CSI: Crime Scene Investigation s10e15 Episode Script
Neverland
This is the part where everybody is panicking because the bad guys are coming.
BOY 2: Wait, where'd you see this movie? It's not a movie, okay, it's a book.
But anyways, everybody is scared, except for one boy.
He is the bravest one.
So can I go ahead and open it? Yes.
Oh, Mom, this is exactly the one I wanted! Is that the good one? Where did you get this? Oh, my gosh.
Come here.
Stop.
This is the best mom in the world.
Ah, I love you, baby.
Love you, too.
I have legal proof now.
I'm the best mom.
ar door closes) At 6:47 a.
m.
, an anonymous phone call was made from a pay phone on the I-15 by an adult male.
The caller said he drove by and saw the body.
Sunrise was at 6:54 a.
m.
this morning.
Would have been too dark for even an eagle-eyed passerby to spot the body from that distance.
Have one of your guys dust that pay phone for prints.
We might get something off it.
I'm gonna check with missing persons.
Good luck.
Yeah, I'll handle it.
Thanks, Jim.
Morning, Doc.
Nick.
What's going on? Well, he's been dead about four to eight hours based on liver temp.
Depressed skull fracture with a laceration to the overlying scalp.
C.
O.
D.
is most likely contusion of the brain and a subdural hemorrhage.
The breadth of the depression suggests impact with a wide, flat surface.
A wound like that with no blood pool? Nope.
A body dump.
Dried blood underneath his fingernails.
I'll bag his hands, preserve any evidence for transport.
Okay, if I check his pockets? Go for it.
Compass, pocket knife.
Music.
Food rations.
Possible runaway.
A flashlight with "East Las Vegas High School" on it.
Well, if he was a student, he had to be at least 14 years old.
He's kind of small for that age.
I'll get a photo over to the school.
You know, I was really small when I was 14.
Yeah? Yeah.
Made me ambitious.
So what did you want to be when you were 14? Probably the same thing he most wanted to be-- fifteen.
* 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 * * Are you! * When was the last time you saw your son? I didn't even look in Will's room last night when I got home from work.
Didn't check on him.
And when did you get home? Uh, club closed at 2:00.
Cashed out, divided up my tips with the other waitresses.
It was-- it was about 3:00.
I thought I was letting him sleep in this morning, till I got the call.
Ms.
Sutter, do you have any idea where he might have been going last night? Who he might have been with? He knows not to open the door for anyone, or-or leave without calling me.
A million times we've gone over it.
And where's his father? He's not in Will's life.
Do you know if Will had tried to contact him? Because a boy Will's age starting to think about growing up, manhood-- sometimes they seek out a mentor.
Will's father is no mentor.
He's hardly a man.
I will still need to be in touch with him.
His name's Billy Melvoy.
Your line of work-- you're more likely to bump into him than I will.
What about Will's friends? Were any of them driving yet? No.
No, he's-- he's got two best friends.
They're 14,oo.
Mason and Steve.
They live down the street.
They've all grown up together.
So they spent a lot of time with Will? More than I ever got to.
* * Found a small crack in the front window, but no prints.
Other than that, the perimeter's clean.
No sign of forced entry.
That's not surprising when you consider how much equipment Will had in his pockets.
It's clear he wasn't dragged out of his bed in the middle of the night.
He was prepared for something.
He's got the whole universe and all of human history here.
So what was he out in search of? Or what was he running away from? Right.
Got his recent online activity here.
E-mail, encyclopedia, some comic book site.
Open this one, please.
Article of tribal coming-of-age rituals.
"Only through a solitary "and trying journey into a leral "or metaphysical wilderness, "can a young boy gain new acceptance "as a man amongst the members of his tribe or village.
" You must be Mason Ward.
Yeah.
Yeah, hi, I'm Nick Stokes.
I'm with the crime lab.
I'm going to be asking you a few questions.
Go ahead and have a seat.
Okay.
Now do you want a soda or something to eat before we get started? Nah.
The vending machines here suck.
Yeah, yeah, I'd have to agree with that.
Now how do you know something like that? You come here often? My dad's a cop.
I've been around.
Oh, okay.
Then you know how important it is that you help me figure out what happened to your friend last night.
Right.
Will wasn't really my friend anymore.
Steve, Will's mom said that you and Mason are Will's best friends.
Yeah, we were.
It's just different now.
How so? Will would still ask us to, like, ride bikes or look for lizards in the park, but we're not into that anymore.
What are you into now? MASON: Girls.
You know, getting serious about working out.
And, you know, other stuff.
Do you have any idea what might have happened to him last night? No clue.
When was the last time that you saw Will? I saw him yesterday at school, but that's it.
Did you talk to him? No.
Steve, you don't look so good.
Are you feeling okay? Yeah, I'm fine.
Look, I know what you mean about moving on to other things.
When I was your age, I couldn't get there quick enough.
I started to wish there was somw to make myself older, cooler.
Turned out there was.
The downside was, the next day, I would feel awful.
My mouth would be dry, my head would be pounding and I could just smell this sweet sugary poison seeping out of my pores.
You're a tequila man, huh, Steve? There were two different fibers found on Will Sutter.
This one's a standard trilobal nylon polypropylene fiber.
Widely used in the manufacture of upholstered furniture and bedding.
This other fiber that Nick found on the boy, is significantly more specific.
It's an 80-20 rayon-nylon with an emerald hue, used, as far as my research shows, exclusively to carpet Not a popular seller.
And in addition to carpeting the interior, this same material was also used to line the vehicle's trunk.
You know, I read something a while back.
Said that the distance from home that the average parent would allow their nine-year-old to wander had shrunk to a tenth of what it was when I was a kid.
The world's a scarier place, that's for sure.
Oh, I was terrified back then.
But a boy who ventures out thinking the world isn't a place to hide from, shouldn't be proven wrong.
Will Sutter was exchanging emails with someone screen-named "BlackChipCraig.
" Correspondence was mostly about historic sites, ghost towns, old mines.
