CSI: Crime Scene Investigation s13e21 Episode Script

All right, we are in the processing room.
This is the center of the slaughterhouse.
This is where Walter Simms was finally killed in a shootout with the police.
And this is where we are going to try to contact his ghost.
I definitely sense a presence in here.
A very strong presence.
Yeah, my whole body feels strange.
Hair on my arm's standing up.
I'm gonna roll my EVP recorder, see what we get.
Walter Simms, are you here? Come on, Walter.
Talk to us.
You still lingering? Relishing the seven sadistic murders you committed? I'll tell you what I'm sensing.
It's the boys.
Their pain.
God, do you feel that? I know the terrible things you went through, but it's okay.
No one can hurt you now.
Guys, uh, I'm gonna go in the room where the boys were held.
Maybe it'll be easier to make contact in there.
Okay.
I'm gonna set up for some EMF measurements.
Doug.
You want to go check out the hanging room? All right.
It's been 20 years, and still, the feeling in this place, it's it's hard to describe other than to say it feels heavy.
This is where Walter Simms did his dirty work.
I want you to show yourself, Walter.
Make yourself known.
Maybe this will entice him.
Yeah, that's right.
Just like the one you used to butcher those boys.
Why don't you come and get it? It's right there.
Or are you too afraid because I'm not some defenseless little child? The hooks are moving.
He's here.
Owen! Owen! Owen! It came from this way.
Where's Doug? Where is Doug? Are you okay? Owen? What is that? Really cheery place.
Yeah, yeah, tell me about it.
I spent a lot of time here working on the original case.
What do you mean, original case? Oh, uh, 20 years ago, the security guard, Walter Simms-- he lived in a trailer on-site.
This guy, Simms, abducted seven boys over a nine-month period, brought them here and killed them.
Mmm.
And I mean really grisly stuff.
So he ended up dying here himself.
After escaping his sentencing hearing, he shot it out with the PD.
So you're saying that this homicide is related to the original case.
Yeah, the victim tonight is rigged up just like the boys were.
The hook, the evisceration-- exactly what Simms did You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that old Walter was back from the dead.
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! I remember I was in sixth grade when all this was going on.
Walter Simms-- called him "The Butcher.
" Of course, we didn't know it was Simms at the time.
We just knew that kids were disappearing.
Kids my age.
And even after Simms was killed, his legend lived on.
They say that if you say his name three times, he'll come back to life and gut you.
Maybe that's what happened to our victim.
Let's try it.
I'll conjure him up.
You slap the cuffs on him.
Walter Simms.
Walter Simms.
Walter Don't! If you want to do that sort of stuff, you could do it when I'm gone.
Let's go.
Oh, you can really see why this place spawned so many ghost stories, huh? Oh, yeah.
This place creeps me out in all kinds of ways.
Slaughterhouse This is why I stopped eating meat.
Yeah, really.
So, no murder weapon? No.
Smear is from one of the victim's partners.
They're the ones that found him.
The male slipped and fell in the blood trying to get the victim down.
Did our people touch this? No.
You think it's been moved? Well, there's blood on the bottom, but it wasn't in the blood pool.
There's no memory card.
Somebody must have taken it.
Hold up your arms.
Okay.
I mean, man, this is just crazy, you know? I'm gonna need you to give me your clothes at some point, since you fell in the blood.
Yeah, sure.
I got others in the car.
I mean, God, I just can't believe this.
I mean, seriously, Carrie, can you? So, uh, how long have you been doing this ghost hunting? I don't know.
I've always been sensitive, you know, to things from the other side.
But working with Doug and Owen-- that's new.
A few months, maybe? And you were filming for some TV show or something? No, it's, uh, for the Internet, mostly.
A lot of people do this.
They upload videos.
It's it's really nothing.
Well, it's not nothing anymore.
I mean, holy crap, if we have definitive proof of the spirit world crossing over like this-- I mean, are you kidding me? Owen, just stop! Doug's dead.
You don't really think your friend was killed by a ghost, do you? You haven't been inside, have you? I've been in a lot of haunted places, and I've never felt anything as strong as what I felt in there.
That's why I wear this.
