CSI: CRIME scene investigation

Season 7 - Episode 16 - Monster in the Box

Written by Douglas Petrie and Naren Shankar
Directed by Jeffrey Hunt

Grissom can’t help but show his anger when he opens yet another miniature and realizes that the miniature killer is still on the prowl. When Catherine and Grissom examine the miniature, which shows an older woman lying dead in her condo with a pillow over her face and her cat dead on the bookshelf, Catherine notes from the miniature newspaper that the crime is slated for the very next day. Grissom looks at the take-out menus that are in the diorama, charts their location and sends out a team to look for a condo that resembles the miniature. Nick finds the condo and the potential victim Barbara Tallman inside. While the CSIs believe that she is a bit wacky and possibly on drugs, they make her evacuate the apartment so that they can catch their killer. Sofia dresses an undercover female cop up as the victim and makes her lie on the couch with a pillow over her face and wait for the victim. With all cops on watch, they believe they’ve found the miniature killer when a man makes an attempt to open the door to the condo. However, it turns out to be Barbara’s brother Peyton. Unfortunately, hours into the night at quitting time Sofia realizes that that the cop inside the condo and Barbara’s cat are dead. Once autopsied, Dr. Robbins confirms that they were both poisoned with carbon monoxide. Nick returns to the condo for another search and finds a carbon-monoxide valve in the fireplace. Back at the lab, Sara researches Ernie Dell’s past and realizes that he has a son that goes by Mitch Douglas. Sara notes that Mitch had relations with the four prior victims. However, when she speaks with him he says that his father had thirteen other foster children that could be responsible for the murders. Meanwhile, Grissom finds out that Barbara was not only Mitch Douglas’ shrink, but she was killed in her apartment in the same fashion displayed in the miniature. When Dr. Robbins autopsies the body he realizes that she was smothered. However, he also notes that she had an advanced case of Parkinson’s disease. Catherine finds water in her ear that DNA ties to her brother Peyton’s tears. Peyton tells Catherine that he killed his sister to put her out of misery as that was what she wanted. With one crime solved, the team believes that Ernie killed himself to cover his kid’s tracks. They wonder whether Ernie is to blame or one of the other foster children.