CSI: Crime Scene Investigation s14e08 Episode Script

We invite the Ritthamels for wine and they don't show up? I mean, really, what's next? Honey what's that? I don't think that's the Ritthamels.
Mother of Male, Caucasian, in his 30s.
And this is how he rolls.
Volume of blood loss, lack of visible cardio activity.
He's definitely dead.
Couldn't have traveled far.
These folks recognize him as a neighbor? Yes, Bryce and Bunny.
They never saw him before, so police officers are knocking on doors asking the neighbors if anyone witnessed his wild ride.
Well, what do you think, David? This doesn't look like the kind of damage you'd get from just being tumbled around, does it? I think you're right.
Severe blunt-force injuries, primarily to the head and face.
So, obviously a murder.
Have you ever seen anything like this? Actually, I have.
It's a human hamster ball, I believe.
Saw one of these at the state fair with Charlie once.
It's airtight, waterproof, you can roll around in a pool for five bucks until you lose your corn dogs.
State fair corn dogs.
That sounds slightly more fun than this guy's experience.
All right, so we have to figure out who he is, where he came from and what in the spinning world happened to him.
Our entire crime scene is inside of this bubble, David, so I want you to get this back to the coroner's office, intact.
Seriously? Y-You want me to put that in my van? That'd be nice.
Have a ball.
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! Brody.
Heard you guys have a big, bloody ball of bad to work on.
Well, grave shift always gets the good ones.
Glad us swing shift guys are done.
Heard you got a sexual assault call, too.
Gonna be a busy night.
I'll drink my first one for you, huh? Mm-hmm.
Let him gloat.
I don't really like anybody that goes to bed before sunrise, anyways.
Agreed.
Hey, Morgan? The sexual assault call.
It's got to be our guy.
Similar victim and location.
Oh.
Oh, sorry.
Dawn.
Banks.
Swing shift.
Hi.
Seen you around.
Greg.
Hi.
Dawn and I worked separate home invasion rapes last week, realized we might be dealing with a serial.
Yeah, looks like he might have struck again.
Do, uh, you mind if I work this one with you? I don't sleep anyway.
Oh, um, sure.
Great.
I can head out to the scene.
The victim's waiting at PD.
All right, I'll talk to her.
Okay.
Good luck.
I didn't see him.
I-I didn't hear him.
I didn't know anything happened until I woke up.
Tell me what you can about your night, Amy.
What do you remember before you went to bed? I got off work at 8:00.
I'm-I'm a cocktail waitress.
Fell asleep in bed watching TV.
When I woke up, my head felt all cloudy.
And I was hurting.
I promise you, Amy, we're not gonna stop until we hunt this animal down.
I saw something on the news, that a girl got attacked last week a mile from my place.
Was this the same guy? I processed Amy's condo.
Point of entry was the back door.
The intruder used a bump key to bust open the lock.
Just like the other scenes.
Yeah, I found some rubble, crushed shells, just like the last scene.
Confirms it's the same guy.
Yeah.
It's just, this stuff is used to pave so many driveways around town.
Could have picked it up anywhere.
Found a few small pebbles of a different rocky material.
Oh, and fibers from a chloroform rag.
He knocked Amy out, just like the others.
And then, again with the TV.
The rapist turns it on and leaves it on.
He actually didn't turn it on at Amy's.
She said she likes to fall asleep to the news, so she left it on.
So this time, there's one less thing on his sick, twisted to-do list.
You know them? Yeah, I-I thought it was my son, Tyler.
I bought him a jacket like that last Christmas.
He's 19.
He comes home every couple of weeks.
I try to get him to stay, but then he wants to use in the house, and then he's gone and He's just out there.
You said you don't sleep.
You worry.
No I.
D.
on our victim, so we're hoping that the trace from the outside of the ball will help us determine its path, and where it came from will help us with who he is.
Well, however bumpy his path, that's not what killed him.
Intracerebral hemorrhage from blunt-force trauma is what bounced him from this mortal coil.