It's always protected me.
I'm gonna ask you one question.
Then I'm gonna give you one chance to answer it.
Where's the memory card that was in your friend's camera? I don't know what you mean.
He was filming, right, with the camera? So where's the memory card that was in it? I Okay.
I'm gonna have to confiscate all of your shooting equipment.
No, wait.
Okay, okay, uh, I-I took it, okay, but I-I need it.
I mean, what if Doug actually filmed his killer? Yeah.
What if? I'm Captain Jim Brass, Las Vegas Police.
You the property manager? Thomas Pope.
My firm is developing the property.
So you've been told what happened? Just that somebody was killed.
One of the ghost hunters.
Oh, so you knew they were here? Yeah, yeah, they had permission.
My boss approved it.
I handled the paperwork.
They signed about a million liability releases.
Thank God, right? I guess.
Look, I I didn't mean it to sound like that.
I Can I ask what happened exactly? We don't know yet.
You know, I warned my boss that something bad was gonna happen.
I knew it.
What do you mean, you knew it? I spent some time inside here.
There's a feeling.
A feeling? So you people take all the time you need.
The minute you're done, I'm knocking the whole place down-- the building and all the ghosts inside.
Hey, Doc.
A little shorthanded, are you, today? Normally, you don't call me in until you're done with all the scary stuff.
Normally, but I wanted you to see something on the victim David brought in from the slaughterhouse.
Heard the murder was reminiscent of a previous crime.
Well, that's why you're here.
The killing wasn't just reminiscent.
It was an exact duplication of the original crimes.
So, killer did his homework, right? I don't see how.
The original victims were all juveniles.
Their autopsy reports were very closely guarded.
They were never made public.
And the M.
O.
unique enough that it couldn't just be by chance? I would say not.
The incision the killer made-- it isn't a straight cut like a butcher or a hunter would make when dressing an animal.
It waivers to the left, to the right, and then back again.
It's almost as if he was carving an "S.
" "S" for Simms.
Seems like every town has a place like this that all the teenagers know about.
Yeah, their parents don't.
Obviously, it's not impossible to get in here.
Which means our ghost hunters may not have been alone last night.
Morgan.
Come look at this.
It's a shrine.
To the seven boys who were murdered here.
Some of this stuff looks like it's been here forever.
Yeah, and some of this stuff looks like it's pretty new.
Someone's been coming here and making offerings to these kids.
Or to their ghosts.
What? Did you hear something? No.
No, it's nothing.
Hey.
Did you notice if our female ghost hunter from earlier was missing an earring? No.
That's not hers.
Makes me wonder whose, then.
So, let's say you're the victim.
It's dark.
Your back is turned.
You're filming.
I swing this hook hard enough to bury it in your back.
Well, that would be more than enough to incapacitate me so you could hoist me up into the air.
And then it's just a single slash with the blade.
Yeah.
So there's no reason it couldn't have been one person working alone.
All right, let's Luminol everything, make sure we didn't miss any blood.
It's for you.
Do you want it? SFPD.
I'll call them back.
I'm gonna hit the lights.
Okay.
Whoa.
Oh, my God.
There's blood everywhere.
Must be animal blood.
This is the kill room.
Floor must be porous enough that the blood is still present.
I'm going to go do the hallway.
Finn? Yeah.
Come here and look at this.
Wow.
Everybody's going in and out, tracking the old animal blood without even knowing it.
There's the wheel marks from David's gurney.
Mm-hmm.
And look over there.
There's one set of prints going the other way.
The hall dead-ends.
Where would they be going? Looks like they walk right through the wall.
Or right up to it.
There's got to be some reason whoever left these came down here.
There's something in here.
Yes, there is.
Hey.
I think Hodges caught us a break.
Check this out.
What am I looking at? You're looking at footage from one of the ghost hunter's cameras.
The surviving male, Owen Webber.
Now, according to his statement, he was alone in the processing room during the murder.
Which it looks like he is, right? Well, keep watching there.
You see that? You mean that little glitch in the picture? That's more than just a glitch.
His camera shut off for 98 seconds.
That might be enough time to commit the murder.
That's more than enough time.
Oh! Look at you.