So, one day BlackChip suggests they go check out one of the old mines.
Sounds like innocent geek fun.
Except a check of BlackChip's static I.
P.
address and a quick Web search reveal him to be Craig Lifford, from Henderson.
So a 40-year-old man invites a 14-year-old boy to a secluded location.
Could be more than just innocent geek fun.
Mr.
Lifford.
I see you're a history buff.
You like old things- vintage clothes, vintage cars.
Well, I-I drive a hybrid, but What is this about? Can you tell me how you got the scratches on your left wrist? Um, yeah.
I have a new kitten.
A new kitten? So you like some newer things, younger things.
Should I have a lawyer here? Younger things like, um, Will Sutter.
The young man you invited on a trip to the Crowley Silver Mine.
Remember him? Yeah? What the hell is this? No.
No, no, no, no, no.
Yes.
I-I work in a library.
Among children.
This has been my life's passion.
And if someone got in that boy's ear and egged him into thinking that my communication with him was something that it was not Tell me about what happened between you and Will.
Um, we met online, um, in a forum on a history Web site.
His intellect, his-his bearing-- I assumed he was an adult.
When I found out that he was a young man You continued to contact him.
About Nevada mining history! I suggested a few historic sites that his parents should take him to.
When he explained that he could not, that that was not possible, I guess, yeah, I-I volunteered-- forgetting for one moment thimplicit nefariousness of an adult male taking a young boy's academic curiosity seriously.
But we didn't go to the mine, I never met him.
I didn't even know his last name.
I need to take a sample of your DNA.
Absolutely.
Open your mouth, please.
So is Will really claiming that something happened? Mr.
Lifford, Will is dead.
Hey.
Hey.
I got your text.
What exactly am I not gonna believe? That blood that was under Will Sutter's nails was a hit to somebody already in CODIS.
One of Sara's old cases.
And, before you look at this, I promise you, I triple-checked this; it's absolutely accurate.
Okay.
Okay.
Simon Rose? I know.
I don't know what to tell you.
It's impossible, but it's true.
Yeah, but he's been in prison for the last Two and a half years.
Exactly.
So how does his blood end up under the nails of a dead kid? Since the morning of January 1, 2006, when his wife Samantha was found murdered in their home, I have stood by my client Simon Rose.
I was at his side while he grieved over his loss, while he endured trial, mistrial and the retrial that wrongfully convicted him of a crime he did not commit.
My belief in Simon Rose has never faltered.
And is morning's development has vindicated my belief.
The discovery of this blood under the dead child's nails is evidence that there is someone in Las Vegas-- a child murderer- who has the same DNA profile as my incarcerated but innocent client Simon Rose.
Mr.
Rose must be released and the real murderer of both Will Sutr and Samantha Rose brought to justice.
Thank you.
This is Simon Rose's blood all over his wife.
He choked her to death, left her on the kitchen floor, and then claimed to have been upstairs asleep when she was attacked.
Well, if he choked her, then how did his blood wind up on her? Well, because for once, she fought back.
She broke his nose, scratched his face.
She couldn't stop him.
And I guarantee that he took her halfway there a dozen times before.
And there were police call-outs for domestic but no convictions.
The house told the story.
Punched-in walls covered up with paintings.
Broken vases glued back together.
He's rich and handsome, he always got away with it, and he almost got away with killing her, too.
The mistrial? The prosecution had a slam dunk going, but there was juror misconduct.
Couple of weeks into the trial, two jurors got their hands on a bottle of gin and got tanked at lunch.
Other jurors said that they saw one of Lynn Stecker's associates bringing the booze to them.
Yeah, but nobody can prove that.
They have tried everything to get this guy off, and they're still trying.
By planting blood under a dead kid's nails? I got to say, I wouldn't put it past them.
Okay.
So, where did Rose's blood come from? There were no preservatives in the sample, which means it wasn't blood drawn from Rose and stored in a blood bank.
If Rose did plan this, he could have had blood drawn and stored without preservative before going to prison.
We're only dealing with a minute amount.
He could've snuck some blood out of prison via mail or a bribed guard.
Be tough to track that one down.
Well, if Rose cut himself to draw blood, he might still have a wound.
I'd like to examine him.
As long as you're just looking and not questioning, he doesn't have a right to an attorney.
So make that happen.
Any other possible sources for the blood? Samantha's dress with Rose's blood on it.
It's in permanent storage at the Central Evidence Vault.
All right, why don't the three of you focus on those angles, Greg and I will look at something else.
A boy was killed.
Simon Rose didn't do it.
We need to find out who did.
Jim, at this firm, we are the Lakers, not the Glo"etrotters.
We don't rely on tricks.
Oh, I've seen you pass the ball behind your back quite a few times over the years, Lynn.
We've been pressing to get an appeal for nearly two years.
This morning's discovery will merely serve as one more piece to present a chance to get real justice for my client.
This morning's discovery? We're talking about a dead boy.
Don't give me justice for your client; don't give me that.
Samantha Rose was covered in your client's blood.
Funny how that works.
I argue in trial that one of Mr.
Rose's many powerful enemies could easily have drugged and wounded Mr.
Rose, killed his wife and then planted Mr.
Rose's blood on his wife, and the prosecution, the media, treat that theory like it was a joke.
And yet, in this new case, some vast blood-plant conspiracy is the only viable explanation.
Fitting that it should be blood we're talking about, because isn't the stuff supposed to smell kind of iron-y? That's cute, Lynn.
But I'm telling you, and I want you to hear this.
If you know anything about this dead boy or the manipulation of evidence, you have a lot more to lose than just an appeal.
Does it get old, Jim? Being sent as the sheriff's messenger? Because when you're ready to join a new team, you call me.
Yeah, I know a lot of guys who worked P.
I.
for you.
Financially, it's great.
Ethically, it's not so great.
By the way, your theory's flawed.
Oh? If someone wanted to plant blood, they could do it in any crime scene.
What kind of a monster would kill a kid to accomplish that? The same kind of monster who couldn't just divorce Samantha Rose.
