CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000–2015): Season 15, Episode 12 - Dead Woods - full transcript

Thought we were going back to your place.

Babe, just relax, it's cool.

I just got to pick up a little package.

That's it.

It's her again.

I'm so screwed.

Okay, just tell her you're with me.

Yeah, right.

Abby, she's not even your real mother.

You know what, just give me the phone.

I have a few things
that I want to say to her.



Cash and phones. Hand 'em over.

Hey, screw you, buddy.

I said, hand 'em over.

Oh, my God.

Okay, man, look, just chill, just relax.

Now!

Slade!

Stop!

Slade!

Slade!

Abby, come on!

Miss?

Can you hear me?

Miss?



Are you okay?

Can you tell me what happened?

Sara Sidle.

I need to talk to Sara Sidle.

- What happened?
- I don't know.

She's not talking.
You want me to call her folks?

- She's in foster care.
- How do you know her?

Old case. When Abby was five, her father shot

the whole family,
then turned the gun on himself.

She was the only survivor.

God, that's horrible.

Hey.

Are you all right?

- Yeah.
- You're okay?

- Mm-hmm.
- Okay.

So, what's going on here?

You're hanging around the Alphabets,

standing over the body of a dead guy.

He pulled a gun on us.

"Us"? Slade?

You were down here with Slade?

Abby, I told you that kid is bad news.

Sara, please, I...

Did he shoot this guy?

Listen to me.

I finally remember something.

From ten years ago.

My father didn't do it.

# CSI Las Vegas 15x12 #
Dead Woods
Original Air Date on December 28, 2014

# Who... are you? #

# Who, who, who, who? #

# Who... are you? #

# Who, who, who, who? #

# I really wanna know #

# Who... are you? #

# Oh-oh-oh #
# Who... #

# Come on, tell me who are you, you, you #

# Are you! #

She's fine. We'll see you soon.

Uh-huh.

Okay, bye.

Joanna's on her way.

As soon as you give your statement,

you can go home.

But we need to talk about my father.

- I told you, I think he's innocent.
- Abby,

you always told me that you
didn't remember anything

about what happened that night.

I didn't.

But after Slade shot that guy,
I smelled something.

Uh, a chemical, kind of
like kerosene but not.

I smelled the exact same thing
the night my family was killed.

You mean, inside the tent?

When I smelled it,

it's like I was right back there.

I'd just been shot.

My head was bleeding.

He picked me up.

That's when I smelled it.

When he was putting me into my sleeping bag.

- Your father?
- No.

This man had a beard.

It wasn't my father.

I am telling you...

someone else was there that night.

He killed my family.

Tried to kill me.

My father didn't do it.

Okay, all right, listen, I...

I know you want to believe

that your father is innocent,

but the evidence...

I know what I saw.

Abby, you were five years old.

You'd been shot,

you saw your mother and your sister killed.

That kind of trauma

can play tricks on your mind.

I'm not making this up.

Abby, I...

I thought you, of all people,
would believe me.

Joanna.

Oh.

Cream and sugar.

Oh, thank you.

Abby's just, uh, giving her statement.

Uh, I'm really glad she reached out to you.

She's 15.

You're her mom. It's a...

complicated relationship.

I don't think she really
thinks of me as her mother.

Ever since we started the adoption process,

she's been acting out.

Breaking curfew, skipping school...

She loves you and Brian.

She's been through so much,

huh?

Sometimes I'm amazed that
she's done as well as she has.

Well, I-I think that's because of you.

You two have a very special bond.

I'm so glad you're part of her life.

Thank you.

I am, too.

I'll be right back.

Hey, Slade!

What the hell is wrong with you,

taking Abby to that part of town?

- Yo, you see that?
- I didn't see anything.

She is not your girlfriend anymore.

You come near her again,
and my face is gonna be

the last thing you will ever see.

Let's go.

Hey. That the guy from the alley?

Uh-huh.

Greg?

Yeah.

What are you doing?

Tell me what you smell.

Urine.

Booze.

And years without a shower.

Why?

I smell smoke.

Like he's been around a fire.

Yeah, well, he was
probably trying to stay warm.

Why are you so interested in how he smells?

It's not me. It's Sara.

Uh, this guy was killed mugging a young girl.

She smelled something on him
that reminded her

of a crime scene from ten years ago.

