CSI: Miami

Season 2 - Episode 13 - Blood Moon

Teleplay by Jonathan Glassner & Marc Dube
Directed by Scott Lautanen

Alone, Juan Marco Varon works the night shift in his tiny cigar shop in Little Havana. Suddenly he hears an intruder – he dials 911, but before he can say anything to the operator he is attacked.

Horatio finds Yelina and Delko already at the scene, taking in the grisly sight: Varon naked, strapped to a chair, badly beaten, throat slashed and genitals removed. Fortunately, Varon’s 911 call led to the quick discovery of his corpse. In this case, their victim has given the team a head start in solving his own murder. The brutal evidence continues to mount as Alexx discovers that Varon was also branded during his torture – while Delko is traumatized by the discovery of the missing genitalia. Alexx’s concern for Delko is cut short as she’s called to another crime scene.

Next to an ATM near the beach, Alexx finds Calleigh and Speedle in the first stages of their investigation. The victim, Matt Bolton, was assaulted before he even began his withdrawal. Fortunately, their killer was careless - he or she may have been I.D’d by the surveillance video. They take the tape back to the A.V. lab and are quickly able to identify their suspect’s car, part of the license plate – and with that information – the suspect herself.

Meanwhile, Horatio and Delko use G.P.S. locator technology to find the last person to call Varon before his death. That person is Marisela Coto, a woman working to help Cuban émigrés (or Balseros) who have survived the crossing to Miami. She claims not to have known Varon, and that one of the Balseros must have called him using her phone. While questioning her, two more swimmers make their way to the shore. Sympathetic to their struggle, Delko and Horatio help the exhausted expatriates to dry land – and safety.

Back at the police department, Speedle and Calleigh question Melanie Hines, the owner of the car they identified from the surveillance tape. After speaking to the cool, confident woman, they know they have their killer – now they just need the evidence to back it up.

They start with the bullet – which Alexx finds in the victim’s foot. Apparently, upon entering the body, the bullet made its way into the aorta, which promptly sent it traveling

through the blood stream on a “fantastic voyage.” The bullet reveals that the weapon was a lightweight, compact gun of the type generally carried by women.

A fingerprint on Marisela Coto’s cell phone leads Horatio and Delko to Carlos Gonzalez. He says he made the call from an exile “help list” after making his way onshore. The explanation is reasonable, but Horatio has a hunch: check out the background of the victim. What they discover is that Juan Marco Varon did indeed die – but he did it twenty years ago, while their victim assumed his identity. Delko is stunned to discover his real name: Miguel Bernardo, known as “The Butcher,” for his work torturing and executing prisoners of Castro’s government.

Now, with all the truths spread wide in front of them, the CSIs must reluctantly find out who butchered the Butcher.