CSI: Crime Scene Investigation s14e04 Episode Script
Last Supper
This week on Elite Chef, we are down to the final four competitors.
Only one of these chefs will take home half a million dollars.
Will it be Ray, the firefighter turned chef? Curtis, Mr.
Cordon Bleu? Or Cici, the private chef to the stars? Or Michelle, the talented hash-slinging single mom? Chefs, what would you say is the most indispensable tool in your kitchen? That's easy, my knife.
Something even more essential.
My palate.
Very good, Michelle.
Today's advantage round is a palate test.
Each one of you gonna sample one of these four dishes and identify the mystery protein.
First chef to do so will win immunity for the next round.
Chefs.
Give it a try.
Looks like some herb-crusted meat.
It's not beef or pork.
It's too chewy.
Strong iron flavor.
Is this made from liver? Maybe lamb? That's incorrect.
Lots of Asian spices.
Reminds me of a fish eye soup I had in Vietnam.
Definitely not a fish eye.
Could be pig? Oh, my God, is that a contact lens? It's human! It looks human.
But, uh, I can't say for sure.
You know, they're down to the final four.
They must shoot this show, like, six weeks ahead, because I watched last night, and there were still ten contestants.
Can you believe Michelle is still in the running? After she served that undercooked chicken roulade to the judges last week? Didn't realize you guys were such big fans of the show.
Good-looking people making great-looking food? We love this show.
Well, you're gonna have to find some other show to watch until we figure out this mystery ingredient.
It's not caviar.
Definitely human blood.
Oh, brother.
I got it right! I guessed "human"! You all heard me say it.
I win immunity.
Oh, come on.
That's crap! We were all thinking it.
You just said it first.
Nobody wins this round.
The mystery protein was supposed to be - kangaroo.
- It doesn't matter.
I got it right.
I win.
Ray? Is that your name? Ray? Yeah.
What made you think it was human? Last time I checked, animals don't wear contacts.
But didn't you think it was a little bit odd that a show would cook and serve up a human being? Mm-mm.
That wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen on a reality show.
This is an elite culinary competition, not Fear Factor.
Somebody must have sabotaged these dishes.
Maybe they swapped the meat to give themselves an edge up.
What do you think, Ray? They don't exactly sell human body parts at the grocery store.
No, no.
There's only two ways you get a body: you steal it or you kill it.
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! You know, it's gonna be hard to I.
D.
our victim.
Once flesh has cooked, the DNA becomes denatured.
Yeah.
There's no way an entire body was used to make these four dishes.
So what happened to the remains of the remains? That's what I'd like to know.
So, who's in charge here? Right here, sir.
Oh, there you go.
Uh, ma'am? Sorry.
Could we, uh, talk to you for a second? Hi.
Executive producer, Nadine Bradley.
Uh, how long is this going to take? Because we were right in the middle of filming.
Ms.
Bradley, you-you called us when you found human body parts in your food.
We're gonna need to find out how that happened.
Yeah, well, we're the highest rated culinary competition show on air, so any of our rivals could've pulled a stunt like this to try and sabotage us.
Or an eliminated contestant.
The prize money is just the beginning.
Your past winners have gone on to open their own restaurants, become celebrity chefs.
A win is worth millions.
I doubt any of them are involved.
The eliminated contestants are sequestered at a nearby hotel-- we don't want viewers knowing who's been kicked off.
We're gonna also need to see your footage from the last 48 hours.
We have 13 cameras on this stage, seven in the house set where the remaining contestants live.
Are they on all the time? No.
The cameras on the house set shut down about 10:00.
That's still over 500 hours of footage.
So, this was a palate test.
The contestants did not cook the food.
Who did? We have a team of prep chefs who use the kitchen set after-hours.
Clocked out about 9:00 last night.
Went and did an event at the Palermo, then came back at 6:00 this morning.
We're still gonna need to talk to 'em though.
Who had access to the kitchen last night? The contestants and the entire crew.
That's legal.
Sorry.
I have to take this.
Cast and crew? That is over 100 suspects.
Well body was cooked in the kitchen.
Can't believe I just said that.
Start in the kitchen.
I just found human blood down that drain.
Hmm.
Could be the body was dismembered here.
Can you hand me that luminol, please? Sure.
I'll get the lights.
Thanks.
That's a large volume of blood.
Lights, please.
Means we're not looking at a stolen body.
We're looking at murder.
Well, the prep chefs left at 9:00, so the murder must have happened after that.
You know, these gel mats can hold an impression for up to 12 hours.
Very close to the blood pool.
Maybe we can I.
D.
the last person who stepped on it.
Might be our killer.
You've heard how Jesus turned water into wine.
Now watch in amazement as I turn blood into caviar.
You're comparing yourself to Jesus? Wow.
First, I take the blood and add it to a mixture of calcium glucocinate and calcium lactate.
Next, I add xanthan, a polysaccharide secreted from the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
Used as a thickening agent in food and a stabilizing agent in makeup.
I took chemistry, too.
Blend until thoroughly dissolved.
I take my handy pipette, extract some of the blood mixture and drop it into the alginate one drop at a time.
I will pull the sphere from the alginate, plunge it into an ice-cold water bath and buon appetito.
I'll pass, thanks.
As you can see, molecular gastronomy requires great skill and an aptitude for chemistry.
Something not all chefs possess.
So we still don't have a suspect.
No.
But I have a very good idea who the victim might be.
Graham Deveraux is missing.
Who's that? One of the founding fathers of molecular gastronomy.
He has a Michelin-star restaurant on the Strip.
He was the guest judge.
Taped an episode of Elite Chef yesterday.
And then this morning, did not show up for work.
You think he's the one in the soup? Well, he did have a very big confrontation with the contestant who was just eliminated.
I wouldn't feed it to my dog.
And I hate my dog.
This looks like a big mess on a plate.
No sense of presentation.
The presentation was flawed, but I think that it was seasoned very well.
But you seem to fail to appreciate there are other spices than pepper.
I would call you "Chef," but that would demean the entire profession.
That guy's just mean.
I think he's being honest.
Derek, I'm sorry, but you are not the Elite Chef.
I believe you have some passion for food, and maybe someday you'll have your own restaurant.
Where he will probably kill someone with salmonella poisoning.
Your cooking is horrific, Mr.
Barlow.
Do restaurant patrons a favor everywhere and get out of the food industry.
Call security! Get him off me! You know what? You better watch your back, Deveraux.
- Watch your back.
- Okay.
That was a threat.
Derek was such a nice guy on the show, but I guess even nice guys have their breaking point.
Back a bit more.
Keep it coming.
That's great.
Perfect.
Thanks.
Lucky you managed to stop the garbage truck before it made it to the dump.
All the trash collected from Elite Chef this morning is still inside.
You talk to the driver? Yeah, didn't notice anything suspicious.
With all that rotting food inside, hard to tell if there's a body.
This could take a while.
Well, we only have to go through the green bags, 'cause those are the ones that the studio uses.
Maggots.
I don't even notice anymore.
Got an arm.
Definitely male.
Mr.
