CSI: NY (2004–2013): Season 7, Episode 8 - Scared Stiff - full transcript

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Won't you be the one
to calm the storm, yeah ♪

♪ Won't you be the one
to calm the storm, darling ♪

♪ Right now ♪

♪ I said I need somebody, babe ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm... ♪

(screaming)

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪



♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Sometimes I try to ♪
♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Sometimes I want to ♪
♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Sometimes I wish I could ♪
♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Sometimes I try to ♪
♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪
♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm, yeah ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪

(screams)

(gasping)



♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm the storm ♪

♪ Calm... the storm ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah. ♪

Taylor:
Bark.

Workers found her under
a tree in Central Park.

When I first got to the scene,

I thought she might still
be alive.

It's the gaze in her eyes.

Taylor:
No ID, no coat.

She looked frozen stiff.

Well, not frozen.

This is the most shocking
position I've ever seen in rigor.

Unofficially, it looks like our
Jane Doe was scared to death.

(screaming)

(screaming continues)

♪ Out here in the fields ♪

♪ I fight for my meals ♪

♪ I get my back into my living ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. ♪

(distant siren wails)

Our Jane Doe broke a heel,

which is consistent
with the layout photos

and Sid's initial findings
in autopsy.

These sporadic movement patterns
suggest she was

either lost or confused.

(gasping)

(screams)

(screaming)

FLACK: Hey, I tracked down
the shoe prints

of the park workers
who found our Vic

and the EMTs who were on the scene.
Great.

Why don't we fan out

and start eliminating
shoe prints.

See if we can ID
our victim's attacker.

Sounds good.

♪ ♪

No other prints to suggest
she was being followed.

No. If this was a chase
or a blitz attack, there's be

signs of a struggle
somewhere here.

I don't see it.
Nope.

So what or who
was she running from?

Ghosts?

Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, did I
just hear you say ghosts?

You did.
Want to know why?

'Cause that's what he said...
ghosts.

A lot of New Yorkers believe
this part of the park

is haunted.

The lake just over there...

For years rumor has it,

two women have been seen

skating figure eights at night.

Rosetta

and Janet... sisters,

died in the 1800s.

Apparently they just
glide above the ice.

If you get too close,
they disappear.

Shut up.
Yeah.

And then there was that
real estate guy

that got gutted by the river
just east of here.

Oh, and Belvedere Castle.

Tons of people have heard

disembodied voices.

Dispatch gets calls
all the time.

It's teenagers, doing the nasty.

HAWKES:
Go ahead, poke fun.

But this area
where we are right now,

some of the volunteers
in the Emergency Medical Unit

won't even ride in here.
They send me.

I got to be honest...

There have been times
when I felt something.

A presence?

I don't know.

Doc, come on.

You can't tell me that
in your well-educated,

scientific mind, you don't have

an explanation
for paranormal activity?

Okay, one night

I heard a woman screaming.

I get off my bike,
I run towards the sound.

The screams get louder
and louder,

but when I get to where
she should have been, nothing.

Nobody.

What do you think it was?
I don't know.

I have no rational explanation
for what happened that night.

Now, could have

been my mind
playing tricks on me

or maybe it was the sound
bouncing off the trees,

but I felt something
weird here.

And judging by the looks
of these shoe prints,

maybe our Jane Doe

felt something, too.

SID: Petechial hemorrhaging
consistent with suffocation.

But I haven't figured out
the exact COD

as of yet.

The external examination
revealed nothing remarkable.

There's no ligature

or strangulation marks.

Even more strange, X-rays
showed her hyoid bone,

windpipe and larynx
to be perfectly intact.

Mild cyanosis.

On her hands as well.

It would also imply suffocation.

I found no fibers
in her nose or mouth.

No contusions on her lips,
so no evidence of smothering.

I suspect this abrasion

could be pre-mortem.

It's more a rash than a bruise.

Taylor:
It's consistent with friction

against a solid surface.
Mm-hmm.

Other than that,

there are no other injuries

that can point to foul play
or cause of death.

There was one thing

that was particularly odd.

She wore black undergarments
with a white dress

that looked about
two sizes too big.

Also her shoes were white.