You got yourself a murder weapon.
It was stashed just outside the murder room.
Killer probably planned to go back and get it later.
What makes you say that? Well, because he didn't bother to wipe off his fingerprints.
You got prints? Victim's partner.
Owen Webber.
Well, it's about time.
When am I gonna get my gear back? You're not gonna get your gear back.
What? Well, your gear is what we now call evidence, Owen.
Well, I know that it's evidence.
That's why I need it.
The online paranormal groups are going nuts over what happened to Doug.
I need the proof.
I need to show them that it was Simms.
Sit down.
And let's talk about what you did to Doug.
You recognize that, Owen? It's mine.
I brought it along to the slaughterhouse.
Sounds like premeditation.
Uh, no.
I-I I brought it to excite the spirits.
We use objects, something emotionally significant to the dead to provoke them.
I mean, come on, man, that's Ghost Chasing 101.
That's Murder 101.
What?! Why else did you turn off the camera right before Doug was killed? I didn't turn off the camera.
My battery pack went dead.
Don't you check your batteries before you start? Yeah, of course I did.
And they were both full.
But spirits can siphon the power away.
That's how they get the energy to materialize.
Come on, Shaggy.
My BS meter is redlining with all this ghost science of yours.
What BS? The knife provoked Walter Simms.
The battery provided the energy he needed.
The very fact that Doug is dead is proof positive of what I'm telling you! Owen didn't kill Doug, I'm telling you.
Because you believe a ghost killed Doug? Because I know Owen.
He would never.
Well, right now, the evidence says otherwise.
You went into the slaughterhouse, didn't you? You know now what I was talking about, those little boys The only thing I felt in there was cold.
If you'll excuse me.
Why are you denying your gift? Your grandmother is still with you, you know.
Even though you try to push her away, she's still there.
What do you know about my grandmother? She had a funny name.
Olaf, was it? And she was a psychic.
Seems to think you are, too.
You share her gift.
What do you want from me? Your help.
You heard those boys.
I know they were trying to say something.
I-I just don't know what it is.
I'm sorry, but I can't help you.
Thanks, but I don't want that.
You need it.
What are all these? Tools of the trade for the modern ghost hunter.
E.
M.
pump, motion sensors, thermal imager, EMF detectors.
Ghost Meter Pro? Really? Someone actually makes these? That's not a toy.
I just spoke with Nick.
Apparently the interrogation was less than fruitful.
He's hoping that we can find a way to pinpoint the exact location of the suspect during the time of the murder.
But both his cameras were off, right? His cameras were off, but his EVP recorder was still on.
EVP? Electronic Voice Phenomenon.
Ghost voices we might otherwise miss.
The point is, even though we don't have picture, we have sound.
Ah.
And you think you can use the sound to figure out where the suspect was.
That is the idea, yes.
So, why do you need me? You mean, aside from the fact that I greatly admire your mind and abilities? The job requires going back to the slaughterhouse, and that is something that I don't relish doing alone.
Hey, Jules? Do you got a moment? Sure.
Want you to introduce you to Scott Tunnicliff.
CSI Finlay.
Nice to meet you.
Scott's kind of an expert on Walter Simms and the slaughterhouse murders.
Wrote a book back in the day.
Ah.
You working on a sequel? No, actually, I brought him in.
He had considerable access to the investigation at the time.
My uncle was undersheriff, so admittedly, I got special treatment.
But I brought along all my old raw research material if it'll help.
Tell her your theory, Scott.
I've always felt, uh, Simms had an accomplice.
Uh, someone to help lure the boys into the car.
Yeah, look at this.
This is a photo of Simms.
That's a real boogeyman.
Yeah, not really a face that kids would flock to.
There were witnesses to three of the abductions.
The statements were the same.
The boys approached Simms' car, climbed in on their own accord.
So, might be Simms had help.
Who's this woman? She's in every trial photo.
She was a trial groupie.
Showed up every day, never took her eyes off Simms.
Was obsessed with him.
Why? What do you see? Her earring.
It looks exactly like the earring Morgan found at the slaughterhouse.
If it is, she was there.
So, where is she now? How was that? All right, do it again.
