CSI: Crime Scene Investigation s06e16 Episode Script
Up in Smoke
You know, first time I had sex was in front of a fire on a bear skin rug.
It was so romantic.
Gee, and all this time I thought you were still a virgin.
Yeah, right.
You only asked for my number 'cause you heard I was easy.
- Oh, you found me out.
- I did.
Cheers.
Oh, my God! ( police) Alert Homicide and CSI! Chimney extends about four feet from the roofline .
assuming the vic was average height and didn't curl up head should be right about here.
Good! Okay.
Whew! Smoldering flesh has the stench of burnt pork except much worse.
I smell a little decomp, but mostly the fireplace down below.
The body's really positioned too far to be in that condition.
Which means the vic was charbroiled somewhere else, tossed in the chimney, and smoked.
Check out that mold.
It's just eating away at the flesh.
That much mold would suggest he was burned at least a few days ago.
- He? - I measured the pelvic bone-- sub-pubic angle's less than 90 degrees.
He's male.
Any suggestions on how to proceed? Wrap and roll.
Great.
Okay, you get the head.
- On three - Yeah.
One, two three.
Mm! He's lighter than I expected.
Most of the muscle and flesh have burned away.
He's pretty well drained of fluids.
He probably weighed twice as much when he was alive.
Well, that would explain how the killer was able to carry him up to the roof and then foist him down the chimney.
Yeah.
Get him to the morgue.
I started the fire and the smoke just started pouring out.
And it was just the two of you in the house.
Yeah.
I had just gotten off work; I came over for a night cap.
So how long have you known each other? Mm a few months.
- Do you live alone? - Yeah.
Divorced.
Have a son in college.
Did you hear anything up on the roof in the past week or so? Well, no, I was out of town on business till yesterday.
And when was the last time you used the fireplace? A few months ago around Christmas.
I mean, there was a dead man in your chimney.
Didn't you notice anything when you lit the fireplace? Martin's got a rat problem.
Um the little suckers get caught in the traps, and just stink for a couple of days.
We smelled something, but we figured it was .
a rat.
Excuse me, Mr.
Sidley? There's a ladder leaning against the side of the house? Yeah, that's mine.
It been there since about New Year's, when I took down the Christmas lights.
I'd like to get a set of your fingerprints.
I'm going to be dusting the ladder for prints.
I'd like to eliminate yours.
Yeah.
Sure.
Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside? Crispy though and through.
Based on the melted fibers, he was probably wearing a polyester shirt.
Well, synthetics are just plastic polymers.
They melt instead of burn.
- What's that? - Oh, some sort of plastic.
I found it where his shirt pocket would've been.
I'm thinking maybe a credit card.
Good, good.
I'll work it up; try to get an I.
D.
- Catherine - Yeah.
Do you remember this Caroline Fitzgibbons case? - About a year ago? - Of course I do, yeah.
Missing person, we never found her.
Yeah, she was a minor, allegedly having an affair with a Mr.
Martin - Sidley? - Ugh, yeah, what a creep.
She's an aspiring photographer.
I recently purchased several of her self-portraits.
Mr.
Sidley, her father says that she was headed over here the day before yesterday, and he hasn't heard from her since.
- Would you mind if we come in? - You know, now's not a good time.
So, unless you have a warrant, the answer is no.
What are you guys doing here? We were hoping that you'd invite us to help out with your investigation.
Invite you?! Warrick and I were looking for a missing person about a year ago, and we tried to get a warrant to seach this residence.
The owner denied us access.
Now that it's a crime scene, it's fair game, if you're part of the investigation.
You're picking up what we're putting down.
Well, I've processed room-to-room, photo-documented, sketched the layout Feel free to dig a little deeper.
I'm gonna dust the chimney for prints.
I'll be on the roof for awhile.
I'll take "Video Spectral Analysis" for 200, Nick.
Yeah, it's a charred piece of plastic found in Chimney Guy's pocket.
It may be a credit card.
I'm trying to get some I.
D.
off of it.
That's a gym membership card.
How do you know that? The logo in the corner-- it's Burt's Gym-- I belong to the one on Flamingo.
Oh, yeah? You, uh been pumping iron there, Greg? Yeah, a little, uh Muy Thai.
It's competitive kickboxing.
Gotta balance weights with cardio, you know what I mean? Yeah, okay, thanks.
Anyway, I'll, uh, check it.
Maybe I can get a membership name.
Oh, you won't.
Member names are printed in black ink.
VSA only brings out the colors.
All right.
Maybe it'll help us clear up the photo.
Nice.
Well, hello, Caroline.
She was, what, like 16? Isn't it a felony to purchase pornographic pictures of a minor? Well, believe it or not, exceptions are made for photographs with serious artistic or scientific merit.
Oh, yeah.
These look real scientific.
I don't make the rules.
So I found a large, diffuse pool of fluorescence here on the wood floor.
It's consistent with bleach or some other cleaning compound.
- Bleach on a wood floor, huh? - Mm.
I presume you pheno'ed it? Yeah.
It was negative for blood.
What are you doing? I'm looking for the tiniest crack between the planks.
You know, you can scrub blood off a surface, but you can't scrub beneath it.
Yeah We got blood.
As I told you last year, I knew Caroline professionally.
We had coffee a couple of times.
She was a promising photographer; I'm a collector; we had a lot to talk about.
How many times is "a couple of times"? I don't know, five or six times over a month or two.
