Sex, Lies and Larvae

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“Sex, Lies and Larvae”
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 10
Guest stars	Mark Moses (Scott Shelton)
Written by	Josh Berman, and Ann Donahue
Directed by	Thomas J. Wright
Original airdate	December 22, 2000
Episode chronology
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"Unfriendly Skies"	"I-15 Murders"

Sex, Lies and Larvae is the tenth episode from the first series of the popular American crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

[edit] The Plot in Detail

When a couple finds a dead woman while on a mountain camping trip, Sara and Grissom are sent to investigate it. When they arrive, the woman is covered in insects, which Grissom collects and names after The Beatles. He asks Sara for some of the beef jerky that she eats, and replies to her that he wants to keep the beetles alive, as they are the first witnesses to the crime.

After the theme song, Grissom goes to give the team their assignments. Catherine and Warrick go off to work on a "Paul Sorenson", although Warrick has a court date later. Nick is given a young woman's car to canvas. When they leave, Sara and Grissom continue with their case.

As they arrive at the crime scene, Catherine asks Warrick if everything is all right. Warrick reveals that child services called about Lindsey. They are interrupted by the owner of the house, who reveals to them that Paul Sorenson was a painter from the 1900s, and it was a painting that was stolen. Disappointed that their missing person turned out to be a missing painting, they start processing the scene. As they work, Catherine quizzes Warrick about the questions from child services.

Back at base, Sara and Grissom are talking to Doc about their victim. The coroner reveals that it was an intimate killing, from the proximity of the gun, which was a .38 caliber. Also, Doc tells Sara that the woman had multiple face fractures, probably from a long-term abusive relationship. However, when they turn around, Grissom is busy investigating bug larvae. The bug is a muscid fly, which only breeds in urban areas, suggesting that the primary crime scene was probably an urban area. This also allows them to construct a time-line, and therefore a time of death. At the time, Catherine and Warrick are also finding a big break: a full earprint on the wall of the house where the painting used to be positioned. The print suggests that the burgular pressed the side of his/her head against the wall as s/he was removing the painting.

Back at base again, Sara, Grissom, and Brass work on getting answers out of their victim's husband, who reveals that the woman's name is Kaye. He tells them that they are able to come to this house whenever, and he doesn't have anything to hide.

Nick, now the focus, arrives at his crime scene. He has a short conversation with one of the detectives, who is revealed to have had a date with Nick. After looking in the trunk, they find a red hair. Nick says that the car is now a crime scene and should be towed.

Catherine and Warrick are comparing the ear-prints of the family, and find that it's one of the sons who stole the painting. The son, Jason, tells them that the painting is in the trunk of his car. Meanwhile, Sara and Grissom are processing the husband's house. Brass finds bullets and a gun, and at the same time, Grissom finds a thread from a green blanket on the couch. Brass also notes that there are bullets missing from their case, and that the gun had recently been cleaned. Sara walks off down a hallway to investigate some splinters and nails in the back. While out there, they smell bleach and start spraying the area with luminol, which reveals haemoglobin in blood that has been cleaned off. The walls are covered with blood, and Sara overreacts, threatening the suspect and compromising the investigation. Grissom tries to calm her down but Sara replies "I am a woman, and I have a gun. And look how he treated me. I can only imagine how he treated his wife."

Back at CSI, Nick, Catherine, and Warrick start talking about their cases. Nick teases them that their missing person turned out to be a painting and Warrick retorts that "at least we solved our case", hinting that Nick still hasn't discovered where his red hair came form. Catherine says that it doesn't "feel finished", but Warrick has to run off when his pager beeps. He reassures Catherine about Child Services and leaves. Sara and Grissom are arguing with Brass about timing, then go off to their own corners to study. Grissom works with the insects, and Sara starts studying the threads from the blanket on the couch and the bullets. Grissom finds that the woman has been dead for at least three days, during a period of time where the husband was out of town. During the interrogations, the husband actually admits to the abuse, but Sara doesn't accept it, claiming that he's trying to get out of a murder conviction by admitting abuse.

Grissom has a short conversation with Conrad Ecklie, who reveals that Warrick was supposedly off gambling when he was supposed to be in court. In the break room, Sara is napping while a kettle whistles nearby. She says that she worked until 4:00 A.M. Grissom tells Sara to look at Warrick's activities. Warrick and Catherine find, at the same time, that the painting is supposedly a forgery. After this is confirmed, they decide that the son must have already switched paintings.

In the garage, Nick and the detective are working together to figure out why their car is so clean. A test comes up positive for blood, changing the missing persons to a homicide. Sara goes to Grissom to talk about how she feels, and says that she hears Kaye's screams when she sleeps. Grissom says that she just feels empathy for the woman, and a light-bulb goes off as Sara walks out. Grissom spends a bit of time studying the blanket, then takes it out to experiment on a pig, whose skin is the most similar to human skin and is therefore the best to experiment with. He explains to Brass that the tight wrapping of the blanket means that the victim could have been dead five days instead of three. He sits to watch the flies as they come in, and Sara later joins him, bringing a blanket and a hot thermos.

Nick's partner comes in to say that his missing person's credit card had been used, and was in a hotel right around the corner. However, it was in fact not an abduction, and the woman is busy with a lover. The blood was from an injured dog. Nick feels embarrassed and leaves. Grissom, in the meantime, is proving his bug evidence, thought no one else truly understands it. He is told that a jury will not understand it either and that he needs to find more evidence.

Catherine and Warrick are revealing the forgeries to the artwork owner, saying that they found the originals in Jason's dorm room. It turns out to be a crime of jealousy, and the father presses charges against his son.

Sara and Grissom argue about forensic science. Grissom confuses Sara again, and then surprises her by continuing the investigation of the abused woman. Sara previously thought that Grissom was giving up but is pleased that he is not. They find a blue mark around the gunshot wound, which concludes that the blue is from Teflon, scattered from impact. A shot from the husband's gun proves to be the same, and Sara argues that it's enough to put him behind bars, even using one of Grissom's own sayings. She is proven right, and helps Doc Robbins put the body away. At the end of the episode, Sara reveals that Warrick was at a casino, supposedly gambling, when he was supposed to be in court, and the episode closes on Grissom considering what action to take.