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CSI EPISODE
Alter Boys
Alter
Season 2
Number 6
Writer Ann Donahue
Director Danny Cannon
Original Airdate November 1, 2001

Summary

Grissom, Nick and Sara seem to have a clear-cut case when a young man is discovered burying a murder victim in the desert, but Grissom suspects there is more to it and that the suspect's brother is also involved. Meanwhile, Catherine and Warrick investigate the death of a young woman who died in a hotel spa and discover that the staff may have tampered with the evidence.

Plot

On a lonely road, a ranger drives along at night; he sees a car on the side of the road in the bushes and goes to investigate. He trips and falls down the hillside, and almost rolls into a body at the bottom of the hill. There is a man there, burying the body. Grissom and Nick arrive; they're told that Ben Jennings was burying the body; Grissom asks Ben what he was doing; Ben is silent. Grissom tells him that he doesn't have to talk to them, as the body will.

They check the body, Grissom notes that the body has been moved from the murder scene and tells the officers to uncuff Ben so that they can process him and check his clothing. Grissom finds a hair on his back; Nick finds some red fibers on his shirt. Sara checks his feet for evidence. Grissom notes that the victim has no defensive wounds or bruising, and Nick says that means that he didn't fight back. Grissom tells the officers to send the body to the morgue for processing, but that no one is to touch it until he gets there.

Brass meets Catherine and Warrick at the Mediterranean Hotel; he tells them that Shelley Danvers was found dead in the hotel spa by an employee when she went to lock up for the night. Warrick talks to the employee, Kim Marita, while Catherine checks the body. She notes that the clothing on the body isn't right and asks Ms. Marita if the body was moved at all? Ms. Marita admits that Shelley was naked, so she put a robe on her, and says, "It's not like it's a crime or anything." Catherine and Warrick inform her that it is a crime.

At the morgue, Sara is going over the body from the desert when Grissom arrives; she tells him that she was just looking and hasn't touched it. They find flour on the victim's head; Grissom asks if there are any fibers in the neck wound, and Sara tells him that she observed some yellow fibers but hasn't removed them yet. She does so, and examines them, noting that they're probably silk; Grissom comments that the victim is wearing a dress shirt, but no tie, and wonders if he was strangled with his own tie.

Kim Marita tells Warrick that Shelley Danvers went into the spa at 8 p.m. and her body was found at 10 p.m. Catherine asks if Shelley used the jacuzzi; Kim says no, but they question her truthfulness, noting that she lied before about the clothing.

Dr. Robbins tells Grissom that the body from the desert is Oliver Dunn, adding that his wife came in to identify the body. He notes that there are three bullets in the body; Grissom asks about the cause of death, and is told that Dunn died of asphyxiation. Grissom wonders why someone would shoot a person that they'd strangled; Sara comes in with the information that the flour on Mr. Dunn's head was pizza flour. In the interview room, Det. O'Riley asks Ben where his gun is; Ben says that he lost it. Grissom asks if he has a job; Ben tells them that he works at Dante's Pizza, as a delivery boy. Grissom tells him that they found flour on Mr. Dunn's head and asks him to explain how it got there, but Ben says that he doesn't know; he doesn't come in contact with the flour, just the pizza boxes. He then tells Grissom that he doesn't have to talk; Grissom tells him that they'll find out everything from the evidence. Ben asks him, "If you know so much about these murders, what do you need me for?" Grissom is intrigued, and asks, "Murders?", stressing the fact that it's plural.

In the desert, Nick and Sara go over the ground in the area where Ben was discovered, using a radar device to check the ground; they find another body. Grissom asks Ben if there are any more bodies and tells him that they'll radar the whole hillside if they have to. As Grissom walks away, Ben tells him that he's not a bad person; Grissom doesn't believe Ben.

At the lab, Catherine sees David wheeling a body into the morgue; he tells her that it's Shelley's. Dr. Robbins does the autopsy and tells Catherine that Shelley didn't drown, so the jacuzzi theory is out, but she may have died of heat stroke, which caused multiple organ failure. Catherine calls Brass and asks him to get a warrant to search the hotel; Warrick arrives and tells her that Shelley had a roommate at the hotel, Tina Kolas; they had both come in from Indiana to stay at the hotel.

In the desert, while the team is uncovering the second body, Father Powell arrives to talk to Grissom; he tells Grissom that Ben is a member of his parish and is in need of spiritual guidance. With the body uncovered, Nick notes that there are no ligature marks on the neck, which is different from the first body that they found; he also finds a wallet in the man's jacket pocket, with a driver's licence identifying him as Kenny Ramirez. Sara comments that there seems to be no connection between the two victims, and it makes no sense. Det. O'Riley arrives and tells them that Oliver Dunn's car has been found by highway patrol officers at a gas station. Grissom asks if there was a second car there as well; O'Riley says yes, and checks his notes, then says that the second car belonged to a Mr. Ramirez.

