CSI
Register
Advertisement


CSIblack
Coming of Rage
Rage
Season 4
Number 10
Writer Richard Catalani,
Sarah Goldfinger
Director Nelson McCormick
Original Airdate December 18, 2003
Navigation
Previous Episode: Grissom Versus The Volcano
Next Episode: Eleven Angry Jurors

Coming of Rage is the tenth episode in Season Four of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis[]

Grissom, Sara and Warrick investigate when a 15-year-old boy is found beaten to death with a hammer at a construction site. Meanwhile, Catherine and Nick try to find out how a woman was killed by a gunshot in her front yard while her husband and ex-husband were arguing over her.

Plot[]

Victim: Brian Haddick (deceased)

On the case: Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle, Warrick Brown, Jim Brass

At a construction site, the body of a teenage boy is found in the middle of an empty room. He's lying face down with his pants pulled down to his knees, and there's blood spatter all over the walls. Grissom arrives on the scene; Brass tells him that the victim has no ID on him and that the coroner said he's been dead for over 12 hours. The victim is clutching a piece of red fabric, which Grissom opts not to collect just yet.

Sara and Warrick arrive on the scene while Brass talks to the foreman, who's complaining that teenagers like to use the construction site as their personal hangout spot. They look at the victim's body and see blunt force trauma in the shape of what appears to be the head of a hammer. Sara is tasked with checking every construction worker's hammer for blood. As Grissom photographs the scene, Warrick pushes the victim's jacket aside and finds a bloody shoe print.

Grissom extracts the piece of red cloth from the victim's hand and hands it to a uniformed officer. The officer lets a scent dog smell the cloth and track the scent's origin. With Sara in tow, the dog follows the trail through the neighborhood to a mall, then through the mall and outside to a dumpster. The dog reacts when Sara picks up a shopping bag from the dumpster. In the bag is a red sweater along with receipts for clothes, earrings, and an iced cappuccino. It would appear that they're looking for a female suspect.

In the lab, Warrick tests all of the workers' hammers for blood and one tests positive; the hammer belongs to a Gregory Curtwell. Meanwhile, Sara meets up with Archie and looks over the security camera footage from the dressing room based on the time and location on the receipt found in the dumpster. They're able to locate the girl wearing the red sweater; it seems that she did a "walk out," ripping the tags off of the sweater, then walking out while wearing it. Sara says that despite having the girl's face on camera, they might not have much to go on since she looks like she's a minor and she paid in cash. Warrick relays to Sara that both the blood on the hammer and the blood on the shirt in the dumpster match the victim.

Warrick and Brass interrogate Gregory, who has cuts on his hands and a bandage on his nose. He claims that the injuries are from working in construction. Gregory also tells them he never leaves his hammer at the job site and is surprised to learn that the victim's blood was on it. He's unable to identify the victim from his photo, but recognizes the girl from the mall security footage as his younger sister, Ashley.

Ashley is brought in for questioning. She tells Sara that she was going to the mall to get something to eat and she cut through the construction site. There, she ran into a classmate, Brian Haddick, who used the story of a missing cat to get her alone and rape her. While this was going on, someone came in and hit Brian over the head with a hammer, allowing Ashley to escape. She went to the mall and bought new clothes in an effort to get her attacker off of her, but tells Sara that she doesn't remember buying earrings or something to drink. Ashley also claims that she doesn't know who hit Brian. During the interrogation, Sara notes bruises on both of Ashley's wrists. Since Ashley's parents are deceased, Brian is her only guardian. Warrick and Brass are watching from behind the glass, and both think that Ashley is covering for her brother, who has a non-confirmable alibi.

In autopsy, Doc Robbins tells Grissom that whoever hit Brian kept hitting him, eventually severing part of his spinal cord. The doc concludes that Brian was beaten after he was already dead. Abrasions on one of his hands show that he may have gotten a punch in, and blood and skin transfers were sent to Greg. Meanwhile, Grissom talks to Brian's parents, and they positively ID their son. However, they don't recognize Ashley from the security camera photo. Mr. and Mrs. Haddick tell Grissom that Brian went through a "rough patch," but got out of it and was earning $500 every two weeks busing and waiting on tables in a restaurant.