Yeah, I-I remember you on this case.
W-When Rose got off that first time round on that mistrial, must have driven you nuts.
Drove me toward some brochures about Costa Rica.
You're smart to get away like that.
'Cause I remember, when I was wearing that vest, I always told myself I'd do the same.
Little fishing lodge, Ely, Minnesota.
Clear all of it out.
But just didn't happen that way.
You ever get out of town now, George? Oh, nah.
This-this here, this is my castle.
Let me see here.
Yeah.
Samantha Rose.
When was the last time this evidence was taken out by the defense for independent examination? Let's see.
November 4, 2006.
Returned two days later.
Right before the trial started.
Sealed, signed and dated by yours truly.
Here you go.
Thank you.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm going to need to see Simon Rose's visitation records.
Yes, sir.
And I'd also like to speak with his cell mate.
Well, his cell mate was paroled three days ago.
But I can get you his P.
O.
's contact info.
All right.
You Ray Langston? Yes.
Nate Haskell says hello.
Trustee! Get back to work! Step to the center of the cell.
Hello, Mr.
Rose.
My name is Ray Langston, I work with the crime lab, and I'm here to examine you today.
Notice you have a cut there on your neck.
Can't help but breed a few enemies in here.
You just hope that they come at you with spoons not knives.
Breakfast, couple days ago.
Infirmary already shot photos, documented the wound, wrote up a report.
Mm-hmm.
Take your shirt off, plee.
I know how you guys are feeling.
Wake up one day and everything's upside down.
Suddenly, what you know to be impossible is the only thing anyone else will believe, because it's written in blood.
Turn around.
You know, when I was framed I kept telling melf if everything could be upended in one morning like that, maybe someday I'll wake up another day and everything gets flipped back the way it should be just as suddenly.
It took a thousand mornings for that to finally happen, Doctor.
I wouldn't count on that if I were you.
Now shut up and drop your pants.
What sort of physical evidence do you guys have? Anything, uh, interesting from the dump site? Well, we're working on it.
Well, what about that pay phone where the guy phoned it in? Sometimes you luck out with a camera, fingerprints Sorry.
Listen to me.
You still have the instincts, huh, George? Take care of yourself, okay? You, too.
Good to see you.
You, too.
George? Hmm? Whose Cadillac is this? That's mine-- uh, thing barely runs anymore.
I just I just can't bring myself to junk it.
I'm gonna need you to open the trunk for me please.
Step over there for me, please.
What is that? That's a piece of a candy bar wrapper.
Same brand Will Sutter was eating.
I was the only one left in the building last night.
I was closing up the vault a little after midnight.
Turning off the lights.
Hey! He was dead.
And I was afraid that him being inside there could jeopardize the evidence.
George, why didn't you just call it in? Why didn't you just let us know about it? That vault is mine to protect.
I keep the records.
I watch over the evidence.
If someone gets inside that's not supposed to get inside that intrusion can compromise all the evidence, can threaten every conviction.
I was not going to let that happen.
I put all the Rose evidence in a new box, I signed and redated the seals and placed it back on its spot on the shelf.
I drove out to the vacant lot, cleaned out the trunk afterwards then called 911.
I didn't want to leave him out there any longer than I had to.
Well, it looks like this is where Will Sutter bled out.
It's consistent with George's story.
What was that kid doing in here? Take a look at this.
"5-4-A- That's the evidence number for the Rose case.
With someone's algebra homework on the back? I'm guessing Will Sutter's.
He knew what he was looking for.
Yeah.
How did he get this number? Well, Rose's attorneys would have it in their case files.
But anybody in law enforcement can look that up on the C-Track Database.
So what are we saying, that Simon Rose didn't kill Will Sutter and have his blood planted on him, but one of Rose's associates sent Will in here to steal evidence? It looks good for Rose's appeal if the prosecution lost all the evidence.
Yes, but why send a kid? He's 14 years old, he's smart, he follows instructions well, and if he gets caught, he's a juvie-- they just chalk it up to a youthful misadventure.
That sounds right, but why Will Sutter? What is his connection to Simon Rose? MAN Whoever's looking at Will Sutter's death, here's your tip: kid's dead, boy's mother cashes in.
You look at her bank account.
Strange how that happens-- he's dead and she's rich.
It came in as an anonymous tip.
That's Will's dad.
You told me that he wasn't in your life.
He isn't.
You used to work at the Shade Club.
Simon Rose was a silent partner in that club, spent a lot of time there.
I served him drinks.
And last week you deposited $10,000 into your bank account.
Are you actually accusing me of something.
Your son broke in to the police evidence vault.
He died while trying to steal evidence from the Samantha Rose murder case.
Somebody sent him on that mission.
Now, between the money and your affiliation with Simon Rose, it says that that somebody was you.
Look, that The money? Will's dad came by last week.
He'd hit some parlay at the sports book: $50,000.
He was drunk and generous- gave me $10,000.
I took the money.
God knows he owes me twice that in child support.
Why is he calling us? He probably sobered up when he found out what happened to Will and-and got pissed that I'd still have the money all to myself.
What a deal for me, huh? Look, if you're gonna arrest me, then-then do it.
I'm not here to Then get the hell out of my house.
I still can't figure out how Will got inside the vault.
On the night of his death, the only thing that enters the vault are the evidence custodians and the evidence.
Wait, go back a little bit.
That's good.
Hold it.
Bring up camera three.
You know, I found some beige microfibers in Will's hair.
Hodges I.
D.
'd them as the same type used in upholstered furniture.
Hand me that evidence entry list again, please.
Thanks.
"A woman walking her dog spotted the bloody sofa "sitting under a streetlight in a park at 10:30 p.
m.
"Evidence custodians were sent out to retrieve the sofa, "and it was brought back to the vault for holding pending further investigation.
" Give me a hand here, will you? Cloth has been slit along the seam.
Stapled shut at the top.
Open at the bottom.
Check it out.
Trojan horse.
Trojan sofa.
