CSI: Miami

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Complications

Teleplay by Sunil Nayar & Corey Miller
Directed by Scott Lautanen

A teenager thinks he has found the perfect solution to being grounded as he checks out the people in a condo next door through his telescope. However, the fun stops when he catches sight of a body hanging at the end of a rope.

Horatio and Yelina find Carlos Garza hanging from his loft as if on display. Calleigh arrives with the information that he is an anesthesiologist at a nearby cosmetic surgery clinic. While examining how tight the knot was used to tie the rope, Delko surmises that it was likely the good doctor didn’t do it himself since suicide victims usually leave it much looser – and let gravity do the work. Speedle adds to that assumption as he discovers evidence that point to the door being kicked in – a splintered door lock, and scuff marks on the door. The truth is clear: they’ve got a murder – and a cover up.

While performing the autopsy, Alexx finds marks on the victim’s neck that show he was strangled first, then hung to make it appear like a suicide. Her investigation also turns up some silicone gel on his thigh. Since it’s used to prevent scarring after liposuction, they simply have to refer to his client roster to find their first suspect – Roxanne Price.

A cosmetic surgery junkie, Roxanne had given the doctor a “house call” the night before he died. She says he had it tough the last few days because a patient had just died on him. Later, Delko and Calleigh make the deduction that since the knots used were nautical by nature and since the dead patient had a husband who happens to work at a Marina - all signs point to a likely suspect.

Delko and Calleigh find Brad Foster less than sympathetic about Dr. Garza’s fate as he blames Garza and his clinic co-workers for Mrs. Foster’s death. Unfortunately for Foster, the combination of his occupation and the fact that he’s got some suspicious scuffs on his shoes stack the deck – not in his favor. However, as Horatio interrogates him, Foster seems much more concerned with finding the truth behind his wife’s death than the question of his own innocence. So, when Horatio suggests they have one of their medical examiners take a look at her case, Foster agrees to volunteer his DNA to eliminate himself from suspicion.

After an initial investigation, Alexx tells Horatio that she suspects the previous medical examiner may have missed something on the Sara Foster case. Foster clearly died of shock during surgery, but the cause of her complications and how they were handled leave more than a few unanswered questions. Unfortunately Alexx is unable to answer these questions without exhuming the body for another autopsy. This means they need to find some corroborating evidence to support a court order - and they need to talk to the cosmetic surgeon who was operating on Sara Foster when she died.

Horatio and Calleigh interview Dr. Keith Winters, the surgeon in question. Winters thinks they are there to talk to him about Garza, but Horatio and Calleigh are more intent on investigating the cause of Sara Foster’s death. After some mild protestations on Garza’s behalf, Winters summons the clinic’s nurse, Debbie Morbach to retrieve the surgical log and data.

That data reveals that after Foster went into shock, a full five minutes passed before anything was done to correct the problem. Corroborating evidence successfully achieved, Sara Foster’s body can be exhumed. And with it, the truth behind not just one – but two deaths - may be unearthed..