Synopsis  

The CSIs investigate a present-day crime with ties to a mob heist that occurred 25 years ago, out in Ellis Springs. Back in 1989, a trio of local kids got tangled in a heist, where the loot was never recovered and one of them (Scotty Gates) was presumably killed as he was never seen again. Of the survivors, Roger Mathers had moved to Texas, but when his solar-panel company started failing, high-tailed it back to Nevada, and ended up dead near the shack where the kids ran into the mob all that time ago. The last survivor, Tyson Briggs, says he talked to Roger, but didn’t know why he was there.

A rare type of fingerprint Sara finds at the scene is matched by Finn to ones found on Scotty Gates’ glasses. The print matches a retired deputy from Ellis Springs, Sam Bishop (special guest Treat Williams), who was fired shortly after the case was closed for insubordination. Bishop was way ahead of his time with regards to forensics, impressing Sara, and his fingerprint was on the photo at the crime scene because the original was his photo!

The CSIs follow the old photos to where the missing loot was buried, but find Scotty Gates’ body. The shovel where the body was found had lotion on it that matched the kind used by Sam’s daughter, Karen, who had gone to the burial site with Roger and given him the photos. With the body, the CSIs are able to determine the height of the killer, based on the angle of the skull indentation, and Tyson Briggs suddenly is a suspect.

Once arrested, Tyson confesses he had wanted to keep the loot, but Scotty wanted to tell the cops, so he hit Scotty in the head with the closest thing at hand: a million dollar jade lion. However Tyson didn’t kill Scotty. Before he died, Karen, Sam’s daughter, arrived, having tailed the boys, and warned them a car was coming. When the kids hid behind a rusted out car, she covered his mouth with her hand to muffle him, and he died. The three kids, Karen, Tyson and Roger buried Scotty, and they hid the loot at Rogers house. Before they could spend the money, the house burnt down and all the money with it.

Karen also killed Roger, taking the stone lion, and hid it and the gun she used out behind her house. Her father, Sam, once he heard about her involvement, went to her hiding place, found the evidence, and turned it in.

Meanwhile, Jim Brass has a decision to make when his daughter attempts suicide.

Review  

While Ellie is in the hospital, Sara visits Brass and comforts him, telling him someone else’s madness is not his fault, nor his responsibility.

Notes  

• Sara is comforting to Brass, connecting over the shared insanity of their families.
• Sara has a geek crush on Sam Bishop’s science.