Well, the whole outfit
was just odd.

It was as if
someone else had dressed her.

♪ ♪

Adam wasn't able to tell me
what the stain is.

He's still waiting
on the SEM results.

But the shape of it
intrigued me

so I decided to play out
a theory.

The pattern on the dress
was caused

by this action.

An attacker grabbed her
from behind.

(screaming):
No! No! No!

A real person, not a ghost.

But I can't determine

if it happened in the park
where she died.

There's nothing to indicate

that it didn't.

The evidence could
still be out there.

(thunder crashing)

We've got to expand our search

and get to it
before the rain does.

(thunder crashing)

Taylor:
Start at the perimeter

and walk out from there.

Aw, that better not be
poison Ivy.

I'd laugh my ass off.

(eerie wailing)

Do you believe this?

In the middle of Manhattan,
we got to deal with coyotes?

What is that all about?

They've been attacking people

in broad daylight, too.

FLACK: Between them and the spiders.

Are you afraid of spiders?
Hey, bud,

Northern black widow spider,
the female's poison...

Lay you out in two minutes.

You scaredy-cat.

Yeah.

That could be the cause
of her death.

You're a science guy now.

Black widow bite would
cause vomiting,

chest pain,
maybe some bad muscle cramps,

but it's rarely fatal.

Besides, our girl
died of suffocation.

Not a little itty-bitty
scary spider.

Just bag the evidence.

We got broken branches
over here.

DANVILLE: I've got
women's footprints here.

Looks like the same pattern

of our Jane Doe
before she broke her heel.

You know, I saw a ghost once.

I was visiting a friend
in the hospital,

and I was reading to her

and I looked up
and there he was.

I didn't say
that I believed in ghosts.

I said I could not prove
that they don't exist.

I'm being totally serious.

He was wearing

a white coat,
and he wasn't scary.

He had this energy that was
really kind of soothing.

And I watched him
put his hand on her arm.

And then he just... vanished.

And later she told me

that her dad had died
a few years before

and he was a doctor...

...and she described the man
that I saw.

So you think there are other
forces at play here?

Hell, no. Only the living
and breathing

actually commit murder.

She definitely came
through here.

(thunder crashes)

(distant laughter)

(thunder crashes) (gasps)

Everything all right?

Yeah, I'm good.

(sighs) Get it together.

(clank)

Someone's out there.

I didn't hear you. Mac?

Mac?

(branch snaps)

Freeze!

(thunder crashes)

(thunder crashing)

I'd say our suspect
is about five-nine.

You weren't able
to see his face?

No, it was too dark.

He was wearing a sweatshirt

with a hood over his head.

All I got is male,
medium build.

We're checking surveillance
cameras from buildings

around the perimeter.

Maybe they'll come up
with footage of our guy

running out of the park.

(indistinct radio transmission)

Mounted units came through here

about an hour and half ago
and saw

nothing out of the ordinary.

So what are we thinking?

Is this Vic connected
to our Jane Doe case?

The murders are in
the same general area.

That's where
the connection ends

because these women
are are just too different.

One's brunette,
the other's blonde,

one's buried, one's not,

one's in her 30s,
the other, 20s.

But they are both women.

This victim looks
like she's been dead

for at least two weeks.

That's a long time

to wait to bury a corpse.

I don't think that's what
he was doing here, Jo.

I think he was digging her up.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

You look like you have
as much as I do:

nothing.

21 grams.

21 grams...

The body weight reported to be
lost at the moment of death.

The weight of the human soul.

That study was dismissed

for lack of scientific proof.

And however much a soul weighs,

I'm more concerned about how it
plays out in the living.

Where it goes after that
is strictly personal.

Oh, yeah? How many times
you looked

for those two sisters
in the lake in Central Park?

(whispers):
Every time I go there.

I don't know about you,

but I need a promotion
because I work way too hard

and I'm brilliant. Mmm!

Just give us the facts, Adam.
Sulfur.

Sulfur...

The mystery yellow substance
on our Jane Doe's dress.

But that sulfur was over
the soil and leaf trace

that I can connect to the park.

Where in the park can you run
into sulfur?

I know a few places.