Deveraux, I presume.
Hard to say.
Henry wasn't able to extract a DNA profile from the blood found in the kitchen.
Looks like some of the flesh has been excised.
Probably used to make that herb-crusted meat.
Let's see if we can find the rest of him.
Those look like fried mac and cheese balls.
Definitely not mac and cheese.
I think it's something else.
Rocky Mountain Oysters.
Aren't those fried bull testicles? Indeed, they are, and quite delicious.
It's like a light chicken nugget.
But they're about three times bigger than this.
This is an orchidometer.
It measures testicle size.
And these are consistent with that of an adult human.
Guess the killer didn't want to waste anything.
Ugh.
Gross.
Hey, did you ever hear about that Japanese chef? He removed his own genitals, and then served them at a dinner party for $250 plate.
Lowballed.
Look at that.
Dark pigmentation on the chicharone.
Maybe I can reconstitute it.
That's a tattoo.
Where have I seen that before? I would call you chef, but that would demean the entire profession.
That's the tattoo, but that's not Graham Deveraux.
No, that's Derek Barlow.
Who was just eliminated from the show? And now eliminated for good.
So, Derek Barlow is not our killer.
He's our victim.
DNA just confirmed it.
Okay, where's Deveraux? Still unaccounted for.
Oh.
A lot of killers miss work the day after they commit murder.
Anyway, we know that Deveraux had an altercation with Barlow yesterday.
Maybe we have the right players, just in the wrong roles.
You ask me, they're both scumbags.
Especially Derek.
I know, as a producer, I'm supposed to be impartial, but that guy was a piece of work.
He did not appear that way on the show.
He was a great chef, and I wanted the audience to root for him, so I cut out a lot of the stuff where he was being an ass.
I can show you the raw footage.
Sure.
What the hell?! Why don't you pick up your mess, sweetheart? You're such an ass! Mmm! That is exactly how I like seeing my ladies in the kitchen-- on their hands and knees.
Ugh.
That's just the tip of the iceberg.
He tried to sabotage all the contestants.
Now this seems personal.
I mean, who would have hated him enough to want to cook him? To be honest, I wouldn't put it past any of them.
Derek tried to sabotage me.
Well, screw him.
I always thought his cooking was overrated.
He's gone, and I'm in the final four.
With Derek out of the way, I really think I can win this thing.
Greg and I were able to recover most of Derek Barlow.
At least the parts that didn't make it to the dinner table.
You know, I read somewhere that the Yanomamo tribe in the Amazon consume pieces of their deceased loved ones as an act of mourning.
A way of keeping them alive within them.
Well, I don't think that was the case with Mr.
Barlow here.
Finlay said everyone hated him.
Yes, but at least the killer was kind enough to kill Mr.
Barlow before they dismembered and cooked him.
Look at the margins near the disarticulations.
Skin is blanched.
Orange in color.
Blood wasn't circulating.
May I? Go ahead.
Looks like he's had a head injury.
Found that examining underneath his hairline.
Based on the bruising, at least 48 hours old.
It's unrelated to his death.
So, what's C.
O.
D.
? Exsanguination due to multiple sharp force injuries.
Based on the width and depth of the wounds, I'd say the killer used a single-edged knife with approximately a seven-inch blade.
Do you think the killer used the same knife to dismember him? No, I don't believe so.
Look at the radius and ulna here-- not a mark on them.
The flesh was removed with great skill and with the proper knife.
A boning knife.
Yeah, something any professional chef would have.
Now, the stabbing, however, was less precise.
I noted tool marks on the ribs.
Well, if we can microsil the tool marks, we may be able to identify the knife and our killer.
Rod Steward.
I love his music, but what's he got to do with this? No, that's Rod Stewart.
This is Rod Steward, with a "D.
" He's a designer of high-end men's shoes.
Very expensive.
His size-ten loafer matches an impression on the gel mat that Finn found at the crime scene.
Well, that's interesting, 'cause when I was on the set, I noticed most of the crew wearing running shoes.
So did a lot of the contestants.
Well, up-and-coming chefs don't make a lot of money.
But celebrity chefs do.
Graham Deveraux, our missing judge.
Not missing anymore.
You feeling better? Oh, just dandy.
Lot of people have been looking for you.
What can I say? I'm a popular guy.
You're also the lead suspect in a homicide investigation.
What are you talking about? Derek Barlow, the contestant who attacked you-- he was murdered last night.
Oh.
Barlow is dead.
Huh.
He was stabbed to death in the Elite Chef kitchen.
No.
Well, that counts me out.
Judges aren't allowed in that kitchen.
It's against the rules.
If it's against the rules, then how do you explain the fact that we found an impression of your size ten Rod Steward loafer in the kitchen of Elite Chef right next to where Derek Barlow was murdered? Because I was there, but not with Barlow.
That hot female contestant-- what was her name? Uh, Cici? Yeah.
She was showing me her secret rub recipe.
What time? I don't know.
Around 6:00, after we finished filming.
And after your little hookup, you arranged for Derek to meet you in the kitchen so you could teach him a little lesson.
Payback for attacking you on the show.
Derek Barlow wasn't just murdered.
He was carved up, cooked,and his blood turned into caviar.
Molecular gastronomy-- which also happens to be your area of expertise.
Look, any idiot can try their hand at molecular gastronomy for the bargain price of $59.
99.
You just buy a kit online.
Where were you after 9:00 last night? Uh, I was in a limo downtown doing body shots of tequila off two lovely young ladies.
You can ask them if you don't believe me.
Their names were Candy and Brown Sugar.
So, you have something for me? I found kratom in Derek Barlow's stomach contents.
It's a leafy herb from Thailand.
Makes the ingestor irritable and on edge.
So, Barlow was drugged.
Might explain why he attacked Graham Deveraux last night.
In high doses, that herb can be fatal.
So, what if someone tried to poison him, but it didn't work, so the killer had to stab him instead? Plausible theory.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, uh, where are you and Elisabetta registered? I wanted to make sure that I got you something you need.
That's very kind of you.
But, honestly, I have no idea.
Elisabetta is in charge of all things nuptial.
Really? All I got to do is get to the church on time.
That's funny.
I always thought of you as a detail-oriented kind of guy.
And yet, you're not even interested in planning the most important day of your life? Well, work keeps me very busy.
Can I give you some advice, coming from somebody who's been down the aisle a couple times? You should, um you should get involved.
You should have an opinion.
You know, band, DJ.
Roses, lilies.
I know it may not seem important, but if the groom does not really care about the wedding, it makes the bride feel like you don't really care about her.
It's symbolic.
Analyzed the tool marks on Barlow's rib cage.
Turns out, he was stabbed by his own knife.
Guess the, uh, chefs all have their own distinct set of knives.
They're all kept in the kitchen.
Where anyone in the cast or crew has access.
Doesn't help us narrow down our list of suspects at all.
But this might.
Curtis LeBlanc, one of the contestants.
But according to that, he used to be Curtis Gant.
It looks like Mr.
Cordon Bleu has a record.
Back in 2001, he served four years for possession with intent to sell.
