CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Not so smart .

Get up doll.

Shut up! Agnes...

Agnes!

What do we got?

Guy driving by called it in.

Checked it out, found a body at the bottom-- DOA.

Middle of nowhere.

Any idea how he got here?

No vehicle in the vicinity. I've just been

keeping the buzzards off him till you guys got here.

Don't you think you should tape off the crime scene?

I'm on it.

Thank you, Officer.

We'll take it from here.

Hey, guys, I'm sorry I'm late.

That's all right.

Why can't people die

closer to the road?

He's still smoking, so he hasn't been here long.

The ground is soft, loose gravel.

No footprints out here but our own.

Body dump?

Possibly.

Looks like he might have rolled down the hill

from up on the road.

Greg, a little help? Yeah.

One, two, three.

Tongue's blackened, swollen... teeth clenched.

Nearly bit his own tongue off.

Looks like somebody

took a flame thrower to his head.

But his hands aren't burned.

His clothes aren't burned either.

Except for a bit of singeing on the collar.

Any guess on time of death?

Give me a second.

Whoa! Oh! He's alive!

Roll medical! Stat!

You guys stay here and process the scene.

I'll ride back with the victim.

Push one mil adrenaline. Let's go.

Well, my work is done here.

Call me if his condition worsens.

I'll get it to him now. All right.

So he didn't find any I.D. on the victim.

What do you got down there?

Uh, burned brush and crushed vegetation

and bloodstains running down the hill from the road

to where he came to a stop.

The guy's on fire, he rolls,

the dust and vegetation put him out.

Good thing he didn't start the whole hillside on fire.

Yeah.

These tire tracks go onto the shoulder,

and then back onto the road again without even stopping.

Think he was tossed from a moving vehicle?

Maybe. But the vehicle was a dualie.

You can see here, four wheels on the back axle. You see that?

Mm-hmm. Could have been a hate crime,

a narco hit...

Could have been anything.

Hopefully, this poor guy survives.

He can tell us himself what happened out here.

Pardon me.

I want to sample that, please.

As you can see,

our victim has third-degree burns

covering approximately 90%

of his head and face.

In addition, there are ligature marks

at the wrists and the ankles.

- He was tied up? - Correct.

And now here, the abrasions across the chest

would indicate that he was restrained

with some kind of strap.

Don't see that every day. Nor this:

a distinct burn pattern at the right ankle.

It's within the ligature mark.

And not only that,

there's an even more intense

circular burn at the crown of his head.

Burn trauma radiating outward.

So, Doctor, what turned him into a Roman candle?

Well, I have a theory.

The distinctive burn pattern,

the five-point restraint-- all classic signs that this was

execution... by electric chair.

So, you're saying somebody juiced this poor

son of a bitch and just left him on the side of the road?

It's a theory.

Oh, man, that ain't right.

Okay, next up, we have the layout room.

Group, I'd like you to meet Dr. Raymond Langston,

Nick Stokes and Greg Sanders.

These are our CSI field agents.

They go out and collect all those little bits of evidence,

and then they bring them to me for answers.

Ooh! Looks like they're cooking up a searing mystery today.

Are these pictures of a murder victim?

Attempted.

I hear he's hanging by a thread.

You mean to say that is still alive?

Mmm.

You know, Greg here

is our lead man on the case.

So if you have any questions, you can direct them to him.

Are you Mr. Lodges' boss?

Hodges.

Uh, not exactly.

That's so horrible. Is he gonna live?

I'm sorry, but this is an ongoing case.

I can't really discuss any of the details.

Sorry.

I understand.

What brings you here? I teach

fourth-grade science and wanted to see

if this is appropriate for a field trip,

but I'm afraid it's a little too gory.

Oh, honey, this is nothing.

I could tell you stories

that would just curl your hair.

The tour can definitely be

cleaned up for more innocent eyes.

If it wouldn't be too much trouble, do you mind

taking these things down to the lab

and running them for trace, please?

Oh, don't worry.

I'll take over the tour for you.

You go right ahead and carry on, Mr. Lodges.

Alas, ladies and gentlemen, duty calls.

I bid you adieu.

And now, ladies and gentlemen,

if you'll follow me--

this way to reception.

Uh, I can introduce you to Judy,

who will then explain to you the intricacies of dispatch.

You really shouldn't

let her leave without getting her number.

She didn't come here to get hit on.

Dude, it's a pop fly hit right to you.

All you gotta do is put your glove up and catch it.

Ah...

: Ah... Trust me. Go. Go now.

Hi. Um, I'm not trying to be pushy or anything,

but I was just thinking

if you really want to know more about the lab,

maybe you could give me your number

and we could go out sometime and talk about it.

Normally, I wouldn't,

but who could be safer than a cop?

Plus you seem really nice.

Why not?

All right.

All right, thanks.

Okay. I'll call you.

Bye. Bye.

What did Jell-O Man ever do to you?

Eh, some men were just born to suffer.

Since there's been no call from the governor...

See, in an electrocution,

current enters the head through the skullcap

and is drawn through the body

by the grounding wire, which is attached to the ankle.

Amperage flows through the heart long enough

to ensure that it arrests.

So we have... 18.5 milliamps.

That's more than enough juice to stop a man's heart.

But not enough to light him up and cause

the burns that we saw on the vic's head.

So either my theory's wrong or we missed a variable.

Try missing a variable.

I analyzed the black flecks you pulled

from Almost Dead Guy's head.

The material came from a polyethylene sponge--

synthetic, like this one.

That explains it.

A saline-solution-soaked

sponge is used to conduct electricity.

But... the sponge has to be natural.

Otherwise...

it impedes the charge.

Using a synthetic sponge increases resistance...

...converting most of the electrical current to heat,

literally cooking the victim in low amperage.

There's not enough to stop his heart.

But definitely enough to set his head on fire.

You ever been to Burning Man?

I have now.

So our killer is using an electric chair.

Which is easy enough to construct.