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418/427
418 427
Season 11
Number 10
Writer Michael Frost Beckner
Director Frank Waldeck
Original Airdate December 9, 2010
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Previous Episode: Wild Life
Next Episode: Man Up

418/427 is the tenth episode in Season Eleven of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis[]

The CSIs set out to track down a pedophile suspected of murdering an FBI agent's wife and kidnapping his children.

Plot[]

Victims: Christine Moore and Hector Atoya (both deceased), Holly Moore (missing)

On the case: Catherine Willows, Greg Sanders, Nick Stokes, Sara Sidle, Jim Brass

In a grocery store, a frazzled woman struggles to pay for her order while dealing with her ringing phone, her young daughter, and a disgruntled customer behind her. A low-rider soon pulls up in front of the store with the music blaring, angering the disgruntled customer further. Suddenly, he's forced to take cover when gunshots ring out; the woman and a cart collector are gunned down in the parking lot.

When questioned, the customer points the finger at the gang members; however, no gun was found in their car. The deceased cart collector, soon identified as Hector Atoya, has gang tattoos and a record; it's possible he was targeted in retaliation for his past crime. However, the team observes that it was the woman who was shot three times, including once in the right eye. Powder burns around the eye indicate that the woman was shot at close range execution-style, making her the target. Greg learns from the disgruntled customer that the woman had a child with her and that she was carrying two bags of groceries. There's a void in the parking lot where a car would've been, and one bag of groceries has been left behind. The thought is that she was carjacked while loading the bags and the perpetrator didn't know there was a kid in the backseat. Brass issues an Amber Alert on the missing girl.

Nick questions the grocery store cashier, who relays that the victim seemed to be very upset and also ignored a cell phone call. The cashier mentions that the victim paid by check, which reveals her name is Christine Moore. Based on the driver's license number written on the check, Archie checks the DMV records and identifies the missing vehicle. He also finds that Christine's husband, Daniel, is listed on the registration; however, access to his record is restricted.

In the morgue, David Phillips pulls a .22 caliber bullet from Hector, but he and Doc Robbins are interrupted when Daniel Moore bursts into the morgue to see his wife—or more specifically, the eye she got shot in. Daniel is an FBI agent, and he’s convinced that Rylan Gauss, a serial pedophile he’s been hunting, killed his wife—and took his daughter. When questioned by Brass, he says that he was on a case when the shooting took place.

Archie pulls a frantic message from Christine’s cell phone left by a Trent Moore, who is possibly her son. In it, he warned her that Rylan was following her and was going to kidnap both her and Holly, the young girl. Agent Moore tells Brass he’s been after Rylan Gauss for a decade. Rylan has abducted six little girls from their beds, and he shot the mother of his last victim in the eye when she interrupted the abduction. He was convicted of the murder but released when an evidence analysis was called into question. Agent Moore tells Brass that Rylan threatened him and his family. Worried about Trent, his son from his first marriage, Agent Moore calls him at work and learns he never showed up, leading the FBI agent to fear Rylan has both of his children. Those fears seem to be confirmed when the CSIs go to his house and find it torn up—with no sign of Trent.

Sara is frustrated when Agent Moore interferes with the investigation, pointing out cornstarch on the windowsill is likely from the cheap latex gloves Rylan uses to abduct his victims. In addition, he points out that a chisel mark by the window also fits Rylan's M.O. After an unhinged Agent Moore contaminates the crime scene, Sara and Brass get him to leave. In the bathroom, Sara discovers half-empty bottles of antidepressants prescribed to Trent that appear to have been discarded.

Catherine and Nick go to Rylan's apartment and find no sign of the pedophile; however, they discover children’s books in Ziploc bags hidden behind a wall. Based on the ages of the books, the thought is that they may have belonged to the victims and been kept as trophies. Greg and Hodges read the files on Rylan, learning that he took personal items (including books) belonging to the girls before their abductions and that he takes his victims from parks. They relay this information to Catherine and Nick, who go to a nearby park and find the pedophile taking a video of a little girl. Agent Moore shows up with a gun, but Nick tackles Rylan to the ground before the agent can shoot him. Rylan is arrested on the spot.

Brass questions Rylan, who denies taking Holly but seems none too sad to hear his pursuer’s daughter is missing. Knowing that Agent Moore is watching from the other side of the glass, Rylan antagonizes him by telling him that he has one kid left. When Brass plays the voice mail Trent left for Christine, Rylan denies being at the scene of her murder and claims he's being framed. Rylan provides a detailed alibi for the night before, saying that he was at a bar off of Fremont Street. Brass informs him that they found his stash of children's books and if there are any prints on them from his victims, his days as a free man are over.