Didn't the show do a background check? Well, according to the producer, just cursory ones.
Mainly to validate culinary history.
But if Curtis lied to the show about his criminal past, that would be cause for elimination.
Maybe Barlow found out about Curtis's secret, threatened to expose him.
Now that would be motive for murder.
I perfected my craft in kitchens all over the world.
It's my time now.
No one's gonna stand in my way.
Well, congratulations, Mr.
LeBlanc.
Word on the street is you're the odds-on favorite to win Elite Chef.
Not bad for an ex-con who honed his culinary skills making vats of mystery meat stew in the federal pen.
Of course, you were Curtis Gant back then.
Look, I-I was, um I was a new man when I got out.
A better man, so so I changed my name.
But you didn't tell the show.
You actually lied about your criminal past.
And if they had found out, you would have been kicked off.
You would have lost your shot at a half a million dollars.
Only one person on the show knew your secret.
That was your buddy, Derek Barlow.
As it turns out, you guys go way back.
You were frat brothers at Brassard University in Florida.
Friends ever since.
Even roommates here on the show.
But, I mean, let's face it.
Half a million dollars-- that could turn even the best of friends into enemies.
What happened? Barlow threatened to expose your secret? Is that why you killed him? We know that you tried to poison him earlier in the day.
We found trace amounts of the herb kratom in his stomach contents.
You special-ordered it from Thailand two weeks ago, so give me a break.
But that didn't kill him, so you lured him into the kitchen and you stabbed him to death.
I didn't kill Derek.
I wasn't even in the kitchen last night.
I didn't stab him and I wasn't trying to poison him.
I just I gave him a little kratom to-to make him sick, to throw him off his game.
Derek was always better than me at everything.
Even on the show, he was winning every challenge.
I just needed an edge.
So, after you edged out Derek, where did you go? Back to our room.
How long did you stay there? All night.
Drank till I passed out.
Look, I-I wasn't trying to get Derek eliminated.
I just wanted to win.
Nice digs for a reality show.
So Derek Barlow was killed in the kitchen sometime between 10:00 and 6:00, which means Curtis LeBlanc could have left this room anytime during that window and the cameras wouldn't have picked him up.
Barlow was stabbed multiple times, dismembered.
Must have been a lot of blood.
Killer would have definitely gotten some on him.
Let's see if LeBlanc took some to go.
Morgan, look at this.
A fingerprint in blood.
Looks like it might have been used as a weapon.
Didn't Barlow have a blunt force trauma to his head? Two days before he was killed.
Maybe that's when Barlow threatened to go to the executive producers and tell them about Curtis's prison time.
They got into a fight.
- No, no, no Hey, hey.
- Then it got physical.
What are you gonna do, huh? After the fight, Barlow promises to keep his mouth shut, but Curtis can't take the chance, so two nights later LeBlanc may have cleaned up the kitchen, but he left a mess here.
Could send him right back to prison.
The alarm clock that we found under Curtis LeBlanc's bed? Blood on it belonged to the victim Derek Barlow.
Was the fingerprint LeBlanc's? No, but it did match another one of the contestants.
Huh, Michelle Rowlands.
She's kind of the underdog on the show.
She's tough.
Tough enough to commit murder? I miss my daughter so much.
Losing is not an option.
Michelle, I'm impressed.
You made it to the final four of an elite culinary competition.
You're a diner chef from Ohio.
And a woman.
I mean, I worked twice as hard as the guys to get where I am.
Yeah, I hear the culinary world can be a bit of a boys club.
That's an understatement.
And Derek Barlow is their poster boy.
We know that he sabotaged you more than once.
You must have been very happy when Derek was kicked off the show.
He got what he deserved.
In more ways than one.
We found this alarm clock in Curtis and Derek's room.
That there is your fingerprint in Derek's blood.
What happened, Michelle? Had you had enough of his abuse? Decide to get back at him for how he treated you? You obviously got into an altercation with him in his room, and two days later he's dead.
I didn't kill him.
You had motive, opportunity, and you certainly had the skill set to cut him up and cook him.
It's premeditated murder.
A cou a couple nights ago, Derek invited me to his room.
Curtis wasn't there.
He said he wanted to form an alliance.
He gave me a drink.
Tasted like licorice.
There must have been something in it, because next thing I knew, I woke up and Derek was on top of me.
His hand around my throat.
No, stop, please, stop! Shut up.
I couldn't get him off of me, so I grabbed the alarm clock and then I got out of there.
Well, how come you didn't contact the police, Ms.
Rowlands? It was just the two of us in there.
It would have been my word against his.
Besides a female chef accusing a male chef of rape? I would have never worked again.
You know, I gave up everything to be here.
You know, quit my job, used up my savings.
Weeks away from my daughter.
All of it would have been for nothing.
You know, I'm not sorry Derek is dead.
But I didn't kill him.
So, this was shot two days before Derek Barlow was murdered.
According to Michelle Rowlands, the rape happened just before 10:00 p.
m.
If she's telling the truth.
Well, there she is.
She looks pretty upset.
I'd believe her.
But this does not clear her of Barlow's murder.
If anything, it gives her a stronger motive.
Well, she already hated the guy.
This might have pushed her over the edge.
Let's look for evidence, see if we're right.
Whoa, hang on a sec.
Yeah.
That's Barlow's roommate Curtis LeBlanc, just minutes after Michelle left the room.
But she said he wasn't in the room that night.
Michelle was drugged.
Curtis could have raped her while she was unconscious, then been in the bathroom while Derek had his turn.
These guys are worse than we thought.
So, this one is called Tropical Desire.
Yellow butter cake with Meyer lemon curd and key lime mouse-- mousse.
Hmm it's tart.
I thought it was light and refreshing, not so sweet.
Well, I mean, if-if you like it, then we should go with that one.
We both need to like it.
The wedding cake is like il simbolo del nostro amore.
In Italy, when the bride and the groom feed each other cake, it tells the world that they will take care each other forever.
Can't we tell the world with a flan? 'Cause I'm-I'm not a big cake guy.
Wow, those look amazing.
You want to help us sample some? We're trying to make a decision.
Oh, no, no, that's something that only you two can choose.
So, Elisabetta, is your family coming over for the wedding? Of course.
My parents, brothers, few of my cousins, la mia nonna.
She has a big family.
Oh, must be hard to be so far away from them.
Ah, yeah.
I miss them so much, but no, living here-- it's not forever, solo temporanea.
Temporary? Uh, uh, what do you mean? Of course we will have babies and we move back to Italy.
Honey, I-I thought you liked it here.
Las Vegas is an amazing city, but it's no place to raise a family.
Yeah, but listen.
I-I've built a career here.
It's just a job, David.
My father said you can work at the vineyard with my brothers.
I'm a highly trained scientist.
I have helped put serial killers behind bars, and y-you want me to go stomp grapes for a living? La Dolce Vita is not about work.
I'm sorry, we shouldn't argue in front of you.
It's okay, a couple needs to iron out these details before they go down the aisle.
I wish I had done that with my first husband.
When we first got together, it was very romantic-- very much like you two.