He was beaten with some sort of hard implement.
Small striking surface, semicircular lacerations.
Hmmn.
There were marks in his second skin, as well.
Second skin? I think I missed that anatomy class.
The thin vinyl of the ball was caught between the weapon and the victim.
So the victim was inside the ball, the assailant was outside of it.
And the weapon made distinct tool marks at the points of impact.
What's the brown trace? Those are paint flecks.
So, shape of the marks plus the brown color could help us identify the weapon.
Well, at least something good rolled this victim's way.
Forensic nurse exam was very helpful.
A swab of Amy Morse's neck found male DNA and amylase.
He kissed her.
Yeah.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a hit in CODIS.
But at least now we have a profile on him.
So, gets us a little closer.
Just not close enough to stop him.
You okay there, Hodges? You're familiar with the snowball effect? A sphere in motion tumbles along, picking up mass? Yeah? Well, the human hamster ball effect is worse.
Because it affects me.
To the tune of 37 different plant trace exemplars, each of which I am tasked with identifying.
That sucks.
I like you.
Now, before this avalanche came tumbling down on me, I ran the very reasonable amount of trace that you two brought me.
Crushed shell, just like at the previous scene.
What about the other rubble we found at the point of entry? A little more interesting.
"Concrete and titanium oxide"" Otherwise known as smog-eating concrete.
A new, unique material that helps reduce pollution.
The chemical additive is activated by sunlight and turns smoggy toxins into less-harmful compounds upon contact.
So where in Vegas can this stuff be found? It might help us find our assailant's point of origin.
It's in limited use nationally.
Haven't had the chance to determine if or where it might be present in Vegas.
I can look into it.
You're busy.
Did I mention my fondness for you? I like her.
All right, so where are we on this rape case? Victimology shows no links between the three rape victims.
None of them knew each other.
No shared routines.
No overlaps in their lives.
Other than being this guy's type-- early 20s, single, brunette, living alone in a first-floor condo.
The M.
O.
's consistent, right? I mean, he waits until they're asleep, uses a bump key on the back door lock to gain entry.
Except that at the first scene, he passes a wide-open window he could've used for entry.
He goes into the victim's bedroom.
Chloroforms her.
Turns on the TV, leaving it on while he assaults her.
Actually, Amy already had her television on, so he just left it playing.
What if it wasn't a coincidence? Maybe it's significant.
You get the feeling that he was more prepared with Amy? At the first scene, he overlooked the open window.
Second scene, he woke up a dog that got the neighbors all excited.
No missteps at Amy's house, and he picked the one night a week that she gets out of work early.
He might've been casing her home, known her habits.
It's more than that.
He knew he was gonna have to use a bump key to break into Amy's house.
He knew that she fell asleep with the TV on.
He re-created those conditions in the previous two scenes, because the first two rapes were rehearsals.
Practice runs.
I think Amy Morse was his intended target the whole time.
It could be anyone, Amy, um A customer, a coworker, a neighbor.
Has anyone given you unwanted attention? I thought this was some random psycho attacking random women.
Why would I have known him? We now believe the rapist may have targeted you specifically.
There is someone.
My ex-boyfriend, Jared Wallace.
When I broke up with him a couple months ago, he turned awful.
Started sending me these e-mails.
When I woke up after, I I could almost smell him in the room.
Jared? But it it was so faint, I-I thought I was imagining it, I We're gonna need to get a DNA sample from Jared.
Do you have anything from when you guys were dating? Hairbrush, um, article of clothing I just wanted to forget him.
Are you even sure her story's legit? Amy's a cocktail waitress.
That's kind of how she makes money-- leading guys on.
She takes one home and if she regrets it, buff one of the hundred notches out of the bedpost but don't call the cops.
Enough, Jared.
He doesn't mean that.
This is just a stressful situation.
Look, Jared, we're just going to take a swab of your DNA, and then you're free to go.
Yeah, I don't think so.
It'll only take a second.
