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The Lost Girls
Lost
Season 10
Number 7
Writer David Weddle,
Bradley Thompson
Director Alec Smight
Original Airdate November 12, 2009
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Next Episode: Lover's Lanes

The Lost Girls is the seventh episode in Season Ten of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This story is the conclusion and Las Vegas-based installment of CSI: Trilogy—the first crossover of all three CSI franchises—that began on CSI: Miami: Bone Voyage and continued on CSI: NY: Hammer Down.

Synopsis[]

Langston returns to Las Vegas, still searching for a missing girl being held hostage by human traffickers. He believes the victim may now be part of a Vegas prostitution ring.

Plot[]

Victims: Dede Chase (deceased), Madeline Briggs (missing)

On the case: entire team

A young woman frantically tries to leave the Tangiers Hotel & Casino, but acts casually as she walks through the casino floor. When she gets outside, she's ambushed by someone hiding behind a bush. Security catches wind of the attack, but gets to the scene too late—the woman has been stabbed to death.

Brass calls Langston, but is unable to get a hold of him. Langston is somewhere else on the Vegas strip looking for Madeline Briggs, who he had traced to Miami, New York, and finally back to Vegas. Nick finds him and offers to help him hand out photos after they take care of their current case.

Back at the crime scene, Langston and Nick see that the dead woman has no identification and is in possession of a standard hooker kit—$40 in cash, condoms, baby wipes, etc. Brass offers to go talk to the other hookers in the area, as they have started to leave after the police arrived. Langston observes the stab wound to the woman's neck, guessing that the weapon of choice was straight-edge razor. Despite the presence of arterial spray, there are no shoe treads around the body, meaning that the killer somehow didn't get blood on them. When David Phillips arrives, he recognizes the woman as Dede Chase, a meteorologist on a news channel in Barstow. So, the question is: how did an out-of-town meteorologist end up turning tricks in Vegas?

In autopsy, Catherine and Greg see that Dede has several bruises all over her body that appear to only be a few days old. There's evidence that Dede engaged in violent sexual activity, and a heart tattoo on her neck is also fresh. David Phillips watches a video of one of Dede's weather forecasts and insists that there's no way the goofy meteorologist was a hooker. There's some blood on one of Dede's earrings; since all of the blood was concentrated on the other side of her face, it's possible the blood could belong to the killer.

Langston and Nick watch the surveillance videos from the casino, seeing that there's no image of Dede's killer. They're able to backtrack her to one of the casino's bars, where a patron picked her up. Once the two went upstairs, she left; there are no signs of violence in the interaction. They observe that Dede rode up in an elevator in the south tower, but came down in the north tower. Nick questions why she would go all the way across the casino to leave after simply getting cold feet. He wonders if the pickup in the bar was a cover and that she was running away from somebody that was already there waiting for her.

A trace on Dede's cell phone reveals that she received 28 calls from a Barstow phone number in the three days prior to her death. The caller is Brett McDowell, her producer, and he just happens to be in town. Under interrogation, the married Brett admits to having an affair with Dede, but not going through with it because he can't afford a divorce. He tells Brass that he last saw Dede when he dropped her off on the street three days ago. Brett is horrified when shown a photo of Dede's dead body. Brass theorizes that Brett killed her when she threatened to reveal the affair to his wife, something Brett vehemently denies. When told that Dede got a tattoo, Brett replies that Dede hated tattoos because she felt they made women look cheap.

Catherine runs Dede's tattoo through the tattoo database and finds a match. Five other hookers in the area have the same tattoo; however, their pimp is unknown. Meanwhile, Wendy runs the DNA from the blood found on Dede's earring and finds a surprising match—the blood belongs to Madeline Briggs.

Catherine gathers the team and asks what the connection is between Madeline and Dede. Langston mentions that Madeline fell prey to an interstate human trafficking ring that took her from Miami to New York to Vegas, where she was probably forced into prostitution. Her blood was found on an earring that was being worn by Dede; Langston confirms that the earring actually belongs to Madeline. This leads the team to guess that if the women were sharing jewelry, then they were likely living together and sharing the same pimp. Langston notes the date and mentions that a lot of the hookers in town will be at an event known as "Playercon." At Playercon, which is being held in a club, the team observes several hookers with the distinctive heart tattoo; however, when questioned, the girls claim to know nothing. Nick gets the idea to talk to one of the girls dancing on stage and has her placed under arrest when one of her $20 bills tests positive for cocaine.

