Michael Keppler

Minor Character: Las Vegas
Name	Michael "Mike" Keppler
Gender	Male
Family	Amy (Fiancee, Deceased)
City	Las Vegas
Status	Deceased
Portrayed By	Liev Schreiber
First Appearance	Sweet Jane

Michael Keppler was a temporary fill-in character for the day shift of Las Vegas' CSI unit.

Background

Michael Keppler was born in Trenton, New Jersey in the late 1960s to two loving parents, Roberta and Herb Keppler. His mother was a housewife, his father a plumber. Keppler was their only child.

When Keppler was three years old, Herb was killed in a car accident. Keppler and his mother were forced to move in with her younger sister, a "hippie". Ellen got a job as a secretary at Bristol Meyers Squibb. She never remarried.

When Keppler was a child, his mother refused to allow him to watch television. Instead, he read voraciously and played sports on the streets. He was forced to grow up fast, becoming the tough Jewish kid in an all-Irish neighborhood while at school and emerging as the "man" around the house.

Las Vegas

Keppler joined the Las Vegas Crime Lab at a difficult stage, as a serial killer that has been raping and killing women since the 1970's, strikes again. After working with the CSI team, he eventually manages to capture the serial killer, which showed his skill to the other CSIs.

Unfortunately, taking the Las Vegas job didn't help Keppler move on from his troubled past for long. The victim of a robbery/homicide at the Mirage was an old friend, Detective Dennis Graves of Trenton PD and his hooker date, Courtney Evans, and the prime suspect was Frank McCarthy, Amy's father. When Frank revealed to him that he killed them, Keppler reluctantly agreed to help cover it up. He later found out that another hooker was in that hotel room and that Frank is after her now. With this, Keppler went under the radar to find the hooker and stop his old friend.

At the Blue Siren Motel on the strip, Frank walked into Suzy Gibbons' room and pulled a .45 ACP service pistol at her, but not before Keppler stepped into view with his gun aimed right at Frank's head. Keppler told Frank that he knew that he raped his own daughter. Keppler had killed an innocent man for what his own friend had done. Frank tried to reason with him, but a disgusted Keppler wouldn't stand for it.

Keppler sacrificed himself to take the bullet

Suddenly, the hooker tried to escape. Frank picked up his gun to kill her, but instead shot Keppler in the chest when Keppler stepped in to protect her. Catherine, hearing the shot and seeing the hooker run out of the room, ran in with her gun drawn. A horrified Frank raised his weapon, but not before a wounded Keppler plugged six shots into Frank, killing him instantly. The paramedics worked vigorously to stabilize Keppler, but it was too late.

Appearances

CSI:Crime Scene Investigation
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	#
Season 7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	X	X	X	X	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	N/A	4
Total																										4

Notes

• Keppler is Jewish.
• He has worked as a CSI in Trenton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Las Vegas.
• His ploy of forging a crime scene to catch a killer worked only in Philadelphia. His colleagues in Baltimore and Las Vegas figured out what he was up to.