Volunteering nights
in the Parks Medical Unit,

you get to know where
the crazies hang out.

(siren wailing)

Whoa!

(chuckles) I knew it...

The safety helmet,
the medical bag.

I would've never
pegged you for a cop.

Have a seat.

Meet Sully,

the Ken Burns
of the supernatural world.

I'm a legitimate filmmaker.

I document the appearance

of apparitions in the park.

We spoke to park gardeners,

maintenance workers,

anybody who could have
worked with the stuff.

You bring us a ghostbuster?

What stuff? Why am I here?

You use sulfur, right, Sully?

To form a protective circle in
an area of high activity, yes.

And you disturbed it
when you dragged me in here.

Which means a spirit could
follow any one of us home!

You could put some sea salt
around the perimeter...

per-perimeter of your home.

But it's not a guaranteed deterrent.
Okay.

A female body was found in
the park two nights ago.

How interesting would it be
if the sulfur we found

on her dress was a match
to your protective fairy dust?

Am I under arrest?

Sheldon, what's going on here?

Your latest film about the
spirits on North Brother Island

didn't fill too many seats,
did it, Sully?

But if someone was

mysteriously killed in a haunted
part of Central Park

by an unknown perpetrator like
a ghost, then this next one...

Are you suggesting that I killed
someone to promote my film?

Not "someone."

A young woman in her 20s.

Listen, I'm smart.
I'm really smart,

but even if I wasn't,

I have enough science backing me
up, it's not gonna be that hard

to prove that the sulfur
handprint on the back

of her dress came from you.

Are you talking about that girl
in the white dress?

The one you grabbed.

No, I was trying to help her.

At first I thought she was
a park spirit, you know?

Then boom,
she bangs right into me.

She slammed into you?

That's how I knew
she was a human form.

I could see she was in trouble.

I tried to help her,

but she was in a
panic and ran away.

And we should believe you why?

I was filming all night.

I captured every second of it.

We're going to need
a sneak preview of your movie.

This is your victim
buried in the park.

Given her organs' state
of decay,

I'd posit her date of death
to be 1995.

What? 15 years ago?

Is that how long
she's been in the ground?

I believe so. Exterior decay
was somehow delayed.

Salt...

That white crystalline material

you found at the scene
was salt.

The park places these salt
domes near walkways

and high-traffic areas
during the winter months.

It could've leeched
into the soil in high enough

concentrations... salt's
an excellent preservative.

That would explain 15 years

of death looking like two weeks.

So someone came back to dig her
up after all that time?

Who would do that?

Someone crazy enough
to kill her in the first place?

Perpetrators return to the scene
after a day, a month,

maybe a few years, but 15?

Whatever his reason,

you think the same guy
killed our Jane Doe?

Your second victim suffered
massive blunt force trauma

to the back of the skull.

And that's cause of death?

Or it could have been
the stabbing.

It's consistent with her
clothing

we examined at the scene.

Our first Vic died
of suffocation, though, right?

Right, no visible injuries.
Unlike your second victim

who was clearly stabbed
and bludgeoned.

Up close and personal.

Indeed.

So the only thing our two vics
have in common

is they were both found
in the park.

Two separate cases,
totally unconnected.

And both killers
still out there.

"Paranormal" simply means
"beyond normal."

But there is no finite
manifestation for "normal."

So fear is an irrelevancy,

a kind of egocentric
contrivance.

A paranormal entity
is no less natural than a tree.

Or a rock.

All right, folks.

We're here to meet others.

Okay? I hesitate to even use
the word "ghost," because...

(woman screaming, Sully yells)

Sully:
Whoa, hey!

(woman screaming) You're real!

She's real!

Wait! Hold on!

Freeze it here.

This is the direction
Jane was coming from.

Can we see more details
of that part of the park?

Just one second.

All right, it looks
like she came through

the 72nd Street entrance.

Keep rolling the footage.

Sully:
Wait, hold on!

Can I talk to you?

WOMAN (screaming):
No! No! No!

All right, so this guy just
kept taping all night long,

no pauses, no cuts?

The footage came directly
from the camera's flash drive.

The video file is clean,

no change in his location,

clock was continuous.

