on the plane.
You ever think about skydiving? - Not anymore.
- Keep playing it.
I think it's about time I had a little chat with the ladies.
Pierre, Max, Mink and me, we were like, we were like one big happy family.
Closer, even.
We trusted each other with our lives every day.
We all loved each other so much.
Pierre loved to make me laugh.
He was so funny.
Pee Air-- get it, Pierre? He was a wild man.
Big where it counts-- in his heart.
I mean, I don't even know what I'm doing here.
My fianc\ is dying, and I just don't understand what all of you people want from me! "Fianc\"? Wait.
She called him that? She called him her fianc\? She doesn't even speak French.
He was never gonna marry her.
That pathetic, deluded bitch! She called me a bitch? That bitch! She thinks that I don't know what she was doing-- sneaking around, trying to take him away from me.
I am the one he loved.
He was just doing her out of pity.
Pity? She said that? Unbelievable.
What a slut.
You know what I think? I think maybe you killed Pierre out of jealousy.
- What? - You heard me.
Really? Eh, don't let either of them fool you.
In my opinion, they could have decided to kill him together.
Just to get off on watching him die.
They're both conniving, diseased, camel-hooved 'ores.
- Ore - Whores.
"Whores.
" Well,it's cozyfor a morgue.
What do you have for me,Wendy? I got the results from the staff of Holy Steven.
Um,I recovered epithelials on the handle,in the normal grip positions.
And all the DNA was either from Steven himself or from his disciple,George.
What about the business end? Nothing,actually.
That's what's weird-- there was no blood from the victim,no epithelials so honestly,I don't think he used that to whack him.
Why would he confess to killing Steven with it? I don't know.
I want to show you something.
Okay.
Take a look at this.
The Gospel according to Steven.
Greetings,siblings.
Today we learn the lesson of the barista who taught me-- Steven-- this lesson.
I did not want whipped cream on my half-caf venti mocha latte.
But when it arrived so and I mentioned it,the barista said, "Dude,we're slammed here.
Can't you just spoon it out?" And I realized I could,and I did.
And thus,I freed myself of the conflict that would afflict all the other good people in line.
So remember,siblings,in all things,be supple of thought and pliant of deed The central tenets of this faith seem to be based on the concept of acquiescence.
Well,I suppose there are worse things to base a religion on.
I suppose so.
You don't think he did it.
No.
But I think the power of Steven may have compelled him.
So according to this,you said that you struck The Steven with his staff.
You smote him.
That isn't true,is it? Yeahno.
What did you hit him with? - Oh,it says here a large rock.
- Yes.
- No,wait a minute,a branch of a tree - Yes.
- No,a hockey stick.
- Yes.
- You didn't really kill Steven,did you? - No.
So why'd you confess to murder? Well,I try to live my life according to the 17th Proclamation of The Steven.
From his second sermon at the Starbucks.
Oh,I missed that one.
"It is better to beagreeable than to be right.
" That's not religion,that's marriage.
That'svery So you didn't kill Steven.
Yesno.
- You did? - Yes.
- You killed him? - No.
Are you clinically insane or just incredibly annoying? What would you prefer? Look,would you mind submitting to a psychological evaluation? No.
I don't even know why I asked.
So in another words,he's crazy? Or crazy like a fox,or there was evidence of someone else at the scene and I didn't find it.
Well,you've got no murder weapon and no other suspects.
I mean,maybe your vic just fell over and bumped his head.
It's been known to happen.
I'm going over to P.
D.
to wait for the D.
H.
S.
psychologist.
I'll fill him in on agreeable George.
Okay.
- Hey,Catherine.
- Yeah? I just caught a double You interested? Let's do it.
All right.
Okay,we got two dead bodies.
The wife discovered the two victims when she returned from L.
A.
from visiting her sister.
Her name is Gretchen Javid.
Oh,you're not listening to me.
- I am telling you,my husband was never without his bodyguard! - Please,please.
Hold her.
Sir,my husband was never without his bodyguard! And his bodyguard is missing! Please,somebody help her out.
Get her some medication.
You need to stay calm,ma'am.
I'm having an anxiety attack.
Help me.
please.
Officer Akers,uh,was the first respondent on the scene.
Okayso victim number one is Ismail Javid.
He's the owner of the house.
And victim number two is his business partner,Allen McKenna.
Now,they own a company called Isfahan Marble & Tile.
They did the new lobby at the Marrakesh.
I've seen it.
It's grotesque.
This is worse.