Must have been pretty terrifying, huh? All hunkered down, alone in there in the dark.
Brave kid wasted on a fool's errand.
Will wasn't bleeding when he came into the vault.
Then where did that blood come from? Right.
Yeah.
Smells a little fishy.
Does it? Yeah, it does.
Hematrace.
Yeah.
Not human.
Blood was just the bait.
Smeared on the sofa to draw attention.
Sacrificial sea bass to bless the Trojan voyage.
Captain, you wanted to see me about the Sutter case? Sit down.
Will was actually a friend of my son, Mason.
But CSI, they've already talked to him.
Two days ago, you looked up the Samantha Rose case on the C-Track database.
Why? No, I didn't.
Your computer, I would've been doing paperwork in my office.
My son stopped by to hang out.
Do some homework.
Was Mason in your office? Yeah, he said his mom was bugging him at home, so I said he could hang out.
Did he have access to your computer? Well for a minute, yeah, I guess.
Do you recognize this sofa? This looks like an oldne we got out in the garage.
Is that blood? Mason? Get out here.
Now.
Mason? My God! Control, this is Captain Brass- we have a 421 Oh, my God! with head wounds.
Easy, buddy.
Send paramedics to my location.
Easy, Mason.
Mason must have written down the Rose evidence number and given it to Will.
The kid might have miscalculated more than his algebra.
Found the weapon.
With a bloody print on the handle.
You know, either this assailant's sloppy and disorganized, or really, really bold.
They didn't just leave a print-- they left a card.
Lynn Stecker, Attorney at Law.
You're lucky this was on my route between appointments, Jim.
And whatever you want to show me better be earth-shattering.
Do you know him- Officer Ward? He one of the guys on your team? Never seen him before.
I know you know his son Mason.
I know you know him, because we found your business card in his bedroom.
How dare you.
He's going in and out of consciousness.
He hasn't said much-- yet.
Yes, I met the kid earlier today.
He tried to ambush me in the firm's parking garage.
I say you on TV, and I know you're trying to get Simon Rose out of jail, because nobody knows how his blood got on that dead kid, but I do know how.
Look, kid, I don't know what you're doing here Will snuck in the evidence vault on a dare, all right? I know how he got in, and I know how he got Simon Rose's blood on him.
And if you don't give me $5, And Simon Rose will stay in prison forever.
He tried to extort you and you didn't report it? I'm reporting it now.
You pay him, or do you know someone who plays baseball? I gave him cab fare.
Told him to get lost.
How much? I don't know-- whatever was my pocket-- $200.
That's like cab fare to Reno.
A bold and creative kid like that-- he reminded me of some of my best interns.
I gave him my card, told him to call me in a few years.
Let's let him make it through the night first.
Good luck on that appeal.
So I heard that Mandy matched the bloody print from the bat to another crime scene.
Yeah, a swing shift case from the night before Will Sutter died.
Swing shift CSIs responded to an extinguished house fire at 494 Harris Street.
Just northwest of Will Sutter and Mason Ward's homes.
The house had stood vacant for the past three months, but upon entering it, the CSIs discovered the following items.
Lighter-- peace pipe And the print on that bong matches a print on the bat.
So somebody parties in a vacant house, sets it on fire and then three days later attempts to kill Mason Ward? Yeah, in the meantime, Mason helps Will sneak into the evidence vault.
There's got to be a connection there.
Rose.
The burnt house was at the corner of Harris Street and Rose Street.
Mason must have thought the address was on Rose Street.
He wanted to retrieve the evidence.
So Mason went to his dad's office.
He looked up Rose Street in the C Track database, but mistakenly wrote down the evidence number for Rose, Samantha.
But we don't have any evidence of Will being in that burnt house.
There was no THC in his tox results.
So he wasn't partying.
Why did he go in to get the evidence? Maybe so he'd be invited to the next party.
This is a bottle of tequila.
We need to find Steve Reppling.
Las Vegas Police.
Open up.
Mr.
and Mrs.
Reppling, we need to talk to your son.
Open up.
Anything we can do? BRASS: There's nobody home.
I'll be back with a unit- we'll break down the door.
Call me if you need me.
Copy that, Captain.
Dr.
Ray.
Yes? Something's burning over there.
Wouldn't that be right around The corner of Harris and Rose.
Patrol, this is Charlie-Zero-Four Sidle.
at the corner of Harris and Rose Street.
His bike's here.
Steven, where are you? Steve, we saw your bicycle outside.
We know you're in here.
There he is.
Get him out of here.
Dr.
Ray, come on! I'll be right behind you.
Let's go! Sara, we've got, uh, apparent kindling for the blaze.
Lynn Stecker gave Mason Ward $200.
He deserved it.
Excuse me? Mason deserved to die.
Mason started everything that night.
He bought some weed off a sophomore.
Snuck a few bottles from his dad.
We'd been hanging out in that house.
Mason Wha? What did you do?! I was just messing around with the lighter, and then the whole I'm gone.
We needed help.
We knew Will could figure something out.
So we went back over, and the firemen had put the fire out, but the CSIs were bringing out all the stuff we left in there.
What kind of stuff? Uh Look, Will, you got to help us.
Okay, that stuff is evidence.
They're gonna trace it and lock us up.
iou're the smart one- you can come up with something.
Just please.
Please.
Come on, man.
All right.
Just let me think for a minute.
Will was smarter, braver, he was better than both of us.
Two Benjamins.
And I think I can get even more out of the lady if I just Will died! Trying to save us.
And what, you're just going to make money off of that? All right, you can have $50 of it, okay? You got change? It was blood money, and I needed to see it burn.
I didn't even care if I went with it.
We let Will down.
He's the one who deserved to grow up.
* * Oh, Mom, this is exactly the one I wanted! That the good one? Stop.
This is the best mom in the world.
Ah, I love you, baby.
I love you, too.
I have legal proof now.
Ah, I love you, baby.
I am the best mom.
love you, too.
Wow.
Check this out.
We can pop wheelies right here.
All right.