All right, so our paranormal
auteur's telling the truth.

Who killed our Jane Doe?

I don't know who,
but I can tell you how.

Nitrous oxide poisoning.

Laughing gas?

Well, its effects
were exacerbated

by antidepressants
in her system.

The N2O ultimately
suffocated her.

In the meantime, she could have
suffered traumatic hallucinations,

thinking she was
being chased by

something much scarier
than we can imagine.

Would explain the look
of terror in her eyes.

Well, given the presence
of nitrous,

I thought it prudent
to look for recent dental work.

But when I took the body
out of cold storage,

I found something
I think I should show you.

DANVILLE: The fridge temperatures
brought out the bruises.

They weren't able to develop
when she was alive,

which means they happened
close to the time of death.

They're in the distinct shape
of... a hand.

As though her body was lifted.

The extent of the
bruising suggests

she was dead weight in this
person's hands, no pun intended.

Someone moved her
when she was unconscious.

And since she was conscious

while running
through the park...

She'd been somewhere else,
receiving the gas

at the mercy of our perpetrator.

(gas flowing)

She wasn't sexually assaulted,
but we know he undressed her,

took her shoes off,

so maybe he left
some prints behind.

I say we find out.

(liquid hisses)

Superglue adheres to
amino acids in fingerprints,

but what is it reacting to
in her hair and scalp?

Jane Doe's fingerprints
came back.

She was a fifth-grade teacher.

Her name: Isabel Wilde.

I ran a dozen blood stains
from her dress.

Two samples detected
a partial unknown profile,

which gave me a hit in CODIS.
Got a name?

Dwight Parsons.

An ex-con with a history of
arrests for robbery and assault.

Sounds like a prime suspect
to me.

Yeah, except for one thing.

He was shot and killed
five years ago.

That would make him a ghost.

(computer beeping)

Ross:
Oh, yeah. That's right.

Who's your daddy?
Come on, give it to me...

That's right, you just,
you give it to me.

You just give it...

Ooh! Just hit the lottery.

You're not on one of those
kinky Web sites...

Um... I was...

isolating the perp's fingerprint
from Isabel's skin pattern.

Oh, Adam, you are so brilliant.

Yeah? I-I...

Run it through AFIS.
Okay.

If it's a hit to dead ex-con

Dwight Parsons,
we're in trouble.

Hey. The mystery amino acid in
Isabel Wilde's scalp and hair?

It's non-thermogenic
mortician's makeup.

Cover-up for a corpse?

DANVILLE:
That's it.

That's the connection to
Dwight Parsons... He's dead.

Ross:
Wait, wait, wait, wait...

Didn't you say
he died five years ago?

The abrasion on the back
of Isabel's neck

could have come from a head
support of a mortician's table.

So maybe Dwight and Isabel

passed through
the same funeral home.

Right.
Wait, hold on a second, back up.

She wasn't dead five years ago.

Unfortunately, you don't have to
be dead to be in a funeral home.

We need to find out where
Dwight Parsons was embalmed.

Hey. We have
a potential lead

in the Isabel Wilde case.

Adam and Lindsay
are chasing it down now.

Good job.

Good job?

That's what I say to Ellie when
she eats all of her carrots.

You don't quite seem okay.

What's going on?

Sid discovered something.

The victim in the park
shows evidence of a surgery.

The organs are too decomposed
for analysis,

but I did recover the sutures.

Taylor: I tested the sutures that
came out of our second victim.

They were too common
to get a match?

No. Polypropylene,
nonabsorbable multifiber,

I was able to contact
the manufacturer,

find out which hospitals
they distributed to,

which doctors performed
gastric surgeries around '95...

All that work and still no ID?

I got an ID.

Only one female patient fitting
our Vic's age and description

had peptic ulcer surgery
that got so dicey

they had to use four sutures
instead of one.

Roni Parker.

Her married name.
She kept it after her divorce.

Her maiden name is Carver.

She's Chief Ted Carver's sister.

Roni.

I'm sorry.

This is all very strange.

I understand.

We don't have
to do this now, Ted.

No. (clears throat) I'm fine.

Makes it all real.

Started to forget
what she looked like.