And last a lifetime in your database.
I said no, and you can't force me unless you have a warrant.
Mr.
Wallace, as your son's attorney, perhaps you should advise I already told him no, too.
Wait a minute.
As his attorney, I have to support his decision.
Well, as his dad, don't you think you should tell him to man the hell up? Parent protects his kid no matter what disgusting thing the kid has done.
Dad can't see it.
Little boy who used to sit on his lap couldn't be capable of something so awful.
And if you are clear-eyed enough to see what he has done, what does that say about how you raised him? Dad, come on, let's get out of here.
Hey! You thought you got whatever you wanted, including Amy, and when you lost her, well If we're wrong, prove it.
Are you kidding me? You raped her, Jared.
Jared, no, no, Jared, Jared, Jared.
Jared.
You don't know who you're messing with.
You were hoping he would spit at you, right? Big loogie in the face would have been nice, but at least a good look in his eyes let me know we're right about him.
Leave the prop alone.
You guys got something to show me? Yes.
Now, you know that a rolling stiff gathers no moss, but it does gather an exhaustive assortment of flora.
That is the plant trace that we took off of the big ball-- Hodges I.
D.
'd it-- and this is a landscaping map that we got from the subdivision's gardener.
Each blade and bloom meticulously plotted and labeled.
So you're looking for one route-- probably downhill-- that makes contact with each of the plant varieties until it ends up in our unfortunate couple's front yard.
Took us 17 hours without a bathroom break, but we did it.
So we tracked the ball to its point of origin-- the backyard of one Zack Fisk.
The human hamster himself, rest his cardboard- chewing soul.
Back door's open.
Wide enough for the hamster ball to roll out.
Look at these fresh scuffs.
Right height for the ball.
So the ball knocks over the vase, spreads water over the carpet, does a few donuts right here, and out the door.
That is one hell of a ride before he even got out of the house.
He was trying to escape from whoever was wielding this.
Same shape as the impressions left in the hamster ball's skin.
Paint must have rubbed off during the assault.
Texture's not really conducive to prints.
Hmm.
Killer might have left this little bit of trace behind.
Hey, Jules, I think I just found this guy's romper room.
Ugh, all kinds of freaky fun.
Don't suppose he'll mind us looking at his computer, do you? "ConfinedBliss.
com-- a claustrophilia oasis.
" I guess that's the opposite of claustrophobia, right? People who get off on tight spaces.
Zack Fisk is in every video.
Well, let's go to the movies.
A ball like this, with a two-way zipper, is perfect for solo or partner play.
When sealed up, the ball contains in 15 minutes, the air will be thinning and my lovely playmate will be in bliss.
Claustrophilia can bring you to full sensory nirvana.
The lack of space, of oxygen makes you deliciously aware of every inch and impulse of your body.
With the strictest of boundaries comes the most exhilarating liberation.
Speaking of oxygen, I could use a little.
Since Zack was killed inside of the ball, his playmate's a pretty good suspect, right? I'll figure out who she is.
I got it.
Hey, Jules.
Yeah? Package delivered.
Huh, big package shows up a day after he's murdered.
Could be connected.
What do you think? Should we open it? Yeah.
Oh, Lord.
Well, whatever new pervy toys this guy just ordered, I think he went with solid steel.
That is no toy.
No, that's his playmate.
Dawn, it's Morgan again, following up on the case.
Uh, I really need to hear from you.
I'm just hoping you're, you're okay.
Please call me back.
Bye.
Everything all right? Oh, uh, Dawn Banks-- she didn't show up for her shift today.
When's the last time you talked to her? Yesterday, after she got in the face of our rape suspect Jared Wallace.
Well, do you want to do a welfare check, swing by her house? Yeah.
Door's unlocked.
Dawn? Looks like she left this place in a hurry.
Yeah.
She was working.
She got a response from a smog-eating concrete company last night.
Rapist tracked some of that stuff into the crime scenes, right? Yeah, and according to this e-mail, this stuff only exists on one half-mile strip of Verdugo Road.