Where did you guys meet? We met at a forensics seminar.
Ended up ditching, spent the whole week together, and then, a month later, we got engaged.
And then, uh, we got married and real life set in, and as much as we loved each other, we were still very, very different people with different goals and different needs and Just wasn't meant to be.
I'm thinking, uh, white chocolate raspberry symphony.
Anybody else? I'm sorry to have to tell you that, in light of the ongoing investigation, legal has decided to shut us down for the remainder of the season.
I'm sorry, you have been an exceptional crew, and you will all be paid for the next two weeks.
In the meantime, uh, let's strike the sets and get rid of all the perishables.
I'm so sorry.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, excuse me.
What's going on? Who is it? Blunt force trauma to the head.
Makes Curtis LeBlanc the second chef murdered this week.
Killer competition.
Smells like soda.
There's some trace in this wound.
Looks like paper.
Maybe from that label.
Blood, bits of flesh.
Yeah, this could be our murder weapon.
You know, Russell and I found evidence that LeBlanc was in the room when Michelle Rowlands was raped.
Yeah, but she never implicated him, just Derek Barlow.
Maybe because she wanted to take care of him herself.
Two men involved with the rape.
Now they're both dead.
Serving up her own justice.
So, I checked VICAP.
You know, Michelle Rowlands' rape was very well planned.
On a hunch, I entered some two men, date rape drug and a trace of licorice.
And I got nothing.
Pretty unusual combination.
But then I thought there has to be other things that taste like licorice, right? Like-like fennel.
Ouzo.
And anise.
And then I got this hit.
Unsolved case from over 15 years ago.
College freshman named Sally Lennon was raped and murdered at a Brassard University music festival.
Traces of GHB and anise extract.
Barlow and LeBlanc went to the very same college.
And when LeBlanc was arrested for drug-dealing, they found his GHB in anise extract bottles.
Says here two unidentified semen donors entered into CODIS.
Did you run that against Barlow and LeBlanc? I did.
And? They matched.
So these two guys have raped before.
C.
O.
D.
was asphyxiation due to manual strangulation.
And Sally's body was found scavenged by animals.
Based on this old case, Michelle Rowlands is very lucky to be alive.
Hey, Doc.
Got a C.
O.
D.
on Mr.
LeBlanc? Not blunt force trauma.
Take a look at the esophagus here.
You see this swelling? It's laryngeal edema.
There's also evidence of eosinophilia in the lungs.
Anaphylaxis.
According to his medical records, he had a severe almond allergy.
Even trace amounts would've caused his throat to swell shut, resulting in asphyxiation.
But we know that he was hit in the head with a frozen leg of lamb.
Maybe, maybe not.
It's possible that when Mr.
LeBlanc started losing consciousness from the anaphylaxis, he fell, hitting his head on the leg of lamb.
He had to have known that he was deathly allergic to almonds.
How did they get in his system? I didn't notice any needle marks or almonds in the stomach contents.
Only soda.
Morgan collected a drinking cup from the crime scene.
Hey-o.
So, uh, I found trace amounts of amygdalin and benzaldehyde in the soda.
Almond extract.
Every single person on that show knew about LeBlanc's allergy, including Michelle Rowlands.
Greg's analyzing the cup now.
Maybe he can find out who tampered with it.
Let's hope.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Mmm.
Hey, um do you have a second? Of course.
Do you think that I'm making a huge mistake by marrying Elisabetta? Uh I can't tell you what to do.
But I can tell you that, whatever you decide, I'm gonna be here for you.
Uh, um I should get back to work.
So, um I went to this wedding last year.
They wrote their own vows, which was kind of funny.
But the groom he said something that just man, it stuck with me.
"Never marry the one "that you think you can live with.
Marry the one you know you can't live without.
" I figured out the source of the almond extract that killed Curtis LeBlanc.
It wasn't his drink.
It was his straw.
Hidden inside was a sugar straw laced with almond extract, made precisely to fit inside Curtis LeBlanc's straw.
He would have never noticed it.
So when he took a sip of the soda, it passed through the sugar straw, picking up trace amounts of almond extract, which then entered into his system.
His throat swelled up.
Good night, Curtis.
But here's the thing: when rolling sugar, no matter how careful you are, it's hard not to leave an impression.
Tell me you got a print.
Better than that, I got a match.
Ms.
Bradley, as a producer, I assumed you worked your way up the ranks in television, but as it turns out, you're a classically trained chef.
I took courses at the Culinary Institute of America.
Ah, so you learned, uh, all about cooking, you know, from butchering to baking.
Yeah, I've always been fascinated with how chefs can make almost anything out of sugar, from a sculpture of a fire-breathing dragon to something as simple as a straw laced with almond extract.
This is the straw that killed Curtis LeBlanc.
And that's your print.
We know you murdered LeBlanc.
We're pretty sure you murdered Derek Barlow, too.
What we didn't know was why until we started digging into your background and found out that your maiden name was Lennon.
Same last name as a young girl who was raped and murdered 15 years ago-- Sally Lennon, your little sister.
And the case was never solved.
When they found her, she was wearing my favorite sweater.
She was always taking my stuff.
It's the only thing we ever fought about.
The case went cold.
My parents shut down.
They they couldn't even mention her name.
Must have helped that your college buddies, Derek and Curtis, were there for you.
You've been friends with them ever since.
When you found out what they did to your sister, you arranged to get them on the show.
You wanted them on your turf so that you could kill them.
No.
I only found out three days ago.
I was going through raw footage, and saw Michelle coming out of Derek and Curtis's room, half naked, crying.
She told me about the rape.
She'd been drugged, tasted anise.
Derek's hand was around her throat.
Sounded just like what happened to Sally.
So then you confronted Derek.
Oh You and Curtis raped my sister, strangled her, then dumped her in the woods like a piece of trash.
Nadine, Nadine.
You pretended to be my friend.
You You knew how hard it was for me all these years.
- I know, I know.
No, no, no.
No! And the whole time, it was you! I get why you wanted Derek Barlow dead, but you didn't just kill him.
You carved him up, you cooked him.
You served him to people.
My sister was ripped apart and eaten by animals.
My parents couldn't bring themselves to identify the body, so I had to do it.
I have had that image in my head every day for 15 years.
Derek deserved everything he got.
And you wanted to do the same thing to Curtis, but there were cops everywhere, so you had to make his death look like an accident.
I made them pay for what they did.
And I finally got justice for my sister.
Funny thing about Italian ice.
Some scholars believe that it wasn't invented in Italy.
That it was actually created in China.
David Elisabetta Uh Uh, sorry.
You go first.
No, no, you go first.
I've been wanting to talk to you about something.
And I don't know how to say this, but, um, lately, I I've been feeling that David, it's okay.
I know.
I've been feeling the same.
You and I-- we're very different people.
We both like different things.
You're not happy here.
You'll not be happy in Italy, either.
You'll miss your friends, you'll miss your work.
And if we were truly meant to be together that wouldn't matter.
Unfortunately, it does.
I need to go now.
Yeah.
I will always love you.