This time, a little higher like on the recording.
All right, I think you nailed it on that last one.
Pretty sure we can pinpoint where Owen was now.
Yeah.
No way he was the killer.
He was in this room when the murders happened.
Of course, that means that our killer is still on the loose, right? How'd we do? I hope you got what you needed.
My throat is killing me.
Well, we cleared Owen as the killer.
Did you see all this low-end activity running through the center? Yeah, it's some sort of low-frequency wave.
Seems to be present everywhere in this place.
But we can't hear it because it's Because it's below the human range of hearing.
It's infrasound.
Can you, uh, pitch it up? Raise the frequency until we can hear it? Mmm.
Yeah.
You know, there are studies that actually suggest that infrasound could be the scientific cause of hauntings.
The vibrations create sensory phenomena suggestive of a ghost.
Fascinating.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
You'll have to show me those articles some time.
We could test the theory now, by finding the source of the low-frequency waves and eliminating it.
Science! Wow.
Who's the crazy? Ah, you can tell right away, right? This woman was obsessed with Walter Simms.
Mmm.
She was at his trial every single day.
Yeah, we've dealt with a few women like this.
I'll never understand it.
So, I think she could be our killer.
But there is no record of her name.
I did a facial recognition search against our database, and I got nothing.
Why not try running one just against Internet images? She didn't hide from the camera before.
Why should she be any different now? All right, let's run it.
Who knows? You know, maybe she's turned her life around by now.
That one.
Monica Downs.
Wow, she even has a Friend Agenda page.
Hmm.
to cure the crazy.
The basic theory behind infrasound is that, even though we can't hear it, it still has a physiological effect on us.
The low frequency waves cause vibrations in different parts of our bodies.
Getting stronger.
I hear some other noises, as well.
Here, this way.
Okay.
So, as a result, people experience butterflies in the stomach, chills, hairs standing on end Check, check and check.
Not realizing there's a physical cause, people attribute all these sensations to a haunting.
Feeling's getting stronger here.
Definitely oppressive.
Yeah.
This is it.
This is what's generating the infrasound.
Oh, well, here's an idea: Let's turn it off.
Uh Uh That's amazing.
The oppressive feeling's gone.
The chills, the stomach It's gone, right? Yeah.
All these years, the sensation everyone's had that this place is haunted It's perfectly benign.
There's nothing bad here at all.
Aah! No! No! Okay, what is that? Oh, no, nothing bad can happen here.
There's no haunting.
It's just sound waves! Shh.
This way.
We got blood.
Oh, God, it's one of the ghost hunters.
Your infrasound can't explain that.
Yeah, it's Hodges.
We need help.
So it looks like she was sitting there, in front of the shrine.
Killer surprised her, maybe.
Hit her as she turned around.
The bat was here already.
You remember? It was part of the toy collection.
What I can't figure out is why she came back here in the first place.
She came because of the boys.
She told me she was still hearing their voices.
She wanted to talk to them.
Well, she's talking to them now.
We need to find out who else has been coming here, bringing all these toys.
Better bag them up and get them to Henry.
What? What is it? Her EVP Recorder.
Must have fallen when she was struck.
I'm sorry for all the horrible things that were done to you.
What can I do to bring you peace? Please, I know you're here.
I can feel you.
Don't be afraid.
Just reach out.
Talk to me.
Give me a sign.
Funny, kind of looks like you're waiting to hear an answer.
You don't know this about me, but, uh when I was younger, I used to be kind of psychic.
I know.
But my grandmother, she had it.
And I guess I inherited it.
Why have I never heard about this? When I became a CSI, I felt like I had to choose: science or the other.
I chose science.
So, now you've reconsidered? Yeah.
I mean, 'cause of Carrie and what I feel in this place.
But I-I thought the feelings came from the infrasound, the vibrations from the ventilation fan.
Henry turned it off, and since then, I-I don't feel a thing anymore.
That's just it.
I still do.
I only want to help you.
That's all I want, is for you to have peace.
Where did you God, no Did you hear that? Yeah.
Sounded like laughter.
Like kids.
No, play it again.
Ow.
Ow.
You can't possibly know what I know.