At the hotel, Warrick examines the room while Catherine talks to Tina. Tina tells them that both she and Shelley had been drinking, and Shelley thought that a sauna would help dry her out. Warrick finds a ripped shirt; Tina says that they had a fight over it the day before in the room, and when she pulled on it, it ripped in half, and they both laughed over it. She tells them that Shelley called from the phone in the room to make an appointment for the sauna; Catherine looks at the notepad by the phone and says that they'll have to take that with them; Warrick says they'll take the shirt as well.

In the desert, at the gas station, Nick and Sara talk to the gas jockey, who tells them that he didn't see anything, which they find hard to believe. He admits that his buddy came along and he went for a ride with him, which he's not supposed to do and if his boss finds out, he'll lose his job. He says that he was only gone a short time, but when he got back, the two cars were there at the pumps, so he checked them out, then saw the blood on the ground and called the police. Nick looks around and notes that there's no blood on the ground now; the gas jockey says that he hosed it off as it was freaking him out.

At the lab, Grissom examines Ben's car; Father Powell arrives to talk to Grissom about Ben. He tells Grissom that Ben is a good kid, that he goes to mass every Sunday, and that his problem is that he tries to please people. Grissom sprays the seats of the car with Luminol, and tells Father Powell that it will show if there's blood in the car; it shows blood on all the seats, and Father Powell looks horrified. He tells Grissom that Ben wouldn't do this, but Grissom says that he believes the evidence in the car.

At the hotel, Kim Marita tells Warrick and Catherine that she has no record of Shelley Danvers being booked for the sauna; Catherine shows her the notepad from the room, and tells her that they've examined it and found that Shelley Danvers made a note on it that she had an appointment for the sauna at 8 p.m. and they've confirmed that it was her handwriting; she points out that this is interesting, especially since Shelley died of heat stroke. Warrick adds that the sauna is kept at 182 degrees, which could kill a person, especially if the sauna weren't checked. Brass tells Kim that he has their check-up sheet for the sauna, and no hotel employee checked the sauna after 7:30 p.m., so Shelley was in there from 8 p.m. until Kim went to lock up at 10 p.m. Kim explains that she dressed and moved the body in order to protect the reputation of the hotel; Catherine tells her she was hiding negligent homicide.

Sara and Nick have bullets which they collected from the gas station; they're from a Lorcin .380, which is the same pistol used on Oliver Dunn, and the blood in Ben's car matches both Oliver Dunn and Kenny Ramirez, as well as the red fibers, which Sara has matched to the carpet from Ben's car. Nick tells Grissom that Ben killed Dunn and Ramirez; Grissom says that the evidence only shows that he had the bodies in the car and buried them; he wants them to find the gun that was used, preferably with Ben's finger prints on it, and then he'll believe that Ben did it. Sara asks if he'd like to see the holes in his hands, and calls him a Doubting Thomas, and asks if this has anything to do with the Priest that has been hanging around. Grissom assures her that it has only to do with the evidence. Nick insists that the evidence doesn't get any better than this, so Grissom tells them to take it to the DA.

The next morning, Catherine and Warrick arrive at the lab to find Brass waiting for them; he tells them that he has new evidence: a hotel patron called to say that he'd seen Shelley and Tina fighting in the casino and they seemed to be fighting over a guy. He says that this is how the shirt got ripped, not the way that Tina had previously told them. They head out to the hotel.

Nick checks Ben's criminal record and finds some minor offences but nothing violent; he then finds Roger Jennings, Ben's brother, who has a lengthy record including many violent offences. Roger was paroled in 2000. Sara arrives; Nick tells her that they might have been wrong about Ben, and shows her Roger's record. Grissom goes to the cells to talk to Ben; he asks about Roger, whether Roger threatened Ben to make him help? Grissom says that they know that Ben only buried the bodies, and wants to know what happened. Ben is silent.

At Dante's Pizza, Grissom and O'Riley find Roger making pizzas. They question him; he says that he wasn't at the gas station, now that he has a job, he's staying clean. Grissom suggests that Ben has told them that Roger killed the two men, but Roger says that Ben would never say that. Grissom says that he knows that Roger shot Mr. Ramirez and strangled Mr. Dunn with his own tie; Roger says that Ben did it, and told him about it, but he refused to help Ben dispose of the bodies, telling Ben that he was on his own. O'Riley asks him what could have set Ben off like that, and Roger suggests that it was just tempers out of control, that Ben got angry at Mr. Ramirez for cutting in front of him at the gas station and shot him, and then strangled Mr. Dunn, who was probably just a by-stander who got too nosey. Grissom tells Roger that the killer left flour on Mr. Dunn's face, and says that it wasn't from the gunshot, it was personal, and adds that for a killer to change his M.O. from shooting to strangling there are only two reasons: entertainment or necessity. He asks Roger which it was, but Roger insists that he doesn't know what they're talking about.

Nick and Sara go to Roger Jennings trailer home to look for the missing tie; Sara finds some dry cleaning and notes that dry cleaning is expensive, but the trailer home is low rent. Examining the clothing in the bags, she finds a stain that could be blood; Nick comments that it could just be red sauce. While she tests the stain, Nick checks the area outside the trailer and finds a barrel with ashes in it; poking around, he finds a gun in the ashes. Sara comes out and tells him that the stain tested positive for blood; he shows her the gun, a Lorcin .380.