You never worried that
something had happened to her?

You never reported her missing.

I never thought
she was missing.

My sister had a habit of...
disappearing.

The truth is, Roni and I were
two very different people.

I mean, I loved her.

Don't get me wrong, but she was
kind of a mess even as a kid.

Can you tell me
what you remember

in the last few months
you saw her?

I-I don't know.
We lost touch as we got older.

And then one day, Jay
called me and said she'd left.

Jay?
My nephew.

Told me that Roni had gone,

and left him, his brother,
and his sister alone.

I took the kids in.

And you never looked for her.

At first, I was really angry.

Then I was embarrassed.

Finally I just had
to let her go.

Move on.

Doesn't quite sound like I'm
a good brother or cop, huh?

I'd like to talk to the kids.

Yes, I'll... set it up
so you can talk to them.

Of course,
they're all grown up, now.

Well, still,
they might remember details

that can head us
in the right direction.

We're going to do everything
we can to find her killer.

Damn right you are.

Hey, Mac, um...

I would be grateful if maybe
we could keep this between us?

I mean, for now.

Thanks.

(phone ringing) Flack.

We got to go visit the dead.

Work-related, I hope.

Sprouse Funeral Home,
77th Street.

Looks like Isabel
might have been there

before she ran into the park.

On my way.

This place is so creepy.

But I guess, funeral home...
What else would it be?

How the hell does a funeral home
go out of business?

The owners died four years ago.

They left the family business
to their only son,

Gordon.
He closed up shop, apparently,

but I understand
he still lives here.

No prints in the dust,
no movement in the air.

Definitely doesn't
look lived-in.

Or died in.

(door creaks)

Whew.

Son of a bitch.

Looks like you just found
our primary crime scene.

(gas flowing)

Hawkes.

We got something here.

What the hell
are we dealing with?

This doesn't make any sense.

This kid closed down
the funeral home,

but stayed in the
embalming business?

Kept it open for personal use.

No signs of struggle.

So Isabel was probably
unconscious

when he laid her out here.

So what did he do from there?

Lindsay:
He dressed her.

Vintage. This looks
like it's from the '50s.

FLACK:
Hey, if we come across

a little old lady skeleton

in a wig
in a rocking chair down here,

it's every man for himself.

(laughing)

DANVILLE: So Gordon put
the dress on and shoes

and then applied her makeup.

All the while, she's passed out.

It's the ultimate
in total control.

Highly egocentric.

His fantasies are so much

a part of his inner world

that he can't handle the victim
interacting at all.

So he needs them helpless.

The way he saw other women get
made up his entire life.

So this guy can only relate
to dead bodies.

That's really sad.

That is not the adjective
I would use.

But he tried to wash
all the makeup off Isabel.

DANVILLE: It's not uncommon
for predators of this type

to actually feel shame
after the act.

So he probably wanted
to wash away the image.

Or the evidence.

Remind me to thank him
for leaving some trace on her,

or we might never
have found this place.

FLACK:
Oh!

I've got personal belongings.

It's Isabel.

(clanking)

Did you guys hear something?

Don't shoot!

Keep your hands
where I can see 'em!

Okay, don't shoot.

Get up! Hands!

Do you know Isabel Wilde?

I'm going to introduce you
to Miranda.

You have the right
to remain silent.

Anything you say, can and
will be used against you

in a court of law.
You have the right

to speak to an attorney...

Jo.

So I found something very
strange in the Roni Parker case.

I started running records

of her credit cards
to see if I could pinpoint

a more exact time
of her disappearance and...

well, she hasn't
stopped using them.

Debit and credit cards,

car registration,
social security number.

Since her gastro
surgery in '94,

there's been activity on one

or all of them every day.

And not a single
missed payments.

It looks like somebody
stole her identity.

They stole more than that.

This could be our killer.

How do you figure?

Most thieves steal an identity

for days, maybe weeks,
but years?

You'd have to know your
victim couldn't report you.

They took over
Roni Parker's life

because they knew she was dead.

You have an address?

Yeah.

Chief Carver.

This is a long way across
town for a routine interview.

You can't say you weren't expecting me.
All due respect...