Was the case unsolved?

Ruled a murder-suicide.

Youngest daughter survived.

Now she thinks her father
might have been innocent.

He's pretty ripe.

It's gonna be hard to isolate
one particular smell.

Sounds like a job for the Cyranose 320.

# I'll cry #

# A quiet tear #

# No one must see #

# No one must hear #

# I'll feel #

# Untold pain #

# But I can hide it with a smile #

# Afar #

# Uh-oh #

# Outside #

# The world goes on #

# Everyone acting #

# Like there's nothing wrong #

# Inside #

# Our world destroyed #

# Reeling from this day without you. #

Abby, I'm gonna take a sample of your DNA.

Doesn't hurt.

I'm just gonna put this swab

against your cheek, like this.

Here we go.

Good job.

They're dead, aren't they?

I'm sorry.

Abby,

did you see what happened?

Who hurt you and your family?

I don't remember.

That's okay.

What's the last thing that you do remember?

Mommy and Daddy.

They were fighting.

Then what happened?

I don't remember.

That's okay.

I want my mommy.

I know.

Of course you do.

It's okay.

Sara?

Hey, Sara.

Got the, uh, results on your Cyranose 320.

Your mugger was a smelly guy.

Over 20 different scents on him.

Most of them were pretty common.

Alcohol, smoke, urine.

Abby said it was something that
she hadn't smelled in ten years.

Like kerosene or something.

Could've been gun cleaner.

- We found traces of that on him.
- Huh.

I didn't smell any of that
at the scene ten years ago.

Not on the gun, not on the father.

Was there evidence of another gun used?

No. Firearms confirmed

that every shot came from the father's gun.

Well, someone could've brought the smell

with him into the tent.

Stinky stuff. I mean,

it gets on your hands, your clothes...

So it's possible

that someone who smelled like gun cleaner

went into the tent,

used the father's gun,

and wiped out the whole family.

Abby... could be right.

Maybe her father didn't do it.

I know that you're pretty
tight with this girl.

I know that you've stayed in
touch through all these years.

She needed somebody to look after her.

We've worked a lot of cases
where kids lost their parents.

Yeah...

but one parent killing another,

getting shipped off to foster care...

That's something I know a little bit about.

In all the years we've been friends,

we've never really talked about

what happened with your dad.

- And I don't mean to pry, but...
- You know what happened.

They had a volatile relationship.

And...

It's Russell.

According to my case sheet, you have

12 open cases. Is that right?

- More or less.
- More or less.

So then why are you ordering evidence

from long-term storage

for a case that was closed ten years ago?

Uh, new evidence was brought
to my attention, and, uh,

- I wanted to give the case another look.
- Well,

- then you should've come to me first.
- I-I just wanted

to see if what I was told had any merit.

All right.

Where are you getting your new information?

Abby Fisher.

The girl that survived?

She smelled gun cleaner,
and it brought back a memory

of the night that her family was murdered.

She thinks that there was someone else there.

Eyewitness accounts,

especially years after the fact,

are unreliable, and you know that.

There's more.

Uh, I looked at her dad's tox report,

and there was a substantial amount of alcohol

found in his system, but...

there were other peaks on the GC
that were never analyzed.

Doc ruled this a suicide.

So you know what you're asking?

By reopening this case,

you're asking Doc to
change the manner of death,

and I just don't see him doing that,

- not with what you've given me.
- Russell,

Abby has believed that
her father was a murderer

her entire life.

If there's a chance that he wasn't,

we owe it to her to find that out.

This girl lost her whole family.

She has no one to fight for her.

Please,

let me just take a look at it.

All right, fine.

Take a look at it.

But wait, hold on. Look,

this is gonna ruffle a lot of feathers.

Not just Doc. Ecklie, too.

So for my sake, you'd better be right.

I know.

Let me get this straight:

Sara is accusing me

of cutting corners on my
examination of Mr. Fisher?

No, Doc.

In light of new information, Sara just wants

to take a look at the case
in a different context.

All right.

Mr. Fisher died from a contact gunshot wound

to the right temple.

There was gunshot residue on his right hand,

his gun was found beside him,

and he had a blood tox level of .23.

Tell me, please, what is it about this

that doesn't indicate suicide?

In the tox report, Sara found a peak

from the GC that was never analyzed.

