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Hodges "This isn't enough evidence."
This article is Trace Evidence. You can help the Crime Lab by investigating it further.
Main Character: New York
12
Name Stella Bonasera
Gender Female
Birth Date April 15, 1975
Family Unnamed mother (deceased)
City New York
Job Day-shift assistant supervisor
Rank Detective 1st Grade
Status Alive
Portrayed By Melina Kanakaredes
First Appearance MIA/NYC NonStop
(CSI: Miami)
Blink
(CSI NY)


Detective Stella Bonasera was the half-Greek half-Italian American assistant day shift supervisor for the New York Crime Lab. As of the Seventh Season, she has moved to New Orleans to head up the Crime Lab there.

Background[]

Born in Greece on April 15, 1975 (making her 34/35 in 2010), Stella is a half-Greek, half-Italian orphan. She grew up at St. Basil's Orphanage and left when she was eighteen (Til Death Do We Part).

Despite it being said that Stella grew up in St.Basil's, in Season 3, it is discovered that she spent some time in a foster home where she developed a close bond with Mindy Sanchez who was her "blood sister." When they were children, Mindy ran away to protect Stella. In Cold Reveal, she gave Mindy a heads up so she could evade arrest for murder. This has led to the assumption that Stella grew up in a series of foster homes, as well as the orphanage.

In Grounds For Deception, we learn more about Stella's mother, who died in a traffic accident when Stella was two years old while working in New York City. She can speak some Greek and Italian, but the level of her fluency is unknown.

Stella began her career working as a patrol officer and once worked Narcotics out of Brooklyn North. [citation needed]

Season One[]

In Season 1, we are introduced to Stella through Danny Messer, her colleague, who immediately welcomes her through calling her "Dear." Stella, quick witted as always, replies, "Is there a tail back there?" The audience are immediately welcomed to Stella's open, yet also reserved, character, with her sense of humor.

Stella also shows that she knows Greek and Italian through the 6 seasons she is shown, with her babbling on in Italian while looking at olive oil. The olive oil is then shown to be of a different use than cooking.

Stella comforts an orphaned young man by opening up to him, saying that she too was orphaned and in an orphanage, St Basil's, until she was 18. She, in Season 5, will discredit this, as Professor Papakota adopted her.

Season Two[]

This season hit Stella and the audience badly, as not only did Stella lose Aiden Burn in Heroes, but she was held captive in her own apartment by her ex-boyfriend, Frankie Mala in All Access. Stella hated that Aiden was fired, but understanding that she broke the evidence seal, she later sided with Mac and Aiden, realizing this was for the best.

Towards the end of the season, Aiden is revealed to be dead, (Heroes), and Stella, who evidently viewed Aiden as a close friend, or further yet, a sister, is disgusted that someone killed her. The CSIs, along with Aiden's replacement, Messer, solved the murder, and Stella had the honor of interrogating rapist and murderer, DJ Pratt.

Stella's suffering is later continued after she sees Aresanob, a pornographic site where her boyfriend-at-the-time, Frankie, filmed her and him while they had sex. This led to Stella breaking up the relationship. Stella is then paranoid that Frankie is following her, and he is in her apartment when she returns from her day off, All Access. She then is in hospital after breaking free from Frankie's cable ties using a razor, constantly cutting herself, shooting him three times in the chest, after being held at knife point and hostage in her own apartment. The moment is recalled in a later season after Stella can't help but to get emotionally involved in a case.

Season Three[]

In this season, a woman smugly compares her situation to that of Stella and Frankie, and Stella falls victim to the lies and manipulation, which she later shuts down. (Open and Shut)

10 episodes later, in Heart of Glass, Stella cuts herself after a piece of glass, evidence at a crime scene, slices her forearm. The victim is later pronounced as HIV-positive, and Stella goes for a test, and is given anti-retroviral drugs. Some of the blood sample from when Adam Ross took a second HIV test from a PCR test is put into CODIS by mistake, and Stella's blood is found at a crime scene, incriminating her.

The uncertainty took a toll on Stella, whether or not she had contracted HIV, despite immediately cleansing and bandaging the wound. A suspect threw a chair at the interrogation room window, and the glass shard sliced her cheek. When Hawkes tried to look at it, Stella immediately pulled away, fearing that she could pass on the HIV that may be in her system.

Stella's timely arrival in the autopsy room, as well as her administration of epinephrine, is critical in saving the life of coroner Sid Hammerback, who suffers a severe allergic reaction to a sandwich he had eaten earlier. Later, Stella expresses her concern to Hammerback that she may have exposed him to HIV when she administered CPR, but he is simply grateful to her and happy to be alive (The Ride In).