When I arrived,I found no sign of forced entry.
Nothing disturbed in the house.
No sign of a struggle.
And they still had their wallets,so robbery doesn't seem to be Excuse me.
Sorry.
Must have been something I ate.
Uh,well,I don't need you puking on my crime scene,Andy,so go ahead and take off.
I've got it covered here.
Thanks.
I don't see any external wounds or injuries,and they're just coming out of rigor.
So,they've probably been dead since early last night.
Maybe a little longer.
Whatever killed them looks like it hurt.
Yeah,both their necks are flushed.
That's usually a characteristic of heart attack.
Simultaneous coronary seizures? That's kind of unlikely,don't you think? Very.
Maybe they were poisoned.
I'll take that stuff to tox.
So I ran the DNA from the female skydivers against the sample that you took from the,uh Cutaway handle? Yes,thank you.
And anyway,neither one of them was on it.
In fact,the only DNA that I did find was from Pierre himself.
Really? Langston.
Hey,yeah,Ray,um,I'm just wonring when you're,uhgoing to be getting back here.
'Cause,uhcall outs are starting to pile up.
Well,I'm all done here.
I should be back at the lab in 15,20 minutes.
Oh,perfect RayRay,what's going on? This is dispatch.
We need paramedics.
I'll take care of him.
He was in coronary arrhythmia,very close to full arrest.
Is there a history of heart disease? None.
Hey,Andy.
How you feeling? Fine.
Just get somebody to take these wires off,and I'll go home.
That's not going to happen anytime soon,son.
Andy,I need you to walk me through exactly what you did when you reported to the 420 in Seven Hills.
I responded to the call.
Arrived first,ahead of E.
M.
S.
Wife met me at the door.
Led me to the backyard.
I checked the vics for pulse,but they were gone.
So I taped the scene off and I waited for you guys to show up.
Were you wearing gloves? No.
And there was no reason to.
Wa-Was there? Something at the scene induced heart attacks in both my victims.
I think Akers was exposed to it,too.
Think it came from something they both touched? I do.
Out of the way,please.
Clear the way,coming through! I am telling you I'm having an anxiety attack! Help me,please! That was the victim's wife.
Jim,we need to quarantine the crime scene in Seven Hills.
I think there's a contact toxin involved.
Include the entire house and adjacent yards.
And no one enters without hazmat.
So I found a very faint,powdery trace on all the surfaces I examined.
It's a digitoxin.
A naturally occurring organic compound.
It's a cardiac glycoside.
Used in heart medication.
Yeah,in small doses it is beneficial to healthy heart function, but in higher doses it causes arrhythmia and in extreme concentrations, such as those found in the tissues of both vics,death.
Fortunately,it becomes inert fairly quickly.
Okay,so that explains why Officer Akers and Mrs.
Javid survived the exposure.
We have to go back and check the yard.
Is there a reagent that can detect the digitoxin? Yeah,a diluted solution of perchloric acid exposed to U.
V.
light will induce fluorescence.
Try saying that ten times fast.
The glycosides are completely contained within the backyard.
What does that dispersal pattern suggest to you? Well,that the house was targeted and that the toxins were dropped from above.
Yeah,yeah,that's what we think.
Well you had said that the victims looked like they were caught completely unaware.
What kind of aircraft can fly that low and that quiet without them even noticing? Way ahead of you,Hodges.
Ultralights.
They're extremely maneuverable,and able to fly very slow without stalling.
If they used one of these,they conceivably could have gained altitude, then cut the engine,and glided silently,very low across the yard.
Then after the drop,the pilot could have restarted the engine and landed just about anywhere.
We know that the TOD was sometime the night before last.
Greg,get me a latitude and longitude for the yard.
I got an idea.
Okay,I've got tracking data from the tower at McCarran for overflight of latitude36-10-27,longitude 1-22- 15-10 at 2238 hours the day before yesterday.
There's one ultralight in the area.
There's the house.
And that's where the craft dropped off radar when it descended and dropped the digitoxin.
I wonder how they knew the vics would even be there.
Bodyguard must have tipped them off.
Did the craft transponder relay any registration info? I'm not getting anything.
Can you widen the view and show me where they went? He headed towards Denim Field.
Also the apparent point of origin.
That must be where he landed.
Let's check out the perspective view.
Whoever was piloting it brought it in on this ancillary runway.
Private airstrip.
No security.
Wait.
Go back.
There.
Stokes.
Hey,Nicky,I think your jumper case just got tangled up in mine.
