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Slaves of Las Vegas
Slaves
Season 2
Number 8
Writer Jerry Stahl
Director Peter Markle
Original Airdate November 15, 2001
Navigation
Previous Episode: Caged
Next Episode: And Then There Were None

Slaves of Las Vegas is the eighth episode in Season Two of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Synopsis[]

A naked young woman is found dead in a sandbox at a park playground. The scars and liquid latex on her body lead Catherine, Grissom and Nick to a fetish club. Meanwhile, Warrick and Sara investigate an armed robbery at a check-cashing store.

Plot[]

Victim: Mona Taylor (deceased)

On the case: Catherine Willows, Gil Grissom, Nick Stokes, Jim Brass

A young couple is chasing each other around a playground before falling into the sand and kissing each other. Both realize, however, that there is a dead body of a woman a few feet away from them buried in the sand.

Upon arriving at the scene, Grissom observes that there's no disturbance in the sand, indicating that the primary crime scene is somewhere else. He believes that someone buried the body at the playground so it could be found. Knowing that removing the body will destroy the evidence, Catherine and Grissom sift the sand around the body until it's completely uncovered.

In autopsy, Grissom photographs the body and notices restraint marks on the victim's ankles. He finds a piece of silver stuck to the victim's back, as well as something sparkly stuck to her leg. Upon washing the body himself, he uncovers multiple bruises on the victim's back and legs. There are also restraint marks on her wrists, and he makes a mold mixture to help determine what could've done this.

Doc Robbins determines that the victim died two to four hours before she was discovered. He's unable to determine the cause of death, but the ligature marks indicate violence. The victim has scars, both old and new, all over her body. However, while the body is road map of physical abuse, there are no signs of sexual abuse. Grissom observes that the victim was beaten on a regular basis; however, she took good physical care of herself, including having perfectly manicured fingernails and toenails. Catherine also sees that the victim's breast implants are top-of-the-line.

Greg runs a test on the silver, which comes back as tempered steel with aluminum coating. This leads Nick to believe that the victim was chained up. Greg also identifies the sparkly stuff Grissom found earlier as liquid latex. Catherine, meanwhile, has run the serial number on the breast implant, leading her to Dr. Sidney Cornfeld. Dr. Cornfeld recognizes his work as well as the picture of the victim shown to him. He reveals the victim's name as Mona Taylor and provides Catherine with a third-party billing address, which is likely to be her work address.

Catherine, Grissom and Brass visit the mansion where Mona worked and are greeted by Lady Heather, owner of the fetish club they are now standing in. While Grissom and Brass speak with Lady Heather, Catherine and Nick search the premises. Mona's car is found in the driveway; it's locked and appears to be clean. Nick goes through the garbage and finds a piece of liquid latex with a circular imprint on it, possibly from a watch.

Inside, Lady Heather reveals that Mona's last client was at the house at 11:00 PM, meaning Mona would've left around midnight. Grissom and Brass ask for the names and addresses of Mona's clients. They also ask which rooms Mona worked, and they're directed to the pool house. Grissom has Catherine and Nick check out the room, while he offers to spend more time getting to know Lady Heather.

Grissom lets Lady Heather know about the whip marks and ligature contusions on Mona's body. Lady Heather replies that Mona didn't die because she worked at the fetish club, that's only Grissom's assumption. She goes on to say that what happens in her club isn't about violence, it's about challenging one's preconceived notions of normalcy. When Grissom informs her that Mona's whip marks are fresh, Lady Heather is surprised. She explains that Mona always played the dominant role with her clients and wonders if her killer was one of her off-the-book clients. Grissom interrogates Lady Heather further and is fascinated by the different objects and masks lying around her office. The two engage in a conversation about deviate behavior and what men really want. Grissom appears to be interested in the surprisingly high level of conversation.

Catherine and Nick enter Mona's sex chamber, and Catherine notes that the silver on Mona's back could have come from the chain hanging up in the middle of the room. Nick finds another piece of liquid latex and remarks on how weird the people are that visit places like this. Catherine replies that one thing she's learned on the job is that human beings are capable of anything.

