CSI: CRIME scene investigation

Season 7 - Episode 22 - Leapin' Lizards

Teleplay by David Rambo
Story by Carol Mendelsohn & David Rambo
Directed by Richard J. Lewis
Guest Stars:
Enrico Colantoni as the estranged husband of the victim
Ally Sheedy and Julie Hagerty as fellow members of the UFO Believers Club

Blackjack dealer Chyna De Vere and her husband Preston are missing.  Working on a tip, Brass and the Swat Team head to a secluded ranch house outside Vegas.  Heavily armed Hank Connors opens fire on the police when they arrive, only to eventually shoot himself once the SWAT Team enters the house.  Grissom and Warrick search Connors’ barn to find the interior of his truck soaked with blood, a blood stained workbench with several sharp instruments and glass eyeballs and a trophy room complete with the heads of a deer, a wild board and Chyna De Vere hanging on the wall.  Nick searches a pigpen looking for signs of human remains.  Back at the lab, Catherine and Greg process the carpet from the De Vere’s apartment- it has been thoroughly steam-cleaned but for a drop of blood from a female on a distant corner that doesn’t match the possible victims.  They do manage make a connection between Chyna and Hank Connors- they were in some kind of club together.  Grissom searches the ranch house and finds extensive material on UFO conspiracies and a flyer to a meeting about a Dr. Buckman.  Brass and Sofia interview Shannon Turner who was Hank’s alibi on the day of the disappearances and confront her with evidence Hank killed Chyna.  Grissom watches an old movie of Dr. Buckman in which he spells out the theory this group believes that the human race has been fighting a battle with a race of reptilian aliens for 100,000 years.  These reptilians have taken human form as presidents, royalty and Kim Jong Il.  The only way to kill them is to cut off their heads- did they think Chyna was a reptile? 

 In the autopsy Doc Robbins walks Grissom through the steps required to stuff and mount a human head.  Doc discovers a cut and indentation on Chyna’s skull.  Catherine searches Shannon Turner’s home and turns up drawings of reptiles and herself as a Warrior Princess, a mug with a picture of Shannon and Preston in Cabo together and an Excalibur sword.  Nick and Grissom identify a bone found in the pigpen as a human, female femur.  Nick heads back to the ranch to search the grounds for more remains- he finds human bones, a bullet and 2 wedding rings belonging to the De Vere’s in a fire pit.  Greg matches the blade of the sword to the indentation on Chyna’s skull and a partial print to Shannon Turner. Nick and Warrick match the bullet to a gun from Hank’s house.  It appears that Shannon struck Chyna in the head with the sword, Hank shot her in the chest and then someone cut off her head and steamed cleaned the carpets.  Nick obtains footage from the casino that show Shannon has been gambling strictly at Chyna’s table for a few weeks, and apparently losing a couple grand a day to gain her trust.  Footage from the day of the murder also turns up that shows Preston confronting Chyna, and handing her back his wedding ring- the reason both rings were found in the ashes.  A naked man claiming to have been abducted by reptiles is found in the desert- it turns out to be Chyna’s husband, Preston.  He claims to have been with a girl named Clarissa Niles the night Chyna died and he was abducted.  Grissom and Brass go to a UFO meeting to take Clarissa into custody.  She vouches for Preston’s story.  Catherine and Greg find Preston’s clothes in her car and a steam cleaner in the trunk.  Hodges manages to match a print from Preston and a hair from Chyna on the steam cleaner.  Brass confronts Preston with the evidence of the murder.  Preston admits that he was a con man who used women for money and he pressured Shannon, Hank and Clarissa into helping him murder his wife and cover it up.