Were they dates? Well, we weren't having sexual relations, if that's what you're getting at.
- Was she ever in your house? - Yeah, I invited her over to see my collection.
Look, I'll admit that I was attracted to her, but when she told me her real age, I told her, it was in appropriate for us to see each other.
How very responsible of you.
And you had that conversation how many days before she went missing? I'm sorry, but we're not here to talk about Caroline, all right? So unless you're on some kind of cold-case fishing expedition We found an old blood pool in your living room.
- You want to tell me about that? - Don't answer that.
Ms.
Willows, let's get something straight.
You found a body in the chimney, so you searched his house for clues, but you had no legal right to look for any evidence unrelated to this case.
We were just working the scene.
This piece of wood was pried from you living room.
The surface was scrubbed with a cleaning agent, but we found a spot of blood right there.
You mean, you ripped up my damn floor.
What is going on here? As soon as this is over, I intend to file an emergency motion to limit the scope or your warrant.
I also intend to file a motion in limine to exclude this evidence, which was illegally seized, in violation of my client's Fourth Amendment rights.
This house was processed in accordance with CSI protocol, but do what you have to do.
You've been coming at me since day one, and I'm starting to resent it.
Martin You have a problem with me because I appreciate younger women? I had nothing to do with that girl's disappearance.
You want to come after me? You're going to regret it.
Your client has a bit of a temper.
Well, if you don't have any questions pertaining to the dead body in his chimney, we're done here.
Sit down.
Please.
Gentlemen, this is Nick Stokes.
He's a colleague of mine.
We found identification on the decedent in the chimney.
A gym card.
Actually, it was found in his pocket.
The crime lab restored the charred image, but we couldn't get a name.
We we're hoping you could help make a positive I.
D.
This belonged to the person in my chimney? Yes, sir.
You recognize him? Well, this is-this is Tad.
This is my son.
Let me guess: he burned to death.
I can't confirm C.
O.
D.
Come on, Doc, this isn't a hard one.
His bones are fractured; check out the femur.
It's not uncommon to find bone fractures in fire victims.
The body produces heat, causing the long bones to contract and fracture.
Well, that's right, but check out the chips in the skull.
Bone chipping is also a symptom of extreme heat.
Very good.
So, if we didn't know better, fire could be the cause of death.
What are you getting at? You see the blood spot on the interior of the forehead? Y eah As far as I know, fire can't explain a subdural hemotoma.
No.
No, it can't.
Our victim suffered blunt force trauma, prior to going up in flames.
How are you doing on the prints? Well, all three prints from the chimney are consistent with each other.
I compared them to the homeowner's prints and his son's prints; the work card's in the system; there's no a match.
I'm running the print through I-AFIS.
What about the print from the chimney cap? There's not a match to the chimney prints, not a match to either Sidley.
There's no hits on I-AFIS.
- I'm sorry.
- Not your fault.
At least you got yourself a match for the chimney prints-- A Jonathan Wax, from Henderson, served four years for attempted rape.
He was released six months ago.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
I served my time.
What do you want with me now? "Attempted rape.
" What exactly happened? Pepper spray.
That stuff really stings.
Uh, what can you tell me about, um, Tad Sidley? Who? Sorry.
Maybe you remember him a little more like this? Holy mother He was murdered, set on fire, stuffed in a chimney, and the only prints on the chimney are yours.
- You said the last name was Sidley? - Uh-huh.
Well, I worked a Sidley place out near Lake Mead, right? - What were you doing on the roof? - That's what I do-- Chad's Chimney Sweeps.
I clean fireplaces and chimneys.
I was out at that Sidley place about a month ago.
You can call Chad.
I remember that place.
Man, that guy had one big-ass chimney.
I don't suppose you saw a body while you were there? Look, I may be an ex-con, but even I would've dialed 9-1-1.
Catherine.
Excuse me.
I just got a call from the D.
A.
about you.
Martin Sidley's attorney filed a motion to suppress.
Oh, it's just posturing.
There's no way that our search violated his rights.
Fortunately, the judge agreed with you.
- Good.
- But we have been warned: future searches of the residence are limited to areas specifically pertaining to the case at hand.
And I think it's best if neither you nor Warrick went back to the house.
Well, hopefully, we have to.
(we won't have to ?) I was able to get in touch with Caroline's father.
He's on his way back to his house to pick up his daughter's toiletries, and he'll meet us back here.
We're trying to get a DNA sample from Caroline's personal effects and compare it to a blood drop that was on the living room steps.
Incidentally, I was able to speak with someone at WLVU.
Tad Sidley was a student there, with the roommate.
Now, Doc Robbins told me the kid had been dead for at least two weeks.
I'd be interested in talking to the roommate to find out why no one reported him missing.
Absolutely.
- Come with? - Yeah.
- Okay, guys, good luck.
- Thank you.
- Can I help you? - This is Tad Sidley's dorm room, right? Yeah Look, whatever he did, I wasn't involved.
When was the last time you saw him? I-I don't know.
A couple weeks ago.
And why didn't you report him missing? Look, Tad's a third-year freshman.
Or as he likes to call it, "a three-peater.
" He disappears for weeks at a time.
- What happened to him? - He was murdered.
May we come in? - Were you and Tad good friends? - No, not exactly.
Why not? Look, I study my ass off.
When Tad's here, he's baked for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
He's distracting.
He blares his music.
He invites his friends over to party.
He is or was inconsiderate.
Fortunately, he wasn't around much.