My update was a courtesy call.
Right, but if my sister's killer

is in there, I need to be here.

But, hey,

I really do appreciate
the respect.

(door opens)

♪ ♪

DVD's still playing.

Bedroom's clear.

Bunch of drawers open.

Look like they were emptied.

Pile of hangers on the bed.

Chief?

This is who stole
my sister's identity.

Looks like she knew
we were coming.

(reporters clamoring)

MAN: Mr. Sprouse, why did
you kill that young woman?

WOMAN: Gordon, did you
sexually assault her?

(reporters shouting questions)

MAN: In breaking news... Police
have arrested Gordon Sprouse,

who allegedly murdered
a young woman near Central Park

in a bizarre series of events.

Mr. Sprouse will be arraigned

on charges
of first degree murder.

The date of trial is pending
the judge's announcement.

(reporters shouting questions)

You killed Isabel Wilde.

No. I would never kill anyone.

Confess.

Okay?

That's the best thing for you.

See, we already
know what happened.

You got her drunk,

you fed her
antidepressants and gas

and then you fooled around
until she suffocated.

Murder is wrong.

Death and ecstasy
can be closely linked.

Some people think they're
the same experience.

Living in a funeral home
all your life...

Maybe things got mixed up, huh?

So what was it?

Did you get your first little
tingle down there

when you saw your dad working
on a dead girl, is that it?

My mother.
Excuse me?

My mom was the mortician,
Detective.

So what's the fantasy?

Virgin bride?

Mommy in a white nightgown?
Go to hell!

You are disgusting!

I'm disgusting?

Yes!

You're right.

I like my girls conscious

when they get dressed
and put on makeup.

Totally gross.

You don't understand
any of this, do you?

Not even close.

No? Okay,
let me try and explain.

White...

...is the color
of snow and milk.

It is so pure,

it's not even a color.

HAWKES: So you wanted her
to be at peace, hmm?

That's why you painted her up
like a corpse?

SPROUSE:
No, no,

not like a corpse, Doctor.

Like the perfect version
of herself.

I only wish
she could see herself

the way I see her.

What I do is good.

What the hell
are you talking about?

You drugged that woman
out of consciousness,

placed her on

a cold metal slab

and then toyed with her
so you could get off!

No. What's good about that?!

You don't know.
I know.

You don't know...

I know. I know a freak
when I see one.

I don't do what's in my head.

The only difference between you
and the other sick bastards,

is that you put your victim
on the slab before you kill her.

If I did what was in my head,

they would be
sliced up and gushing

and washed down the drain!

And you would never find them!

But I don't!
I don't do that!

I just play with them!

I met Isabel in a bar.

She came home with me.

She wanted to try the gas.

She thought it might be fun.

I did not know
she was on antidepressants.

Otherwise I would have
altered the dose.

How thoughtful.

Then what happened?

Isabel was fine.

And then she woke up screaming.

She was hallucinating
or something.

She jumped off the table
and ran out.

Alive.

You just let her get up

and run out in the middle of
the night in that condition?

I don't chase 'em.

I only play with them.

And when they start to wake up,

I let them go.

And because of the gas,

they don't even remember
what happened.

They?

How many others
are there, Gordon?

DANVILLE:
We found these in a mortuary.

Yes...

these are my clothes.

Here you go.

Tea always helps.

I can't remember.

One minute I was dancing

and the next I was at home
wearing this old white dress.

And it wasn't mine.

I felt sick.

All that time in between
is just blank.

Do you know what happened
to me that night?

Not exactly, but I can tell you
what we've learned so far.

Do I want to know?

You win. I always thought
I was the workaholic.

Is that from

Roni Parker's grave?

Okay, you've got that same look
as before... preoccupied.

Only now you're
getting me worried.

What's up?

Cases involving a colleague
are always tough,

but this one...

Chief Carver...

being so on top of it.

Well, his sister was killed
and buried in the park,

and somebody's digging her up
after all these years.

I think I'd be
all over it, too.

I don't know.

Maybe all these ghost stories

are just starting to get my
sixth sense working overtime.

Why don't we call it a night.

The parking garage is kind
of spooky right now.

You want to walk me out?

I'm right behind you.