Christine's minivan is discovered abandoned and out of gas in a seedy neighborhood not too far from Rylan's place. Though there’s no sign of Holly or Trent, Sara does recover a half-eaten egg sandwich from the back of the van. Figuring that no three-year-old would eat such a sandwich, the theory is that whoever was driving the car must have. Hodges gets prints off of the wrapper, but they don’t match Rylan. The belief is that whoever ate the sandwich is the one who took Holly, but the abductor's identity remains a mystery.

When they fail to recover any prints from the books found in Rylan's apartment and the pedophile’s alibi checks out, Brass is forced to release him, much to Agent Moore’s consternation. As he's escorted away, Rylan antagonizes the agent one more time. Despite the evidence to the contrary, Agent Moore remains insistent that Rylan is their only angle. After Agent Moore walks away in frustration, Nick notes to Brass that the agent's focus is entirely on Rylan and not his dead wife. Brass replies that the agent's rocky personal or professional life is causing him to focus on the one that got away.

When Christine’s sister calls the morgue to have her body released, Doc Robbins learns that the Moores were going through an ugly divorce, and Christine was suing for sole custody of both Holly and Trent. Catherine states that if Agent Moore wasn't with the FBI, he would likely be the team's prime suspect. She calls Brass and tells him to confirm Agent Moore's alibi for the night of his wife's murder.

The team tracks Agent Moore to Rylan’s apartment, where Brass finds him standing over Rylan's body and holding a gun. Agent Moore insists he didn’t shoot Rylan, claiming that someone beat him to it. This is confirmed when David Phillips determines that Rylan was killed with a .22 caliber gun, the same weapon used in the grocery store killings. However, neither of Agent Moore's guns are that caliber. Greg soon finds a hat for Fast Food Deliveries next to the body and remembers that Trent works for a messenger service.

Henry tells Sara that the medication Trent was on is used to treat emerging schizophrenia. Conveniently, Agent Moore forgot to mention that his son has psychological problems, just like he neglected to mention his rocky marriage. Henry adds that Trent has likely been off his medications for at least 24 hours, which means he may be in the middle of a full-blown psychotic episode. Hodges intervenes and informs Sara that the fingerprints from the egg salad sandwich wrapper in the car surprisingly belong to Trent, which puts him in the car at the time of the shooting.

When asked about his son's state of mind, Agent Moore tells Brass he rejected Christine’s assertion that Trent was schizophrenic. Brass points out that the agent's own behavior has been erratic, which sets him off even more. Noting that a hat belonging to Trent was found in Rylan's apartment, Brass lays out the facts—he was with Christine at the time of the shooting and wasn't kidnapped. Instead, he's in the middle of a psychotic episode; Brass even believes that Trent shot both Rylan and Christine. He presses Agent Moore to name a place Trent might go, and the agent names the house he lived in with his first wife, who is now deceased. Sara and some uniformed officers go there and discover Trent hiding out in a shed, totally disoriented, believing he’s actually Rylan Gauss. She gets the disturbed young man to give up his gun and takes him in.

Hodges processes the hat Trent was wearing and recovers several bed bugs from it. Sara notes that no bed bugs were found in Trent's apartment or in the shed; however, he did have bug bites on his arm. She wonders if he picked the bites up from wherever he has Holly stashed. Meanwhile, Catherine confirms that the bullets from Trent’s gun killed Rylan, but not Christine; there's another .22-caliber gun in play with no credible leads on the shooter. She notes that Christine was shot in the eye at close range, which is Rylan's M.O. When she asks Brass who else knew Rylan's M.O., Brass has one answer—Agent Moore.

Brass theorizes that Agent Moore saw Christine leaving in the middle of the night with Holly in the car and figured she was leaving town; however, he didn't know Trent was in the car, as well. He convinces the agent to confess to Trent that he killed Christine, hoping that Trent will snap back into reality and remember where he left Holly. Though the attempt fails, the CSIs guess that Trent might have taken his sister to a motel in the neighborhood where the minivan ran out of gas based on bed bugs they discovered in his hat. The team scours motels until they find the one Trent checked into; there, they find Holly with a woman in the motel room next door. Sara and Brass tell Trent and Agent Moore that Holly has been found safe and unharmed.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Episode Title[]

  • The code 418/427 might stand for missing person and kidnapping.

Notes[]

  • Laurence Fishburne (Langston) is credited but does not appear in this episode. This is the first and only episode since his first appearance where he's absent.

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 11
Shock WavesPool SharkBlood MoonSqweegelHouse of HoardersCold BloodedBump and GrindFrackedWild Life418/427Man UpA Kiss Before FryingThe Two Mrs. GrissomsAll That CremainsTargets of ObsessionTurn On, Tune In, Drop DeadThe ListHitting for the CycleUnleashedFather of the BrideCello and GoodbyeIn a Dark, Dark House
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