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Bite Me
Bite
Season 6
Number 3
Writer Josh Berman,
Carol Mendelsohn
Director Jeffrey Hunt
Original Airdate October 6, 2005
Navigation
Previous Episode: Room Service
Next Episode: Shooting Stars

Bite Me is the third episode in Season Six of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis[]

When a woman dies on her staircase, the team uncovers marital infidelity and an even bigger secret during their investigation.

Plot[]

Victim: Becky Lester (deceased)

On the case: Entire team

Ray Lester frantically calls the paramedics and tells them that there has been an accident in his home. His wife, Becky, has fallen down the back stairs and is lying face up in a pool of blood. The paramedics arrive but are unable to revive her. They end up slipping in her blood and tracking footprints through the house, making things a little more difficult for the CSIs.

Catherine and Grissom are on the scene a half hour later. They meet Brass, who fills them in on the situation. In the house, Ray is sitting in the living room covered in his wife's blood. There's a tequila bottle in the kitchen along with two shot glasses. On the back stairs, they find Becky's body. Grissom notes how the head and spine are perfectly aligned, something that's unusual when someone falls down the stairs.

The rest of the team arrives a little while later. Outside, Greg takes the paramedics' shoes as evidence, while inside, Grissom fills everyone else in on the case. Catherine tells them that the edges of the blood pool were already dry when she and Grissom got to the scene, indicating that the body had been there at least an hour. So, why did Ray take so long to call the paramedics? Grissom notes that Becky's feet don't have blood on them, so the bloody footprints throughout the house aren't hers.

Warrick places markers next to all of the bloody footprints in the house. In the kitchen, he finds a single blood drop on the counter and puts a plastic covering over it. He also finds a bloody paper towel in the garbage. Sara dusts the walls at the top of the stairs and finds no indication that Becky tried to brace herself from the fall. She also tells Catherine and Grissom that if Becky had fallen down the stairs, she would've landed head first; the position of the body is inconsistent with this. Catherine wonders if Becky fell while going up the stairs; a flashback shows her tripping on the first step, hitting her head, then turning herself around to lie face up. Sara measures the blood drops on the wall and finds that they're consistent with medium blood spatter. It seems possible that Becky was hit with some sort of object.

In the living room, Brass questions Ray. Ray tells him that he and Becky went out to dinner, came back, and had some drinks by the pool. They were interrupted when his daughter from his first marriage, Susan, called and asked to speak to Becky. Becky left and took the call in the house. Ray claims that he fell asleep by the pool; when he went into the house a few hours later, he found Becky on the stairs. Nick takes Ray's clothing as evidence; when Ray takes his shirt off, they notice several bite marks on his chest. He says that his wife likes to bite, something he doesn't mind.

In the kitchen, Warrick shows Catherine and Grissom the various footprints he has marked off. He guesses that the single blood drop on the counter is from when Ray reached for the phone, while the paper towel could've been used by Ray to try to clean up some of the scene.

Grissom goes upstairs and peeks into the rooms, one of which looks to be a man's bedroom. He finds Sara, who is processing a woman's bedroom. She tells him that Ray and Becky slept in separate rooms, which Grissom finds odd due to their romantic night out and them sending Susan away to spend the night with a relative. Sara finds a half-used bottle of sexual lubricant in the nightstand in Becky's room.

Brass speaks with Becky's father and Susan. Susan confirms that she called Becky around 10:00 PM to talk about boy problems at school. After he has Susan leave the room, Becky's father reveals that Ray's first wife (Susan's mother) was also found dead at the bottom of a stairway. She had apparently suffered a stroke, and there was no reason to doubt that assessment. He tells Brass that his daughter's marriage to Ray had its ups and downs and that Ray can have somewhat of a temper.

In autopsy, Doc Robbins tells Grissom that Becky's tongue was lacerated perimortem, possibly from biting down on it when she fell down the stairs. There's also evidence that she had sexual intercourse six to 12 hours prior to her death. The cause of death is labeled as exsanguination from five lacerations: two to the forehead, one to the right temple, and two to the occipital lobe. While the injuries are consistent with a fall, Doc Robbins says that Becky didn't have any hand fractures, which is usually consistent with such an occurrence. Grissom asks if the injuries could be a result of blunt force trauma, and Doc Robbins says they could be, except Becky doesn't have any fractures to the skull.