Good lead.
Dawn? Aah! The hell are you guys doing here, huh?! Who are you guys? We're CSIs.
It's her son.
Tyler? We work with your mom.
So, when's the last time you saw her? Look, I don't know where she is.
Okay, I haven't been here in weeks.
I just came to get a bite.
Sure.
If she got fed up with me, everything else, ran off to the Bahamas or something, good for her, she deserves it.
Other than that, I don't know what else to tell you.
I'm gonna get out of here, crash somewhere else.
Uh, Tyler, wait.
I know you have your own life and everything, but I know your mom has been really, really worried about you.
I think you should stay.
Yeah, I'm sure she'd be happy to see you.
Look, I'm sorry.
If I see her, then I'll tell her someone else is looking out for her.
Thanks.
Hey, Brody, I heard you're on the rape case.
Stealing the glory again? Day shift doesn't start for another hour, Yeager.
Go get your breakfast buffet on.
No.
No carbs until I make CSI-3.
Bumped into Sidle.
She looped me in on the rape investigation.
So, what do you have? Uh, suspect tracked two different materials into the scene.
One was, uh, crushed shells and the other was a smog-eating concrete, and I found one location where both of these materials exist-- this trailer park.
So you think the rapist may have originated from there? Yeah, but it still doesn't clear our prime suspect-- victim's ex Jared Wallace.
Now, I thought he was some rich kid, not some trailer type.
Well, this particular trailer park has a lot of drug activity, and Wallace has an ecstasy charge on his record.
Okay, so Wallace swings by to score something before the rapes.
There's something else.
I think Dawn figured this out before I did and now she's missing.
Yeah, I heard-- no-show today.
I've worked with her.
That's not like Dawn.
Case had her amped, so I'm thinking maybe she found the same location.
Could be she ran into our suspect.
This e-mail was the last thing up on her computer.
Maybe she went to follow up.
Went to the trailer park, and then Oh, you think something happened to her? I don't know.
All right.
I'll drive.
Okay, the manager did not recognize Dawn or Jared Wallace, but he said people are in and out all hours.
He give you a list of the residents? No, he refused.
Suggested we move along.
It's okay.
We can do it another way.
You trying Dawn again? Yeah.
Morgan.
Try her again.
Nothing here.
This way.
Where the hell is she? Time for the "postal mortem"? No I.
D.
from prints or DNA.
Well, lividity's fixed.
It indicates her orientation in the box.
She was upside down.
Hmm.
So she was inverted during transit.
Well, autopsy will confirm, but I'd venture positional asphyxia was likely the cause of death.
Gravity causes the organs to impede the diaphragmatic movement.
No movement of the diaphragm, no breathing, suffocation.
There aren't any wounds evident on her.
It doesn't appear she was forced into the box.
That's bizarre.
Well, yes and no.
This woman was a claustrophiliac.
Which means that she liked to get off by getting into tight spaces.
The babe in the box is named Melody Davis.
The package was shipped from her residence across town 36 hours ago.
I also lifted some prints from the label.
Match to Zack Fisk.
So Fisk sealed his playmate up at her house, mailed her to his house to have a thrill? There's a catch.
Melody is married to a guy named Roy Davis.
Brass is breaking the news and bringing him in.
Your wife's death was accidental.
She got into that box voluntarily-- it's part of her claustrophilia pursuits that she indulged in with her friend Zack Fisk.
But I suspect you knew all about this, right? Yes, sir, I did.
I allowed it to save my marriage.
She said she needed her space.
Or lack of space.
She had met a man online, but she said it wasn't sex, it was just play.
And a couple of hours after your wife put herself in the box and mailed herself, I guess you got online and tracked the package on your home computer? She had told me about her shipping fantasy before.
But I forbid it.
It's far too dangerous.
But apparently, she hadn't heeded me.
You saw the package was delivered to, uh, Zack Fisk, so you went over there and confronted him, huh? No, sir.
That is not true.
