Synopsis  

Ina complicated and disturbing episode, Lady Heather returns when her daughter, Zoe Kessler, is found dead in the desert wearing only a bra and panties. Zoe is emaciated, branded with the number 19, her hair has been shaved off and her right hand chewed off.

At the autopsy, they determine one of her eyes was severed at the optic nerve, and Zoe had necrotizing faciitis, which had been injected into her blood stream causing her to rot from the inside out. Zoe had also been injected with a variety of drugs normally given to mental patients, and her severed eye belonged to a convicted sex offender named Jack Londers. When found, Captain Jack appears to be less than sane, though he agrees to come to the ER, where the doctor says he was lobotomized via his empty eye socket.

Only after seeing her daughter’s picture on the news does Lady Heather herself come and ID the body. She request anonymity from Brass, who keeps the information from the press, but tells Grissom. They go check out Zoe’s apartment and find that she’s still interested in psychology. Zoe had also been to the Betz Clinic, who said she was there for chronic insomnia. Both Zoe and Capt. Jack were in the same test group, and both left the study part way through the night.

Lady Heather confirms the body is Zoe’s, and even though she is torn up, Gil questions her about Zoe. About a year ago, Zoe had dropped out of Harvard and stopped talking to her mother, though Lady Heather didn’t want to elaborate.

Results show that Zoe had eaten her own hand off, and the CSIs sweep the desert for her hand. Instead they found the house of Jacob Wolfwitz (from the Clinic), who happens to have a variety of genetically modified plants, including ones that smell like decomposing bodies. When they go to the door, however, it’s Lady Heather who enters, having broken in. She explains to Grissom that she was hoping Wolfwitz would invite the cops in and they would find something probative. Instead, he dismisses the charges (never knowing it’s Lady Heather or Zoe’s mother), and Lady Heather whips out a manuscript she stole from his house, saying it was too expensive and must have been stolen.

As it turns out, the manuscript was stolen from the UNLV library, which is enough to get a warrent. Before they can act on it, Wolfwitz is found dead in his car, having been frozen solid at least two days before.

This sets everyone on edge, as the day before Catherine had interviewed Wolfwitz, and the evening before, Lady heather had slept with him. As she explains to Grissom, she needed a sample of his DNA for the CSIs. She also explains that Zoe had left Harvard because she’d gotten pregnant with her therapist’s child. As he was married and a doctor, Lady Heather had his license revoked, which was when Lady Heather and Zoe stopped speaking.

The dirt/mulch at Wolfwitz’s house had the DNA of almost 20 different people, including Zoe, and the DNA from the condom (from Lady Heather) matched DNA on the UNLV book. His car, however, had the fingerprints of a Leon Sneller: Wolfwitz’s twin. The boys had been adopted by a Jewish couple and Jacob had inherited the house. Leon, on the other hand, had rejected this and become a Nazi. The CSI’s find a WWII era laboratory under the house, where Sneller performed his Mengele-esque experiments (including a siamese twins experiment, currently going on in one room, though neither twin lived after the CSIs rescued them). Zoe had been selected for her eyes: one was blue, the other brown.

The CSIs are unable to find Sneller until Grissom notices Lady heather’s necklace under a couch. He drives out to where Zoe’s body was found, and comes across Lady Heather and Sneller. She tied him to the front of his car and whipped him over and over again. Grissom stops her and Lady Heather breaks down sobbing.

Review  

Another low end episode from Sara, she all but vanishes at the half-way mark.

Notes  

• In perhaps a reference to the situation in “Committed”, Sara doesn’t go and see Capt. Jack without someone else from the CSIs with her.

Quotes  

Nick: Where are you at now?
Sara: On a train to Crazyville.