Any idea who killed him? Look, the guy was a pain in my ass, but everybody else seemed to love him.
His dad's totally loaded, and Tad was pretty generous.
Catherine - Don Fitzgibbons and a phone number.
- Caroline's dad.
What do you know about this? I never noticed it.
- You mind if I take it with me? - Go ahead; take whatever you want.
Look, there's this rumor going around campus that if your roommate dies, you get an automatic 4.
0 for the semester.
You know, because of all of the traumatic stress.
Who who should I talk to about that? Roof trace analysis.
Afraid it's not going to be very helpful.
- Why? - Polyethylene plastic.
Compounds used in about a million different products.
I hope that's not all you got.
I don't understand.
If you found blood in Sidley's house, why isn't he in jail? I mean, can't you at least hold him until you determine whether or not it's Caroline's? That's not my decision to be made.
Unfortunately, the DA feels that we need more.
It's just like a year ago.
It wasn't enough that I believed that Martin was sleeping with my daughter that she disappeared on the way to his house.
Ms.
Willows, the man paid her $800 for her photos and told her she had a great eye.
I brought her brushes and combs.
Anything else I could find.
Think you'll be able to get enough DNA off that stuff? Oh, yes, absolutely.
I know the cops say that if you don't find them quickly, you don't usually find them alive.
But every time the phone rings or there's a knock at the door, my first thought my first hope is that, uh it's Caroline.
Mr.
Fitzgibbons, we found your name and number written on a Post-it in Tad Sidley's dorm room.
Can you explain how it got there? When you guys were first investigating her disappearance, you couldn't get access to Sidley's place, so I appealed to his kid.
Okay, look, I may not like my old man, but he's not a killer.
- And if you think he is, go to the cops.
- The cops can't get a warrant.
I'm not saying he hurt Caroline, but maybe there's something in your house that will help me find her.
I'm sorry, okay? - I'm sorry.
I can't just - Look, maybe you could just talk to him.
Convince him to let me take a look around the place.
Look, I see my dad once a month when I pick up my check.
He's not going to listen to me.
All right, if you change your mind, give me a call.
Anytime.
Unfortunately, I never heard from him.
Ms.
Willows if the blood you found matches my daughter's DNA, tell me that the bastard's going to jail for the rest of his life.
So the DNA I extracted from the hair on Caroline's brush (il me semble entendre "that" entre DNA et I) is consistent with the blood found on the wood floor.
Thank you.
Case closed.
Now wait a minute.
We only found a single drop of blood.
No doubt Sidley's attorney will argue that Caroline may have cut herself.
He already admitted that she was in his house.
Oh, come on, you saw the amount of fluorescence on that floor.
You don't use a bucket of bleach to clean up a paper cut.
Yeah, and you don't get a murder conviction off of a single drop of a victim's blood.
So you need to find the body.
That would certainly help.
Sorry to interrupt.
As per protocol, Metro flagged Tad Sidley's credit cards.
A couple of hours ago someone used his Amex to purchase gas in Seven Hills.
Is that someone in custody? Unfortunately, the Gas and Go cashier ran the card manually.
So by the time the credit card company flagged the purchase the guy had taken off.
But the station has video surveillance and the cashier claims he could ID him.
Have you told Nick and Sara? Nick's in the AV lab now with the videotape and the cashier.
So the next time this someone uses the credit card We're all over it.
You sure you remember this guy who stole Tad Sidley's credit card? For sure.
It was a platinum and the guy was like young.
I mean, I couldn't even qualify for a Visa.
Grissom, meet Larry.
Larry's from the Gas and Go.
- Thanks for coming in, Larry.
- Oh, for sure.
Wait.
Stop stop the video.
Yeah, I remember that jacket and the blond hair.
That's his sweet car right behind him.
Lucky son of a bitch.
I drive an '82 Buick.
Nick, try the unsharp mask.
Yeah, that's it.
That's him.
That's your dude.
That's Tad Sidley.
That was the name on the credit card.
- Is this video from today? - Yeah, I downloaded it myself.
Well, if that's Tad Sidley, who's in the morgue? - Hey.
Thanks for your help.
- No problem.
- I laid out the photos and sketches.
- Thank you.
What are you looking for exactly? When we showed up at the scene a year ago, Sidley wouldn't let us into his house.
I'm guessing because the body was still inside.
He knew you'd detect the smell.
Kind of like Telltale Heart.
Edgar Allan Poe.
Guy commits a murder and buries the body under the floorboards of his house.
Catherine, I got to tell you, I don't see anything probative.
Are both these sketches drawn to the same scale? Yeah, half inch equals a foot.
All right The attic is above the living room.
They both share the same chimney.
Yeah? What are you thinking? The east wall of the house is 17 feet from the chimney in the living room.
But that same east wall is only 14 feet from the chimney in the attic.
When you retrieved the body, did you excavate the entire chimney? No.
We just removed the bricks from the west-facing side.
There's no question that somebody extended the brick exterior of this chimney.
There's a slight color disparity between the old and the new bricks.
It's hollow.
There's no clay backing.
This is just a facade.
Catherine We found her.
She was still bleeding when she was brought here.
Which means that her heart was probably still beating.
This isn't The Tell-Tale Heart, it's The Cask of Amontillado.
She was sealed into a wall and left to die.
I just got your page.
Did he stick around? Yeah, we explained the situation, and he thinks it's hilarious.
Tad, Detective Curtis.
I'm glad to see you're okay.