Catherine walks in on Grissom conducting an experiment. He's putting a teaspoon of ketchup in his mouth, then spitting it onto a wall in an effort to match the blood patterns on the wall in the Lester house. Grissom explains that Becky bit her tongue and that the medium velocity blood spatter in the house could be from her expirating blood from her mouth. Catherine measures the ketchup spatter and finds that it's the same size as the blood drops. Grissom theorizes that Becky fell while going up the stairs and bit her tongue. She then expirated the blood and hit her temple when she failed to regain her footing. Grissom says that his theory is meaningless if a murder weapon is found; Catherine tells him that no blood was found in Ray's car, so it's unlikely that he took a drive to dispose of the weapon. Brass enters and relays the information about Ray's first wife, Jackie. Since her body wasn't cremated, they got a court order to exhume it and have an autopsy performed.

Henry stops Greg in the hall and tells him that Becky's blood alcohol level was .18. She also had trace amounts of diazepam in her system, and both her estrogen and progesterone levels were spiked. Meanwhile, Nick traces the outlines of the bite marks on Ray's chest and finds that the impressions don't line up with Becky's teeth.

Catherine interrogates Ray. He tells her that, one year into his marriage with Becky, she told him that she didn't want to have sex with him anymore and made him move into a separate bedroom. However, they stayed together because they respected each other and because Becky was a good mother to Susan. Still having needs, he met a woman online who was into biting, and he would meet her a few times a month at a motel; however, the interactions were consensual, not sexual. He can only identify the woman by her email address. When asked, Ray says that the last time he had sex with Becky was four years ago. Catherine reveals to him that Becky was having an affair and had sexual intercourse the day she died.

While processing Ray's computer, Archie finds a poorly hidden video that shows Ray getting bitten by a blonde woman. From the e-mail address Ray provided, the woman is identified as Dr. Jeri Cohen, a dentist. She's brought into the station and questioned by Nick and Brass. There, she tells them that biting can be healthy and arousing for both parties, and that teeth are sexual organs. She adds that she was always the aggressor and undoes the top buttons of her shirt to prove it. A flustered Nick gets her bite impressions to match up against the ones taken from Ray.

Jackie Lester's exhumed body is brought into autopsy and worked on by Doc Robbins. He tells Warrick that Jackie suffered injuries consistent with lacerations to the occipital bone, quite similar to Becky. Meanwhile, Sara tells Catherine that the bottle of sexual lubricant in Becky's room contained two different sets of prints. One set belonged to Becky, while another belonged to her boss at Western Airlines, Adam Gilford. Sara theorizes that if Ray knew about the affair, he would have motive for murder.

Catherine and Sara talk to Adam, who admits to sleeping with Becky. He says that Becky told him that she and Ray had stopped having sex and if they divorced, she would owe alimony, which she didn't think was right. She also told him that she thought Ray was hiding money from her—the insurance payout on his first wife, Jackie. Adam reveals that he and Jackie were going to be let go from the company in two weeks, meaning that her $250,000 life insurance policy would've been suspended. With Ray being the beneficiary, it seems that he acted just in time.

Ecklie stops by Grissom's office and tells him that the D.A. is planning to file charges against Ray after the A.D.A. stops by the lab for a briefing. Grissom says that this is too soon, as there's nothing definitive in Jackie's death, and the physical evidence in Becky's death is completely ambiguous. Catherine enters and is a little ticked after hearing the same news Grissom just heard. After Ecklie leaves, she tells Grissom that Ray filed for five loan applications in the last two weeks and was denied on each one. However, he's now the beneficiary of the $250,000 life insurance policy.

In the interrogation room, Ray tells Brass that he was being blackmailed. Somebody found out about his fetish and his meetings with Dr. Cohen, and he got a photo and a letter in the mail asking for $200,000; otherwise, the photos were going to be sent to Becky. He tells Brass that he kept the blackmail note and put it in his briefcase where nobody else could find it.

