CSI MIAMI: WITNESS TO MURDER (TV)

Summary

One in this series of police dramas which follows the macabre exploits of a team of forensic criminalists in Miami.

A man gets into a car accident in a parking garage and argues with the other driver, readying a handgun to deal with his assailant. After an argument and a physical confrontation, the man is shot to death; unbeknownst to any party, the entire event is witnessed by another man. CSI investigates the crime scene and Caine asks the witness questions about the murder. It soon becomes apparent that the man, Eugene Thomas Walter, is mentally retarded, but he provides what information he can, identifying the shooter only as “Colton.” Caine is reluctant to put Eugene up before a jury due to his mental disability, but must rely on him as he is their only witness. The victim’s name is Richard Beckham, and CSI gathers pieces of evidence from the crime scene, including Beckham’s fully loaded gun and fragments of glass from the tail light of the shooter’s car. The bullet which killed Beckham is nowhere to be found, having passed through Beckham’s body entirely. Meanwhile, Delko and Speedle respond to a report and find the body of Jenny Kincaid, a teenage girl, near the side of the highway. Due to inclement weather, they arrange for her body to be transported to the crime lab almost immediately for a more detailed examination.

Duquesne runs further tests on the evidence recovered from the parking garage; the shooter’s bullet is still nowhere to be found. Eugene arrives at the police department of his own accord, explaining that he wants to help. Caine takes him to look through mug shots to try to identify Colton. Caine finds out more about Eugene: his condition was caused by a fever he suffered as a small child, and he washes car windows to get extra money. He provides Caine with vital clues when he describes the contents of the shooter’s car, and Caine comes to suspect that the man is a fitness trainer. Salas discovers that Beckham was a diamond broker and Caine instructs her to find out his recent delivery schedule. Delko visits Dr. Woods for her report on Jenny Kincaid, but the body has yet to arrive. They discover that the body was handed off to a third-party hauling company and they have no idea where it is now.

Duquesne determines the model of the shooter’s car based on the fragments of the broken tail light they recovered. The gun yields no useful information, as there are no fingerprints on it. Caine interrogates Doug Ramsey, the man whose car the tail light matches. Caine believes Doug rammed Beckham’s car in order to secure a shipment of valuable diamonds Beckham was delivering to a woman for whom Doug serves as personal trainer. Doug claims that he did get into an accident with Beckham, but was scared away when Beckham pointed his gun at him. Caine brings in Eugene, who says that Doug is not Colton. Eugene apologizes for not being more useful, and he is driven back to the halfway house where he lives. Duquesne tests the filament of Doug’s car’s tail lights and concludes that they were lighted when the accident occurred, and she and Caine conclude that Doug backed up into Beckham’s car. Caine begins to suspect that Doug was not the murderer, but an accomplice to the real murderer.

Continuing their investigation, Caine notices an empty parking space near the crime scene and he and Duquesne find the car to which the space is assigned. They find the bullet that killed Beckham lodged in the front of the car, and trace the bullet’s probable trajectory. Duquesne identifies the make of the gun based on unique markings on the bullet casing. Meanwhile, Delko tracks down the hauler who transported Jenny’s body and finds out he sold the body to someone else. To find out who, he runs one of the bills given to the driver through a device to find fingerprints, and finds prints matching that of Thomas Kincaid, Jenny’s father. He interrogates Thomas in his home and he admits that he has Jenny’s body, and takes them to his wine cellar where it is hidden. He claims that the two of them were having an argument when she accidentally fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Thomas is arrested, much to the confusion of his wife and her sister. Dr. Woods inspects Jenny’s body and finds injuries consistent with Thomas’s story. Thomas is interrogated, and reveals that Jenny had discovered that he was having an affair with his wife’s sister, and fell during their argument over this matter. Delko receives subcutaneous photos of Jenny’s body which reveal that she was likely pushed down the stairs, and Thomas asks to see his lawyer.