Okay, guys, get in for a group shot.
Hi.
Hi.
BOY 2: Wait, where'd you see this movie? It's not a movie, okay, it's a book.
But anyways, everybody is scared, except for one boy.
He is the bravest one.
So can I go ahead and open it? Yes.
Oh, Mom, this is exactly the one I wanted! Is that the good one? Where did you get this? Oh, my gosh.
Come here.
Stop.
This is the best mom in the world.
Ah, I love you, baby.
Love you, too.
I have legal proof now.
I'm the best mom.
ar door closes) At 6:47 a.
m.
, an anonymous phone call was made from a pay phone on the I-15 by an adult male.
The caller said he drove by and saw the body.
Sunrise was at 6:54 a.
m.
this morning.
Would have been too dark for even an eagle-eyed passerby to spot the body from that distance.
Have one of your guys dust that pay phone for prints.
We might get something off it.
I'm gonna check with missing persons.
Good luck.
Yeah, I'll handle it.
Thanks, Jim.
Morning, Doc.
Nick.
What's going on? Well, he's been dead about four to eight hours based on liver temp.
Depressed skull fracture with a laceration to the overlying scalp.
C.
O.
D.
is most likely contusion of the brain and a subdural hemorrhage.
The breadth of the depression suggests impact with a wide, flat surface.
A wound like that with no blood pool? Nope.
A body dump.
Dried blood underneath his fingernails.
I'll bag his hands, preserve any evidence for transport.
Okay, if I check his pockets? Go for it.
Compass, pocket knife.
Music.
Food rations.
Possible runaway.
A flashlight with "East Las Vegas High School" on it.
Well, if he was a student, he had to be at least 14 years old.
He's kind of small for that age.
I'll get a photo over to the school.
You know, I was really small when I was 14.
Yeah? Yeah.
Made me ambitious.
So what did you want to be when you were 14? Probably the same thing he most wanted to be-- fifteen.
* 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 * * Are you! * When was the last time you saw your son? I didn't even look in Will's room last night when I got home from work.
Didn't check on him.
And when did you get home? Uh, club closed at 2:00.
Cashed out, divided up my tips with the other waitresses.
It was-- it was about 3:00.
I thought I was letting him sleep in this morning, till I got the call.
Ms.
Sutter, do you have any idea where he might have been going last night? Who he might have been with? He knows not to open the door for anyone, or-or leave without calling me.
A million times we've gone over it.
And where's his father? He's not in Will's life.
Do you know if Will had tried to contact him? Because a boy Will's age starting to think about growing up, manhood-- sometimes they seek out a mentor.
Will's father is no mentor.
He's hardly a man.
I will still need to be in touch with him.
His name's Billy Melvoy.
Your line of work-- you're more likely to bump into him than I will.
What about Will's friends? Were any of them driving yet? No.
No, he's-- he's got two best friends.
They're 14,oo.
Mason and Steve.
They live down the street.
They've all grown up together.
So they spent a lot of time with Will? More than I ever got to.
* * Found a small crack in the front window, but no prints.
Other than that, the perimeter's clean.
No sign of forced entry.
That's not surprising when you consider how much equipment Will had in his pockets.
It's clear he wasn't dragged out of his bed in the middle of the night.
He was prepared for something.
He's got the whole universe and all of human history here.
So what was he out in search of? Or what was he running away from? Right.
Got his recent online activity here.
E-mail, encyclopedia, some comic book site.
Open this one, please.
Article of tribal coming-of-age rituals.
"Only through a solitary "and trying journey into a leral "or metaphysical wilderness, "can a young boy gain new acceptance "as a man amongst the members of his tribe or village.
" You must be Mason Ward.
Yeah.
Yeah, hi, I'm Nick Stokes.
I'm with the crime lab.
I'm going to be asking you a few questions.
Go ahead and have a seat.
Okay.
Now do you want a soda or something to eat before we get started? Nah.
The vending machines here suck.
Yeah, yeah, I'd have to agree with that.
Now how do you know something like that? You come here often? My dad's a cop.
I've been around.
Oh, okay.
Then you know how important it is that you help me figure out what happened to your friend last night.
Right.
Will wasn't really my friend anymore.
Steve, Will's mom said that you and Mason are Will's best friends.
Yeah, we were.
It's just different now.
How so? Will would still ask us to, like, ride bikes or look for lizards in the park, but we're not into that anymore.
What are you into now? MASON: Girls.
You know, getting serious about working out.
And, you know, other stuff.
Do you have any idea what might have happened to him last night? No clue.
When was the last time that you saw Will? I saw him yesterday at school, but that's it.
Did you talk to him? No.
Steve, you don't look so good.
Are you feeling okay? Yeah, I'm fine.
Look, I know what you mean about moving on to other things.
When I was your age, I couldn't get there quick enough.
I started to wish there was somw to make myself older, cooler.
Turned out there was.
The downside was, the next day, I would feel awful.
My mouth would be dry, my head would be pounding and I could just smell this sweet sugary poison seeping out of my pores.
You're a tequila man, huh, Steve? There were two different fibers found on Will Sutter.
This one's a standard trilobal nylon polypropylene fiber.
Widely used in the manufacture of upholstered furniture and bedding.
This other fiber that Nick found on the boy, is significantly more specific.
It's an 80-20 rayon-nylon with an emerald hue, used, as far as my research shows, exclusively to carpet Not a popular seller.
And in addition to carpeting the interior, this same material was also used to line the vehicle's trunk.
You know, I read something a while back.
Said that the distance from home that the average parent would allow their nine-year-old to wander had shrunk to a tenth of what it was when I was a kid.
The world's a scarier place, that's for sure.
Oh, I was terrified back then.
But a boy who ventures out thinking the world isn't a place to hide from, shouldn't be proven wrong.
Will Sutter was exchanging emails with someone screen-named "BlackChipCraig.
" Correspondence was mostly about historic sites, ghost towns, old mines.
So, one day BlackChip suggests they go check out one of the old mines.
Sounds like innocent geek fun.