Yeah, me, too.
Uh, he said you wanted to talk to me? Yeah.
Where have you been for the past few weeks? Tijuana, L.
A.
, quick stop in Santa Barbara.
Just got back this morning.
Any idea how your gym membership got into a dead man's pocket? No.
I'm sorry, I didn't even know it was missing.
I'm-I'm not exactly big on the weights, you know? Look, uh I'm late for a movie.
- You mind if I get out of here? - Sure.
I'd just like to get your cell phone number.
Gonna ask me out? It's just in case I have any further questions.
- Caroline did not go gently.
- Defensive marks? Ten on her right forearm.
Another three on the left.
And several more on the palms.
Catherine, there are tears on her labia and hymen.
Too much time's past to check for semen.
But she was raped.
We found a potential blood pool in the living room and another much more substantial one in the attic-- is that consistent with your findings? Yeah.
Caroline was stabbed four times, twice to the abdomen, one to the spleen, one to the intercostal artery.
No vital organs were penetrated, which means she would have bled to death slowly.
Probably stabbed in the living room and then moved to the attic where she continued to bleed until she died.
Is the chimney guy still in your drawer? Yeah, right over there.
What's going on? Tad Sidley is alive.
We assumed that this guy was Tad, based on a gym membership card we found on his body-- we were wrong.
This guy is now a John Doe.
- Does his father know? - Not yet.
Well, I'm on my way to P.
D.
to meet up with him and his lawyer-- I'll give him the good news.
Like I've already told you, Caroline and I were friends.
Now, if you keep this up, I'm gonna file a harassment charge against you, personally.
Ms.
Willows, on the phone you said that you had new information regarding my client's son? Yes, I will get to that.
But first I wanted to let both of you know that Caroline's body was recovered in Mr.
Sidley's attic.
What? The coroner confirmed that she was raped, stabbed and bled to death.
Wait a minute.
You searched the house again? Ms.
Willows, I thought that the judge was perfectly clear.
I searched the chimney, specifically, in accordance with the original warrant - and subsequent limitation.
- I didn't do it, I swear.
You live alone, Mr.
Sidley and you have no idea how her body got bricked into your attic? Oh, come on.
What happened? Did she say no one too many times? Ms.
Willows, you are way over the line.
If you didn't kill her, Mr.
Sidley, then tell me, is there anyone else who had access to your house? Who else could have raped Caroline under your roof? I know what happened.
- Martin - No.
I've been covering too long.
I need to tell the truth.
I was out of town, I came home early.
I heard noise coming from the attic.
He told me that they'd been seeing each other - What's going on? - Dad .
that they'd gotten into a fight, and he raped and killed her.
I should have told the police, but she was already dead.
He's my son.
I wanted to protect him.
I didn't know what else to do.
Son of a bitch.
He's lying.
Do you want to tell us what actually happened? I have no idea what really happened.
I met her once at the house.
A month or so later, I see her on the news-- she's missing.
I can tell you that for two weeks after that, he wouldn't let me anywhere near the house.
Claimed that he was painting, and he didn't want me breathing in the fumes.
He killed her.
I'm sure of it.
Well, if you'd like to have a word with your old man, I'd say now would be the time.
Hi, Dad.
Heard everything.
Tad - Son, you're - Yeah.
I'm not dead.
You're dead to me.
This is Catherine.
Hey, Cat, when you're done at P.
D.
can you head over to the print lab? There's something you're gonna want to see.
I'm on my way.
- Hi.
- Hi.
I know why a John Doe was stuffed down the Sidley's chimney.
When you and Warrick were working that missing persons case, you couldn't get a warrant, and Martin wouldn't let you in, right? Right.
Don Fitzgibbons tried to gain access to the house through the son But the son wouldn't cooperate.
I think he knew that if the house became a crime scene, CSI could get in there.
Well, it's a logical theory, but to kill someone and stuff him in a chimney in hopes of getting information on your missing daughter Check out the screen.
On the left is an unknown fingerprint I lifted off the chimney cap.
On the right is a partial I lifted off of Don Fitzgibbons' post-it you took out of Tad's dorm room.
Now, the print on the post-it is only a partial, but it's a match to the chimney cap.
I also found trace evidence on the roof.
Polyethylene plastic.
Don Fitzgibbons works at Desert Palms Hospital.
I just got off the phone with the administrator.
- The hospital's body bags are made out of - Polyethylene plastic? Don Fitzgibbons has access to those body bags.
It's true.
All of it.
You gonna arrest me? You just admitted to murder; I think you know the answer.
Hold on.
I didn't kill anyone.
And the body in the chimney? I took the body from Desert Palm Hospital, from the morgue.
He was already dead, John Doe.
Auto accident in a stolen vehicle.
Car exploded, he was burned beyond recognition.
Ms.
Willows, I stole a dead body and I trespassed, but that's it.
And Tad Sidley's I.
D.
, did you place the gym card on the body? You're a mother, right? Yes.
Why do you think I did it? You wanted Martin Sidley to know what it's like to lose a child.
When I was in Tad's dorm room, I snagged it.
I scorched the surface of the card to make it look like it belonged to the John Doe to make Martin believe that it was his son.
I'd hoped that you'd be able to restore the image.
Look I wish I could say that I was sorry for the trouble I've put you through, or the-the petty crimes that I've committed, but I didn't hurt anyone and Martin Sidley is behind bars, and my daughter's getting her funeral.
