CSI: CRIME scene investigation

Season 4 - Episode 6 - Jackpot

Written by Naren Shankar & Carol Mendelsohn
Directed by Danny Cannon
Henry Czerny (“Mission Impossible,” “Haven”) Guest Stars as Sheriff Alan Brooks

It all starts with a cardboard box, containing a Tupperware bowl, delivered to Dr. Robbins’ office. Inside is a human head, immersed in clear fluid, with dirt and other detritus floating in the liquid – a CSI snow globe. The post-mortem suggests this was a homicide victim, so Grissom decides to journey solo to the small, isolated town where the head was found – Jackpot, Nevada – to determine how the man died.

Upon his arrival, Grissom hears from the local townspeople, who think a wild animal got the guy, while others think a satanic cult is involved, but it soon becomes clear to Grissom that Sheriff Alan Brooks (guest star Henry Czerny) finds the case less than interesting. “Things must be pretty slow in Vegas to get one of you guys out here this quick,” he says, and suggests that perhaps some unfortunate hiker took a fatal fall. Replies Grissom: “His head’s in a plastic jar. That’s not worth investigating?”

While the Sheriff is prepared to chalk the death up to the circle of life, Grissom doesn’t think things are that simple. That blade mark found on the victim’s neck tells him there’s more than a body somewhere out there – there’s a killer – and he intends to prove it.

With Catherine’s help, Grissom is able to narrow down the possible location of the torso by the type of leaves found with the head. He treks into the woods to interview the owner of the dog who brought he head home, and the combined information leads Grissom, the Sheriff and his deputy to a human stump buried in the woods. The bugs surrounding the headless torso gives Grissom an approximate time of death, but he does not know how the killer could have incapacitated the victim and had the time to bury him in a four foot deep grave –unless the murderer had help. And closer examination of the blood spatter in the area tells a more horrifying story – the victim was buried alive, and his throat cut to attract predators. “This wasn’t just murder,” Grissom tells the Sheriff, “it was torture.”

 The investigation reveals that the reason the dog got sick from chewing on the head was that the victim was drugged, which also explains how the unfortunate young man may have been buried, giving little resistance. Catherine and Warrick identify the victim from a textbook receipt found in his clothes –one Ross Jenson, a WLVU student. Grissom is able to coax information from the local waitress in town, who remembers the kid as well as the Jeep he drove. When Grissom follows the only road out of town that Ross could have taken, he finds the Jeep, hidden in a barn. The barn is owned by the gas station owner, who has a lot of explaining to do – Ross filled the tank before he left town, so Marty Cooperman clearly lied to Grissom when he said he never saw Ross Jenson alive.

At this point, it becomes patently clear to Grissom that he’s hit the jackpot as far as suspects are concerned, and the more questions he asks, the murkier things become. It’s equally clear that the same townspeople want Grissom to go away – someone breaks into his Denali and steals his evidence kit. But they don’t know Grissom – when things get tough, the tough improvise -- and Grissom recreates his kit at the Jackpot general store, using common items like index cards, pencil lead, scotch tape, batteries, face powder and blush – which will help him find the killer it’s becoming evident Sheriff Brooks does not want him to find.

Meanwhile, Catherine receives money she does not want from her father, Sam Braun.