Except a check of BlackChip's static I.
P.
address and a quick Web search reveal him to be Craig Lifford, from Henderson.
So a 40-year-old man invites a 14-year-old boy to a secluded location.
Could be more than just innocent geek fun.
Mr.
Lifford.
I see you're a history buff.
You like old things- vintage clothes, vintage cars.
Well, I-I drive a hybrid, but What is this about? Can you tell me how you got the scratches on your left wrist? Um, yeah.
I have a new kitten.
A new kitten? So you like some newer things, younger things.
Should I have a lawyer here? Younger things like, um, Will Sutter.
The young man you invited on a trip to the Crowley Silver Mine.
Remember him? Yeah? What the hell is this? No.
No, no, no, no, no.
Yes.
I-I work in a library.
Among children.
This has been my life's passion.
And if someone got in that boy's ear and egged him into thinking that my communication with him was something that it was not Tell me about what happened between you and Will.
Um, we met online, um, in a forum on a history Web site.
His intellect, his-his bearing-- I assumed he was an adult.
When I found out that he was a young man You continued to contact him.
About Nevada mining history! I suggested a few historic sites that his parents should take him to.
When he explained that he could not, that that was not possible, I guess, yeah, I-I volunteered-- forgetting for one moment thimplicit nefariousness of an adult male taking a young boy's academic curiosity seriously.
But we didn't go to the mine, I never met him.
I didn't even know his last name.
I need to take a sample of your DNA.
Absolutely.
Open your mouth, please.
So is Will really claiming that something happened? Mr.
Lifford, Will is dead.
Hey.
Hey.
I got your text.
What exactly am I not gonna believe? That blood that was under Will Sutter's nails was a hit to somebody already in CODIS.
One of Sara's old cases.
And, before you look at this, I promise you, I triple-checked this; it's absolutely accurate.
Okay.
Okay.
Simon Rose? I know.
I don't know what to tell you.
It's impossible, but it's true.
Yeah, but he's been in prison for the last Two and a half years.
Exactly.
So how does his blood end up under the nails of a dead kid? Since the morning of January 1, 2006, when his wife Samantha was found murdered in their home, I have stood by my client Simon Rose.
I was at his side while he grieved over his loss, while he endured trial, mistrial and the retrial that wrongfully convicted him of a crime he did not commit.
My belief in Simon Rose has never faltered.
And is morning's development has vindicated my belief.
The discovery of this blood under the dead child's nails is evidence that there is someone in Las Vegas-- a child murderer- who has the same DNA profile as my incarcerated but innocent client Simon Rose.
Mr.
Rose must be released and the real murderer of both Will Sutr and Samantha Rose brought to justice.
Thank you.
This is Simon Rose's blood all over his wife.
He choked her to death, left her on the kitchen floor, and then claimed to have been upstairs asleep when she was attacked.
Well, if he choked her, then how did his blood wind up on her? Well, because for once, she fought back.
She broke his nose, scratched his face.
She couldn't stop him.
And I guarantee that he took her halfway there a dozen times before.
And there were police call-outs for domestic but no convictions.
The house told the story.
Punched-in walls covered up with paintings.
Broken vases glued back together.
He's rich and handsome, he always got away with it, and he almost got away with killing her, too.
The mistrial? The prosecution had a slam dunk going, but there was juror misconduct.
Couple of weeks into the trial, two jurors got their hands on a bottle of gin and got tanked at lunch.
Other jurors said that they saw one of Lynn Stecker's associates bringing the booze to them.
Yeah, but nobody can prove that.
They have tried everything to get this guy off, and they're still trying.
By planting blood under a dead kid's nails? I got to say, I wouldn't put it past them.
Okay.
So, where did Rose's blood come from? There were no preservatives in the sample, which means it wasn't blood drawn from Rose and stored in a blood bank.
If Rose did plan this, he could have had blood drawn and stored without preservative before going to prison.
We're only dealing with a minute amount.
He could've snuck some blood out of prison via mail or a bribed guard.
Be tough to track that one down.
Well, if Rose cut himself to draw blood, he might still have a wound.
I'd like to examine him.
As long as you're just looking and not questioning, he doesn't have a right to an attorney.
So make that happen.
Any other possible sources for the blood? Samantha's dress with Rose's blood on it.
It's in permanent storage at the Central Evidence Vault.
All right, why don't the three of you focus on those angles, Greg and I will look at something else.
A boy was killed.
Simon Rose didn't do it.
We need to find out who did.
Jim, at this firm, we are the Lakers, not the Glo"etrotters.
We don't rely on tricks.
Oh, I've seen you pass the ball behind your back quite a few times over the years, Lynn.
We've been pressing to get an appeal for nearly two years.
This morning's discovery will merely serve as one more piece to present a chance to get real justice for my client.
This morning's discovery? We're talking about a dead boy.
Don't give me justice for your client; don't give me that.
Samantha Rose was covered in your client's blood.
Funny how that works.
I argue in trial that one of Mr.
Rose's many powerful enemies could easily have drugged and wounded Mr.
Rose, killed his wife and then planted Mr.
Rose's blood on his wife, and the prosecution, the media, treat that theory like it was a joke.
And yet, in this new case, some vast blood-plant conspiracy is the only viable explanation.
Fitting that it should be blood we're talking about, because isn't the stuff supposed to smell kind of iron-y? That's cute, Lynn.
But I'm telling you, and I want you to hear this.
If you know anything about this dead boy or the manipulation of evidence, you have a lot more to lose than just an appeal.
Does it get old, Jim? Being sent as the sheriff's messenger? Because when you're ready to join a new team, you call me.
Yeah, I know a lot of guys who worked P.
I.
for you.
Financially, it's great.
Ethically, it's not so great.
By the way, your theory's flawed.
Oh? If someone wanted to plant blood, they could do it in any crime scene.
What kind of a monster would kill a kid to accomplish that? The same kind of monster who couldn't just divorce Samantha Rose.
Yeah, I-I remember you on this case.
