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Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday
Season 9
Number 8
Writer Barry O'Brien,
Marc Dube
Director Sam Hill
Original Airdate December 5, 2010
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Previous Episode: On the Hook
Next Episode: Blood Sugar

Happy Birthday is the eighth episode in season nine of CSI: Miami.

Synopsis[]

When a woman who is eight months pregnant is found beaten, Horatio and the team hunt down the attacker.

Plot[]

Shortly after having brunch with her friend Marcie Westerfield, Heather Chapman, who is eight months pregnant, is brutally attacked and left for dead in the road. Heather is rushed to the hospital in the hopes that she and her baby can be saved. After learning Heather texted her husband Gary about a fight with Marcie, Ryan and Walter question Marcie, who admits that she resented that Heather was able to get pregnant so easily while she has struggled for years, but denies hurting her friend. Heather’s husband, Gary, and stepson, Josh, rush to the hospital, and both are shocked by news of the attack. At the scene, Natalia and Walter follow the blood trail left by Heather to another road and conclude she was likely carjacked. Helicopters spot Heather’s car, and Horatio and Delko cut the car off. Two men flee the scene, running into a bar. One of the men throws a picture from the bar’s wall at Delko, while the other fires a gun in the middle of the crowded bar. Though the man with the gun escapes after tossing his weapon, the CSIs manage to apprehend the other man. The day manager, Vicki Turner, is upset when Horatio takes the photograph the suspect threw at Delko, telling the CSI it’s one she took herself.

Walter and Ryan go over the car, positing that the airbag deployed and noticing the car was keyed recently. While Calleigh comforts Heather in the hospital, Natalia gets a hit on the gun, which was used in an armed robbery, and identifies their missing suspect as Sam Novak, a known associate of Ruben Franco, the man they have in custody. Horatio gets Ruben to talk, leading the team to a chop shop, where they’re surprised to discover Josh Chapman is working. Horatio and Tripp question the teen, who admits he keyed Heather’s car after his father went back on a promise to buy Josh a car, opting to get one for Heather instead. Josh insists he didn’t hurt Heather, but Horatio is skeptical. Though Gary doesn’t recognize either of Heather’s attackers and Heather can’t remember the attack, she does identify Sam Novak as Marcie Westerfield’s trainer. When Ryan and Walter question Marcie again, she expresses shock over Sam’s involvement, and maintains it’s a coincidence.  Ryan and Delko go over surveillance photos of Heather recovered from the chop shop and notice an imperfection on the photos that matches one on the photograph thrown at Delko. Walter and Ryan question Vicki, who tells them that Sam had her take pictures of a woman but didn’t tell her why. Telling her that she could be charged as an accomplice, the CSIs talk her into giving up Sam’s location.

Horatio and Delko arrest Sam at his apartment, and discover the severed airbag from Heather’s car there. Heather is rushed to surgery after her vitals start to crash, and an enraged Gary attacks Sam with a knife as he’s being led up to the police station. Delko and Horatio match the airbag to Heather’s car, and realize it didn’t deploy because of sabotage, which also caused the steering wheel to lock. Horatio realizes someone wanted Heather to be hurt in this accident, and he recalls Gary never asked about his unborn child, just his wife. Horatio matches marks on the steering wheel to Gary’s knife, confirming he sabotaged the car. Horatio confronts Gary: he hired Sam and Ruben to attack his wife, and then tried to kill Sam to make sure he stayed quiet. Gary admits he was behind it, but that it was supposed to be a simple carjacking—the men weren’t supposed to attack Heather. He maintains he loves his wife, but he didn’t want another child. Having Josh ruined his first marriage, and he didn’t want to lose Heather to a baby. Disgusted, Horatio arrests him. Heather gives birth to a baby girl, while Horatio visits Marisol’s grave and tells her about the baby and murmurs, “Happy Birthday.”

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

  • Joanne Kelly as Heather Chapman
  • David Conrad as Gary Chapman
  • Austin Butler as Josh Chapman
  • Jessica Collins as Marcie Westerfield
  • Lisa Marcos as Vicki Turner
  • James Harvey Ward as Sam Novak
  • Dante Basco as Ruben Franco
  • Jason Manuel Olazabal as Doctor Landry
  • Jennifer Weston as Nurse #1
  • Garikayi Mutamibirwa as Jogger
  • John C. Meier as Livid Driver

Trivia[]

  • The episode appears to be inspired by the brutal assault of Shawana Pace, which killed her unborn child. It was arranged by Erik Bullock, Shawana's boyfriend, out of wanting nothing to do with a child and carried out by a trio Bullock hired.
  • It also resembles the Rae Carruth case, where a football player ordered the shooting of his pregnant girlfriend. She died, but their son was saved, albeit with lasting cerebral damages.

See Also[]

CSI:Miami Season 9
FallenSudden DeathSee No EvilManhuntSleepless in MiamiReality KillsOn the HookHappy BirthdayBlood SugarMatch Made in HellF-T-FWheels UpLast StandStoned ColdBlood Lust (Miami)Hunting GroundSpecial DeliveryAbout FaceCaged (Miami)Paint It BlackG.O.Mayday


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