And that's all I wanted.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry that we couldn't find your daughter without your help.
It was so romantic.
Gee, and all this time I thought you were still a virgin.
Yeah, right.
You only asked for my number 'cause you heard I was easy.
- Oh, you found me out.
- I did.
Cheers.
Oh, my God! ( police) Alert Homicide and CSI! Chimney extends about four feet from the roofline .
assuming the vic was average height and didn't curl up head should be right about here.
Good! Okay.
Whew! Smoldering flesh has the stench of burnt pork except much worse.
I smell a little decomp, but mostly the fireplace down below.
The body's really positioned too far to be in that condition.
Which means the vic was charbroiled somewhere else, tossed in the chimney, and smoked.
Check out that mold.
It's just eating away at the flesh.
That much mold would suggest he was burned at least a few days ago.
- He? - I measured the pelvic bone-- sub-pubic angle's less than 90 degrees.
He's male.
Any suggestions on how to proceed? Wrap and roll.
Great.
Okay, you get the head.
- On three - Yeah.
One, two three.
Mm! He's lighter than I expected.
Most of the muscle and flesh have burned away.
He's pretty well drained of fluids.
He probably weighed twice as much when he was alive.
Well, that would explain how the killer was able to carry him up to the roof and then foist him down the chimney.
Yeah.
Get him to the morgue.
I started the fire and the smoke just started pouring out.
And it was just the two of you in the house.
Yeah.
I had just gotten off work; I came over for a night cap.
So how long have you known each other? Mm a few months.
- Do you live alone? - Yeah.
Divorced.
Have a son in college.
Did you hear anything up on the roof in the past week or so? Well, no, I was out of town on business till yesterday.
And when was the last time you used the fireplace? A few months ago around Christmas.
I mean, there was a dead man in your chimney.
Didn't you notice anything when you lit the fireplace? Martin's got a rat problem.
Um the little suckers get caught in the traps, and just stink for a couple of days.
We smelled something, but we figured it was .
a rat.
Excuse me, Mr.
Sidley? There's a ladder leaning against the side of the house? Yeah, that's mine.
It been there since about New Year's, when I took down the Christmas lights.
I'd like to get a set of your fingerprints.
I'm going to be dusting the ladder for prints.
I'd like to eliminate yours.
Yeah.
Sure.
Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside? Crispy though and through.
Based on the melted fibers, he was probably wearing a polyester shirt.
Well, synthetics are just plastic polymers.
They melt instead of burn.
- What's that? - Oh, some sort of plastic.
I found it where his shirt pocket would've been.
I'm thinking maybe a credit card.
Good, good.
I'll work it up; try to get an I.
D.
- Catherine - Yeah.
Do you remember this Caroline Fitzgibbons case? - About a year ago? - Of course I do, yeah.
Missing person, we never found her.
Yeah, she was a minor, allegedly having an affair with a Mr.
Martin - Sidley? - Ugh, yeah, what a creep.
She's an aspiring photographer.
I recently purchased several of her self-portraits.
Mr.
Sidley, her father says that she was headed over here the day before yesterday, and he hasn't heard from her since.
- Would you mind if we come in? - You know, now's not a good time.
So, unless you have a warrant, the answer is no.
What are you guys doing here? We were hoping that you'd invite us to help out with your investigation.
Invite you?! Warrick and I were looking for a missing person about a year ago, and we tried to get a warrant to seach this residence.
The owner denied us access.
Now that it's a crime scene, it's fair game, if you're part of the investigation.
You're picking up what we're putting down.
Well, I've processed room-to-room, photo-documented, sketched the layout Feel free to dig a little deeper.
I'm gonna dust the chimney for prints.
I'll be on the roof for awhile.
I'll take "Video Spectral Analysis" for 200, Nick.
Yeah, it's a charred piece of plastic found in Chimney Guy's pocket.
It may be a credit card.
I'm trying to get some I.
D.
off of it.
That's a gym membership card.
How do you know that? The logo in the corner-- it's Burt's Gym-- I belong to the one on Flamingo.
Oh, yeah? You, uh been pumping iron there, Greg? Yeah, a little, uh Muy Thai.
It's competitive kickboxing.
Gotta balance weights with cardio, you know what I mean? Yeah, okay, thanks.
Anyway, I'll, uh, check it.
Maybe I can get a membership name.
Oh, you won't.
Member names are printed in black ink.
VSA only brings out the colors.
All right.
Maybe it'll help us clear up the photo.
Nice.
Well, hello, Caroline.
She was, what, like 16? Isn't it a felony to purchase pornographic pictures of a minor? Well, believe it or not, exceptions are made for photographs with serious artistic or scientific merit.
Oh, yeah.
These look real scientific.
I don't make the rules.
So I found a large, diffuse pool of fluorescence here on the wood floor.
It's consistent with bleach or some other cleaning compound.
- Bleach on a wood floor, huh? - Mm.
I presume you pheno'ed it? Yeah.
It was negative for blood.
What are you doing? I'm looking for the tiniest crack between the planks.
You know, you can scrub blood off a surface, but you can't scrub beneath it.
Yeah We got blood.
As I told you last year, I knew Caroline professionally.
We had coffee a couple of times.
She was a promising photographer; I'm a collector; we had a lot to talk about.
How many times is "a couple of times"? I don't know, five or six times over a month or two.
Were they dates? Well, we weren't having sexual relations, if that's what you're getting at.
- Was she ever in your house? - Yeah, I invited her over to see my collection.