W-When Rose got off that first time round on that mistrial, must have driven you nuts.
Drove me toward some brochures about Costa Rica.
You're smart to get away like that.
'Cause I remember, when I was wearing that vest, I always told myself I'd do the same.
Little fishing lodge, Ely, Minnesota.
Clear all of it out.
But just didn't happen that way.
You ever get out of town now, George? Oh, nah.
This-this here, this is my castle.
Let me see here.
Yeah.
Samantha Rose.
When was the last time this evidence was taken out by the defense for independent examination? Let's see.
November 4, 2006.
Returned two days later.
Right before the trial started.
Sealed, signed and dated by yours truly.
Here you go.
Thank you.
Okay.
Okay.
I'm going to need to see Simon Rose's visitation records.
Yes, sir.
And I'd also like to speak with his cell mate.
Well, his cell mate was paroled three days ago.
But I can get you his P.
O.
's contact info.
All right.
You Ray Langston? Yes.
Nate Haskell says hello.
Trustee! Get back to work! Step to the center of the cell.
Hello, Mr.
Rose.
My name is Ray Langston, I work with the crime lab, and I'm here to examine you today.
Notice you have a cut there on your neck.
Can't help but breed a few enemies in here.
You just hope that they come at you with spoons not knives.
Breakfast, couple days ago.
Infirmary already shot photos, documented the wound, wrote up a report.
Mm-hmm.
Take your shirt off, plee.
I know how you guys are feeling.
Wake up one day and everything's upside down.
Suddenly, what you know to be impossible is the only thing anyone else will believe, because it's written in blood.
Turn around.
You know, when I was framed I kept telling melf if everything could be upended in one morning like that, maybe someday I'll wake up another day and everything gets flipped back the way it should be just as suddenly.
It took a thousand mornings for that to finally happen, Doctor.
I wouldn't count on that if I were you.
Now shut up and drop your pants.
What sort of physical evidence do you guys have? Anything, uh, interesting from the dump site? Well, we're working on it.
Well, what about that pay phone where the guy phoned it in? Sometimes you luck out with a camera, fingerprints Sorry.
Listen to me.
You still have the instincts, huh, George? Take care of yourself, okay? You, too.
Good to see you.
You, too.
George? Hmm? Whose Cadillac is this? That's mine-- uh, thing barely runs anymore.
I just I just can't bring myself to junk it.
I'm gonna need you to open the trunk for me please.
Step over there for me, please.
What is that? That's a piece of a candy bar wrapper.
Same brand Will Sutter was eating.
I was the only one left in the building last night.
I was closing up the vault a little after midnight.
Turning off the lights.
Hey! He was dead.
And I was afraid that him being inside there could jeopardize the evidence.
George, why didn't you just call it in? Why didn't you just let us know about it? That vault is mine to protect.
I keep the records.
I watch over the evidence.
If someone gets inside that's not supposed to get inside that intrusion can compromise all the evidence, can threaten every conviction.
I was not going to let that happen.
I put all the Rose evidence in a new box, I signed and redated the seals and placed it back on its spot on the shelf.
I drove out to the vacant lot, cleaned out the trunk afterwards then called 911.
I didn't want to leave him out there any longer than I had to.
Well, it looks like this is where Will Sutter bled out.
It's consistent with George's story.
What was that kid doing in here? Take a look at this.
"5-4-A- That's the evidence number for the Rose case.
With someone's algebra homework on the back? I'm guessing Will Sutter's.
He knew what he was looking for.
Yeah.
How did he get this number? Well, Rose's attorneys would have it in their case files.
But anybody in law enforcement can look that up on the C-Track Database.
So what are we saying, that Simon Rose didn't kill Will Sutter and have his blood planted on him, but one of Rose's associates sent Will in here to steal evidence? It looks good for Rose's appeal if the prosecution lost all the evidence.
Yes, but why send a kid? He's 14 years old, he's smart, he follows instructions well, and if he gets caught, he's a juvie-- they just chalk it up to a youthful misadventure.
That sounds right, but why Will Sutter? What is his connection to Simon Rose? MAN Whoever's looking at Will Sutter's death, here's your tip: kid's dead, boy's mother cashes in.
You look at her bank account.
Strange how that happens-- he's dead and she's rich.
It came in as an anonymous tip.
That's Will's dad.
You told me that he wasn't in your life.
He isn't.
You used to work at the Shade Club.
Simon Rose was a silent partner in that club, spent a lot of time there.
I served him drinks.
And last week you deposited $10,000 into your bank account.
Are you actually accusing me of something.
Your son broke in to the police evidence vault.
He died while trying to steal evidence from the Samantha Rose murder case.
Somebody sent him on that mission.
Now, between the money and your affiliation with Simon Rose, it says that that somebody was you.
Look, that The money? Will's dad came by last week.
He'd hit some parlay at the sports book: $50,000.
He was drunk and generous- gave me $10,000.
I took the money.
God knows he owes me twice that in child support.
Why is he calling us? He probably sobered up when he found out what happened to Will and-and got pissed that I'd still have the money all to myself.
What a deal for me, huh? Look, if you're gonna arrest me, then-then do it.
I'm not here to Then get the hell out of my house.
I still can't figure out how Will got inside the vault.
On the night of his death, the only thing that enters the vault are the evidence custodians and the evidence.
Wait, go back a little bit.
That's good.
Hold it.
Bring up camera three.
You know, I found some beige microfibers in Will's hair.
Hodges I.
D.
'd them as the same type used in upholstered furniture.
Hand me that evidence entry list again, please.
Thanks.
"A woman walking her dog spotted the bloody sofa "sitting under a streetlight in a park at 10:30 p.
m.
"Evidence custodians were sent out to retrieve the sofa, "and it was brought back to the vault for holding pending further investigation.
" Give me a hand here, will you? Cloth has been slit along the seam.
Stapled shut at the top.
Open at the bottom.
Check it out.
Trojan horse.
Trojan sofa.
Must have been pretty terrifying, huh? All hunkered down, alone in there in the dark.
