CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Karen Matthews, single mother to 6-year-old son Jesse Matthews, sets up a picnic cloth when she notices Jesse missing from the swings. She cries out for help to everyone.

Captain Jim Brass briefs CSIs Gil Grissom and Warrick Brown on the abduction situation. A +1-mile search radius turned up no sign of Jesse, indicating an abduction. According to Brass, Karen's husband, Dwight, died in service at Afghanistan four years ago. Karen lost communication with her husband's parents after he was killed in action. They ask Karen about Jesse. She said she brought Jesse to the park because her backyard could not hold him. Karen claimed to have tried pulling Jesse off the swings, but failed. When she set up her picnic cloth, she turned around and saw he was missing. Karen is determined to find Jesse without leaving the park. Warrick called the team to help search for Jesse.

CSIs Sara Sidle and Greg Sanders process the playground equipment and sand box. Sara lifts prints from the playground equipment. Nick processes the empty pool. Brass interviews several parents at the park. One mother noticed a white man interested in a young boy he showed her in a picture, who is Jesse Matthews. When Brass approached Karen with this information, Karen described a man over six feet tall with a blue cap and jeans walking up to Jesse.

Nick searches cars in the parking lot and spots Kelly Gordon at the scene before she runs away.

Grissom asks Karen for an exemplar article from Jesse. Karen gives Grissom a jacket from the car, who gives it to the K-9 dogs. They follow the scent back to Karen. Grissom realizes that Karen just purchased it recently. He tells her the team will collect something else from the house.

Warrick searches the park's public restroom and finds a pair of boy's underwear in a toilet stall along with a piece of metal covered in blood. Warrick shows Karen the underwear and Karen vomits.

Later in the evening, CSI Catherine Willows arrives at Karen's house to collect an exemplar article for Jesse while Brass and Greg search Karen's neighborhood for clues. Catherine notices many of Jesse's toys and pictures in the family room. She talks with Karen in the living room. She asks to take one of Karen's recent pictures of Jesse and Karen accepts. Karen explains that Jesse is home-schooled and she does art with Jesse. Catherine notices a handwritten measuring chart on a wall and reads that Jesse is 36 1/2" tall. When Catherine asks for Jesse's scent and DNA, Karen offers to give Catherine his stuffed dinosaur toy he brings to bed with and a toothbrush.

An officer drives Karen's car home to her garage. Catherine collects the car keys and notices several wrapped presents on the garage shelf. Many of them came from Jesse's grandfather.

Greg interviews Ken McCracken, a next-door neighbor who claims to work all day and spends his time to himself. He mentioned that Jesse was killed four years ago. When Greg asks Ken about his weekends, his dog, Queenie, growls at Greg. Ken loves Queenie for being a good girl. He recalled that his last dog, Princess, was found hung over the side of their fence. Princess just wanted to play with Jesse. Ken is certain that Karen went crazy and killed Princess. Greg is disturbed by the revelation that Jesse is possibly dead and asks Ken who told him Jesse was killed.

Catherine looks at Karen's family pictures on the wall and at Jesse's room. She notices hamsters in a cage. Karen comes in and gives Catherine Jesse's toothbrush and stuffed stegosaurus. When Catherine asks about Jesse's grandfather's unopened presents, Karen refers to Dwight's parents as "the colonel and his wife." She claims not to be in touch with them anymore since Dwight was killed. Karen also claims that the colonel runs his home like an Army barracks and tried to convince her to give Jesse to him so he can raise him. Karen refused to let the colonel get near Jesse. When Catherine asks for their contact information, Karen replies "They took him."

Lab technician Wendy Simms processes the toothbrush for DNA.

Brass interviews Colonel Warren Matthews and his wife Faye. Warren is having trouble remembering and answering questions, but Faye answers that they have not seen Jesse or Karen for four years, since the day that Dwight was buried in a military burial. She recollects that after the military burial service, Warren tried to give Jesse a little toy soldier. Karen is shocked, snatches the toy, and shoves it in Warren's chest. She berated Warren and told him she will raise Jesse by herself. Warren claimed that Jesse descended from a long line of military men whose earliest ancestor fought at the Battle of Bull Run. He asked Brass if he served and Brass responded that he served in the Marine Corps. Warren loses train of thought asking about Brass's family and gets back to answering questions about Jesse. He tells Brass that Faye blames him for not being able to see their grandson. Faye excuses herself to the bathroom. After Faye leaves, Warren lets Brass know that he did indeed see Karen last week at her home. He tried to give Jesse some dog tags, but Karen kept him from coming into the house. As he tries to recollect what else happened, Warren faded into a momentary memory lapse, but Brass snaps him out of it. Warren is unable to remember recently that Faye went to the bathroom. Warren admits to early Alzheimer's Disease. He pleads to Brass to find Jesse.