Ti amo.
Ciao, David.
I'm sorry.
Only one of these chefs will take home half a million dollars.
Will it be Ray, the firefighter turned chef? Curtis, Mr.
Cordon Bleu? Or Cici, the private chef to the stars? Or Michelle, the talented hash-slinging single mom? Chefs, what would you say is the most indispensable tool in your kitchen? That's easy, my knife.
Something even more essential.
My palate.
Very good, Michelle.
Today's advantage round is a palate test.
Each one of you gonna sample one of these four dishes and identify the mystery protein.
First chef to do so will win immunity for the next round.
Chefs.
Give it a try.
Looks like some herb-crusted meat.
It's not beef or pork.
It's too chewy.
Strong iron flavor.
Is this made from liver? Maybe lamb? That's incorrect.
Lots of Asian spices.
Reminds me of a fish eye soup I had in Vietnam.
Definitely not a fish eye.
Could be pig? Oh, my God, is that a contact lens? It's human! It looks human.
But, uh, I can't say for sure.
You know, they're down to the final four.
They must shoot this show, like, six weeks ahead, because I watched last night, and there were still ten contestants.
Can you believe Michelle is still in the running? After she served that undercooked chicken roulade to the judges last week? Didn't realize you guys were such big fans of the show.
Good-looking people making great-looking food? We love this show.
Well, you're gonna have to find some other show to watch until we figure out this mystery ingredient.
It's not caviar.
Definitely human blood.
Oh, brother.
I got it right! I guessed "human"! You all heard me say it.
I win immunity.
Oh, come on.
That's crap! We were all thinking it.
You just said it first.
Nobody wins this round.
The mystery protein was supposed to be - kangaroo.
- It doesn't matter.
I got it right.
I win.
Ray? Is that your name? Ray? Yeah.
What made you think it was human? Last time I checked, animals don't wear contacts.
But didn't you think it was a little bit odd that a show would cook and serve up a human being? Mm-mm.
That wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen on a reality show.
This is an elite culinary competition, not Fear Factor.
Somebody must have sabotaged these dishes.
Maybe they swapped the meat to give themselves an edge up.
What do you think, Ray? They don't exactly sell human body parts at the grocery store.
No, no.
There's only two ways you get a body: you steal it or you kill it.
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! You know, it's gonna be hard to I.
D.
our victim.
Once flesh has cooked, the DNA becomes denatured.
Yeah.
There's no way an entire body was used to make these four dishes.
So what happened to the remains of the remains? That's what I'd like to know.
So, who's in charge here? Right here, sir.
Oh, there you go.
Uh, ma'am? Sorry.
Could we, uh, talk to you for a second? Hi.
Executive producer, Nadine Bradley.
Uh, how long is this going to take? Because we were right in the middle of filming.
Ms.
Bradley, you-you called us when you found human body parts in your food.
We're gonna need to find out how that happened.
Yeah, well, we're the highest rated culinary competition show on air, so any of our rivals could've pulled a stunt like this to try and sabotage us.
Or an eliminated contestant.
The prize money is just the beginning.
Your past winners have gone on to open their own restaurants, become celebrity chefs.
A win is worth millions.
I doubt any of them are involved.
The eliminated contestants are sequestered at a nearby hotel-- we don't want viewers knowing who's been kicked off.
We're gonna also need to see your footage from the last 48 hours.
We have 13 cameras on this stage, seven in the house set where the remaining contestants live.
Are they on all the time? No.
The cameras on the house set shut down about 10:00.
That's still over 500 hours of footage.
So, this was a palate test.
The contestants did not cook the food.
Who did? We have a team of prep chefs who use the kitchen set after-hours.
Clocked out about 9:00 last night.
Went and did an event at the Palermo, then came back at 6:00 this morning.
We're still gonna need to talk to 'em though.
Who had access to the kitchen last night? The contestants and the entire crew.
That's legal.
Sorry.
I have to take this.
Cast and crew? That is over 100 suspects.
Well body was cooked in the kitchen.
Can't believe I just said that.
Start in the kitchen.
I just found human blood down that drain.
Hmm.
Could be the body was dismembered here.
Can you hand me that luminol, please? Sure.
I'll get the lights.
Thanks.
That's a large volume of blood.
Lights, please.
Means we're not looking at a stolen body.
We're looking at murder.
Well, the prep chefs left at 9:00, so the murder must have happened after that.
You know, these gel mats can hold an impression for up to 12 hours.
Very close to the blood pool.
Maybe we can I.
D.
the last person who stepped on it.
Might be our killer.
You've heard how Jesus turned water into wine.
Now watch in amazement as I turn blood into caviar.
You're comparing yourself to Jesus? Wow.
First, I take the blood and add it to a mixture of calcium glucocinate and calcium lactate.
Next, I add xanthan, a polysaccharide secreted from the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris.
Used as a thickening agent in food and a stabilizing agent in makeup.
I took chemistry, too.
Blend until thoroughly dissolved.
I take my handy pipette, extract some of the blood mixture and drop it into the alginate one drop at a time.
I will pull the sphere from the alginate, plunge it into an ice-cold water bath and buon appetito.
I'll pass, thanks.
As you can see, molecular gastronomy requires great skill and an aptitude for chemistry.
Something not all chefs possess.
So we still don't have a suspect.
No.
But I have a very good idea who the victim might be.
Graham Deveraux is missing.
Who's that? One of the founding fathers of molecular gastronomy.
He has a Michelin-star restaurant on the Strip.
He was the guest judge.
Taped an episode of Elite Chef yesterday.
And then this morning, did not show up for work.
You think he's the one in the soup? Well, he did have a very big confrontation with the contestant who was just eliminated.
I wouldn't feed it to my dog.
And I hate my dog.
This looks like a big mess on a plate.
No sense of presentation.
The presentation was flawed, but I think that it was seasoned very well.
But you seem to fail to appreciate there are other spices than pepper.
I would call you "Chef," but that would demean the entire profession.
That guy's just mean.
I think he's being honest.
Derek, I'm sorry, but you are not the Elite Chef.
I believe you have some passion for food, and maybe someday you'll have your own restaurant.
Where he will probably kill someone with salmonella poisoning.
Your cooking is horrific, Mr.
Barlow.
Do restaurant patrons a favor everywhere and get out of the food industry.
Call security! Get him off me! You know what? You better watch your back, Deveraux.
- Watch your back.
- Okay.
That was a threat.
Derek was such a nice guy on the show, but I guess even nice guys have their breaking point.
Back a bit more.
Keep it coming.
That's great.
Perfect.
Thanks.
Lucky you managed to stop the garbage truck before it made it to the dump.
All the trash collected from Elite Chef this morning is still inside.
You talk to the driver? Yeah, didn't notice anything suspicious.
With all that rotting food inside, hard to tell if there's a body.
This could take a while.
Well, we only have to go through the green bags, 'cause those are the ones that the studio uses.
Maggots.
I don't even notice anymore.
Got an arm.
Definitely male.
Mr.
Deveraux, I presume.
Hard to say.
Henry wasn't able to extract a DNA profile from the blood found in the kitchen.
