03E08 - Snuff

Brass urges Grissom for hastily examination of a corpse that is covered in fire ants, who made their nest in the casket and completely cleaned up bones. A black fly pupa case allows Grissom and Greg Sanders to establish an entomological time-line of about 19 months. Facial reconstruction from the skull for victim identification is extremely difficult, so he enlists the help of specialist 'artist' Teri Miller- it's stable boy Randy Traschell, Down syndrome, missing for 17 months from a horse ranch, which fits the dun beetle found in the skull. Geometrical extrapolation allows Nick Stokes to conclude a cheep spur was used; the broken-off tooth fits present stable-boy Enrique Vasquez, an illegal immigrant. Two symmetrical wounds in the corps fit - Catherine and Warwick examine a pornographic snuff movie, send to a studio, about a murdered porn star. Archie's triangulation identifies the abandoned Mandolin Tower hotel where it was made. The security guard admits having had paid sex with her, and kept silent about the blood afterward for fear to lose his job. Some saliva leads to porn producer Douglas Samson, who has a sexual crime record. A corps is found in the river bed: actress Susan Hodap, HIV positive and hence quarantined from the legal porn circuit.