CSI: CRIME scene investigation

Season 4 - Episode 23 - Bloodlines

Teleplay by Carol Mendelsohn & Naren Shankar
Story by Eli Talbert & Sarah Goldfinger by
Directed by Ken Fink

Linley Parker is the victim of a brutal attack, and when Catherine goes to the hospital to interview her, she finds her to be a powerful witness. She was able to get a partial plate of the car that hit her, forcing her to pull over on a deserted road, and she can give Catherine specific details on her attack because she was determined to remember everything about the brutal assault. The man who raped her wanted her to look at him, she says, and Linley works with a forensic artist to create a sketch of the suspect. Armed with the dead-on sketch, the police arrest psychologist Todd Coombs, and Linley is able to ID him from a lineup without hesitation.

Warrick matches the description of the attack and evidence found at the scene – including a telltale footprint -- to the murder of another woman in the same vicinity, making the team suspect they may be looking at a serial criminal. But after Grissom takes a DNA from Dr. Coombs, Greg proves that there is no match, though the suspect may be related to the doctor – perhaps a brother. They track down Coombs’ four of Coombs’ five brothers, and while the team pushes to tie one of them to the case, Linley insists that they have made a mistake and released the man who almost killed her.

Determined to buy a gun to protect herself, she calls Catherine to help expedite the process, but before she can hang up, Catherine hears the sound of glass breaking and Linley’s screams of terror. Grissom and Catherine race downtown, where they find Linley’s car vandalized, and Linley missing. While Brass searches for Todd Coombs, the CSIs use a GPS tracker on her cell phone, hoping to find her alive – but she has been raped again, and strangled to death.

The land where Linley is found belongs to the Coombs family, and there the CSIs find the fifth Coombs brother, and the car belonging to the other victim that Warrick’s investigation turned up. But the blood on the smashed window of Linley’s car matches the semen from all the rapes, which means it is not a match to Todd Coomb’s, or any of his brothers. Catherine insists the evidence must be wrong, but Grissom says: “You can be wrong, I can be wrong, but the evidence is just the evidence.”

Finally, one strand of hair found on Linley’s body does match Todd Coombs, and although it puts him with the body, it doesn’t prove rape. Brass brings him in again, and he is thoroughly examined for trace evidence, which is when Grissom discovers something strange about the doctor, the one clue that can connect him to the murders, even though the evidence doesn’t.

And, Sara finds a way to deal with her issues with Grissom.