Hey,Pierre? a va? Bonjour,Max.
How's the patient? They say maybe,uh,he never walk again,huh? Never speak.
Imagine.
Can you hear me,Pierre? Yes.
Good.
Look I got a problem,and I think maybe you two guys can help me out.
I already told you all that I know about Pierre's accident.
No,it's not about the accident.
It's about the fact that your glider was used in a poison dump to kill a couple of guys the night before last.
Hey,I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about.
Well,maybe not.
But I bet Pierre might have something to say about it.
There is nothing to tell.
Is that right,Pierre? 'Cause I get the feeling that you really want to tell us what happened,in every detail.
Right? Yes.
Pierre,be very careful what you say,my friend,huh? Yeah.
Be very careful.
Now,tell us what happened,word by word.
I don't care how long it takes; I can wait.
Was night.
Cell ring.
Max.
He want me to fly.
Okay.
Okay There was a man,a very bad man,he want me to fly him at night.
He say,uh,he want to make aerial photography.
He offer me $5,000,but I did not believe him.
I say no,I have no license to fly at night.
But then he get meaner-- he threaten to hurt my family.
He knows my children's name,where we live,tout a.
So I agree to,uh,meet him at the airport.
But I was so nervous,I got in car accident.
Pierre! Pick up,pick up! Hello? Pierre! For the love of God,just meet this guy at the airfield,take him up in the ultralight, follow directions,and don't ask any questions! I pay you $5,000.
I can do this for you,my friend.
Merci.
Yes,my friend.
Pierre has business to attend to.
Pierre had no idea whatas going on.
- He said take it down! Now! - D'accord! Think,uh,it's starting to rain? He knewhe had done something terribly wrong.
He was very upset.
But,uh,I told him to calm himself.
I told him,uh,we had to do our jobs and,uh,keep silent.
You realize this makes you an accomplice.
You know that,right? I understand.
But I really had no idea what was going to happen.
Did one of the killers mess with your parachute? Did he tamper it in any way? No.
Itwasme.
Because you couldn't bear what you'd done, - and you decided to kill yourself.
- Yes.
You didn't want to be thought of as a coward,so you rigged your own chute to fail.
But even that failed,isn't that so? Yes.
Max.
I need a name.
A professional boduard and a second, unidentified man were arrested early this morning for the alleged killing of Ismail Javid and Allen McKenna, co-owners of Isfahan Marble & Stone,just two days ago.
There is speculation that the second man, a Kurdish crop-duster who was reputedly obsessed with the movie North by Northwest, was hired by the owner of rival Iranian marble importers to kill the men, possibly in a dispute over contracts in the dwindling housing market.
Authorities have declined to make a statement at this time Well,there's a story for you.
I think I'll sell it to Holly-weird,get rich.
I thought we had a trade embargo onIranian imports.
We do,but those guys just ship the product to a second neutral country in the area, like the UAE, transship it here,resell it to themselves at cost.
It's technically legal,and,uh,Commerce turns a blind eye.
And then they kill each other here over construction contracts.
Those Persian dudes are tough,man.
Well,they were once an empire that stretched halfway across the known world.
The Greek playwright Aeschylus wrote about the territorial ambitions of the Persian Empire against Greece in his great cycle of tragedy and war, The Persians,um,fifth century,B.
C.
I will definitely put th on my reading list.
Does anyone want to grab some breakfast? Yeah,yep.
Why are you always thinking about food? None of you has read Aeschylus? I've been meaning to.
Well,you should.
He was a writer of tremendous power,great beauty.
His death was As an old man in 456 B.
C.
,Aeschylus,the great body of his work behind him, left Athens for the last time before he traveled to Sicily, seeking solitude in the wilderness in which to contemplate the meaning of his life.
Though he had fought and survived the endless bloody wars against the Persian kings, Darius and Xerxes, it was here,in silent meditation, that a beautiful act of a most violent nature brought himto Elysium and eternal paradise.
Are you really gonna put that in your report? Birds of prey drop shelled animals onto boulders to get at the meat.
Now,from the air,Holy Steven's head must have looked like just another rock.
You can Google it if you don't believe me.
The DNA on the shell was a match.
What are the odds,right? Before it happened I would have said slim,but since it did happen,a hundred percent.
Seems like a lot of things keep falling out of the sky,right? Poison,people,turtles.
Tortoises.
Whatever.
Maybe I should start wearing a helmet.
Or at least carrying an umbrella.