Caine and Duquesne get a lead on the stolen gun the shooter used on Beckham when Caine receives some bad news: Eugene has just been brought to a hospital after being badly beaten. He has a blood condition which inhibits treatment, and has little time left to live. Caine visits him to try to comfort him, promising that he will find the man responsible for this and bring him to justice. Caine returns to the station and confronts Doug, who is just being released. He seizes Doug’s cell phone and discovers a number in the call records which he believes belongs to Colton, and calls it to let Colton know that he is coming after him personally. Acting on a hunch, Dr. Woods finds a tissue sample between Jenny’s teeth, indicating that she bit her killer as they were struggling. A DNA test reveals that the tissue belongs to her aunt, and they discover that she has a bite mark on her arm. She confesses that she pushed Jenny down the stairs and told Thomas that it was an accident. She wanted Jenny dead since she had discovered their affair. In light of this confession, she is arrested.

Colton’s gun turns out to have been stolen from a Chris Hildago, a worker at a pharmaceutical company. She voices her suspicions that her gun was stolen by a co-worker from a work-release program, whom she identifies only as “Wayne.” Caine interrogates Wayne, who denies having stolen her gun. However, at the mention of the name “Colton,” he points out another prisoner from the work-release program, Pete Tolson, who is known for wearing sneakers bearing the brand name “Colton.” Caine sets his sights on Tolson and finds diamonds hidden in his locker. Tolson claims he purchased them from a fence, but Caine accuses him of being the shooter in the attack on Beckham. He takes Tolson’s clothes back to the lab to be analyzed so that he can verify his accusation. He receives a call from the hospital informing him that Eugene is dead. Tolson attempts to commute his sentence by revealing Doug’s role in the shooting, but Caine reveals that he found traces of Eugene’s blood all over Tolson’s clothes, and Tolson admits that he did beat Eugene. Eugene’s death ensures that Tolson will be imprisoned for life. Caine arranges for Eugene to have a private funeral, and pays his respects to the man. Commercials deleted.

(This is the first of two programs on this asset. For synopsis and credits of the second, "Slow Burn," see ACCNUM 111318).

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: January 12, 2004 10:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:28:46
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:88554
• GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 2002-2012
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Jonathan Littman … Executive Producer
• Jerry Bruckheimer … Executive Producer
• Ann Donahue … Executive Producer, Created by
• Anthony E. Zuiker … Executive Producer, Created by
• Carol Mendelsohn … Executive Producer, Created by
• Danny Cannon … Co-Executive Producer
• Shane Brennan … Supervising Producer
• Bruce Golin … Producer
• Steven Maeda … Producer
• Joe Chappelle … Producer
• Elizabeth Devine … Producer
• Scott Shiffman … Producer
• Gina Lamar … Co-Producer
• Sunil Nayar … Co-Producer
• Scott Lautanen … Associate Producer
• Jonathan Glassner … Consulting Producer
• Don Tardino … Line Producer
• Duane Clark … Director
• Ildy Modrovich … Writer
• Laurence Walsh … Writer
• Michael Ostrowski … Writer
• Kevin Kiner … Music by
• Jeff Cardoni … Music by
• Who, The … Theme Music by
• David Caruso … Cast, Lieutenant Horatio Caine
• Emily Procter … Cast, Calleigh Duquesne
• Adam Rodriguez … Cast, Eric Delko
• Khandi Alexander … Cast, Dr. Alexx Woods
• Rory Cochrane … Cast, Tim Speedle
• Sofia Milos … Cast, Detective Yelina Salas
• Louis Mustillo … Cast, Eugene Thomas Walter
• Brad Beyer … Cast, Doug Sawyer
• Rick Worthy … Cast, Thomas Kincaid
• Jon Sklaroff … Cast, Pete Tolson
• Alexia Robinson … Cast, Mrs. Kincaid's Sister
• Lynn Griffith … Cast, Mrs. Kincaid
• Delilah Cotto … Cast, Chris Hildago
• Lesley Fera … Cast, Dr. Joyce Carmel
• Matt King … Cast, Richard Beckham
• Stephen Quadros … Cast, Wayne Delroy
• Dave Flynn … Cast, Bobby Hewitt
• Natascha Hopkins … Cast, Jenny Kincaid