Doc Robbins informs Grissom that Mona died from asphyxiation, something Grissom says he had considered as a cause of death. The doc also notes the red circular marks inside of her nostrils, and Grissom quickly concludes that the marks are from straws—Mona was using them to breathe.

Catherine pays Lady Heather a visit and is permitted to collect any potential murder implements without a warrant. The two women bond over the amount of money Lady Heather pulls in, as well as the fact that both of them have daughters, with Lady Heather's daughter being a freshman attending Harvard. Lady Heather remarks that she thinks Catherine would make a good dominatrix, as she's a strong woman who "wouldn't take any crap from powerful jerks who are used to giving it all day long."

Back in the lab, Greg is able to determine which mask Mona was wearing when she died, as well as the straws used. With Mona's DNA being isolated to one end of the straws, the only thing needed is to find whose DNA belongs to the other ends. Grissom takes the watch mold taken from Mona's wrist and lines it up with the mold Nick found in the garbage outside of the club; it's a perfect match. Catherine notes the jewels around the watch's bezel and believes that it wasn't a cheap watch.

From a credit card receipt at a jewelry store, Catherine and Grissom are able to track down Cameron Nelson. When asked, Cameron says that there were no robberies in his neighborhood, and that he never bought a $20,000 watch, as his life is taking care of his infant son, Dylan. Catherine notes that they should ask Cameron's wife, as there's no way a $20,000 purchase is made without both the husband and wife knowing.

Catherine and Grissom interrogate Eileen Nelson, Cameron's wife, who is a hard-nosed corporate litigator. She admits to buying the watch, but claims she lost it on a business trip. When asked, she says she's never heard of Lady Heather and that getting her DNA thanks to finding a watch imprint is not feasible.

Catherine and Grissom visit the Nelsons again, this time with a warrant for Eileen's watch box, which is in her car's glove compartment. The box is empty; however, there's a sliver of liquid latex in it.

Grissom visits Lady Heather again as she's sitting down to afternoon tea. He shows her a picture of the Nelsons from the newspaper and she correctly states that they're married. Based on their positioning and body language, she notes Eileen is presenting herself to the "rich alpha male," as she wants the dominant male to choose her instead of being dominant herself. Lady Heather says that she can read people before they even know what they want and correctly guesses that Grissom's biggest fear is being known; he's lived his whole life making sure nobody "knows" him.

Catherine and Grissom search Cameron Nelson's car as Eileen arrives angrily saying they've gone too far. However, a sand-covered jacket is found in the back of the car. In the police station interrogation room, Eileen acts as Cameron's attorney and berates him when he tries to speak. Cameron finally has the stones to talk back, letting Eileen know that he was aware of her affair and that their son was only there to make her look good at her law firm. Grissom lays down a piece of liquid latex with Cameron's DNA on it.

It turns out Cameron had been going to the fetish club and playing the dominant part after years of being humiliated by his wife. He covered Mona in the liquid latex, put Eileen's watch on her, and beat Mona pretending that she was Eileen. He took it too far when he covered both straw holes cutting off Mona's oxygen supply. On his way out of the room to be arrested, Cameron stands up for himself and states that they should have a DNA test run on Dylan, since Eileen hasn't let him touch her in three years.

Victim: Sandy Chema (alive)

On the case: Sara Sidle, Warrick Brown, Sam Vega

Sara and Warrick meet Det. Vega outside of a check-cashing store, where a robbery has taken place. Sandy Cherna, who was making his weekly bank run, was shot in the leg and transported to the hospital. He makes the run at the same time every week at night, making him an easy target. According to Sandy's sister, she heard a gunshot and saw a car drive off. Sara offers to search the premises, while Warrick will look over the parking lot.

While bagging some evidence, Warrick notices a flyer on the ground that is absent from one of the cars, while all other cars still have the flyer on the windshield. Det. Vega confirms that the car without the flyer is the victim's car. Sara calls out to Warrick; she's found the stolen money bag in a nearby alley. The bag has been sliced open and contains checks and a deposit slip, but no cash. Either someone was casing the store or the CSIs are looking at an inside job.