Looks like some of the flesh has been excised.
Probably used to make that herb-crusted meat.
Let's see if we can find the rest of him.
Those look like fried mac and cheese balls.
Definitely not mac and cheese.
I think it's something else.
Rocky Mountain Oysters.
Aren't those fried bull testicles? Indeed, they are, and quite delicious.
It's like a light chicken nugget.
But they're about three times bigger than this.
This is an orchidometer.
It measures testicle size.
And these are consistent with that of an adult human.
Guess the killer didn't want to waste anything.
Ugh.
Gross.
Hey, did you ever hear about that Japanese chef? He removed his own genitals, and then served them at a dinner party for $250 plate.
Lowballed.
Look at that.
Dark pigmentation on the chicharone.
Maybe I can reconstitute it.
That's a tattoo.
Where have I seen that before? I would call you chef, but that would demean the entire profession.
That's the tattoo, but that's not Graham Deveraux.
No, that's Derek Barlow.
Who was just eliminated from the show? And now eliminated for good.
So, Derek Barlow is not our killer.
He's our victim.
DNA just confirmed it.
Okay, where's Deveraux? Still unaccounted for.
Oh.
A lot of killers miss work the day after they commit murder.
Anyway, we know that Deveraux had an altercation with Barlow yesterday.
Maybe we have the right players, just in the wrong roles.
You ask me, they're both scumbags.
Especially Derek.
I know, as a producer, I'm supposed to be impartial, but that guy was a piece of work.
He did not appear that way on the show.
He was a great chef, and I wanted the audience to root for him, so I cut out a lot of the stuff where he was being an ass.
I can show you the raw footage.
Sure.
What the hell?! Why don't you pick up your mess, sweetheart? You're such an ass! Mmm! That is exactly how I like seeing my ladies in the kitchen-- on their hands and knees.
Ugh.
That's just the tip of the iceberg.
He tried to sabotage all the contestants.
Now this seems personal.
I mean, who would have hated him enough to want to cook him? To be honest, I wouldn't put it past any of them.
Derek tried to sabotage me.
Well, screw him.
I always thought his cooking was overrated.
He's gone, and I'm in the final four.
With Derek out of the way, I really think I can win this thing.
Greg and I were able to recover most of Derek Barlow.
At least the parts that didn't make it to the dinner table.
You know, I read somewhere that the Yanomamo tribe in the Amazon consume pieces of their deceased loved ones as an act of mourning.
A way of keeping them alive within them.
Well, I don't think that was the case with Mr.
Barlow here.
Finlay said everyone hated him.
Yes, but at least the killer was kind enough to kill Mr.
Barlow before they dismembered and cooked him.
Look at the margins near the disarticulations.
Skin is blanched.
Orange in color.
Blood wasn't circulating.
May I? Go ahead.
Looks like he's had a head injury.
Found that examining underneath his hairline.
Based on the bruising, at least 48 hours old.
It's unrelated to his death.
So, what's C.
O.
D.
? Exsanguination due to multiple sharp force injuries.
Based on the width and depth of the wounds, I'd say the killer used a single-edged knife with approximately a seven-inch blade.
Do you think the killer used the same knife to dismember him? No, I don't believe so.
Look at the radius and ulna here-- not a mark on them.
The flesh was removed with great skill and with the proper knife.
A boning knife.
Yeah, something any professional chef would have.
Now, the stabbing, however, was less precise.
I noted tool marks on the ribs.
Well, if we can microsil the tool marks, we may be able to identify the knife and our killer.
Rod Steward.
I love his music, but what's he got to do with this? No, that's Rod Stewart.
This is Rod Steward, with a "D.
" He's a designer of high-end men's shoes.
Very expensive.
His size-ten loafer matches an impression on the gel mat that Finn found at the crime scene.
Well, that's interesting, 'cause when I was on the set, I noticed most of the crew wearing running shoes.
So did a lot of the contestants.
Well, up-and-coming chefs don't make a lot of money.
But celebrity chefs do.
Graham Deveraux, our missing judge.
Not missing anymore.
You feeling better? Oh, just dandy.
Lot of people have been looking for you.
What can I say? I'm a popular guy.
You're also the lead suspect in a homicide investigation.
What are you talking about? Derek Barlow, the contestant who attacked you-- he was murdered last night.
Oh.
Barlow is dead.
Huh.
He was stabbed to death in the Elite Chef kitchen.
No.
Well, that counts me out.
Judges aren't allowed in that kitchen.
It's against the rules.
If it's against the rules, then how do you explain the fact that we found an impression of your size ten Rod Steward loafer in the kitchen of Elite Chef right next to where Derek Barlow was murdered? Because I was there, but not with Barlow.
That hot female contestant-- what was her name? Uh, Cici? Yeah.
She was showing me her secret rub recipe.
What time? I don't know.
Around 6:00, after we finished filming.
And after your little hookup, you arranged for Derek to meet you in the kitchen so you could teach him a little lesson.
Payback for attacking you on the show.
Derek Barlow wasn't just murdered.
He was carved up, cooked,and his blood turned into caviar.
Molecular gastronomy-- which also happens to be your area of expertise.
Look, any idiot can try their hand at molecular gastronomy for the bargain price of $59.
99.
You just buy a kit online.
Where were you after 9:00 last night? Uh, I was in a limo downtown doing body shots of tequila off two lovely young ladies.
You can ask them if you don't believe me.
Their names were Candy and Brown Sugar.
So, you have something for me? I found kratom in Derek Barlow's stomach contents.
It's a leafy herb from Thailand.
Makes the ingestor irritable and on edge.
So, Barlow was drugged.
Might explain why he attacked Graham Deveraux last night.
In high doses, that herb can be fatal.
So, what if someone tried to poison him, but it didn't work, so the killer had to stab him instead? Plausible theory.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, uh, where are you and Elisabetta registered? I wanted to make sure that I got you something you need.
That's very kind of you.
But, honestly, I have no idea.
Elisabetta is in charge of all things nuptial.
Really? All I got to do is get to the church on time.
That's funny.
I always thought of you as a detail-oriented kind of guy.
And yet, you're not even interested in planning the most important day of your life? Well, work keeps me very busy.
Can I give you some advice, coming from somebody who's been down the aisle a couple times? You should, um you should get involved.
You should have an opinion.
You know, band, DJ.
Roses, lilies.
I know it may not seem important, but if the groom does not really care about the wedding, it makes the bride feel like you don't really care about her.
It's symbolic.
Analyzed the tool marks on Barlow's rib cage.
Turns out, he was stabbed by his own knife.
Guess the, uh, chefs all have their own distinct set of knives.
They're all kept in the kitchen.
Where anyone in the cast or crew has access.
Doesn't help us narrow down our list of suspects at all.
But this might.
Curtis LeBlanc, one of the contestants.
But according to that, he used to be Curtis Gant.
It looks like Mr.
Cordon Bleu has a record.
Back in 2001, he served four years for possession with intent to sell.
Didn't the show do a background check? Well, according to the producer, just cursory ones.
