CSI: NY

Ladies and gentlemen,

here we go with round three

of tonight's Cage Fighting Coalition heavyweight bout

between Derek Petrov

and Ryan Richards!

Go.

What are you doing? What?

Come on, why don't you back it up.

No way. Come on.

Don't stop it. Come on.

Come on. Are you kidding me?!

And the winner... Come on.

Don't blow me off.

You cheated! No way!

You can't do this.

Ryan Richards! That's right-- I'm getting you back.

Just wait. Just wait.

Hey, Richards.

Petrov.

Tough break tonight.

Could've gone either way.

Either way? The only reason I lost is because you cheated.

Sorry you see it that way.

That's the only way a punk like you could've beat me.

Look, man, you're a good fighter, all right?

Next time, you'll probably beat me.

Right now,

I just want to go home and see my wife. Cool?

You have yourself a good night.

Hope you skipped breakfast.

That bad?

Worse.

Our vic is Ryan Richards,

25 years old.

How do we know?

That's his melted driver's license right there.

This ring of scorched gravel

suggests the body was burned here.

Any witnesses?

No. Fog was pretty heavy last night.

It could have obscured the smoke,

making it hard to see.

Fire burns up, which would typically keep the underside

of the body relatively unscathed.

Nothing unscathed about this guy.

Which indicates the vic was likely drenched in an accelerant

and allowed to burn

uninterrupted for quite some time.

Someone wanted the fire to do the maximum damage possible.

Somebody wanted to destroy the evidence.

- Sid. - Yeah?

Smell that.

Gasoline.

So now we know what kind of accelerant

was used to start the fire.

What kept it burning for so long?

I'd offer the wick effect.

Right.

Where clothing acts like the wick of a candle

turned inside-out.

Feeding the flames a continuous supply of fuel

in the form of melting human fat.

It's particularly effective.

And particularly disgusting.

Indeed.

Got it.

Turns out, Richards was a rising star

on the cage fighting circuit.

I've seen a few matches.

That's a brutal sport.

It's an excuse for two grown men

to legally beat the bloody pulp out of each other.

- So you're not a fan? - I didn't say that.

Now, I'm hearing that Richards

absolutely annihilated his toughest competition

at an event last night--

some muscle head named Petrov--

put himself in prime position to win the title next month.

This guy was on the verge of some serious fame.

Success could've put a target on his back.

Kid definitely knew how to defend himself.

Whoever did this risked

a serious ass-whupping if things went south.

With the state of the remains, it could take some time

before Sid determines a COD, if he can at all.

Until then, we won't know if Richards died here

or was only dumped and burned here after the fact.

I'll start whacking the bushes,

see if anyone was itching for a death match

with our fighter outside of the cage.

What's up?

Okay. See ya.

Can I, uh, help you?

As a matter of fact, you can.

But first, let me do something for you.

Large French roast, black, paired with a blueberry scone.

That is how you like your coffee, right?

I gave up coffee a year ago,

and I'm severely allergic to blueberries.

Of course you are.

Seems your buddy Flack is quite the practical joker.

Let me try this again.

My name's Jennifer Walsh.

I'm a freelancer with the Journal.

I'm writing next month's cover story.

Uh, interview requests are made

through the Public lnformation Office.

Truth is, I'm not a big fan of the rules.

They seem to get in the way

of what I want.

Did Flack tell you to tell me that, too?

'Cause I am a big fan of the rules.

All I'm asking is for five minutes of your time.

You owe me that at least,

considering I did try to poison you with blueberries.

Fair enough.

What's your article about?

The NYPD's inability to police themselves.

Specifically in matters of officer misconduct.

Ms. Walsh...

I have no official comment about that.

I'm not looking for official, Detective.

It's your personal perspective I'm after.

I can't help you there, either.

Can't or won't?

Because some people say

that your rigid adherence to department policy

is more pliable than you let on.

That you've been known to look the other way

and be creative with those policies

on more than one occasion.

They're entitled to their opinion.

And so are you.

I came to hear your side of the story.

There is no story.

I do my job to the best of my ability and I expect

the same from all the officers under my command.

Now, if you'll excuse me, your five minutes is up.

Making any headway?

Appropriately enough, yes.

Look at this, Mac.

Fractures across the surface of the cranium.

As you know, extended exposure to intense heat

will cause bone to shrink and distort.

The brittle surface will eventually checker,

breaking into tiny fragments.

What about this fissure?

Something completely different.

The advanced soot buildup

on the edges suggests they were exposed to flames

for a longer duration.

It occurred before the fire.

Exactly.

Richards had just been in a violent cage match.

He could have been injured then.

A trauma this severe

would have sent him straight to the hospital.

Somebody may have blindsided him after the fight,

struck him in the back of the head.

But that may not be what killed him.

I ran the metal nugget Sid found through the GC/MS.

Came back as an alloy of lead and antimony.

Consistent with a bullet.

Fused to the base of his skull.

Looks like our COD

- is a GSW. - Ryan Richards was

struck in the head, shot in the back, then lit on fire.

That's what I call overkill.

Why now? It doesn't make any sense.

I understand that Ryan participated

in an event last night.

Was there anything unusual?

I wasn't there.

I don't watch Ryan fight anymore.

Seeing him get hit is worse than someone hitting me.

Hard to watch someone you love in pain.

He called me after the match, told me he'd won.

He was supposed to pick up some dinner for us and come home.

But he never did.

Was your husband having problems with anyone?

Any arguments, disputes?

Every now and then, a fan would stop him on the street,

challenge him to a fight.

How would Ryan handle that?

He'd give them an autograph instead.

Even the most celebrated athletes have their detractors.

Was there anyone particularly aggressive in their criticism

that might have wanted to hurt him?

Oh, my God.

It was him.

Who, Lisa?

The man stalking my husband back in Colorado.

Ryan said it was just a cost

of being in the public eye, but this guy made it personal.

He terrorized us for over two years.

Did the police ever identify him?

They tried, but he was careful.

They said that there was nothing more they could do for us.

Is that why you moved to New York?