The three interview Carla Delgado, the owner of the store and the gunshot victim's brother. She confirms that the business has been there for six years and that she has insurance. Customers use the business, but don't like it, she adds; the store takes 15% of each paycheck for the right to cash it. Warrick believes that Sandy was in on the crime, as he would get to collect the insurance money as well as the money he stole himself. He also notes that the flyer he found on the ground couldn't have been placed there long before the incident took place. The CSIs may have a potential eyewitness.

Sara and Det. Vega track down the guy who was putting flyers on the windshields. He recalls that he was threatened by someone who didn't want their car touched and that he saw two guys in baseball caps in the parking lot of the check-cashing store the night before. The man believes the make of the car was a Honda, but isn't too sure.

Lab tech Amy Young confirms that the tire tread found on the flyer Warrick collected is from a Honda and says there was an imprint of something in the tire track. If the CSIs can find the tire with this imprint, they can find the shooter. Meanwhile, Bobby Dawson identifies the bullet pulled from Sandy's leg as having come from a .38-caliber Colt, the same gun Sandy himself owns.

In the hospital, Sara and Det. Vega Sara visit Sandy, who says he owns a Colt and he left it on the shelf behind the cash register in the store. He gets a visit from Carla and her husband, Hector.

Amy lets Sara and Warrick know that the money bag they found was cut open with a big knife that left some material behind in the cut—fiberglass with a type of resin in it. Sara and Warrick meet Det. Vega at one of the three fiberglass manufacturers in the city; the fiberglass is used to cover bathtubs because it has the highest water resistance. The company has 24 employees, one of which happens to be Hector Delgado. When pressed, Hector hands over his knife, which has the fiberglass resin on it. They also go to check out his car, but before they can do so, he runs. Warrick catches him as he is trying to hop a barbed wire fence. Hector says the Honda belonged to a friend of his, but was promised that nobody would get hurt.

In the interrogation room, Hector tries to bargain—if he returns the money that he stole without his wife knowing, everything will be OK. When this is denied, Hector tells his story. When he picked up Carla after her Wednesday shift, he stole Sandy's gun from the check-cashing store with the intent on returning it a few days later unnoticed. He called a buddy of his to use his car, as his car would be noticed by Sandy. The two robbed Sandy and, during the altercation, Sandy was shot in the leg. Hector claims that Sandy and Carla were insured for both the money and Sandy's health, so nobody really loses. Sara and Warrick glare at each other.

In the check-cashing store, Carla tells Det. Vega that despite Hector being her husband, she hopes he goes to jail for a long time. Sara tells Carla that they also found $5,000 that Sandy was skimming from the business in his jeans pocket. Sandy claims he was just borrowing the money. Carla asks Sara if Sandy will be arrested, too; Sara replies in the affirmative.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

Major Events[]

Music[]

  • Svefn-g-englar by Sigur Rós
  • Feuer Frei by Rammstein

Trivia[]

  • This was the first CSI episode to feature an advisory for partial nudity and as such, it is one of the two CSI episodes to be rated 18 in the UK on DVD release, with the other one being Law of Gravity.
  • This episode won the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Makeup for a Series (Non-Prosthetic).
  • Grissom's quote, "No man is a mystery, except to himself" is attributed in the episode to Marcel Proust but was created by writer Jerry Stahl. 
  • Mitchell Whitefield, who played Cameron Nelson, is most well-known for a role in the show Friends. He also voiced Donatello in the TMNT movie (2007).

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 2
BurkedChaos TheoryOverloadBully for YouScuba Doobie-DooAlter BoysCagedSlaves of Las VegasAnd Then There Were NoneEllieOrgan GrinderYou've Got MaleIdentity CrisisThe FingerBurden of ProofPrimum Non NocereFelonious MonkChasing The BusStalkerCats in the CradleAnatomy of a LyeCross JurisdictionsThe Hunger Artist
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