Look, I'll admit that I was attracted to her, but when she told me her real age, I told her, it was in appropriate for us to see each other.
How very responsible of you.
And you had that conversation how many days before she went missing? I'm sorry, but we're not here to talk about Caroline, all right? So unless you're on some kind of cold-case fishing expedition We found an old blood pool in your living room.
- You want to tell me about that? - Don't answer that.
Ms.
Willows, let's get something straight.
You found a body in the chimney, so you searched his house for clues, but you had no legal right to look for any evidence unrelated to this case.
We were just working the scene.
This piece of wood was pried from you living room.
The surface was scrubbed with a cleaning agent, but we found a spot of blood right there.
You mean, you ripped up my damn floor.
What is going on here? As soon as this is over, I intend to file an emergency motion to limit the scope or your warrant.
I also intend to file a motion in limine to exclude this evidence, which was illegally seized, in violation of my client's Fourth Amendment rights.
This house was processed in accordance with CSI protocol, but do what you have to do.
You've been coming at me since day one, and I'm starting to resent it.
Martin You have a problem with me because I appreciate younger women? I had nothing to do with that girl's disappearance.
You want to come after me? You're going to regret it.
Your client has a bit of a temper.
Well, if you don't have any questions pertaining to the dead body in his chimney, we're done here.
Sit down.
Please.
Gentlemen, this is Nick Stokes.
He's a colleague of mine.
We found identification on the decedent in the chimney.
A gym card.
Actually, it was found in his pocket.
The crime lab restored the charred image, but we couldn't get a name.
We we're hoping you could help make a positive I.
D.
This belonged to the person in my chimney? Yes, sir.
You recognize him? Well, this is-this is Tad.
This is my son.
Let me guess: he burned to death.
I can't confirm C.
O.
D.
Come on, Doc, this isn't a hard one.
His bones are fractured; check out the femur.
It's not uncommon to find bone fractures in fire victims.
The body produces heat, causing the long bones to contract and fracture.
Well, that's right, but check out the chips in the skull.
Bone chipping is also a symptom of extreme heat.
Very good.
So, if we didn't know better, fire could be the cause of death.
What are you getting at? You see the blood spot on the interior of the forehead? Y eah As far as I know, fire can't explain a subdural hemotoma.
No.
No, it can't.
Our victim suffered blunt force trauma, prior to going up in flames.
How are you doing on the prints? Well, all three prints from the chimney are consistent with each other.
I compared them to the homeowner's prints and his son's prints; the work card's in the system; there's no a match.
I'm running the print through I-AFIS.
What about the print from the chimney cap? There's not a match to the chimney prints, not a match to either Sidley.
There's no hits on I-AFIS.
- I'm sorry.
- Not your fault.
At least you got yourself a match for the chimney prints-- A Jonathan Wax, from Henderson, served four years for attempted rape.
He was released six months ago.
- Thank you.
- You're welcome.
I served my time.
What do you want with me now? "Attempted rape.
" What exactly happened? Pepper spray.
That stuff really stings.
Uh, what can you tell me about, um, Tad Sidley? Who? Sorry.
Maybe you remember him a little more like this? Holy mother He was murdered, set on fire, stuffed in a chimney, and the only prints on the chimney are yours.
- You said the last name was Sidley? - Uh-huh.
Well, I worked a Sidley place out near Lake Mead, right? - What were you doing on the roof? - That's what I do-- Chad's Chimney Sweeps.
I clean fireplaces and chimneys.
I was out at that Sidley place about a month ago.
You can call Chad.
I remember that place.
Man, that guy had one big-ass chimney.
I don't suppose you saw a body while you were there? Look, I may be an ex-con, but even I would've dialed 9-1-1.
Catherine.
Excuse me.
I just got a call from the D.
A.
about you.
Martin Sidley's attorney filed a motion to suppress.
Oh, it's just posturing.
There's no way that our search violated his rights.
Fortunately, the judge agreed with you.
- Good.
- But we have been warned: future searches of the residence are limited to areas specifically pertaining to the case at hand.
And I think it's best if neither you nor Warrick went back to the house.
Well, hopefully, we have to.
(we won't have to ?) I was able to get in touch with Caroline's father.
He's on his way back to his house to pick up his daughter's toiletries, and he'll meet us back here.
We're trying to get a DNA sample from Caroline's personal effects and compare it to a blood drop that was on the living room steps.
Incidentally, I was able to speak with someone at WLVU.
Tad Sidley was a student there, with the roommate.
Now, Doc Robbins told me the kid had been dead for at least two weeks.
I'd be interested in talking to the roommate to find out why no one reported him missing.
Absolutely.
- Come with? - Yeah.
- Okay, guys, good luck.
- Thank you.
- Can I help you? - This is Tad Sidley's dorm room, right? Yeah Look, whatever he did, I wasn't involved.
When was the last time you saw him? I-I don't know.
A couple weeks ago.
And why didn't you report him missing? Look, Tad's a third-year freshman.
Or as he likes to call it, "a three-peater.
" He disappears for weeks at a time.
- What happened to him? - He was murdered.
May we come in? - Were you and Tad good friends? - No, not exactly.
Why not? Look, I study my ass off.
When Tad's here, he's baked for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
He's distracting.
He blares his music.
He invites his friends over to party.
He is or was inconsiderate.
Fortunately, he wasn't around much.
Any idea who killed him? Look, the guy was a pain in my ass, but everybody else seemed to love him.