Season Four[]

During Season 4, Stella was approached by Drew Bedford in a coin shop during a case and he gave her some information that helped her, took her card that she left for the owner of the shop, then met her again at a coffee cart near the lab and asked her out.

After these meetings he began to send Stella unique gifts: rock climbing gear, a parachute, flowers and other items in order to try to woo her. While returning from court, Stella finds a box on the hood of her car and after it is revealed to be a harmless jigsaw she assumes it came from Drew and goes to confront him about it and after taking pieces out of the box and looking at them he says he did not send it to her. After the puzzle is assembled in the lab, there are pieces missing. Stella goes back to Drew's office and looks for the missing pieces; she find puzzle pieces of the same style but they do not match the puzzle in the lab.

It is later revealed that Drew is one of Mac's childhood friends who, unbeknownst to Mac, had witnessed his own brother's murder. After the events of Snow Day, Drew snapped and later began stalking Mac and to a lesser extent Stella also.

Season Five[]

Hodges This section is a stub and requires expanding

Season Six[]

Stella starts this season with Adam Ross, having a one night stand.

Relationships[]

Stella's most recent romantic relationship was with an artist named Frankie Mala. In All Access, he secretly taped them making love and uploaded the footage to the Internet. When Stella found out, she broke off their relationship. Later, he broke into her apartment and tied her up. She escaped her bonds by cutting them with a razor, and he chased her around her apartment. Finally, Stella grabbed her gun and shot him three times in the chest. She was later found by Mac and Don, and taken to a hospital.

In season five, there were hints of a possible relationship with firefighter, Brandon, however it came to nothing.

At the beginning of season 6, we learn Stella had a one night stand with lab tech Adam Ross, but they decided not to take it further. This was possibly down to grief/stress due to the events of the previous episode.

Despite the two never having a romantic relationship, Stella has always shared a close connection with Mac Taylor. Despite occasional disagreements resulting from Mac's strictness, they have one of the noticeably closest relationships on the show. They are each other's support systems, and this has been displayed numerous times, such as in the aftermath of Mac's wife's death in season 1, and Stella's HIV scare in season 3. She constantly worries about his physical and mental well-being. Stella acts as his right hand, the most senior member of his team aside from himself. They are so close that, in preparation for a date with a woman he met in a coffee shop, Mac allows Stella to remove his tie at the end of What You See Is What You See. Considering how uptight Mac had been during the course of the first season, this can be seen as a very trusting, if not intimate, gesture.

Stella is also good friends with Don Flack. She is one of the first to be visibly worried about him after the death of Jessica Angell, and stays with Mac waiting for him to wake up in Charge of This Post. In return, Flack is there for her after Frankie attacked her and is gentle and understanding when taking her statement.

In general, Stella seems to have close relationships with all the characters on the show, which often leads to her taking the protective 'mother' role in events.

As of Season 7, Stella has moved to the crime lab of the New Orleans Police Department. Her position has been filled by Jo Danville.

Appearances[]

CSI:NY
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 1 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X N/A 23
Season 2 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X N/A 24
Season 3 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X N/A 24
Season 4 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X N/A 21
Season 5 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X 25
Season 6 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X N/A 23
Total 140
CSI:Miami
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 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - X - N/A 1
Total 1

Trivia[]

  • Stella is often referred to as the "Statue of Liberty" due to her strong personality, determination, and intelligence.
  • She's also a determined person, and able to defend herself from male criminals like Frankie Mala (a stalker and her ex-boyfriend), Sebastian Diakos (a torturer and assassin), Colin Clark (a serial rapist and killer), etc.
  • Melina Kanakaredes is a Greco-American actress and former model.
  • Stella snores when she sleeps. (Right Next Door)
  • Stella can play poker. (Bad Beat)
  • She can speak Greek and some Italian.
  • She plays baseball for the NYPD.
  • She thinks A-Rod is hot.
  • When she was living in New York, her address was 2344 Lexington Avenue, apartment 12-C. (All Access)
  • Her weapon of choice in Season One was a Glock 19 then in Seasons 2-6 she used a Glock 26.
  • Based on the information given by the episode Grounds For Deception, it is implied that Stella Bonasera comes from either Thessaloniki, Greece (the second largest city in Greece) or Naousa, Greece (the Greek capital of the textile industry), since her mother comes from Naoisa and Stella studied for a long time in Thessaloniki.
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