CSI: CRIME scene investigation

Season 7 - Episode 3 - Toe Tags

Teleplay by Richard Catalani and Douglas Petrie
Story by Allen MacDonald and Carol Mendelsohn
Directed by Jeffrey Hunt

When a maid reports that a woman has been found dead in a hotel, Catherine and Brass arrive at the scene. Victim Donna Basset is found in a white terry cloth robe in the elevator. Upon further examination of the body, Catherine plucks a dried red rose petal from the victim’s shoulder and detects water spilling from her mouth. Catherine believes the cause of death is drowning. When searching the different floors of the hotel, Catherine finds white fabric fibers at the penthouse. She also finds a maid’s trashcan with women’s clothing at the bottom of it along with an ankle holster and police service revolver. The hotel manager says that the victim was the security guard of a hotel guest: Robert Hsing. Upon entering Hsing’s room, Catherine finds rose petals and oils in a large bathtub. She matches the remnants on the petal to the grape seed oil used in Hsing’s bath. Before she can crack the case, Catherine must prove that this grape seed oil is tied to Hsing’s person. Unfortunately, Hsing had the suit that he was wearing on the night of the murder dry cleaned. Catherine searches for another piece of evidence that will tie him to the crime.

 Meanwhile, Warrick, Greg and Sofia investigate the death of a Rebecca McGill who fell off a cliff, splitting her skull on a rock and losing her brain. Warrick enters the scene and questions the victim’s husband Gavin McGill. He says she accidentally fell off the cliff, but then later says she jumped. Meanwhile, Dr. Robbins notes scarring on her hands; as if she was hanging onto a rock and the killer stomped on her hands. Henry Andrews notes that the victim was on anti depressants and ingested a high amount of alcohol before death. The team must find the missing piece of evidence that links Gavin to her murder.

 In the morgue, a Jack Day speaks with Donna and Rebecca about whether they have seen his wife and child. The women say they haven’t. The audience then realizes that Nick is already on the case. A cop stands outside of her dented vehicle, and states that a man crashed into her car. Dr. Robbins notes that the corpse found in the car has left blood on the steering wheel, but has no visible wounds. He is identified as Russell Caris. Nick finds a bloody knife in the passenger seat.

 Across town, Sofia finds Jack Day, the victim of the stab wound, face down in a puddle of blood at a gas station. His wife states that a crazy man stabbed her husband and left. Upon searching Caris’ Buick, Nick finds marijuana laced with embalming fluid. Could this stand as evidence that Caris was on drugs, went crazy from the PCP effect and killed Day? The team struggles to track the evidence in time.

 Our final corpses are Lou Beltran and Ray Gaynor; who experienced death via chainsaw. Grissom and Sara discover both corpses in Gaynor’s garage dead along with a bunch of sawed up furniture. Grissom and Sara evaluate the clues to see which one killed the other. They wonder if the two men struggled with the saw and wound up killing each other.