Blinded by the confines of corporeal reality, you're both woefully ignorant of what waits on the other side Got your trial groupie.
Ma'am, that's enough.
That was quite a ride.
For you.
Good luck.
She's a nutcase.
Yeah, a nutcase with blood on her shoes.
Your shoes and this shoe print that we found at the murder scene they match.
Match, match, three on a match.
And that's bad luck, you know.
Want to talk about bad luck? You stepped in a dead woman's blood.
I remember you.
You do? From Walter's trial.
I do.
How wonderful.
Now, do you remember being at the slaughterhouse earlier? I do.
I went to talk to Walter and my boys.
Your boys? Yes, that's what I said-- my boys.
My family.
The family that Walter created for us.
So, when when you talked to Walter, did he tell you to kill Carrie? How about Doug? Huh? I didn't do that.
But I I know who did.
You do? He didn't know that I was there watching.
Ticktock, like a watch.
Tell us who you saw do this.
It was one of my boys.
Mine and Walter's.
Kids, you know? I should probably have a talk with him if you'd like.
Morgan said it was eerie.
She wasn't lying.
Yeah.
That came just after the killing? Yeah.
But listen.
Now, I'm pretty sure the laughter's real.
But it's prerecorded.
How do you know that? Watch the screen as I play it, and I'll freeze the wave form.
Now, right there, just before the laughter, there's a high-frequency hiss, almost, and then it dies out immediately after.
What is it? Well, it's got to be the speaker on whatever device is playing.
It powers up just a fraction of a second before the sound comes out.
So the killer played a recording of children laughing just after the murder? That might be even sicker.
Hey, just finished DNA analysis on the toys.
And? I found DNA from a single source on every single one of them.
What about the murder weapon? Same DNA, same as the rest of the toys.
Let me guess.
It belongs to the psycho groupie, Monica Downs.
Actually, no.
The source was an unknown male.
Suggests that Monica Downs is not the killer.
It gets stranger.
Finlay gave me DNA from the original investigation of the Simms murders.
Cops collected one sample from Simms' car that was never identified.
Matched the DNA on the toys and the baseball bat.
So we're saying the killer was in Simms' car 20 years ago.
In the front seat of Simms' car.
All the DNA from the boys who were killed came from the back of the car.
Well, it sounds to me like we're back to looking for an accomplice.
Certainly does.
A male, obsessed with the crime, enough knowledge of the details to be able to re-create them perfectly.
What do you think? Yeah.
Then come back here and rub our faces in it.
Well, his alibi checks out.
He said he was at a book signing, he was at a book signing.
What about the DNA? Sent it to Henry, but I'm afraid it's only gonna confirm that he's not our guy.
Oh, hell.
Well I still like our theory.
Looking for the old accomplice in the current murders? I mean, we know he's a male.
We know he was in Simms's car 20 years ago.
What we don't know is where he is now.
Exactly.
All right, just-just play with me for a second.
Monica Downs said that she saw Carrie's killer, right? That it was one of the boys.
Monica Downs is crazy.
The boys are dead.
All right, all right, but what if they're not? Russell, the cops found all seven bodies.
What if there was an eighth? What-what if what if Simms abducted an eighth boy and forced him to be his accomplice? Cops finally catch up with Simms and put him in jail, boy runs away.
Which means he might still be out there.
What are those? Missing persons reports from 20 years ago.
When Simms was snatching up kids.
Yeah.
I found three other boys that disappeared within that timeframe who were never accounted for.
Well, only one of them has a photo.
Yeah, as far as the other two go-- uh, Brian Oden grew up on the streets.
There were quite a few homeless that reported him missing.
And Jonathan Harris grew up in foster care.
Everybody just thought he ran away, including PD.
So, any one of these could be Simms' eighth victim, our so-called accomplice.
How do we I.
D.
him and find him? This kid was in Simms' car.
Okay, his DNA is in there.
He must have left prints.
But PD ran the prints Yeah, but he was a juvenile, so he wasn't in the system.
You're right.
Got to be over 30 by now.
Maybe that's changed.
Hey.
Where are you going? If anybody's looking for me, just tell them I had to step out a little while.
