CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

In the woods, a couple decides on a place to set up camp; the woman goes off to relieve herself and finds a body, covered in bugs.

Grissom and Sara arrive; Brass tells them that it looks like a gun shot to the head, although no weapon has been found. Grissom notes that the flying insects are paper wasps, and won't bother them. Grissom takes some coffee from an officer and pours it into a jar with the maggots he's collected from the body, for preservation. He collects four beetles, which he names John, Paul, George and Ringo. Sara notes that the woman wasn't killed there, but was just dumped there, by someone in too much of a hurry to bury her.

At the lab, Grissom gives assignments out: Catherine and Warrick are to look into a possible abduction of a victim named Paul Sorenson, called in by a Mr. Ziegler; Grissom asks about a court date that Warrick has, and Warrick says it's no problem, he just has to testify about the chain of evidence. Nick gets a missing person; Sheryl Applegate, reported by her husband after she took the car to drive to L.A., but never arrived there, and the car has been found at the bus station. Nick says that she took the bus instead, case solved. Grissom tells him that that may be the case, but until he's sure, he's to treat it as a crime scene.

Catherine and Warrick go to Mr. Ziegler's house; as they're waiting for someone to answer the door, Warrick tells her that he got a visit from Children's Services about Lindsey; Catherine is shocked. Mr. Ziegler answers the door and shows them where the Sorenson was displayed; it's a painting. Mr. Ziegler tells them that he thinks he surprised the guy as it was being stolen; he came downstairs to read, and heard a noise and then noticed that the door was open, and the security alarm was disengaged. Both Warrick and Catherine decide that it must be an inside job. They dust for prints.

Dr. Robbins tells Grissom and Sara that he sent woman's prints to homicide for identification, and that she was shot through the head; Sara notes that the shot was close to the head. Dr. Robbins tells them that he has x-rays showing facial fractures, which are typical for battered women, and the fractures aren't fresh, they show long-term abuse. He notes that how long the woman has been dead is up to Grissom to determine; Grissom finds a muscat fly on the woman's body, which only come from urban areas, not the wooded areas where her body was found.

Catherine asks Mr. Ziegler who has access to the house; he tells her that only his family members do. Warrick finds a print from an ear where the thief pressed his head to the wall to see if the picture was wired. Catherine is doubtful but tells him to print it.

Sara asks Grissom to explain the insects, and how he pinpoints the time of death; he says he watches them mature and then counts backwards. Brass says the woman has been identified as Kaye Shelton, lives downtown in the Fremont area, and is married to Scott Shelton. He also notes that the neighbors heard a gun shot five days ago. They interview Scott Shelton, who says that he was out of town, and when he came back she was gone. Brass asks about the neighbors report of a gun shot; Scott says it was probably the TV. Grissom asks if his wife drove race cars; Scott asks if he's kidding, but Grissom tells him that the two most common causes of facial fractures are race car driving and domestic abuse. Scott claims that she was wild, and he'd have to wrestle her off of him. He says never laid a hand on her; Sara asks how about a gun. He says they can look at his apartment, as he has nothing to hide.

On the Strip, Nick talks to Det. Secula at the bus terminal and looks at the car. The detective is angry that she had dinner with Nick a week ago and he hasn't called her yet. Nick finds some hair in the car which matches the hair color of the missing woman. He has the car towed to the lab.

At the Ziegler house, Catherine tells the family that the ear print is like a finger print; Mr. Ziegler is shocked that they think it's an inside job, but agrees to be printed. They print the whole family, and compare the prints to the one from the wall; there's a match to the print from one of the sons, Jason. Mr. Ziegler doesn't want to press charges, saying that they'll get help for Jason. Catherine asks where the painting is, and Jason wants to know what will happen if he sold it? Catherine tells him that it would be a crime and they'd arrest him, regardless of his father's wishes; he tells them that the painting is in his car.

At Mr. Sorenson's house, Sara, Grissom, and Brass look around. Grissom asks about the heating, and notes that they used to have a green blanket on the sofa. Brass finds a gun that has recently been cleaned. Sorenson says he cleaned it before he left town. Bullets are missing; Sorenson says he fired them at the shooting range. They take the remaining bullets for testing. Sara walks down the hallway and finds a fiber on the floor, the back door leads to "a" car, as Mr. Sorenson tells them that he drives a demo and has a different one every day. They notice the smell of bleach in the hallway; Sara sprays for blood and finds stains on the wall. Sorenson says he has no idea how it got there; Sara starts yelling at him, he yells back and hits her hand away. Sara tells Grissom that she's a woman and she has a gun, and look how Sorenson treated her, so just imagine how he treated his wife.