His dad's totally loaded, and Tad was pretty generous.
Catherine - Don Fitzgibbons and a phone number.
- Caroline's dad.
What do you know about this? I never noticed it.
- You mind if I take it with me? - Go ahead; take whatever you want.
Look, there's this rumor going around campus that if your roommate dies, you get an automatic 4.
0 for the semester.
You know, because of all of the traumatic stress.
Who who should I talk to about that? Roof trace analysis.
Afraid it's not going to be very helpful.
- Why? - Polyethylene plastic.
Compounds used in about a million different products.
I hope that's not all you got.
I don't understand.
If you found blood in Sidley's house, why isn't he in jail? I mean, can't you at least hold him until you determine whether or not it's Caroline's? That's not my decision to be made.
Unfortunately, the DA feels that we need more.
It's just like a year ago.
It wasn't enough that I believed that Martin was sleeping with my daughter that she disappeared on the way to his house.
Ms.
Willows, the man paid her $800 for her photos and told her she had a great eye.
I brought her brushes and combs.
Anything else I could find.
Think you'll be able to get enough DNA off that stuff? Oh, yes, absolutely.
I know the cops say that if you don't find them quickly, you don't usually find them alive.
But every time the phone rings or there's a knock at the door, my first thought my first hope is that, uh it's Caroline.
Mr.
Fitzgibbons, we found your name and number written on a Post-it in Tad Sidley's dorm room.
Can you explain how it got there? When you guys were first investigating her disappearance, you couldn't get access to Sidley's place, so I appealed to his kid.
Okay, look, I may not like my old man, but he's not a killer.
- And if you think he is, go to the cops.
- The cops can't get a warrant.
I'm not saying he hurt Caroline, but maybe there's something in your house that will help me find her.
I'm sorry, okay? - I'm sorry.
I can't just - Look, maybe you could just talk to him.
Convince him to let me take a look around the place.
Look, I see my dad once a month when I pick up my check.
He's not going to listen to me.
All right, if you change your mind, give me a call.
Anytime.
Unfortunately, I never heard from him.
Ms.
Willows if the blood you found matches my daughter's DNA, tell me that the bastard's going to jail for the rest of his life.
So the DNA I extracted from the hair on Caroline's brush (il me semble entendre "that" entre DNA et I) is consistent with the blood found on the wood floor.
Thank you.
Case closed.
Now wait a minute.
We only found a single drop of blood.
No doubt Sidley's attorney will argue that Caroline may have cut herself.
He already admitted that she was in his house.
Oh, come on, you saw the amount of fluorescence on that floor.
You don't use a bucket of bleach to clean up a paper cut.
Yeah, and you don't get a murder conviction off of a single drop of a victim's blood.
So you need to find the body.
That would certainly help.
Sorry to interrupt.
As per protocol, Metro flagged Tad Sidley's credit cards.
A couple of hours ago someone used his Amex to purchase gas in Seven Hills.
Is that someone in custody? Unfortunately, the Gas and Go cashier ran the card manually.
So by the time the credit card company flagged the purchase the guy had taken off.
But the station has video surveillance and the cashier claims he could ID him.
Have you told Nick and Sara? Nick's in the AV lab now with the videotape and the cashier.
So the next time this someone uses the credit card We're all over it.
You sure you remember this guy who stole Tad Sidley's credit card? For sure.
It was a platinum and the guy was like young.
I mean, I couldn't even qualify for a Visa.
Grissom, meet Larry.
Larry's from the Gas and Go.
- Thanks for coming in, Larry.
- Oh, for sure.
Wait.
Stop stop the video.
Yeah, I remember that jacket and the blond hair.
That's his sweet car right behind him.
Lucky son of a bitch.
I drive an '82 Buick.
Nick, try the unsharp mask.
Yeah, that's it.
That's him.
That's your dude.
That's Tad Sidley.
That was the name on the credit card.
- Is this video from today? - Yeah, I downloaded it myself.
Well, if that's Tad Sidley, who's in the morgue? - Hey.
Thanks for your help.
- No problem.
- I laid out the photos and sketches.
- Thank you.
What are you looking for exactly? When we showed up at the scene a year ago, Sidley wouldn't let us into his house.
I'm guessing because the body was still inside.
He knew you'd detect the smell.
Kind of like Telltale Heart.
Edgar Allan Poe.
Guy commits a murder and buries the body under the floorboards of his house.
Catherine, I got to tell you, I don't see anything probative.
Are both these sketches drawn to the same scale? Yeah, half inch equals a foot.
All right The attic is above the living room.
They both share the same chimney.
Yeah? What are you thinking? The east wall of the house is 17 feet from the chimney in the living room.
But that same east wall is only 14 feet from the chimney in the attic.
When you retrieved the body, did you excavate the entire chimney? No.
We just removed the bricks from the west-facing side.
There's no question that somebody extended the brick exterior of this chimney.
There's a slight color disparity between the old and the new bricks.
It's hollow.
There's no clay backing.
This is just a facade.
Catherine We found her.
She was still bleeding when she was brought here.
Which means that her heart was probably still beating.
This isn't The Tell-Tale Heart, it's The Cask of Amontillado.
She was sealed into a wall and left to die.
I just got your page.
Did he stick around? Yeah, we explained the situation, and he thinks it's hilarious.
Tad, Detective Curtis.
I'm glad to see you're okay.
Yeah, me, too.