You going to the slaughterhouse? I thought we wrapped all that up.
The place is about to get torn down.
If I don't do this now, I'll never get the chance.
Greg, what do you really expect to find there? I don't know.
Maybe nothing.
Or maybe I'll be able to reach out to Carrie, and with her help, maybe to the boys.
You know how that sounds, right? Yeah.
Crazy.
But it doesn't matter.
I have to do this.
Here we go.
Got a hit on the set of prints from the glove box in Simms' car.
What's the date of birth? June 8, '81.
Means he was 11 at the time.
Okay, so this has got to be our eighth kid, right? Scroll down.
Wait a minute.
I saw him.
Where? At the slaughterhouse that first morning, talking to Brass.
Well, who is he? He manages the property.
Thanks again for coming down to let me in.
I really appreciate it.
No problem.
After you.
You know, in a couple of days, this whole place will be gone.
Bulldozed to the ground.
The building, everything inside.
What were you hoping to find? I don't really know.
Well, but you're here.
Right? You must have some idea.
You want to talk to them, don't you? Sorry.
It's, uh, my kids' ringtone.
It's my wife calling.
Don't.
Just drop it! Haven't enough people died here? Thomas Pope-- family man, wife and kids, good job, an education, but that's only half of who you really are.
See, Thomas Pope is an invention.
You made it up.
He doesn't exist before about 12 years ago.
Your real name is Jonathan Harris, isn't it? When you grew up, you were passed from one foster home to another until one day your luck really went bad and you were abducted by Walter Simms.
No, you're wrong.
You're mistaken.
Well, we found your DNA in Walter Simms' car, along with your fingerprints.
We're not wrong, Jonathan.
We know who you are.
I am not Jonathan.
I am not that damaged little boy, not anymore.
I know you feel responsible for those other boys, the ones who were killed.
Isn't that why you still bring them toys? You were 11 years old.
You were a little boy yourself.
It wasn't your fault.
But they won't let me forget.
They blame me.
They torment me.
And I can't make the voices go away.
You were there.
You had to have felt them.
Tell us about the ghost hunters, Doug and Carrie.
I didn't want them inside.
I tried to tell my boss that it was a bad idea.
Why was it a bad idea? Because I knew what would happen.
I knew that they would learn my secret.
I have worked very hard to get past everything that has happened and build a new life.
If they found out, I would lose everything, everything that I have built as Thomas Pope.
But I-I mean, how are they gonna find out? Who's gonna tell them? From talking to the boys.
The ghosts of the boys? I couldn't let them talk to the boys.
Hey.
Hey.
Do you have a minute? I do.
Uh back before I came to Vegas, I worked up in San Francisco.
I helped put away this guy-- true sociopath.
He posed as a cop, pull women over at night, sadistically assault them.
We found 17 victims.
I suspect there were more.
You're talking about Lyle Brinks, right? Yeah.
I had no idea you were a part of that.
He's up for parole.
The cop that I worked with-- she's worried that he actually stands a chance of release.
Okay.
What can I do? I need a few days.
I-I I want to be there.
I want to testify, make sure that doesn't happen.
I understand.
You got it but, you know, while you're up there, do me a favor.
You know, take some time off.
It's been a rough couple of months.
You deserve it.
Okay.
Hey.
Great job today.
That must have been really scary.
I'll tell you, when I heard that laughing, I sure as hell wasn't laughing.
You know, I I think I owe you an apology from earlier, implying that you were crazy.
You know, as much as this is our universe, surrounded by science every day, I still like to think there's room for a spiritual side.
Well, no apology necessary, but it's accepted.
Thank you.
But who knows? I mean, maybe you're right.
Maybe this whole thing is crazy.
What? Why you saying that now? Well, when I was at the slaughterhouse with Pope, I was doing everything I could to hear or feel anything from Carrie or the boys, and I mean, there I was with the killer standing right behind me, and none of them bothered to send up a signal, or a-a single ghostly warning sign? Yeah.
Yeah, you would think, right? But I think someone was looking out for you.
You made it out of there okay.
Let me buy you breakfast.
Deal.
But I'm driving.
Of course you are.
Let's go.