Got that tox report right here.

What peak are we talking about?

- That one.
- That's minor.

It has the same retention time as ibuprofen.

- That's why it wasn't analyzed.
- Could be,

but you can't be sure
unless you do a Mass Spec.

So please, Doc, just pull the blood for me.

Retest it.

Sure.

Sorry.

You and Sara are out of luck.

Those samples were destroyed three years ago.

D.B., if you feel this strongly about it,

the only choice is to exhume the body.

You're digging up my father?

Well, we need to do some additional testing.

Then what happens to him?

He'll be re-buried.

Like a second funeral?

Well, there won't be a service or anything.

He'll just be returned to his grave.

I didn't get to go to his funeral.

Or Mom's.

Or Hannah's.

You were still in the hospital.

Did you?

Go to your father's funeral?

No.

Why not?

I wasn't allowed.

Do you miss him?

Yeah.

I do.

Guy looks pretty good for being
in the ground for ten years.

- Miracle of embalming.
- Mm-hmm.

So, are you gonna do a full autopsy?

It's not necessary.

Barry Fisher died from
a gunshot wound to the head,

and nothing is gonna change that fact.

Well, something caused the peak on the GC.

If he was under the influence
of some type of drug,

then maybe his death wasn't a suicide.

If that's the case,

I will change my ruling to "undetermined".

Well, good thing he was autopsied.

Kept the organs in a plastic bag.

I'm just glad the mortuary

kept them in the bag after they embalmed him.

Organs weren't exposed to formaldehyde.

Best bet for identifying acute dose of a drug

is the liver or the kidney.

Barry Fisher was drugged.

Tox found trichloroethanol
in his liver sample.

A metabolite of chloral hydrate, right?

That's what the peak was.
It wasn't ibuprofen.

It was a knockout drug.

Doc changed the manner of death

from "suicide" to "undetermined".

You were right.

Okay.

Where are we?

Well...

chloral hydrate is not a recreational drug.

Fisher wouldn't have taken it voluntarily.

So somebody drugged him.

Doc didn't find any injection
marks on Fisher's body,

but there were remnants of
paper cups in the fire pit.

The drug could've been put into his drink.

Why would somebody incapacitate the husband

if they were already
planning on shooting him?

Maybe to get the gun?

I mean, if the plan was

to murder the family and frame the father,

the killer would have had to use his gun.

Fisher would not have
handed it over willingly.

Boy, somebody sure hated the Fishers.

Kill the whole family?

Those two little girls?

I'll see if they had any enemies.

So...

do I have the okay to...

officially reopen the case?

You bet.

When Doc ruled it a suicide,

I boxed up all of the evidence

because there wasn't going to be a trial.

So... almost everything that I collected

- has never been processed.
- All right.

Have the boxes sent to the garage.

Finn and Morgan will set up
the tent and work the evidence.

You have a close personal relationship

with Abby Fisher.

I need you to take a backseat.

Fair enough.

Hey, Morgan. You all set up?

Yep.

I used Sara's original
crime scene photos as a guide.

Ugh, those poor kids. Had no idea

that their fun camping trip
would end like this.

Yeah.

I, uh, placed note cards
reflecting the DNA results.

"M" is for Mom,

"H" is for Hannah, "A" is for Abby.

All right. And according to Sara's sketch,

the two girls were inside
their sleeping bags over here...

Hannah, Abby...

and then over here, the mom.

Yeah, the nine-year-old, Hannah,

had Mom's blood on her feet,

so we know Mom was killed first,
right over there.

This, here,

is Hannah's blood trail.

Hannah's wound was immediately debilitating

and fatal.

So she would not have been able
to walk back to her bed.

So somebody carried her
and then tucked her in.

Well, the killer thought Abby was dead, too,

'cause he tucked her in.

Shows remorse?

Or he wanted to make it
look like it was the father.

Somebody who cared about his kids.

Yeah. Either way, looks like the killer had

to touch the sleeping bags,

so it could be a good source of prints.

Just like the tent flap.

I'm gonna swab every blood drop in here.

Maybe we'll get lucky

and the killer left some of himself behind.