Greg informs Warrick that, based on the DNA evidence, Gregory didn't murder Brian—or at least he didn't do it alone. Grissom, Sara and Warrick revisit the crime scene. Based on the blood evidence, they conclude that Brian was hit while standing up, then hit multiple times as he was crawling away. There's blood castoff on the other walls, leading Sara to ask why that is. She notes that assailants tend to move in reaction to their target, but Brian was immobile due to the severed spinal cord. Grissom guesses that all of the castoff would be possible if there were three attackers and three hammers.

Warrick tells Grissom and Brass that the bloody shoe print at the crime scene is a size 11 and that it belongs to a skate shoe. This points in the direction of a teenager, not a construction worker. Both Ashley and Brian were students at McKinley High School, so Grissom, Warrick and Brass head to the school to see if they can find the shoe that matches the print. The students are brought together in the gym, but this quickly ends when one of the student's fathers says that he's a lawyer and that the kids cannot be questioned without a parent or guardian present. After most of the students file out, Warrick notices blood on one of the shoes of a student that stayed behind.

The student is Benny Lizzio, and Warrick and Brass pay the Lizzio residence a visit. While there and in the presence of Mr. Lizzio, Warrick tests the blood on Benny's shoe and determines that it's human. He tells a white lie and says that the sample matches Brian Haddick's blood. When questioned, Benny says he sometimes hangs out at the construction site. He came across Brian's body and stepped in the blood; he didn't report anything because he was trespassing. With permission, Warrick searches the house and finds smashed watermelons on the floor of the garage along with a hammer. It seems that Benny was working on his technique before doing the real thing.

Benny is brought in for questioning, where he admits to Brass that he knew Brian, as well as Ashley Curtwell and her brother. Brass reveals that the hammer found in Benny's room had Brian's blood all over it, but Benny refuses to admit to the crime. He would rather be arrested and brought to juvenile detention, which he sees as a step up from living with his drunk, abusive father.

Sara and Warrick have everything taken from Benny's room laid out on a table, unable to tell what's relevant to the case. Grissom looks over a package of orthodontic rubber bands, which Greg offers to pull DNA from. Greg then informs them that the DNA in Brian's knuckles didn't match Benny, which means that they still haven't found out who Brian hit. Grissom wonders if the strange pattern on Brian's knuckles is from hitting someone who was wearing braces. Warrick says that you can't have a "party room" without music, and tells Grissom that Brian belonged to a music club where he got 12 CDs for the price of one. The address label has the name Aaron Gilbert on it and Sara finds a label on one of the watermelon pieces that says "Gilbert Organic Farms."

Sara, Warrick and Brass head back to the high school to speak to Aaron. They tell him that they spoke to his mother and that she gave them his hammer and a $20 bill with a bloody fingerprint on it. Aaron's brother, Jared, arrives and Sara notices a cut on his lip. Jared is also wearing braces. The Gilbert brothers are brought in for questioning. Brass questions Aaron and notes that his walkman probably cost $125, as did Benny's Game Boy and his brother's "secret stash." In the other interrogation room, Warrick talks to Jared and tells him that his DNA was found in the cuts on Brian's hand. Neither brother talks.

Sara recaps the case and says that they have three hammers but four suspects. Grissom believes that, due to the smashed watermelons, the murder was premeditated. Brass brings up that each suspect has about $125 in assorted items and Grissom remembers that Brian was being paid $500 every two weeks from his job. But where is the other $125? Sara realizes that it went towards new clothes, earrings, and coffee—receipts that Ashley had.

In the interrogation room, Sara tells Ashley that it was her fingerprint in Brian's blood on the $20 bill. Ashley changes her story and says she knew who defended her against Brian, but didn't want to get her friends in trouble. Lip gloss found in Benny's room is also a match to Ashley. A flashback shows all four suspects in Benny's room; the boys smashed watermelons while Ashley cheered on.

Ashley admits that they all used to be friends with Brian. However, Brian got a job and got "too good for them." She lured Brian to the construction site with the promise of sex. After Brian lowered his pants, Aaron, Benny and Jared entered and beat Brian to death with hammers. They took his $500 and went their separate ways, with Ashley celebrating by spending her money at the mall. Sara tells her that she'll do everything in her power to get Ashley tried as an adult; however, Ashley replies that she'll doll herself up and evoke the memory of her dead parents to make her a sympathetic figure in the eyes of the court.