Back at the station, Langston is confronted by Madeline's mother, who is unhappy that Langston has kept her out of the loop regarding her daughter's return to Vegas. Langston apologizes and confirms that Madeline was in Vegas as recently as a week ago, but that it's possible she's somewhere else by now. He hands Madeline's mother a photo of her daughter; in it, Madeline is standing next to a cop. Madeline's mother is distraught over the fact that her daughter didn't let the cop know about her situation.

A phone call from the Clark County Detention Center is recorded; in it, the girl arrested at the club, Diane Jasper, calls her pimp and fills him in on what's happened. The pimp, knowing that the call is being traced, hangs up quickly. They're able to trace the call to a disposable cell phone, but are unable to get an address. Catherine sees that someone came by recently to pay Diane's bail and bring her back home.

The woman who paid Diane's bail is identified as Susan Samuels, a career prostitute. Her son, Anthony, is one of the pimps that was spotted in the club earlier. Langston and Brass sit outside of the house and take surveillance photos of Susan, Anthony and the house, sending the pictures to Greg in the lab. Greg notices that Anthony is wearing one of Madeline's earrings, giving the police probable cause to enter the house.

In the house, Brass rounds up Susan, Anthony and the hookers. He and Langston hear a faint cry from an adjoining room and find Diane beaten and her mouth taped up. Langston shows the hookers Madeline's photo and asks for help in finding her. One of the hookers silently motions towards the bedroom. There, Langston finds a mattress with a rather significant blood spot on it.

With Ray back at the lab processing the mattress, the rest of the team process the Samuels house. Nick finds a baseball bat that tests positive for blood and is able to recover a fingerprint from it. In the backyard, Greg fixates on a barbecue; a loose brick reveals a hidden case that contains money and poker chips—and Dede's wallet and driver's license.

Under interrogation, Anthony denies beating Diane up until Brass reveals that the fingerprint on the baseball bat belongs to him. Anthony explains that Dede partied with the other hookers for a few days and asked him to hold on to her valuables. Brass can see right through the lie, but Anthony adds that he was at Playercon the night Dede was murdered and that a lot of people saw him. When told that he was wearing Madeline's earring, Anthony remembers that his mother brought her by for a few days and he was given the earring as a gift. With the evidence mounting against him, Anthony asks for a lawyer.

Catherine and Nick visit Diane in the hospital and ask for her help. Diane steadfastly refuses, more concerned about her future as a hooker and Anthony's well-being. Catherine tells her that Anthony is a sociopath, but Diane claims that Anthony saved her life when he rescued her from a rival pimp, a Russian whom she refuses to name. When Catherine tries to examine Diane's heart tattoo, Diane flips out and tells the CSIs that they're messing up her life. After she's sedated, Catherine sees that the tattoo is larger than the ones on the other girls. She notes that a girl leaves her pimp, the new pimp tries to get rid of the old one's brand. Under a UV light, they see that the old tattoo was a butterfly.

Wendy informs Langston that the satellite blood stains from the mattress belong to Madeline, while the large blood pool is from two contributors. When the donors are separated out, they reveal a parent-child relationship between them. Langston notes that the CSI team in New York discovered Madeline was pregnant and guesses that the blood is from a miscarriage. He theorizes that Anthony bought Madeline from the New York-Miami traffickers only to realize later that she was pregnant. Feeling ripped off, he beat her up, causing her to have a miscarriage. Langston estimates that there's a pint of blood on the mattress; however, due to the covers being replaced, he can't tell for certain whether Madeline is still alive.

The butterfly tattoo is matched to another local pimp, Dimitri Sadesky. Interestingly enough, he's found at nearby Western Las Vegas University (WLVU) teaching a class. Brass arrives, dismisses the class, and shows Dimitri pictures of Madeline and Diane. Dimitri feigns ignorance and soon spots Langston processing his car. Using a Geiger counter, Langston finds radiation levels on the front of the car consistent with a dismembered leg found in Miami with a butterfly tattoo on it. Dmitri is placed under arrest and his car is impounded.