# What have you done? #

# Not a way that you could win it #

# Such is the way if you go
and you play with life #

# They keep a hold #

# With hate and lies #

# But give a little bit more #

# If you can #

# And give a little bit more #

# If you fade #

# And throw a little bit more #

# To their flames #

# Oh... #

# I won't #

# Feel no shame. #

I got prints.

Some on the tent flap.

Those were unidentified. But I also found one

on Hannah's sleeping bag.

That one paid off.

Garth Fogel.

He's a registered sex offender.

Convicted of molesting
a little girl back in '95.

He was released from prison in 2004,

one month before the Fishers were murdered.

SIDLE: He has a beard.
The man that Abby remembered

tucking her into her
sleeping bag had a beard.

And smelled of gun cleaner.

When Fogel was arrested,

police found over 15 guns in his place.

Hey.

I analyzed the blood samples
Finn collected from the tent.

Everything belonged to Mom and the two girls.

Except for one that turned out
to be animal blood.

- Animal blood?
- I'm still testing

to figure out what kind
of animal it came from.

There was no other DNA in the tent?

Sorry.

But when I tested Garth Fogel's samples

against the DNA samples,

I got a big surprise.

He was the biological father

of the nine-year-old daughter, Hannah.

Wait, I-I knew that Barry Fisher

wasn't Hannah's birth father.

According to a family friend,

Kathy Fisher told everyone
that Hannah's father died

in a car accident before she was even born.

If I were pregnant with
a sex offender's baby,

I'd probably lie about it, too.

Maybe that lie caught up with her.

Got the family killed.

Garth Fogel.

I'm CSI Nick Stokes.

I asked for a coffee 20 minutes ago.

Answer some of my questions,
and I'll see what I can do for you.

I haven't done anything wrong.

You mean recently or ten years ago?

Do you recognize this family?

I'll take that as a no.

Um...

how about now?

Oh, these are good.

How about these?

The Fishers went on a
camping trip and someone

slaughtered them in their tent.

Wasn't me.

The girls were five and nine.

They're really cute, really innocent.

That's just the way you like 'em, isn't it?

That's sick, you son of a bitch.

She was my daughter!

Sit your ass down.

I don't think the fact
that she was your daughter

would even stop a pervert like you.

You probably even thought
you had a right to her.

You were out of prison a month
and you got that itch again.

Didn't you?

I think you followed the
Fishers to their campsite.

Drugged the dad to get him out of the way

and took his gun.

Went into the tent to grab Hannah.

But Kathy wasn't gonna
let you take her daughter

without a fight.

Mommy! Mommy!

What did you do?!

You certainly weren't going back to prison,

so you got rid of the witnesses.

I'm sorry.

And there must be some shred of humanity

left in you, because after you shot

both girls, you felt bad about it.

Tucked them into their sleeping bags.

Then you finished off the dad

and made it look like a murder-suicide.

- Sound about right?
- That's a load of crap.

I was nowhere near that family.

Then how do you explain your fingerprint

on Hannah's sleeping bag?

You'd better start talking to me, man.

All right.

I saw them at their house.

They were packing to go camping.

What were you doing there?

I wanted to see my daughter.

Kathy never told me that she was pregnant.

I found out in prison.

So I looked them up as soon as I got out.

But Kathy wasn't gonna let
you anywhere near Hannah.

So you followed them to their campsite.

No.

I went to their house.

Kathy was packing the car, and I told her

that Hannah has every right
to know who her real father is.

And that is me.

Kathy told me to go to hell.

- That piss you off?
- Yes, it pissed me off!

I lost my temper, all right?

I grabbed the sleeping bag
and I ripped it out of the car,

and that is how my fingerprints got on it.

Kathy threatened to call the cops,

so I got the hell out of there.

I never saw them after that.

Nick thinks

- Fogel's lying.
- Does he have an alibi?

Said he was with his mom.

Great. Let's talk to her.

She died five years ago.

- What?
- Nick is getting a warrant

to pull his old cell and credit card records,

see if we can at least place
him near Mount Charleston

around the time of the murders.

Abby picked Fogel out of that mug book.

Thought he looked familiar.
She couldn't say for sure

whether he's the guy that
killed her family or not.

There's so much she doesn't
remember from the night.

There might be a way we can help
her recover those memories.

You okay?

Yeah.

Just weird... being back.

Abby, you do not have to do this.

I want to.

So... how do we do this?

You gonna hypnotize me or something?