Mainly to validate culinary history.
But if Curtis lied to the show about his criminal past, that would be cause for elimination.
Maybe Barlow found out about Curtis's secret, threatened to expose him.
Now that would be motive for murder.
I perfected my craft in kitchens all over the world.
It's my time now.
No one's gonna stand in my way.
Well, congratulations, Mr.
LeBlanc.
Word on the street is you're the odds-on favorite to win Elite Chef.
Not bad for an ex-con who honed his culinary skills making vats of mystery meat stew in the federal pen.
Of course, you were Curtis Gant back then.
Look, I-I was, um I was a new man when I got out.
A better man, so so I changed my name.
But you didn't tell the show.
You actually lied about your criminal past.
And if they had found out, you would have been kicked off.
You would have lost your shot at a half a million dollars.
Only one person on the show knew your secret.
That was your buddy, Derek Barlow.
As it turns out, you guys go way back.
You were frat brothers at Brassard University in Florida.
Friends ever since.
Even roommates here on the show.
But, I mean, let's face it.
Half a million dollars-- that could turn even the best of friends into enemies.
What happened? Barlow threatened to expose your secret? Is that why you killed him? We know that you tried to poison him earlier in the day.
We found trace amounts of the herb kratom in his stomach contents.
You special-ordered it from Thailand two weeks ago, so give me a break.
But that didn't kill him, so you lured him into the kitchen and you stabbed him to death.
I didn't kill Derek.
I wasn't even in the kitchen last night.
I didn't stab him and I wasn't trying to poison him.
I just I gave him a little kratom to-to make him sick, to throw him off his game.
Derek was always better than me at everything.
Even on the show, he was winning every challenge.
I just needed an edge.
So, after you edged out Derek, where did you go? Back to our room.
How long did you stay there? All night.
Drank till I passed out.
Look, I-I wasn't trying to get Derek eliminated.
I just wanted to win.
Nice digs for a reality show.
So Derek Barlow was killed in the kitchen sometime between 10:00 and 6:00, which means Curtis LeBlanc could have left this room anytime during that window and the cameras wouldn't have picked him up.
Barlow was stabbed multiple times, dismembered.
Must have been a lot of blood.
Killer would have definitely gotten some on him.
Let's see if LeBlanc took some to go.
Morgan, look at this.
A fingerprint in blood.
Looks like it might have been used as a weapon.
Didn't Barlow have a blunt force trauma to his head? Two days before he was killed.
Maybe that's when Barlow threatened to go to the executive producers and tell them about Curtis's prison time.
They got into a fight.
- No, no, no Hey, hey.
- Then it got physical.
What are you gonna do, huh? After the fight, Barlow promises to keep his mouth shut, but Curtis can't take the chance, so two nights later LeBlanc may have cleaned up the kitchen, but he left a mess here.
Could send him right back to prison.
The alarm clock that we found under Curtis LeBlanc's bed? Blood on it belonged to the victim Derek Barlow.
Was the fingerprint LeBlanc's? No, but it did match another one of the contestants.
Huh, Michelle Rowlands.
She's kind of the underdog on the show.
She's tough.
Tough enough to commit murder? I miss my daughter so much.
Losing is not an option.
Michelle, I'm impressed.
You made it to the final four of an elite culinary competition.
You're a diner chef from Ohio.
And a woman.
I mean, I worked twice as hard as the guys to get where I am.
Yeah, I hear the culinary world can be a bit of a boys club.
That's an understatement.
And Derek Barlow is their poster boy.
We know that he sabotaged you more than once.
You must have been very happy when Derek was kicked off the show.
He got what he deserved.
In more ways than one.
We found this alarm clock in Curtis and Derek's room.
That there is your fingerprint in Derek's blood.
What happened, Michelle? Had you had enough of his abuse? Decide to get back at him for how he treated you? You obviously got into an altercation with him in his room, and two days later he's dead.
I didn't kill him.
You had motive, opportunity, and you certainly had the skill set to cut him up and cook him.
It's premeditated murder.
A cou a couple nights ago, Derek invited me to his room.
Curtis wasn't there.
He said he wanted to form an alliance.
He gave me a drink.
Tasted like licorice.
There must have been something in it, because next thing I knew, I woke up and Derek was on top of me.
His hand around my throat.
No, stop, please, stop! Shut up.
I couldn't get him off of me, so I grabbed the alarm clock and then I got out of there.
Well, how come you didn't contact the police, Ms.
Rowlands? It was just the two of us in there.
It would have been my word against his.
Besides a female chef accusing a male chef of rape? I would have never worked again.
You know, I gave up everything to be here.
You know, quit my job, used up my savings.
Weeks away from my daughter.
All of it would have been for nothing.
You know, I'm not sorry Derek is dead.
But I didn't kill him.
So, this was shot two days before Derek Barlow was murdered.
According to Michelle Rowlands, the rape happened just before 10:00 p.
m.
If she's telling the truth.
Well, there she is.
She looks pretty upset.
I'd believe her.
But this does not clear her of Barlow's murder.
If anything, it gives her a stronger motive.
Well, she already hated the guy.
This might have pushed her over the edge.
Let's look for evidence, see if we're right.
Whoa, hang on a sec.
Yeah.
That's Barlow's roommate Curtis LeBlanc, just minutes after Michelle left the room.
But she said he wasn't in the room that night.
Michelle was drugged.
Curtis could have raped her while she was unconscious, then been in the bathroom while Derek had his turn.
These guys are worse than we thought.
So, this one is called Tropical Desire.
Yellow butter cake with Meyer lemon curd and key lime mouse-- mousse.
Hmm it's tart.
I thought it was light and refreshing, not so sweet.
Well, I mean, if-if you like it, then we should go with that one.
We both need to like it.
The wedding cake is like il simbolo del nostro amore.
In Italy, when the bride and the groom feed each other cake, it tells the world that they will take care each other forever.
Can't we tell the world with a flan? 'Cause I'm-I'm not a big cake guy.
Wow, those look amazing.
You want to help us sample some? We're trying to make a decision.
Oh, no, no, that's something that only you two can choose.
So, Elisabetta, is your family coming over for the wedding? Of course.
My parents, brothers, few of my cousins, la mia nonna.
She has a big family.
Oh, must be hard to be so far away from them.
Ah, yeah.
I miss them so much, but no, living here-- it's not forever, solo temporanea.
Temporary? Uh, uh, what do you mean? Of course we will have babies and we move back to Italy.
Honey, I-I thought you liked it here.
Las Vegas is an amazing city, but it's no place to raise a family.
Yeah, but listen.
I-I've built a career here.
It's just a job, David.
My father said you can work at the vineyard with my brothers.
I'm a highly trained scientist.
I have helped put serial killers behind bars, and y-you want me to go stomp grapes for a living? La Dolce Vita is not about work.
I'm sorry, we shouldn't argue in front of you.
It's okay, a couple needs to iron out these details before they go down the aisle.
I wish I had done that with my first husband.
When we first got together, it was very romantic-- very much like you two.
Where did you guys meet? We met at a forensics seminar.