Uh, he said you wanted to talk to me? Yeah.
Where have you been for the past few weeks? Tijuana, L.
A.
, quick stop in Santa Barbara.
Just got back this morning.
Any idea how your gym membership got into a dead man's pocket? No.
I'm sorry, I didn't even know it was missing.
I'm-I'm not exactly big on the weights, you know? Look, uh I'm late for a movie.
- You mind if I get out of here? - Sure.
I'd just like to get your cell phone number.
Gonna ask me out? It's just in case I have any further questions.
- Caroline did not go gently.
- Defensive marks? Ten on her right forearm.
Another three on the left.
And several more on the palms.
Catherine, there are tears on her labia and hymen.
Too much time's past to check for semen.
But she was raped.
We found a potential blood pool in the living room and another much more substantial one in the attic-- is that consistent with your findings? Yeah.
Caroline was stabbed four times, twice to the abdomen, one to the spleen, one to the intercostal artery.
No vital organs were penetrated, which means she would have bled to death slowly.
Probably stabbed in the living room and then moved to the attic where she continued to bleed until she died.
Is the chimney guy still in your drawer? Yeah, right over there.
What's going on? Tad Sidley is alive.
We assumed that this guy was Tad, based on a gym membership card we found on his body-- we were wrong.
This guy is now a John Doe.
- Does his father know? - Not yet.
Well, I'm on my way to P.
D.
to meet up with him and his lawyer-- I'll give him the good news.
Like I've already told you, Caroline and I were friends.
Now, if you keep this up, I'm gonna file a harassment charge against you, personally.
Ms.
Willows, on the phone you said that you had new information regarding my client's son? Yes, I will get to that.
But first I wanted to let both of you know that Caroline's body was recovered in Mr.
Sidley's attic.
What? The coroner confirmed that she was raped, stabbed and bled to death.
Wait a minute.
You searched the house again? Ms.
Willows, I thought that the judge was perfectly clear.
I searched the chimney, specifically, in accordance with the original warrant - and subsequent limitation.
- I didn't do it, I swear.
You live alone, Mr.
Sidley and you have no idea how her body got bricked into your attic? Oh, come on.
What happened? Did she say no one too many times? Ms.
Willows, you are way over the line.
If you didn't kill her, Mr.
Sidley, then tell me, is there anyone else who had access to your house? Who else could have raped Caroline under your roof? I know what happened.
- Martin - No.
I've been covering too long.
I need to tell the truth.
I was out of town, I came home early.
I heard noise coming from the attic.
He told me that they'd been seeing each other - What's going on? - Dad .
that they'd gotten into a fight, and he raped and killed her.
I should have told the police, but she was already dead.
He's my son.
I wanted to protect him.
I didn't know what else to do.
Son of a bitch.
He's lying.
Do you want to tell us what actually happened? I have no idea what really happened.
I met her once at the house.
A month or so later, I see her on the news-- she's missing.
I can tell you that for two weeks after that, he wouldn't let me anywhere near the house.
Claimed that he was painting, and he didn't want me breathing in the fumes.
He killed her.
I'm sure of it.
Well, if you'd like to have a word with your old man, I'd say now would be the time.
Hi, Dad.
Heard everything.
Tad - Son, you're - Yeah.
I'm not dead.
You're dead to me.
This is Catherine.
Hey, Cat, when you're done at P.
D.
can you head over to the print lab? There's something you're gonna want to see.
I'm on my way.
- Hi.
- Hi.
I know why a John Doe was stuffed down the Sidley's chimney.
When you and Warrick were working that missing persons case, you couldn't get a warrant, and Martin wouldn't let you in, right? Right.
Don Fitzgibbons tried to gain access to the house through the son But the son wouldn't cooperate.
I think he knew that if the house became a crime scene, CSI could get in there.
Well, it's a logical theory, but to kill someone and stuff him in a chimney in hopes of getting information on your missing daughter Check out the screen.
On the left is an unknown fingerprint I lifted off the chimney cap.
On the right is a partial I lifted off of Don Fitzgibbons' post-it you took out of Tad's dorm room.
Now, the print on the post-it is only a partial, but it's a match to the chimney cap.
I also found trace evidence on the roof.
Polyethylene plastic.
Don Fitzgibbons works at Desert Palms Hospital.
I just got off the phone with the administrator.
- The hospital's body bags are made out of - Polyethylene plastic? Don Fitzgibbons has access to those body bags.
It's true.
All of it.
You gonna arrest me? You just admitted to murder; I think you know the answer.
Hold on.
I didn't kill anyone.
And the body in the chimney? I took the body from Desert Palm Hospital, from the morgue.
He was already dead, John Doe.
Auto accident in a stolen vehicle.
Car exploded, he was burned beyond recognition.
Ms.
Willows, I stole a dead body and I trespassed, but that's it.
And Tad Sidley's I.
D.
, did you place the gym card on the body? You're a mother, right? Yes.
Why do you think I did it? You wanted Martin Sidley to know what it's like to lose a child.
When I was in Tad's dorm room, I snagged it.
I scorched the surface of the card to make it look like it belonged to the John Doe to make Martin believe that it was his son.
I'd hoped that you'd be able to restore the image.
Look I wish I could say that I was sorry for the trouble I've put you through, or the-the petty crimes that I've committed, but I didn't hurt anyone and Martin Sidley is behind bars, and my daughter's getting her funeral.
And that's all I wanted.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry that we couldn't find your daughter without your help.