Sara tells Warrick that nothing came up out of the playground prints. Brass had set out a bulletin for the man in the blue baseball cap. Warrick tells her that the K-9 search turned up negative. They part ways and Warrick sees Wendy. Wendy does not match the DNA from the toothbrush to the blood from the toilet stall. She did not find DNA, but found urine in the underpants, suggesting that whichever kid wore them left them in the toilet and ran back out to play. The blood from the toilet matches Conner Daly, who was previously convicted for NRS 201.450, Necrophilia, which is sex with a dead body.

Warrick interrogates Connor about his whereabouts. Connor claimed that yesterday afternoon, he was playing nickel slots downtown passing time. Afterwards, he walked in the park for fresh air because he was allergic to smoke. Connor told Warrick that he went to the park close to his apartment and Warrick noted that park is Mesa Valley Park. When Warrick asked about his blood on the bathroom floor, Conner admitted to prolonged cocaine abuse, giving him chronic nosebleeds. Connor took offense to Warrick looking into his records and stood up, facing off against Warrick. He admits to having anger issues and Warrick is not easily intimidated by him. Warrick tells Connor to sit down. He notices a huge cut on Connor's left hand. Connor explained he ran to the bathroom to get toilet paper to clot the bleeding and ripped the toilet paper holder from the bathroom, which is the metal on the floor. Warrick shows Connor a picture of Jesse Matthews. Connor recognizes the kid being with a 51s fan from the man's blue baseball cap.

The news broadcasts the Amber Alert for Jesse Matthews, whose picture is shown on TV. They show a sketch of the bearded man in the blue 51s cap. Karen interviews the reporters, who is certain that Jesse will be safe. Grissom is watching the news.

Brass spots the blue cap man with his wife and Jesse. The store clerk tells the couple that he cannot run their credit cards because they have apparently been frozen. It is actually a trap set for the couple who have Jesse walking around looking at candy. Brass springs the trap and arrests the couple for kidnapping.

Karen rushes over to the police station and hugs Jesse. Catherine watches as the woman is being dragged away in handcuffs. She notices that Jesse is actually calling out "Mommy!" to the woman in custody, who calls out to Adam. The blue cap is also being dragged away and instructs Adam not to say anything. Karen shakes up Karen and wants to know what the couple said to him. Warrick also arrives confused and asks Brass what is going on. Brass tells them the couple is Victor and Valerie Esposito, who moved from New Jersey. He shows the CSIs their car keys with their Christmas family picture of the young boy and the Espositos. Catherine recognizes the scar over his eye from the picture at Karen's house. It is identical to the picture on the key chain. Karen gives the boy a toy T-Rex and hugs him and kisses him. Catherine asks the boy to go to a separate room with Warrick while Catherine talks to Karen.

The boy looks through the window of a room he is in with Warrick. Warrick hangs out with the boy and shows him his special science kit. He gives the boy a rubber glove, a pen that turns into a flashlight, and his magic wand (magnetic fingerprint brush). Warrick shows him how to rub oil off his nose using his thumb and place it on a piece of white paper. He demonstrates how to uncover fingerprints. Warrick also demonstrates to the boy how to swab spit from his mouth using a DNA swab. He shows the boy the two family photos and asks him who his mother his. The boy points to Valerie Esposito's picture.

Catherine collects DNA from Valerie and begins interviewing her. She identifies him as Adam. Valerie is not amused that she is being investigated for the boy's kidnapping. She told Catherine she was in labor for 28 hours straight before finally having a Caesarian Section. Valerie shows Catherine the surgical scars. Catherine asked Valerie if she had twins. Valerie responds through facial expressions that she does not.

Catherine talks to Karen about the boy. She collects Karen's DNA to compare her DNA against the boy's. Catherine tells her that the boy cannot be released until they can positively confirm a familial DNA match. Karen relents and agrees.

Catherine and Warrick see that the boy in Karen's photo is identical to the boy in the Espositos' photo, down to the facial scar. She notices something wrong with Karen's picture. Warrick figures out that the pixel density is way off and realizes that the picture may have been photoshopped.

Catherine shows the Espositos Karen's photo. The Espositos are shocked to see that the boy was photographed with a woman they have not even heard of nor seen until today. Valerie recognizes the shirt his grandmother bought for her son Adam, saying he only wore it once to their family reunion. Catherine asks Victor about his time at Mesa Valley Park. He confirms that he was there with Adam. Valerie is shocked that Victor was gambling again, but Victor told her he quit gambling, saying he was placing a bet for a co-worker. She told Victor he should have just bought ice cream for Adam.