Ended up ditching, spent the whole week together, and then, a month later, we got engaged.
And then, uh, we got married and real life set in, and as much as we loved each other, we were still very, very different people with different goals and different needs and Just wasn't meant to be.
I'm thinking, uh, white chocolate raspberry symphony.
Anybody else? I'm sorry to have to tell you that, in light of the ongoing investigation, legal has decided to shut us down for the remainder of the season.
I'm sorry, you have been an exceptional crew, and you will all be paid for the next two weeks.
In the meantime, uh, let's strike the sets and get rid of all the perishables.
I'm so sorry.
Excuse me.
Excuse me, excuse me.
What's going on? Who is it? Blunt force trauma to the head.
Makes Curtis LeBlanc the second chef murdered this week.
Killer competition.
Smells like soda.
There's some trace in this wound.
Looks like paper.
Maybe from that label.
Blood, bits of flesh.
Yeah, this could be our murder weapon.
You know, Russell and I found evidence that LeBlanc was in the room when Michelle Rowlands was raped.
Yeah, but she never implicated him, just Derek Barlow.
Maybe because she wanted to take care of him herself.
Two men involved with the rape.
Now they're both dead.
Serving up her own justice.
So, I checked VICAP.
You know, Michelle Rowlands' rape was very well planned.
On a hunch, I entered some two men, date rape drug and a trace of licorice.
And I got nothing.
Pretty unusual combination.
But then I thought there has to be other things that taste like licorice, right? Like-like fennel.
Ouzo.
And anise.
And then I got this hit.
Unsolved case from over 15 years ago.
College freshman named Sally Lennon was raped and murdered at a Brassard University music festival.
Traces of GHB and anise extract.
Barlow and LeBlanc went to the very same college.
And when LeBlanc was arrested for drug-dealing, they found his GHB in anise extract bottles.
Says here two unidentified semen donors entered into CODIS.
Did you run that against Barlow and LeBlanc? I did.
And? They matched.
So these two guys have raped before.
C.
O.
D.
was asphyxiation due to manual strangulation.
And Sally's body was found scavenged by animals.
Based on this old case, Michelle Rowlands is very lucky to be alive.
Hey, Doc.
Got a C.
O.
D.
on Mr.
LeBlanc? Not blunt force trauma.
Take a look at the esophagus here.
You see this swelling? It's laryngeal edema.
There's also evidence of eosinophilia in the lungs.
Anaphylaxis.
According to his medical records, he had a severe almond allergy.
Even trace amounts would've caused his throat to swell shut, resulting in asphyxiation.
But we know that he was hit in the head with a frozen leg of lamb.
Maybe, maybe not.
It's possible that when Mr.
LeBlanc started losing consciousness from the anaphylaxis, he fell, hitting his head on the leg of lamb.
He had to have known that he was deathly allergic to almonds.
How did they get in his system? I didn't notice any needle marks or almonds in the stomach contents.
Only soda.
Morgan collected a drinking cup from the crime scene.
Hey-o.
So, uh, I found trace amounts of amygdalin and benzaldehyde in the soda.
Almond extract.
Every single person on that show knew about LeBlanc's allergy, including Michelle Rowlands.
Greg's analyzing the cup now.
Maybe he can find out who tampered with it.
Let's hope.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Mmm.
Hey, um do you have a second? Of course.
Do you think that I'm making a huge mistake by marrying Elisabetta? Uh I can't tell you what to do.
But I can tell you that, whatever you decide, I'm gonna be here for you.
Uh, um I should get back to work.
So, um I went to this wedding last year.
They wrote their own vows, which was kind of funny.
But the groom he said something that just man, it stuck with me.
"Never marry the one "that you think you can live with.
Marry the one you know you can't live without.
" I figured out the source of the almond extract that killed Curtis LeBlanc.
It wasn't his drink.
It was his straw.
Hidden inside was a sugar straw laced with almond extract, made precisely to fit inside Curtis LeBlanc's straw.
He would have never noticed it.
So when he took a sip of the soda, it passed through the sugar straw, picking up trace amounts of almond extract, which then entered into his system.
His throat swelled up.
Good night, Curtis.
But here's the thing: when rolling sugar, no matter how careful you are, it's hard not to leave an impression.
Tell me you got a print.
Better than that, I got a match.
Ms.
Bradley, as a producer, I assumed you worked your way up the ranks in television, but as it turns out, you're a classically trained chef.
I took courses at the Culinary Institute of America.
Ah, so you learned, uh, all about cooking, you know, from butchering to baking.
Yeah, I've always been fascinated with how chefs can make almost anything out of sugar, from a sculpture of a fire-breathing dragon to something as simple as a straw laced with almond extract.
This is the straw that killed Curtis LeBlanc.
And that's your print.
We know you murdered LeBlanc.
We're pretty sure you murdered Derek Barlow, too.
What we didn't know was why until we started digging into your background and found out that your maiden name was Lennon.
Same last name as a young girl who was raped and murdered 15 years ago-- Sally Lennon, your little sister.
And the case was never solved.
When they found her, she was wearing my favorite sweater.
She was always taking my stuff.
It's the only thing we ever fought about.
The case went cold.
My parents shut down.
They they couldn't even mention her name.
Must have helped that your college buddies, Derek and Curtis, were there for you.
You've been friends with them ever since.
When you found out what they did to your sister, you arranged to get them on the show.
You wanted them on your turf so that you could kill them.
No.
I only found out three days ago.
I was going through raw footage, and saw Michelle coming out of Derek and Curtis's room, half naked, crying.
She told me about the rape.
She'd been drugged, tasted anise.
Derek's hand was around her throat.
Sounded just like what happened to Sally.
So then you confronted Derek.
Oh You and Curtis raped my sister, strangled her, then dumped her in the woods like a piece of trash.
Nadine, Nadine.
You pretended to be my friend.
You You knew how hard it was for me all these years.
- I know, I know.
No, no, no.
No! And the whole time, it was you! I get why you wanted Derek Barlow dead, but you didn't just kill him.
You carved him up, you cooked him.
You served him to people.
My sister was ripped apart and eaten by animals.
My parents couldn't bring themselves to identify the body, so I had to do it.
I have had that image in my head every day for 15 years.
Derek deserved everything he got.
And you wanted to do the same thing to Curtis, but there were cops everywhere, so you had to make his death look like an accident.
I made them pay for what they did.
And I finally got justice for my sister.
Funny thing about Italian ice.
Some scholars believe that it wasn't invented in Italy.
That it was actually created in China.
David Elisabetta Uh Uh, sorry.
You go first.
No, no, you go first.
I've been wanting to talk to you about something.
And I don't know how to say this, but, um, lately, I I've been feeling that David, it's okay.
I know.
I've been feeling the same.
You and I-- we're very different people.
We both like different things.
You're not happy here.
You'll not be happy in Italy, either.
You'll miss your friends, you'll miss your work.
And if we were truly meant to be together that wouldn't matter.
Unfortunately, it does.
I need to go now.
Yeah.
I will always love you.
Ti amo.
Ciao, David.
I'm sorry.