CSI: Miami

Season 2 - Episode 12 - Witness to Murder

Story by Michael Ostrowski
Teleplay by Ildy Modrovich & Laurence Walsh
Directed by Duane Clark

Businessman Richard Beckham nervously makes his way to his car in a high-rise parking garage, looking over his shoulder at every step. It’s not himself he’s worried about – it’s his precious cargo: diamonds.

Beckham successfully makes it to his Mercedes, but his exit out of the garage is stopped short when he rear-ends another car. As Beckham gets out to confront the other driver, he slips his gun into his coat pocket for protection. Tensions mount between he and the other driver; a struggle ensues, and then a gunshot – all of which is witnessed by Eugene Walters.

As Horatio stands over Beckham’s body, he is introduced to his eyewitness – quickly assessing that Eugene is developmentally disabled. Even though he saw everything, and claims to know the identity of the killer, “Colton,” it is immediately clear that his mental state is that of a seven or eight year old. While investigating the crime scene, Calleigh discovers Beckham’s gun, but before Alexx can assist her search for the bullet - which passed through the victim’s body – the coroner gets called away to another crime scene.

At a highway rest stop, Alexx and Speedle arrive to find Delko, who introduces them to their latest dead “guest” – a teenage girl with a broken neck. Alexx takes one look at the body of Jenny Kincaid and quickly determines that the murder was committed elsewhere before the corpse was dumped at the rest stop. With thunderclouds threatening, Kincaid’s body is loaded into a hauler, while Speedle and Delko find themselves under the gun to collect as much evidence as they can before the rain washes it all away.

Meanwhile, frustration reigns as Calleigh and Horatio continue their investigation into Beckham’s death. Calleigh can’t find the bullet that killed Beckham, and Horatio has to use kid gloves with Eugene to get any useful information. However, the clues finally begin to reveal themselves as Horatio is able to determine that his suspect is likely a personal trainer and that Beckham was a high priced diamond broker.

Back at the CSI labs, Alexx, Speedle and Delko face bad news and really bad news: The bad news is Jenny Kincaid’s corpse never made it to the medical examiner’s office. The really bad news is that they don’t know the identity of the body hauler.

After piecing together the broken taillight of her suspect’s car, Calleigh is able to determine that it belonged to a Chrysler Concorde. And that Concorde happens to belong to a fitness trainer named Doug Sawyer. Horatio and Yelina interrogate Sawyer, who – since he had an appointment that morning with a client who was due to receive diamonds from Beckham that day – looks like he’s the man. That is until Eugene doesn’t pick him from a lineup as “Colton.”

Back on the Kincaid case, the body hauler is tracked down, only to find he has sold the body to someone else. However, by scanning the prints on the money he received, Alexx, Delko and Speedle discover the identity of the buyer is none other than the victim’s father.

Evidence leads Calleigh and Horatio to suspect that Sawyer staged the accident with Beckham, which means he literally had a partner in crime – the “Colton” that Eugene keeps mentioning. Now, if they can just find their “magic” bullet, they may just find “Colton.”

Delko and Speedle pay a visit to Jenny Kincaid’s father, Thomas, and even more shocking, they find Jenny – stashed behind a wine rack in the cellar. As Jenny’s mother and sister watch, Thomas Kincaid is led off in handcuffs – a suspect in the death of his own daughter.

During questioning, Thomas Kincaid reveals that he had an affair with his wife’s sister, Jenny’s Aunt, and then immediately asks for his lawyer. Temporarily shut down by their prime suspect, Delko and Speedle have to turn to Jenny’s corpse to bear witness to the identity of her killer.

Calleigh and Horatio recover the bullet and use it to track down the real murder weapon in the Beckham case. However, before they can proceed, Yelina informs them that Eugene has been attacked. Horatio visits Eugene at the hospital – more concerned with Eugene’s well being than the results of the case. When he is informed that Eugene will most like not survive his injuries, Horatio becomes even more determined to bring the killer to justice.