csi: crime scene investigation
sweet jane (12/24) 21.00–22.00

The phenomenally successful Las Vegas-based forensics drama continues its seventh season. In this week’s episode, the team are joined by a new CSI, Michael Keppler, who assists them on a case involving four unidentified women murdered over a span of 30 years.

The ever-changing face of Las Vegas has thrown up another victim – a young woman found dead near the highway. Catherine is first on the scene, joined by a new face – CSI Michael Keppler (Liev Schreiber, ‘The Omen’, ‘Scream’), who is filling in for Grissom while he is away on sabbatical.

A quick examination of the victim reveals that she was swabbed with alcohol to remove any marks. “Unlike most men, this one knows how to clean up after himself,” observes Catherine. They run the girl’s details through a directory of missing people and find a match: she is Veronica Sorenson, a 17year-old runaway.

The autopsy reveals that Veronica was raped while high on ecstasy. Keppler hypothesises that the killer was not a first-timer and that his preferred type of victim is probably fixed. They search the database for unsolved homicides resembling Veronica’s case and come up with three matches: in 1975, 1989 and 1999.

The CSIs each take a file and report back. The 1999 victim was washed liked Veronica but there was almost no information in the file – “shoddy police work”, as Nick puts it. The 1989 victim, meanwhile, was not washed, unlike the other two, indicating that the killer’s method may have evolved: “Practice makes perfect,” Keppler says. Lastly, the victim from 1975 was different in that she was fully clothed. Keppler’s background in criminal profiling tells him that all four girls were murdered by the same man. When Catherine reminds him that he is a CSI now, not a profiler, Keppler asks, “what’s the difference?” “Evidence,” Catherine shoots back. She wants leads and IDs rather than theories.

Autopsy records from the 1999 victim reveal evidence of a sedative, but the only way to get further information from the older cases is to exhume the bodies. Once exhumed, Robbins examines the girl from 1975 and discovers an old–style silver tooth. Robbins realises that Veronica had a similar filling, and that the sedative in the 1999 corpse was once commonly used in dentistry. Could the killer be a dentist?

An online search by Keppler points to a clinic that could be connected with all four cases, so he and Catherine pay a visit. The receptionist confirms that a Dr Dave Lowry worked on Veronica Sampson, and directs them to the restaurant where Lowry is having lunch.

Silver-haired ‘Dr Dave’ (Ned Beatty, ‘Superman’, ‘Deliverance’) proves to be a genial figure –“He kind of reminds me of my Uncle Ralph,” Keppler deadpans. Lowry is unfazed by the gruesome photographs he is shown, and offers little for the detectives to go on. But back in the lab, Nick has found pictures from the 1989 case that show a bite mark on the victim’s shoulder. Catherine and Keppler return to Lowry’s clinic to acquire his dental impression.

A comparison of the teeth marks draws a blank, but something about the symmetry of Dr Lowry’s teeth sets Keppler thinking: “Would you go to a dentist with bad teeth?” he asks Catherine. Their only chance to convict Dr Lowry now lies in proving that the cheerful dentist has had dental work since the crime – and thereby finally solve the murders of these women, years after their brutal deaths.