Catherine processes the blackmail note and finds six prints on it—five belonging to Ray and one surprisingly belonging to Becky. Sara wonders if Becky saw the note and Ray killed her to keep her quiet. However, Catherine's theory is that Becky herself sent the note. Thinking that Ray was hiding money, it's possible that Becky thought blackmailing her husband would be the only way she could get her hands on it. Catherine says that they need to test the envelope to see if Becky's saliva is on it.

Doc Robbins shows Warrick the brain of Jackie Lester and concludes that she died from natural causes, with the lacerations to the back of the head coming from her fall down the stairs. Meanwhile, Greg runs the ALS over the blackmail note and finds a Western Airlines watermark at the bottom of it.

Catherine meets up with Ecklie and Grissom, who are telling A.D.A. Sinclair that he's filing charges too early. She recaps the case and adds that they confirmed that Becky was the blackmailer, as her DNA was found on the envelope of the note. They run the timeline for the evening and discover that Susan's call to Becky only lasted two minutes despite the earlier assumption that the conversation lasted for hours. Furthermore, the incoming call came from Ray's office, not from Becky's father's house. Greg and Sara go back to the house to process the office; there, Sara finds a bloody fingerprint on the back of the phone.

Catherine and Brass go to Becky's father's house with a warrant. They tell him and Susan to wait outside and allow Susan to grab her homework. Catherine follows her and asks to see what's in her backpack. Upon emptying the backpack, Catherine finds a bloody shirt. She asks Susan what she hit Becky with and Susan eyes the closet. When Catherine looks through the closet, she finds a cane that tests positive for blood.

With Catherine and Grissom watching from the observation room, Brass interrogates Susan. She admits that she hated her stepmother and that she had to protect her father from her. Susan recalls that she skipped soccer practice one day and came home early to find Becky in bed with Adam, laughing about how easy it would be to blackmail Ray. Catherine and Grissom conclude that Becky didn't suffer any skull fractures because Susan wasn't strong enough to inflict that amount of damage

Susan goes on to say that she walked home from her grandfather's house after he fell asleep and called her father, asking to talk to Becky. She told Becky to meet her upstairs and hid in a closet. When Becky started going upstairs, Susan emerged from the closet and struck her several times with the cane. She then cleaned the cane with a paper towel, threw it in the kitchen garbage, and went back to her grandfather's. When asked where her father was, Susan says that he was asleep outside. Catherine and Grissom immediately note that the timeline is off.

Catherine speaks to Ray and tells him that he knew what his daughter did. He had admitted to having another drink after Becky went inside, so he would've heard the attack. Catherine guesses that he caught Susan wiping blood off her hands and sent her back to her grandfather's. He then came up with a story and called the police. Ray tells her that she can't prove this, but Catherine says that no matter what, he has to live with it.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Quotes[]

Catherine Willows: Tequila will always remind me of Señor Frog's.
Jim Brass: Which one?
Catherine Willows: Cancun. My honeymoon. My dime.
Jim Brass: Well, if you ever want to go back, it's on me.
Catherine Willows: Is that a proposal?

Music[]

  • Strange and Beautiful by Aqualung

Notes[]

  • Based on the true story of the 2001 investigation of the death of Kathleen Peterson, found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her home, which was ruled a homicide.

Goofs[]

  • When Brass shows up at the grandfather's house with the warrant, Brass is holding the warrant in his hands long ways, but in the next shot, the warrant is being held in a different position.

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 6
Bodies in MotionRoom ServiceBite MeShooting StarsGum DropsSecrets and FliesA Bullet Runs Through It, Part 1A Bullet Runs Through It, Part 2Dog Eat DogStill LifeWerewolvesDaddy's Little GirlKiss-Kiss, Bye-ByeKillerPirates of the Third ReichUp in SmokeI Like to WatchThe Unusual SuspectSpellboundPoppin' TagsRashomamaTime of your DeathBang-BangWay to Go
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