At the lab, Catherine tells Warrick that the case doesn't feel finished. Warrick's beeper goes off; he tells Catherine that he has to be somewhere. She remembers that he has to go to court, and Warrick just say, "Right."

Brass tells Grissom that five days is what he needs to prove that Mr. Sorenson killed his wife; Grissom says that he won't compromise his end of the investigation. He checks the bugs, Sara checks the fibers from the apartment and the bullets that they seized. She tells Grissom that the bullets are unusual, and she's sent them to trace. Grissom concludes that Mrs. Sorenson has been dead for three days, not five, and that means that Mr. Sorenson couldn't have done it, as he was out of town then. In a meeting with Mr. Sorenson and his lawyer, the lawyer says that they have nothing to hold him on; Sara comments on the blood in the apartment, but the lawyer tells them that the prior abuse could explain that, and then thanks Grissom as she and Mr. Sorenson leave.

In the hall at the lab, Ecklie tells Grissom that it's tough luck that the evidence didn't pan out for him, then tells him that Warrick had one of the day shift guys testify in court for him, and that Ecklie has word that Warrick was gambling on CSI time instead of going to court.

Grissom asks Sara to look into Warrick for him, noting that if the evidence turns up nothing, Ecklie won't be able to accuse him of favoritism. Elsewhere in the lab, Catherine tells Warrick that if the painting is a forgery then they have a different crime; they test it for titanium, which, if it's authentic, should not be present; it is, so the painting is fake. Catherine mentions that a reputable auction house would have run the same tests, so the painting Mr. Ziegler bought was authentic, but it was forged later, by Jason. They decide to check Jason's dorm room.

Nick vacuums the car and finds no more hair, no signs of foul play, and notes that it's too clean; he sprays for blood and finds that it's positive. Detective Secula says that their case might now be a homicide.

Grissom asks what Sara found out about Warrick, but she wants to talk about something else; she wants to be the victim's voice, but Grissom says that you don't crunch evidence to fit a theory. Sara tells him that she hears Kaye's screams at night when she wakes up tangled in her blankets. This comment makes Grissom think, and he goes back to the evidence to check the blanket that the body was wrapped in. He has a pig delivered, for an experiment, and tells Brass that Mrs. Shelton might have been dead for five days, but the blanket was wrapped so tightly around her that it inhibited the insects took longer to get in and lay their eggs, possibly even two days. He sets up the experiment, makes notes of the dates and insects present. Sara joins him, thanks him for doing this.

Detective Secula tells Nick that they got a hit on one of the missing woman's credit cards at the Four Aces Motel, which is near where her car was found. The uniformed officers meet them there; they break into the room, and find Mrs. Appleton handcuffed to the bed, and a man in the other room. Nick tells her that her husband reported her as missing; she tells him that she hasn't been abducted and explains that the blood in her car is from an injured dog that she took to the vet's. She asks what they're going to tell her husband; Nick says that they'll tell him she's okay, but it's up to her to fill in the rest of the details.

Grissom tells the DA that Mrs. Shelton was dead for five days, not three as he'd previously said. He explains the experiment, and the effect that the blanket had on the insects; the DA tells him that since his arresting officer can barely understand the evidence, he doubts that a jury will, and wants them to either get some other evidence, or move on.

At the Ziegler house, Mr. Ziegler is glad to see his painting again; Catherine and Warrick do the titanium test for him and he's shocked to learn that his 10 million dollars worth of art is worthless. Warrick tells him that the police recovered the originals from Jason's dorm room, and that Jason's college buddies were helping him in making the forgeries. Jason says that his friends didn't know what he was doing with the copies. His father comments that he doesn't even know Jason; Jason tells him that he's there, and he's real, and his father never even looked at him, he'd rather look at his paintings and they're not even real, and he didn't know it. Mr. Ziegler tells Catherine that this time, he wants to press charges.

In the hallway in the morgue, Sara asks Grissom how he can just move on to another case, adding that everyone in the lab was laughing at them and calling them science nerds. Grissom talks to her about the beginnings of forensics and how every society learns and forgets. The body that he's been waiting for arrives; it's Kaye Shelton. They examine her again, and Grissom notices a blue mark on her temple that they didn't see before; Dr. Robbins tells them that it was covered by the blood, and the blue is embedded in her skin and won't wash off. Sara finds teflon in the bullets they took from Mr. Shelton, and tests that against the blue dust found on Mrs. Shelton's hair, and gets a match. Grissom points out that it's still circumstantial evidence, but Sara is willing to educate the jury about bullets, and notes that it will be easier than bugs. Brass arrests Scott Shelton. Sara goes to see Grissom in his office, and tells him that she got the surveillance tape from the Monaco; Warrick was in the casino.