Episode 5: Bloodsport
The CSIs are called to the brutal murder of a much-loved football coach. When the case is linked to the drowning of a call girl, both a star player and a seedy sponsor are placed in the frame.
American-football coach Jimmy Miller wakes up soaked in blood. Unaware of his fatal head injuries, he goes about his usual morning routine before dropping dead on his front doorstep. “He had the wherewithal to pour himself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal – but not call 911,” Catherine says. “You know how it is with head wounds,” Ray replies. The pair deduce Miller was attacked while he was sleeping. The numerous awards and trophies in his display cabinet suggest he was extremely popular – and not a likely target for murder.
Brass speaks to Pal Arnold, the president of the football team’s ‘booster club’ – an organisation set up to promote the team. As he hands out memorial armbands to bereaved fans, Pal explains that the coach was well liked and his house was always full of students. Back at the lab, Doc Robbins confirms the victim was hit by a blunt object. “The coach was struck at least a dozen times,” he says. Robbins explains that Miller’s zombie-like behaviour resulted from the fact that the ‘routine’ area of his brain was still functioning.
Catherine studies a picture of Miller’s house and realises that his ‘Coach of the Year’ trophy is missing. When Nick examines some fragments found by the body, he realises that the trophy was the murder weapon. Hodges matches some bloody footprints found at the scene to a pair of shoes owned by one of the team’s players – Calvin Crook. He also finds a chain of emails between Calvin and Miller. It transpires that when Calvin was offered a $5million football contract to leave the team, Miller sent him an article about murder victim Andrew Jimenez. “Something made him walk away from five million,” Ray muses.
Nick and Ray interview Calvin, but he claims he threw his shoes away months ago and was in bed on the night of Miller’s murder. He also insists he had nothing to do with the Jimenez case. “Coach would send me stories to keep my head straight,” he says, claiming that Miller merely wanted to remind him that life is short.
Elsewhere, Sara and Greg investigate the murder of a woman named Paige Hammer, whose corpse was found in a silver BMW submerged in a lake. A gun with one expended round is recovered from the car. When Greg ties the gun to the shooting of Andrew Jimenez, the CSIs hunt for a connection between the two cases. “Coach Miller drove a Beamer as well,” Nick remarks. When they learn that Pal Arnold’s car dealership sponsored the football team, the CSIs discover that the silver BMW belonged to Pal Arnold himself...
Brass and Nick visit Pal and force him to admit Paige Hammer was a call girl who attended a party he held for the team. While examining the scene, Sarah and Greg find Jimenez’s shoes beside the lake where Paige’s body was found. Could somebody in the car have shot Jimenez?
A hair found on Paige’s body is then matched to Calvin, but he claims he left the party when Coach Miller caught him with Paige. “If I’d been in that sinking car, I’d have done everything I could to save that girl’s life,” he insists. Who was in the car with Paige? And could Coach Miller have witnessed something that led to his own brutal murder?
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Meet the forensic heroes of the Las Vegas crime scenes as they untangle the evidence behind police lines, bagging and swabbing every morsel of evidence to nail the bad guys.
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