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Help
Help
Season 5
Number 12
Writer Sam Humphrey
Director David M. Barrett
Original Airdate January 14, 2009
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Previous Episode: Forbidden Fruit
Next Episode: Rush to Judgement

Help was the twelfth episode in Season Five of CSI: NY.

Synopsis[]

Two seemingly unrelated deaths are tied together when the CSIs discover that the victims were raped by the same man, eight years apart.

Plot[]

The "Running of the Gowns" at a bridal shop comes to a halt when a beautiful young woman ends up dead. The CSIs quickly notice the dead woman seems out of place: she's in jogging gear, and doesn't appear to have any money on her. The woman she scuffled with, Marie Lowe, tells Flack the woman just came up to her and grabbed onto the dress she was holding. Stella notes that she was killed by a cut to the arm that severed a major artery caused when one of the beads on the dress sliced into her. Flack finds her ID, identifying her as Laurel Downs, but finds no cash on her. Stella discovers a possible explanation: a number on her back indicating she was participating in a race. Across town, Mac and Hawkes stand over the body of an attractive redhead named Eleanor Ravelle, found dead in her bathtub. Hawkes notices abrasions on her body suggesting her skin was rubbed dry on her chest, abdomen and thighs. Suspecting she was raped and then murdered, the CSIs get her body to the morgue. Sid confirms she was raped, but finds no semen, indicating her killer wore a condom. He finds traces of steel dust from the subway in her nasal passages and recalls seeing her himself—she was a subway musician. He shows Hawkes that she suffocated when the rapist put his fist in her mouth, causing Hawkes to have a sudden realization: Eleanor's killer is the same man who raped his ex-girlfriend, Kara, eight years ago. He rushes to tell Mac that he believes Eleanor was a victim of the Gramercy Rapist, who raped fifteen women in Manhattan between 1999 and 2001 and used his fist to silence them during the attacks, and then forced them to clean up afterwards.

Danny finds a GPS device in Laurel's sneaker and traces the route of her race right past where the brides-to-be were waiting for the Running of the Gowns. She easily could have seen Marie Lowe in line. Danny has also found a connection to Eleanor: Laurel was a victim of the Gramercy Rapist eight years ago. Though Stella and Danny find the connection too strong to be a coincidence, Mac tells them to work the cases separately until they find a definitive link. Flack approaches Mac with a discovery he's made: a tip line set up during the Gramercy Rapist's spree received 10 calls from Hawkes. Adam gets a print off a guitar slide from Eleanor's apartment and Hawkes brings him Eleanor's blouse, asking him to run DNA on the sweat on it. Mac interrupts and asks to speak to Hawkes alone. He confronts Hawkes about his connection to the Gramercy Rapist and Hawkes tells him about Kara. Mac removes him from the case. Sid comes to Danny with a possible connection between Laurel and Eleanor: cuts on Laurel's hands had Eleanor's blood in them. Lindsay identifies tiny bloodworms found in Eleanor's bath tub as a species found in Brazil, and Mac suggests getting DNA from the worms. Adam gets a hit on the prints from the guitar slide: they belong to a musician named Trey Fager, who has a history of sexual misconduct. Flack and Angell pay Trey a visit in the subway station where he's playing, but Trey insists that he and Eleanor were friends and that he gave her the slide. Danny and Stella match the pattern of cuts on Laurel's hands to a necklace Marie was wearing, and posit that it may have been stolen from Laurel when she was raped. Flack and Stella venture down to the club Marie and her fiancé Colin own together and question the couple. Colin tells them he bought the necklace five years ago, and can't clearly recall the man who sold it to him, but says that it could have been Trey. After Adam discovers that Trey pawned Eleanor's guitar at a pawnshop, Flack and Angell go to arrest him, only to have him flee. Flack catches him on the tracks but Trey swears he broke into Eleanor's apartment to steal the guitar, but that he didn't kill her.

Lindsay determines that the worms in Eleanor's bathtub could have come from their killer's blood after he cut himself. As Hawkes looks on, Kara tells Stella details she recently recalled from being raped: the killer went through her jewelry box and took a ring she had. After she leaves, Hawkes tells Stella that the stolen ring was meant to be their engagement ring. Adam matches DNA from the sweat on Eleanor's shirt to DNA on the clasp of Marie's necklace, which came from Colin Clark. Mac gets upset with Hawkes when he finds out about the sweat analysis, since it isn't up to FBI standards and won't hold up in court. Hawkes is convinced of Colin's guilt, but Mac won't act until they have evidence that will hold up in court. Sheldon goes to Colin's club and watches him from afar, but Mac finds him and tells him Colin isn't worth it. Hawkes tells the older CSI how Kara's rape devastated him, and Mac promises they'll get Colin. The team does some digging and learns that seven of the Gramercy Rapist's victims reported jewelry stolen sometime after they were raped, and confirm that Colin lived in the Gramercy Park area between 1999 and 2001. He was in Europe from 2001-2008, and went to Brazil last year to scout out a new club. Stella realizes the jewelry is a solid connection and goes to Marie to persuade her to turn it over. She's successful, but before Marie can give her the jewelry, Colin bursts in. Stella goes to arrest him, but he resists and attacks her, forcing Stella to shoot him twice. She notices worms in the blood pool from the second shot, confirming that he's the killer. Laurel's death is ruled an unfortunate accident, but Stella muses that if Laurel hadn't seen Marie wearing her necklace, they might never have caught Colin. Sid invites Mac and Stella to join him in the subway station to sit and listen to a musician.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

  • Emmanuelle Vaugier as Jessica Angell
  • Meg Cionni as Marie Lowe
  • Ashley Cusato as Laurel Downs
  • Eyal Podell as Colin Clark
  • Bonnie McKee as Eleanor Ravelle
  • Nichole Galicia as Kara Garland
  • Alex Band as Trey Fager
  • Mackenzie Firgens as Nurse
  • Scott Sax as Guitarist
  • Sharon Little as Singer
  • Pete Brown as John Summers
  • Meredith Beardmore as Fearful Bride

See Also[]

CSI:NY Season 5
VeritasPage TurnerTurbulenceSex, Lies, and SiliconeThe Cost of LivingEnoughDead InsideMy Name is Mac TaylorThe BoxThe TriangleForbidden FruitHelpRush to JudgementShe's Not ThereThe Party's OverNo Good DeedGreen PiecePoint of No ReturnCommunication BreakdownPrey (NY)The Past, Present and MurderYahrzeitGreater GoodGrounds For DeceptionPay Up
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