CSI: CRIME scene investigation

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Lucky Strike

Written by Eli Talbert & Anthony E. Zuiker
Directed by Ken Fink

Catherine and Warrick investigate the high-profile case of a kidnapped five-year-old, the son of a pro basketball star. Hotel guest Tavian Tombs has the clout to make one phone call, and arrange for the casino to put up the five million-dollar ransom to get his son back. But he ignores the police’s advice to let them handle the exchange by sending his security man to monitor the drop, and when the kidnappers spot him, they panic, killing and dumping the little boy.

Myriad animal hairs on the boy’s sweatshirt lead them to a dog kennel, where Catherine and Warrick find multiple clues – there is evidence that the five-year-old victim was restrained, and when the boy tried to escape, the bungling kidnapper administered animal tranquilizers, which killed the child.

But the bungler will not get to tell his side of it – the CSIs find him at the scene, beaten to death – and now they must figure out what motivated the kidnapping, and if Tavian took the law into his own hands by seeking revenge for his son’s murder.

Meanwhile, the police embark on a high speed chase through the downtown streets of Vegas, and when the car finally stops, they’ve got a dead man driving -- a guy with a spike in his head emerges from the SUV, and promptly keels over.

What killed him? Just because Spike Man is dead, it doesn’t mean that Nick and Grissom are giving up the chase. A .38 in the dead man’s glove compartment leads them to discover bat guano under the victim’s fingernails, which leads them to the primary crime scene, which leads them to an old Vegas gold mine, filled with bats and a parade of insects which will lead them to the truth of what got Spike Man killed.