Roy, what, uh, what line of work you in? I work on a ranch.
Horses.
Wide-open spaces.
Yeah, see, that was a trick question.
We found a kernel of your special blend of horse feed.
It was stuck to the murder weapon.
I mean, you gave this guy Fisk a lot of leeway with your own wife, but he had to push it, right? He thought he was safe in that stupid bubble.
So damn smug.
I told you guys, that's where I drew the line.
If she gets hurt She's on the ride of her life.
More excitement than you've ever given her.
And you just wait until she arrives, and I get to tear into that pretty little package.
It was just play, she told me.
I'm sorry about your wife, Roy.
I really am.
Unfortunately, you're gonna have to share her love of enclosed spaces.
So, PD towed in Dawn's car.
Found it roadside in the middle of nowhere.
Searched the immediate area-- nothing unusual, and no viable prints on the outside.
Get to the inside yet? No, not yet.
All right, I'll take the front.
I got a receipt from a truck stop.
the night she went missing.
Does it say what she bought? I've got an evidence bag.
That looks like a T-shirt.
Dawn might have gone rogue.
You know, stealing a DNA sample from Jared Wallace or maybe a suspect from the trailer park.
The guy could've caught up with her and stopped her.
I think the threat was closer to home.
Her suspect was her son.
Tyler, your mom's car was found abandoned on the highway.
She was working a serial rape case.
She was transporting collected evidence in her car.
Now, we think because of the sequence of events and the timing of everything that she identified the suspect, who tracked her to the highway location and confronted her.
Where's my mom? We pulled your rap sheet.
You're a registered sex offender.
Yeah, for taking a leak in an alleyway.
You've been convicted of burglary.
What does this have to do with anything? The rape victim, Amy Morse, the one whose case your mom was working on, you knew her.
You went to Sagebrush High with her.
Okay.
There's 2,000 kids at that school! I don't know her.
Your mom collected a DNA sample from the rapist.
She also collected a DNA sample from you.
Right now, the lab is comparing them.
Look, you got to get my mom.
Where is she, Tyler? Where's your mom? Captain.
Not now, Officer.
A detective's come from Reno-- you've got to hear this.
Take him out in the hallway.
How you doing? Jim Brass.
Detective Smith.
Reno PD.
I hear that you've been looking for CSI Dawn Banks.
Yeah, that's right.
She was supposed to be coming up our way-- never showed.
What was she doing with Reno PD? She was coming up to identify her deceased son, Tyler.
That's her son right there in the hallway.
Okay, let's step back.
Tell me what you know.
Two nights ago, Reno officers found a deceased male in a warehouse where homeless kids were known to squat.
Overdose.
Badly decomposed.
Had a driver's license identifying him as Tyler Banks.
I called Ms.
Banks to break the news.
She was at a trailer park working a case.
She was devastated.
Tyler Oh Said that she had always feared a call like this about her son.
She was gonna collect a DNA exemplar from home and drive it up, confirm I.
D.
She never showed.
So that's why Dawn Banks was taking a DNA sample of Tyler.
He wasn't her suspect.
She thought he was dead.
Henry ran Tyler's DNA against the rapist.
He's clear.
Apparently, Tyler lent his I.
D.
to a buddy of his, a homeless guy who was heading up to Reno.
So his buddy O.
D.
's, decomposes beyond recognition, cops go off the I.
D.
in his pocket.
All right.
So, let's run this.
You get the call that your son is dead, and you pick up a piece of his laundry for DNA so you can I.
D.
him.
You start driving up to Reno where the body is.
Right.
Except the road that her car ends up on is not on the way to Reno.
I found a receipt in Dawn's car from a truck stop, and the truck stop is at the junction of 95 and 373.
That's when she started driving south, away from Reno.
So maybe the truck stop is where she changed her mind, and her route.
The question is: Where was she going? Tyler, I need to ask you a question.
Is there, um, any place off of Highway 373 that may have meant something to your mom? Why? Your mom thought you were dead.