Langston and Nick process Dimitri's car in the CSI garage, where Langston finds a hidden blood drop and Nick discovers that the car's GPS places it in Red Rock Canyon recently. Meanwhile, Catherine goes over surveillance footage from the Tangiers trying to find out who Dede was running from. She spots a redhead sitting at the bar who looks a lot like Diane. When her purse is processed, it tests positive for Dede's blood.

In the hospital, Diane admits to Catherine and Brass that she left Dimitri because Anthony courted her, promising her a lush life and a future in Hawaii. A flashback shows the two of them picking Dede up off the street under the guise of offering her a ride. Anthony instead turned her into a hooker and promised her the same things he promised Diane. Diane could see that Dede was only pretending to be broken and knew she would try to escape the first chance she got. At the Tangiers, she caught Dede trying to do just that. When Dede encouraged Diane to go with her and called her insane for staying with Anthony, Diane got mad and sliced her neck.

The bodies of four mummified females are found out at Red Rock Canyon. One of the bodies had a cigarette burn on the palm, and a nearby cigarette tested positive for Dimitri's DNA. Under interrogation, Dimitri tells Langston that he received Madeline as a peace offering from Anthony for his stealing Diane from him. However, because Anthony had "destroyed her commercial value" and she knew nothing about his operation, Dimitri decided to set her free without doing anything to her.

Catherine receives text messages from Horatio Caine and Mac Taylor telling her that Dimitri's information helped them arrest several top players in the trafficking syndicate. Langston is still unsatisfied, wondering why Madeline simply didn't go home after Dimitri set her free. Nick replies that Madeline may have been too ashamed to go home, which gives Langston an idea. Noting that all of the phones recovered from Anthony's house had the same numbers in them, he sends a text message to them all, encouraging Madeline to come home and saying that her mother loves her in spite of everything that has happened. The message reaches Madeline, and she tearfully meets Langston outside the crime lab.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Guest Cast[]

  • Terry Bozeman as Attorney Brad Lewis
  • Amanda MacDonald as Madeline Briggs
  • Mark Sheppard as Dimitri Sadesky
  • Annie Brugstede as Diane Jasper
  • Rosalie Ward as Dede Chase
  • Brandoon Jay McLaren as Anthony Samuels
  • Jeff Yagher as Brett McDowell
  • Lee Garlington as Mrs. Briggs
  • Alexander DiPersia as DJ Tall-K
  • Louis Smith as DJ Slickbone
  • Youlanda Davis as Susan Samuels (uncredited)

Quotes[]

Nick Stokes: Dr. Ray!
Dr. Raymond Langston: Yeah?
Nick Stokes: You got your phone?
Dr. Raymond Langston: (pulling his phone out of his pocket): Yeah, yeah. Right here.
Nick Stokes: Did you forget how to use it? You were nonresponsive. I thought you were in trouble, man. Don't scare me like that.
Dr. Raymond Langston: I'm sorry.
Nick Stokes: That's okay, but if you really want to hide out, you gotta ditch the department cell. They all have GPS. What are you doing out there?
Dr. Raymond Langston: (Showing Nick a photograph): That's what I'm doing out here.
Nick Stokes: Madeline Briggs?
Dr. Raymond Langston: Madeline Briggs, yeah.
Nick Stokes: You've been back for ten days. Is this what you've been doing every night? I thought the trail went cold in New York.
Dr. Raymond Langston: It did. This picture was taken a week ago Pecos Bill Casino. Security trespassed her off the property for soliciting. She's here Nick. She's hooking.

Goofs[]

  • When Langston holds his hand out towards Madeline at the end, the hand that he's holding out changes from his left hand to his right hand in between shots.

See Also[]

CSI:Las Vegas Season 10
Family AffairGhost TownWorking StiffsCoup de GraceBloodsportDeath & The MaidenThe Lost GirlsLover's LanesAppendicitementBetter Off DeadSin City BlueLong BallInternal CombustionUnshockableNeverlandThe Panty SnifferIrradiatorField MiceWorld's EndTake My Life, Please!Lost & FoundDoctor WhoMeat Jekyll
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