Brave kid wasted on a fool's errand.
Will wasn't bleeding when he came into the vault.
Then where did that blood come from? Right.
Yeah.
Smells a little fishy.
Does it? Yeah, it does.
Hematrace.
Yeah.
Not human.
Blood was just the bait.
Smeared on the sofa to draw attention.
Sacrificial sea bass to bless the Trojan voyage.
Captain, you wanted to see me about the Sutter case? Sit down.
Will was actually a friend of my son, Mason.
But CSI, they've already talked to him.
Two days ago, you looked up the Samantha Rose case on the C-Track database.
Why? No, I didn't.
Your computer, I would've been doing paperwork in my office.
My son stopped by to hang out.
Do some homework.
Was Mason in your office? Yeah, he said his mom was bugging him at home, so I said he could hang out.
Did he have access to your computer? Well for a minute, yeah, I guess.
Do you recognize this sofa? This looks like an oldne we got out in the garage.
Is that blood? Mason? Get out here.
Now.
Mason? My God! Control, this is Captain Brass- we have a 421 Oh, my God! with head wounds.
Easy, buddy.
Send paramedics to my location.
Easy, Mason.
Mason must have written down the Rose evidence number and given it to Will.
The kid might have miscalculated more than his algebra.
Found the weapon.
With a bloody print on the handle.
You know, either this assailant's sloppy and disorganized, or really, really bold.
They didn't just leave a print-- they left a card.
Lynn Stecker, Attorney at Law.
You're lucky this was on my route between appointments, Jim.
And whatever you want to show me better be earth-shattering.
Do you know him- Officer Ward? He one of the guys on your team? Never seen him before.
I know you know his son Mason.
I know you know him, because we found your business card in his bedroom.
How dare you.
He's going in and out of consciousness.
He hasn't said much-- yet.
Yes, I met the kid earlier today.
He tried to ambush me in the firm's parking garage.
I say you on TV, and I know you're trying to get Simon Rose out of jail, because nobody knows how his blood got on that dead kid, but I do know how.
Look, kid, I don't know what you're doing here Will snuck in the evidence vault on a dare, all right? I know how he got in, and I know how he got Simon Rose's blood on him.
And if you don't give me $5, And Simon Rose will stay in prison forever.
He tried to extort you and you didn't report it? I'm reporting it now.
You pay him, or do you know someone who plays baseball? I gave him cab fare.
Told him to get lost.
How much? I don't know-- whatever was my pocket-- $200.
That's like cab fare to Reno.
A bold and creative kid like that-- he reminded me of some of my best interns.
I gave him my card, told him to call me in a few years.
Let's let him make it through the night first.
Good luck on that appeal.
So I heard that Mandy matched the bloody print from the bat to another crime scene.
Yeah, a swing shift case from the night before Will Sutter died.
Swing shift CSIs responded to an extinguished house fire at 494 Harris Street.
Just northwest of Will Sutter and Mason Ward's homes.
The house had stood vacant for the past three months, but upon entering it, the CSIs discovered the following items.
Lighter-- peace pipe And the print on that bong matches a print on the bat.
So somebody parties in a vacant house, sets it on fire and then three days later attempts to kill Mason Ward? Yeah, in the meantime, Mason helps Will sneak into the evidence vault.
There's got to be a connection there.
Rose.
The burnt house was at the corner of Harris Street and Rose Street.
Mason must have thought the address was on Rose Street.
He wanted to retrieve the evidence.
So Mason went to his dad's office.
He looked up Rose Street in the C Track database, but mistakenly wrote down the evidence number for Rose, Samantha.
But we don't have any evidence of Will being in that burnt house.
There was no THC in his tox results.
So he wasn't partying.
Why did he go in to get the evidence? Maybe so he'd be invited to the next party.
This is a bottle of tequila.
We need to find Steve Reppling.
Las Vegas Police.
Open up.
Mr.
and Mrs.
Reppling, we need to talk to your son.
Open up.
Anything we can do? BRASS: There's nobody home.
I'll be back with a unit- we'll break down the door.
Call me if you need me.
Copy that, Captain.
Dr.
Ray.
Yes? Something's burning over there.
Wouldn't that be right around The corner of Harris and Rose.
Patrol, this is Charlie-Zero-Four Sidle.
at the corner of Harris and Rose Street.
His bike's here.
Steven, where are you? Steve, we saw your bicycle outside.
We know you're in here.
There he is.
Get him out of here.
Dr.
Ray, come on! I'll be right behind you.
Let's go! Sara, we've got, uh, apparent kindling for the blaze.
Lynn Stecker gave Mason Ward $200.
He deserved it.
Excuse me? Mason deserved to die.
Mason started everything that night.
He bought some weed off a sophomore.
Snuck a few bottles from his dad.
We'd been hanging out in that house.
Mason Wha? What did you do?! I was just messing around with the lighter, and then the whole I'm gone.
We needed help.
We knew Will could figure something out.
So we went back over, and the firemen had put the fire out, but the CSIs were bringing out all the stuff we left in there.
What kind of stuff? Uh Look, Will, you got to help us.
Okay, that stuff is evidence.
They're gonna trace it and lock us up.
iou're the smart one- you can come up with something.
Just please.
Please.
Come on, man.
All right.
Just let me think for a minute.
Will was smarter, braver, he was better than both of us.
Two Benjamins.
And I think I can get even more out of the lady if I just Will died! Trying to save us.
And what, you're just going to make money off of that? All right, you can have $50 of it, okay? You got change? It was blood money, and I needed to see it burn.
I didn't even care if I went with it.
We let Will down.
He's the one who deserved to grow up.
* * Oh, Mom, this is exactly the one I wanted! That the good one? Stop.
This is the best mom in the world.
Ah, I love you, baby.
I love you, too.
I have legal proof now.
Ah, I love you, baby.
I am the best mom.
love you, too.
Wow.
Check this out.
We can pop wheelies right here.
All right.
Okay, guys, get in for a group shot.
Hi.
Hi.