Your I.
D.
was on a young man who overdosed in Reno.
She was driving out to identify your body, and, for some reason, she changed her mind.
She stopped at a truck stop, and, uh We pulled the surveillance footage.
It looks like she bought vodka and acetaminophen.
S-So she's No, no, listen.
W-We don't know that, but we think that maybe, if she was going to do something to herself, she might have chosen a place that was significant.
She used to take me camping out there.
But, I mean, i-it was forever ago.
Okay, show me.
Show me where.
Good boy.
This favorite spot Tyler told you about, are you sure it's this way? That's what he said.
But he and his mom haven't been here in several years.
He was a little hazy.
Well, if Dawn's up here, how many hours has it been? Over there.
Come on.
Dawn.
She's got a pulse.
Control, this is Adam-Zero-Four Yeager.
We have CSI Banks.
North trail, about a half-mile in.
Send medics.
Code three.
Dawn? Come on.
Dawn, wake up, please.
Tyler is alive.
He's okay.
Come on.
Stay with us, Dawn.
Dawn, help's on the way.
Hey, boss.
Got your text.
How's CSI Banks? Oh, she's in ICU.
Morgan's with her.
Good.
Uh, what's up? We still have a serial rapist out there with some kind of connection to that trailer park.
Right.
Want you to grab Henry, go out there and go through all the trash cans you can find.
If you come up with any biologicals, run them against our rapist's DNA.
We need to find out if he's still in one of those trailers.
All right, I'm on it.
Thank you.
Doing noble work here, ma'am.
Hodges? Check this out.
So they got top-of-the-line locks, security cam.
They're treating a dinged-up trailer like it's Fort Knox.
Paranoid, or protecting something? Couple of wadded-up tissues.
Ooh.
I know what I'm running first.
DNA matches our rapist.
We've got him.
LVPD! All clear.
Come on, Henry.
Surveillance cam's not hooked up.
It's just for show.
Young brunettes.
Just like Amy and the other victims.
I got pics of Amy with Jared Wallace, and, uh, other mementos.
"Jared, I hope what we have will last forever.
Amy.
" Certainly lasted in his mind.
Guy rents this trailer to obsess and prepare in private.
Becomes his base when he starts to act out on his obsession.
Did some acting here, too.
I'll swab.
Heart medication.
Swiped Daddy's prescription.
A gray hair.
It's not Jared.
It's Dad.
I guess I can understand, Mr.
Wallace.
This whole event started innocently at first.
You know, son brings home his girlfriend to meet Dad.
She's attractive.
Dad likes her.
He notices her.
He liked having Amy around, so he invites her to family picnics, outings, but then things get weird.
Dad gets kind of jealous of son.
Right? You also took from him, too.
You took his jacket, his love letters.
And you took from Amy, too.
You know, we asked Amy about you.
What did she say? She said, "Ken Wallace walked in on me once or twice in the shower, "but it was innocent.
"He was sweet, clumsy, older man.
Nothing sexual about him.
" So you had to change that, so, when Amy broke up with Jared, about a week later, you know, and you're gonna lose her, too, you decided to do something about it.
Get a funky old trailer, hired some brunette hookers.
Got their DNA from the sheets.
But you stepped over the line.
You started to prowl around condos just like Amy's.
Started to stalk young women, brunettes, just like Amy.
You broke into their house.
You broke into their bedroom to act out your sick rape fantasies, all in preparation for Amy.
Amy was worth it.
The woman is a miracle.
Jared had her, he messed it up.
When I had my chance with her I made it perfect.
Doctors say your mom's gonna pull through.
I never wanted to hurt her.
I know.
Or make it easy for her to believe I'd end up dead that way.
You know, I-I just keep thinking about how cold she was out there.
You know, I could've told her, sleeping outside sucks.
She's going to need you, Tyler, more than ever.
I swear to God, I'm not leaving the house for a second.
I'm done with everything, everyone else.
Just let her be okay.
Please let her be okay.