No.

We're just hoping that being
back here might jog your memory.

You know, the sights, the smells.

Let your mind drift back.

It's worth a shot.

You did a great job.

It looks exactly like it did ten years ago.

Thanks. I even put

gun cleaner inside the
tent to see if it helps.

And I brought this.

We might need to document it for court.

Good plan.

Daddy!

Hannah, you're it.

Mommy!

Daddy!

Mommy!

No! No!

No!

Mom and Hannah.

I saw them.

They were dead.

I'm so sorry.

What else did you remember?

The man, he...

he had a patch.

On his jacket. It had antlers.

Like a deer.

Did you see his face?

I couldn't make it out.

He just shot them.

It's okay.

It's all right. You did great.

Yeah.

It's okay.

Henry identified

the animal blood we found
in the Fishers' tent.

It's elk blood.

Oh, maybe that's what Abby
saw on the killer's jacket.

I mean, an elk kind of looks like a deer,

just with bigger antlers.

Okay, so we have a killer
who smells like gun cleaner

and has traces of elk blood on him.

He's a hunter.

And if he was wearing a
jacket with a patch on it,

maybe he belongs to a hunting club.

There are a lot of them in Nevada.

Any close to Mount Charleston?

Let's see.

This club's logo is a duck.

That one.

That looks like an elk to me.

"Legend Creek Hunting Club".

Dead animals.

- Awesome.
- God, it looks like they're just

staring us right in the eye.

- So lifelike.
- Thank you.

Stuffed 'em myself.

Right back there, that 12-point buck?

Three shots to take him down.

He wanted to live.

He's a beauty. Randy Pruitt.

Club president.

What can I do for you ladies?

This is Sara Sidle. I'm Morgan Brody.

We are with the Las Vegas crime lab.

- Crime lab?
- We need to take a look

at your membership records from 2004,

specifically the members
who had tags to hunt elk.

Elk pressing charges these days?

We're investigating the murder of a family

shot to death on Mount Charleston.

We hunt animals,

- not human beings.
- Yeah?

Well, some people can't tell the difference.

These people...

- are my friends.
- I'm sorry.

We're still gonna have to
take a look at those records.

Well, our members have a right to privacy.

Yeah.

Not anymore.

2004.

Thank you.

Let's pull all the members

that have beards and tags to hunt elk

and show the pictures to Abby.

Let's hope she can identify our killer.

Take your time, okay?

That's him.

Are you sure?

Positive.

Yeah, we got an ID.

Donald Wraith.

Lives in Henderson.

Donald Wraith!

LVPD! Turn off the engine!

Out of the truck!

Get out!

Said get out!

Looks like the hunter became the hunted.

Hey, Super Dave.

Sorry to drag you all the way out here, man.

You kidding me?

Trees, good clean air.

It's nice to be out in nature.

Nine-millimeter casing.

The ammo's consistent with the victim's gun.

Powder burns indicate
he was shot at close range.

Yeah, but he couldn't have shot himself...

the gun would have fallen out of his hand.

Killer tried to make it look like a suicide.

Abby Fisher IDs Donald Wraith
as the man who shot her family.

We come out here to pick him up
and find him murdered?

Maybe to keep him quiet?

Maybe.

Sounds to me like someone else was involved

in this massacre ten years ago.

I thought Abby Fisher only remembers one man

in the tent that night.

Doesn't mean that somebody else wasn't there.

Garth Fogel.

The pedophile?

Yeah, we haven't cleared him
as a suspect. And so far

I haven't been able to find a connection

between Donald Wraith and the Fisher family.

So you're thinking Wraith's
connection is with Fogel.

Maybe they were friends.
Fogel wanted his daughter.

The Fishers weren't gonna give
her back without a fight.

Maybe he brings Wraith for backup.

Go prove it.

- Hey.
- Hey.

Nick said he found trace
on Donald Wraith's gun.

Were you able to identify it?

Yeah, it was a type of resin.

Traditionally, a hydrocarbon
secretion from plants,

resins were a prized possession
in the ancient world.

I'm sure you're familiar
with frankincense and myrrh.

Gifts for baby Jesus.

You're a wise woman.

But in this day and age,

humans have been able to
create synthetic resins

that are much stronger and more versatile

than their natural predecessors.