At the station, Roger is put in a cell, and walks by the cell where Ben is. Roger stares at him angrily as he walks by; Ben looks sad. In the lab, Grissom does ballistics tests on the gun that Nick found; the gun jams while he's testing it, and the technician tells him that the striations on the bullet don't match the ones found in the bodies. Grissom suggests that Roger did something to the barrel of the gun to change the striation pattern; Sara comes in with the blood test results: the dry cleaning rendered the blood untestable, so there's no evidence there. Roger is released from jail; he collects his belongings and leaves while Ben watches him from the cell. Grissom stops Roger on the way out and asks him if the gun jammed while he was shooting, adding that that's why he strangled Mr. Dunn; it was necessity. Roger says nothing and leaves.

Catherine and Warrick tell Tina that Shelly died from anaphylactic shock, they missed it until they saw the room service bill for the food that the two girls ordered. Brass comments that the airline records show that Shelley said she was allergic to shellfish, and the room service bill shows that two bowls of "A Taste From The Sea" containing pureed shellfish were ordered. Catherine tells Tina that they know that Shelley made a date with someone named Jeremy; Tina tells them that they met Jeremy in a bar, and she heard Shelley make the date with him. Catherine asks if she killed Shelley over a guy that they met in a bar; Tina says that she didn't think the shellfish would kill Shelley, she thought she'd just get hives or something and miss the date. Catherine tells Tina that Shelley's allergies kicked in at the worst possible time; when she was alone in the sauna; the reaction caused her blood to stop running through her veins, and her organs shut down. Tina comments that she didn't even like the guy, she just didn't want to be left out; Brass arrests her.

Sara gives Grissom a note to see DA; on the news, there's a report that Ben has been arrested for the murders. Grissom talks to the DA; he tells her that there's no evidence to say that Ben committed the murders. DA Childs shows him the new evidence in the case: the missing yellow tie, which was turned in by Roger that morning. He told the DA that Ben had asked him to hide it; Grissom says that since Roger brought it in, that would explain why his epithelials are on it; DA Childs says that it doesn't explain why Ben's are on it too.

Grissom asks Ben how his skin got on the tie, telling him that Roger turned it in; O'Riley tells him that Roger is framing him for the murders. Ben says that he doesn't know how his skin got there, and recalls what happened; he picked up the bodies at Roger's place, then pulled the tie off of Mr. Dunn's neck and gave it to Roger, who told him to bury the bodies, and that if there was any trouble, he should just keep his mouth shut. He says that he buried the bodies as a favor to Roger, and that Roger told him that if neither one of them talked, then the whole thing would just blow over. O'Riley tells Ben that he's looking at two counts of murder, and the best that he can hope for is life with no parole. Grissom asks if Ben has anything linking Roger to the murders, but Ben has nothing.

In church, Grissom goes to see the Father Powell; he says that he knows they arrested the wrong man; Father Powell says that he tried to help without breaking his vows. Grissom comments that 100 years ago, they didn't have finger print technology, and 15 years ago, they didn't have DNA; maybe someday, they'll have the technology to put the right man in jail. Father Powell suggests that someday, they might not need jails, then invites Grissom to come to mass; Grissom says that he doesn't believe in religion, he believes in science.

Catherine tells Grissom that he'll be getting a call from the local papers about spa safety at the local hotels regarding the death at the Mediterranean. He asks what happened; she says that there was some negligence. She leaves; Grissom sees officer go running by towards the cells. He follows them and sees Ben on the floor, bleeding. The officers say that he did it with his own teeth; they try to revive him; Grissom tries to help, then steps back as EMT workers arrive. Ben is pronounced dead; Grissom holds up his hand and looks at the blood on his fingers.

Main Cast

(Credit order)

Recurring Roles

Guest Star

  • Dylan Baker as Father Powell
  • Corbin Allred as Ben Jennings
  • Jeremy Renner as Roger Jennings
  • Sasha Alexander as District Attorney Robin Childs
  • Wayne Wilderson as Paramedic
  • Lindsay Price as Kim Marita
  • Nicole DeHuff as Tina Kolas
  • Craig Cady as Cell Cop
  • Tara D'Agostino as Shelley Danvers
  • Noel Gugliemi as David Ramirez (credited as Noel Guglielmi)
  • Bill Kalmenson as Oliver Dunne
  • Ori Pfeffer as Kirk - Gas Station Attendant
  • Deborah Landis as News Director (uncredited)

Trivia

  • At approximately 7 minutes and 25 seconds into the episode we can see the "dead" body on the post mortem table exhaling.
  • (at around 34 mins) Just as Sarah finishes talking, a female voice immediately says "Sorry." Although it appears to be in answer to Sarah's question it differs to the pitch of the man who they are questioning.
  • One of the epsodes that display Grissom's religious views.

See Also

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