Victim: Marlene Mitchell (deceased)

On the case: Catherine Willows, Nick Stokes, Sam Vega

Marlene Mitchell, age 32, has been shot in the chest in the front yard of her new house. Nick arrives on the scene and talks to Det. Vega. He says that nobody in the vicinity is carrying a weapon and that Marlene was breaking up a fight when she got shot. Two men are talking to the police—one of the men is Marlene's current husband, while the other is her ex. Nick speaks to Stewart Mitchell, the current husband, and tests his hands for gun shot residue. Stewart says that he was arguing with Marlene's ex, Todd, when she came out to break up the fight. When she went down, he thought she had a heart attack until he saw the blood. To make matters worse, Todd has a restraining order against him and wasn't allowed within 100 yards of Marlene.

In autopsy, Doc Robbins tells Nick that Marlene died from a single bullet wound to the heart and died instantly. The doc extracts the bullet and Nick identifies it as a 9mm. They test the depth of the entry wound and find that it's only four inches; a standard handgun bullet has a penetration of twelve. Marlene was shot at an 85-degree downward angle, which Doc Robbins notes isn't much different from the standard 90-degree angle.

Bobby Dawson confirms with Nick that no gunshot residue was found on either Stewart or Todd. He adds that there was no trace found on the bullet retrieved from Marlene and that it was a standard full metal jacket. The lack of penetration suggests that something slowed the bullet down, but since the bullet wasn't fragmented, it didn't hit anything before entering Marlene. Nick wonders what could've slowed the bullet down if it didn't hit an intervening object.

With Catherine's help, Nick is able to conclude that the bullet that shot Marlene was traveling 550 feet per second. Armed with this knowledge, he can now calculate the distance. Nick and Bobby go to the computer and determine that a bullet would have to be fired from 1800 feet away in order to slow down to that speed. Bobby tells Nick that a bullet can travel further if it's fired at an angle, but Nick responds that Marlene was shot at an 85-degree angle. Nick suddenly realizes that he might be looking at things the wrong way—he assumed that Marlene was standing when she was shot, but that might not be the case. They look at an overhead view of the neighborhood and narrow down the area from which the bullet might have originated.

Nick and Vega canvass the neighborhood. They speak to a woman who complains to them that her neighbor Johnnie was firing his gun a few days ago and that she yelled at him to stop. When confronted, Johnnie gives them his gun, which has an empty ten-round magazine. There's a target nearby that Johnnie was shooting at; however, it has nine holes in it. A flashback shows Johnnie shooting his gun. When the woman yelled at Johnnie from her window, he accidentally fired one shot into the air. The bullet traveled a few blocks and hit Marlene Mitchell in the chest as she was on the ground after trying to break up the fight in her yard. Johnnie is arrested as Nick tells him that it's illegal to discharge firearms within city limits.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

  • Archie Kao as Archie Johnson
  • Geoffrey Rivas as Detective Sam Vega
  • Gerald McCullouch as Bobby Dawson
  • David Berman as David Phillips
  • Brian Austin Green as Gregory Curtwell
  • Kimberlit ''Kimberlee'' Peterson as Ashley Curtwell
  • Jack Conley as Mr. Lizzio
  • Brian Sites as Benny Lizzio
  • James DuMont as Mr. Haddick
  • Bari Hochwald as Mrs. Haddick
  • Marcus Mitchell as Stewart Mitchell
  • Roxanne Beckford as Marlene Mitchell
  • J.J. Dashnaw as Brian Haddick (victim)
  • Chris Fogleman as Johnnie
  • Justin Lanning as Aaron Gilbert
  • Connor Ross as Jared Gilbert
  • Nicolas Roye as Todd

Trivia[]

  • The murder of Brian Haddick is based on the 2003 murder of Jason Sweeney.

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 4
Assume NothingAll For Our CountryHomebodiesFeeling the HeatFur and LoathingJackpotInvisible EvidenceAfter the ShowGrissom Versus the VolcanoComing of RageEleven Angry JurorsButterfliedSuckersPaper or PlasticEarly RolloutGetting OffXXBad To The BoneBad WordsDead RingerTurn of the ScrewsNo More BetsBloodlines
Advertisement