Warrick processes Karen's photo with Audio/Visual Technician Archie Johnson. Archie decides to use Google Image Search to search for Adam Esposito. He finds a family home page, noting that his mom wants him to set up a similar site for them. They discover multiple birthday photos of the Espositos at Mesa Valley Park.

Warrick deduces that Karen faked the photos found in her home and reports the results to Grissom at his office. He believes that Karen targeted the Espositos' family web site for a while. Catherine arrives at the offices and confirms the familial DNA match is Adam Esposito, who was recently released to Victor and Valerie. Warrick believes that Karen never had children, but Catherine noted that the toothbrush matched 13 alleles to Karen's DNA, meaning the search for Jesse Matthews is not over yet.

Brass confronts Karen and arrests her for stalking with the intent of kidnapping. As she is being taken into custody, Karen cries out to Jesse.

The CSIs go over the evidence. Greg reads Jesse David Matthews's birth certificate, identifying Karen and Dwight as the parents. He was born in August 31, 1999. No death certificate was found. From the photos, Catherine notes that all of the family photos until Dwight's military burial were authentic. The rest are all faked. Greg remembers seeing a lot of toys in the front yard, but none of the neighbors can recall seeing Jesse in the front yard. Catherine remembered that the grandfather had not seen Jesse since the funeral. Warrick decides to have Karen's car impounded for signs of Jesse's last-known whereabouts. Catherine describes that Karen created an elaborate fantasy that collided with reality at Mesa Valley Park.

Catherine interrogates Karen about Jesse's last-known whereabouts. She recounts her story of bringing Jesse to the park with his new jacket. Karen believes that Victor took him away from her. Catherine asks her about what happened four years ago. Karen continues to deflect Catherine's questioning and does not understand that the boy is actually Adam Esposito.

Warrick, Greg, and Sara use soil probes in Karen's backyard to find where soil has been disturbed, hopefully finding and not finding Jesse's body. During the search, Warrick notices a replaced fence board with the surrounding boards being chewed on. Greg remembered talking to Ken about his dog barking at the fence.

While the CSIs begin digging, Grissom is inside Karen's home photographing their art work. Catherine finds a prescription bottle for Olanzapine, a heavy-duty anti-psychotic. The prescription is over four years old. She decides to get Brass to subpoena her medical records. Grissom recalled his childhood when his mother would buy a Christmas present every year for his deceased dad. He was nine years old when his father passed away. Grissom's father taught botany. After coming home from school one hot and humid day, he laid down on the couch while Grissom watched TV. His mother brought him cold drinks, but could not wake him up. No one told him why.

Nick processes Karen's car. He finds a hair sample in the back of the car with a skin flake and collects it. A call from the visitor's desk prompts Nick to come back to the visitor center. Before his visit, Nick passes the sample to Lab technician David Hodges to process the hair and ship the tissue sample to the DNA Lab.

Nick meets up with Kelly, who was released from jail two days ago. They talk for a little while with Kelly remembering the words he said to her once before, "Don't take it with you." She leaves abruptly.

Greg, Warrick, and Sara begin digging up the disturbed soil. Queenie is seen growling at the dig site. Warrick finds a T-Rex in the soil. Greg jars some of the soil and prepares it for Hodges to process.

Grissom reads the soil analysis to Brass with Catherine at Brass' office. The GCMS report read that Cadaverine, Putrescene, and other organic substances were found. Catherine notes that no DNA is recoverable, but Hodges reported traces of Olanzapine. Brass's warrant for Karen's medical records came through. Her medical records showed that Karen was treated for Postpartum Psychosis after Dwight's death. Her doctors prescribed it for her. A small dose would be fatal for someone of Jesse's age at the time. Catherine breaks down the scenario, describing that after a heated argument with Dwight's parents, Karen poisoned Jesse to keep him from growing up into military life and buried him by the fence where Princess was barking at. She killed Princess, leaving her hanging over the fence, dug up the body, and moved him elsewhere. Grissom doubts that without Karen's cooperation, they will never be able to find Jesse's body. Brass brings up the possibility of never finding the reasoning behind a mother killing her own child. Grissom brings up Euripedes when writing his story of Medea. "I will slay my children without delaying long enough to hand them over to some more savage hand." Medea was a soldier's wife. Like Medea, Karen did not want Jesse to live to become a military soldier. Brass brushes it off, believing that murder is murder.

As the three continue discussing the outcome of Jesse's abduction case, Karen is arrested for the murder of Jesse Matthews and stalking the Espositos with the possible kidnapping of their son, Adam. She is processed and is being transported to prison. On the way out, Karen sees a visage of her son, Jesse, kneels down, and opens her arms, hoping to hug her long-lost son.