Synopsis  

A woman, Mrs. Santiago, who suffers from a condition called ‘hording’ becomes a murder suspect when a dead body is found buried under piles of trash and debris inside her home. Initially the cops are called in due to complaints of too many cats (and the resultant smell), but when they can’t get in the front door, the case takes a turn for the worse and a liquefied body is found. Initially they think the body is Mrs. Santiago, but it’s her daughter, Diana.

Diana had been dead a week, from a single blow to the head caused by an object in the house. Inspecting the house the CSIs find a blood trail to a room where things had been tidied up considerably. Diana had come over to help her mother clean the house, when a stack of magazine hit her in the head, falling from a tall tower, and a second body, the skeleton of a 17 year old male, is found, his hands bound with red ribbon.

In the backyard, the skeleton remains of three more boys of a similar age are found in a pit, covered by a tarp. Their hands tied in front with red ribbon. All four died of acute arsenic poisoning. They were runaways who were sent to a halfway house run by Julian Santiago, the eldest child.

Alisia, the middle child, is found still in the house, walled up behind boxes of her own belongings, handcuffed to her own crib by her mother. The handcuffs were bought by Julian, but only Mrs. Santiago and Alisia’s prints are found in the room.

After mother and son lawyer up, they go back to the red ribbon and are able to create a timeline of the murders. After they find the ribbon and arsenic, they determine Alisia was seducing the boys from her brother’s halfway home and killing them. She blames her mother for her insanity.

Review  

Nick and Sara answer the call and are the first to enter the house. When Nick steps in body goo, Sara teases him. They also argue like siblings about interpretations of the evidence and the causes of Level 5 hoarding. Sara is very sympathetic where Nick is not, and Sara leaves the crime scene to process Mrs. Santiago. Sara tells Greg that she feels like Nick doesn’t get that this hoarding was caused by a trauma.

Nick and Sara argue more about who’s at fault: the son or the mother. Nick blames the mother, Sara the son. After fighting with Nick, Sara walks out on Ray when he tries to tell Sara he’s been where she’s been.

In the end, she tells Julian about her mother’s schizophrenia, and that you can move on.

Notes  

• Sara handles crazy people really well
• Sara is very kind and sympathetic to Mrs. Santiago

Quotes  

Nick: How could someone live like this?
Sara: Well. It smells like someone died like this.

Nick: What is it about this case that makes you so blind?
Sara: What is it about this case that makes you act like an ass?
Nick: Oh! I’m an ass, now!?

Sara: My mother was schizophrenic. On night, she got a butcher knife out of a drawer. She walked into the bedroom and while my father was sleeping, she stabbed him in the heart. Again and again. To say that my childhood was screwed up is an understatement. But. I survived it. Just like you did. You and your sister grew up together in that house, and you took two completely different paths. Sometimes when we’re faced with crimes that are so incomprehensible, we want answers. We want to believe that there’s some order to things. Sometimes there just isn’t.

Gallery  

Images ©CBS (2010) - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation from the episode 'House of Hoarders'.