Major Crimes

Don't you love a surprise summer rain?

Lets you see the city clearly

for the first time in months.

Ahh, and that smell.

Oh.

That smell that reminds you of growing up.

Petrichor.

Excuse me?

The oil coating the plants

released into the air through precipitation.

It's the aroma. It's called petrichor.

What's wrong with "fresh"?

Mike, we've... we've got to stop naming things.

Give the earth back some of its mystery.

Nice of you to show up, Julio.

Sir. What's up? No body?

There is, but this one goes away in buckets.

The victim was burned and chopped up?

Well, probably not in that order.

So far, we only have enough for one body.

You ever see this? Mnh-mnh.

I've seen them chopped, I've seen them burned, but both?

Pieces big enough to help identify...

Excuse me, Julio.

At the risk of respecting tradition, procedure, and command,

why are we briefing you?

You're late.

I'm sorry, sir.

Children's Services stopped by my house unannounced.

Home study.

Well, what happened?

Oh, they met my mother.

Hey, Tao. - Yeah?

Was there an accelerant used?

Lighter fluid, maybe.

But it looks like people might've grilled here.

We've already covered that a half-hour ago,

before you were late.

Kendall, you get anything from this mess?

I mean, we'll know better once we sift through it under a microscope,

but I'd say the victim was cut up.

Ragged edges on these bones. Chain or buzz saw.

Uh, hey, speaking of buzz saws, Julio,

DCFS interviewed your mom, and that was okay.

Well, she decided to speak English, which was good,

and she didn't say that I once tried to kill her nurse.

Who found the body?

That'd be the Nunez family... Isaac, the youngest.

It's his birthday.

His parents almost cancelled his party

after the rain, but it let up, and here they are.

It's a story as old as time.

Family goes on a picnic, rain uncovers bones in a grill,

kids see them, mom screams, enter the police.

Julio.

Are you getting a kid from foster care or what?

Well, before DCFS can consider that,

they want to get background on me from my co-workers,

so you guys might have to lie a little.

I can lie a lot. A little, I don't know.

Uh, I think that's the skull.

I think you're right.

Police officers see things of a gruesome nature every day.

It's part of the job... Ordinary.

Chopped and burned bodies don't seem everyday to me.

Cynthia, I'm a bit confused.

I thought this was supposed to be a general discussion

of Julio's fitness as a potential foster parent.

It was until I learned about his behavior

at the end of last week's homicide investigation.

That's created some new questions,

and now I need answers.

Look. I've known Julio a long time.

And in spite of what happened last week,

I can assure you, he's put his anger issues behind him.

What anger issues?

Does the L.A.P.D. think this action is part of a pattern?

Is that why Detective Sanchez is under review?

I'll tell you what I think.

I think Detective Sanchez is one of the best

police officers I've ever known,

and the review of his actions last week

will end up supporting my judgment.

Then why not answer my question?

Which was, is the manner in which Detective Sanchez

ended last week's investigation

part of his reaction to the gruesome nature of the murder?

- Found a thumb! - You got it close, Buzz?

Oh, my gosh. Yes.

Can we get a fingerprint off that?

If our victim's even in the system.

Well, cut up and burnt...

Smart money says he's in the system.

Ah, don't you just love it when we have to figure out

who the victim is before we can even

begin to figure out who the killer is?

I hesitate to ask this, Kendall... Time of death?

I could give you the temperature, but time?

Given the sediment on the bones,

some time in the last eight weeks.

Eight weeks? Do you really think people were cooking

on this barbecue without realizing what was there?

Not what, whom. Over whom were people cooking?

I don't have a lot to go on, but given the size and arc

of the ribs, it's highly likely your victim is an adult.

Ruling out children.

So, if the victim is from Los Angeles County,

you've narrowed down our 11-million-person victim pool

to 8 million.

I'd also guess he was male.

You're down to 4 million.

That's progress, isn't it?

Okay.

Kendall thinks the guy was dismembered by a power saw.

He's half right.

Some cuts are consistent with a chainsaw.

Others were made by a handsaw.

So two killers chopped up the body together.

Or one killer changed methods halfway through.

However many cooks were at the grill, they acted quickly.

Very little decomp before the slicing and dicing began.

Cut up by multiple instruments, moved, then burned.

Someone was being very thorough.

That's an understatement.

When I see someone hacked up, it's usually five pieces.

Six, maybe.

So far, we've catalogued 58.

Seems personal.

Somebody really didn't want this guy identified, ma'am.

Well, maybe they'll succeed.

Any clues to cause of death?

Ah, that is the one thing we know,

because the skull is in one piece,

but there's a depression in the right temple bone

deep enough to have opened up

both external and internal carotid arteries.

People don't usually plan out skull fractures, ma'am.

It feels heat of the moment.

Personal, again.

The key to finding the killer

may be in the identity of our victim.

We'll spring for the extra cash for the DNA match.

Sorry. Beat you to it.

Oh, good. On the County, this time.

And the thumb... I'll do what I can.

How Lieutenant Tao thinks he could get a full print

from it, I don't know, but yuck.

Flynn: Does Julio still have anger issues?

Yeah, sure.

You don't just get therapy,

find the problem, and then fix it forever.

Look at me.

I don't drink anymore, right, but I'm still an alcoholic.

You don't change who you are,

but you can change where you're going,

and Julio's done that.

And you don't view his behavior during last week's investigation

as a big step backward?

No, the reason Julio behaved like he did,

at the end, was because of everything we learned

about the killer as we went along.

Julio's actions had context,

and it all started with that disgusting thumb.

Because it upset him?

What? No.

Morales was able to rehydrate enough of that thumb

to get partials off it.

They're usually a dead-end,

but now we have new software for that.

Tao: Referring to this as new software sells it short.

It's not just software, it's the very latest

in fingerprint analysis that allows us to enhance

shallow ridges and grooves that might've been worn down,

or, in this case, damaged by heat.

Imagine blowing up an image of a crack in the sidewalk

until it looks like the grand canyon.

This is one of two visible partials on the thumb.

And that's the other one.

But there are gaps between the two partials

which contain a number of key identifiers.

Until...

Now, this software, if it works as it should...

Ah, yeah. See?

It's filling in the gaps between the partials

and extrapolating as much of the full print as it can.

So, I-if this works, we get what, an assumption?

Maybe more, actually.

I guess we're about to see.

Match found.

Oh, my gosh. Holy crap.

Oh, my gosh.

It actually worked.

There's a match in our system.

Sharon: Adrian Silva.

Captain. Hm?

Would this be enough to build a case around a suspect?

No, but we can use it to help identify our victim.

Adrian there got his prints in the system after an arrest

for a 331 four years ago, ma'am.

331, hosting an illegal card game.