As in this case, we have a unique blend

of methyl methacrylate,

thixotropic and a polymerization catalyst.

Aren't synthetic resins used
a lot in construction?

- Yes, but...
- 'Cause Garth Fogel works

as a laborer for a construction company.

If we can prove he had access, then we...

- You didn't let me finish.
- Sorry.

The chemical structure
of this particular resin

is only used in one industry.

Taxidermy.

- Taxidermy.
- Does Garth Fogel

have a penchant for
stuffing woodland creatures?

No. But I know someone who does.

Thank you.

You lied to me, Randy.

You said you didn't hunt people.

But you murdered Donald Wraith.

And you murdered the Fisher family.

No. No, I didn't.

We found a clear cast resin
on Donald Wraith's gun.

It's the same resin that
you purchased two weeks ago

for your taxidermy.

Is-is that all you've got?

No, I have motive.

You and Donald Wraith killed
the Fishers ten years ago.

Donald was about to be arrested,
so you killed him

so he wouldn't implicate you.

But you had already implicated yourself.

We pulled your fingerprints off the file

that you gave us at the hunting
club, and it was a match

to prints from inside the tent

that the family was slaughtered in.

What happened, Randy?

Did you get tired of hunting elk?

Did you want your prey to beg for mercy?

It wasn't like that.

We never planned on killing anyone.

What was your plan?

Donald wanted to have some fun with the wife.

Her and her husband came
by the shop, asked directions.

Sorry to bother you guys.
It feels like we've been driving

in circles for hours.

I'm a terrible navigator.

We wanted to set up camp
near Deer Stream Trailhead.

- Can't seem to find it.
- Well, that's...

...easy to miss.

What you do is you hit Timber Canyon.

There's a fork, stay to the right.

It'll take you all the way in.

Thank you so much.

My pleasure, ma'am.

You followed them back to the campsite?

You had to get the husband out of the way.

How did you drug him, exactly?

Saw him sitting alone at the fire.

Pretended we were camping nearby.

Brought over some booze.

And when he wasn't looking,
we slipped him a Mickey.

Yeah, most people don't just walk around

carrying chloral hydrate on them,

unless they've done
this kind of thing before.

What happened after Fisher passed out?

I stood guard while Donald went in the tent.

- With Barry Fisher's gun.
- He was only gonna

threaten her, keep her quiet.

But she fought back.

I heard a shot.

Then two more.

What did you do?

We didn't know they had children.

Donald said the girls saw
his face, so he had to kill 'em.

I tucked them back into their sleeping bags,

while he went out to
take care of the husband.

There is a problem with your story, Randy.

The youngest daughter survived.

And she identified
Donald Wraith as the person

that put her back into the sleeping bag.

Not you.

He's the one that felt bad.

And I am willing to bet...

that you are the one that
pulled the trigger that night.

Either way, your hunting days are over.

So... they didn't even know us?

They were just bad people.

And you and your family
were in the wrong place

at the wrong time.

That's messed up.

Your father was innocent.

All these years, I blamed him.

Hated him.

Thought he killed Mom and Hannah.

Tried to kill me.

You can let that all go now.

Your dad was a good man.

And he loved you very much.

Hey.

Ready to go home?

Yeah.

Thank you.

Any time.

Oh, One D's playing at the Hard Rock

saturday night. You in?

One Direction? Seriously?

No, I'm just kidding. It's Lorde.

I'll pick you up at 7:00.

Cool.

You look like your dad.

He used to read to me when I was a kid.

Charlotte's Web was my favorite.

Must've read it a hundred times.

- That's a nice memory.
- I have a lot of nice memories of him.

My mom, too.

They were toxic when
they were together, though.

Your mom said your dad was abusive?

She killed him in self-defense?

That's what she said.

You don't believe her?

Look, I know my dad wasn't a saint,

but my mom was an alcoholic

who suffered from mental illness.

I'm just not sure that things
were as black and white

as she made them out to be.

Well, you did say they had
a volatile relationship.

Fact is...

I'll never know what happened that night.

This is gonna sound horrible, but...

I'm kind of jealous of Abby.

She gets to rewrite her whole family history.

Nothing will ever change what my mother did.

Well...

you can't change the past,

but you always have the future.

Your mom's still alive.

Not too late for you to... start over.

I don't know if I could.