Subscribe
Previous Post
CSI: Miami – Episode 7.06 Wrecking Crew
Air Date: November 3, 2008
As Calleigh and Delko go over testimony with William Campbell, the only witness to a murder in the Spiral Bar, a crane arm comes at the windows of the high rise. Campbell’s testimony would have tied Joey Salucci to the murder. Delko screams to get down, and they all run for cover.
The crane arm crashes through the windows, destroying the side of the building. Delko is trapped. Calleigh gets up and runs over to where Campbell is holding tight with his fingers, dangling from the ripped edge of the concrete floor. Calleigh tries to help him up, but he loses his grip, and falls to his death on the exposed rebar below. Calleigh drops back and weeps.
(click on “Read More” for the rest of the recap)
At the scene, Delko and Horatio go over what they know, which isn’t much. The crane operator was long gone. Horatio knows, though, that they can put the ultimate blame on Joey Salucci.
Calleigh talks to Travis Blake, the project manager. He doesn’t know who was operating the crane. He said that he had stopped construction, a week before, since housing sales are low. Blake tries to act like he doesn’t know Salucci, only very slowly admitting to having little interaction with him.
Horatio finds Salucci placing a lily on his daughter’s headstone. Of course, Salucci balks at Horatio’s claims that he had anything to do with Campbell’s death, or the murder at the Spiral Bar.
Ryan inspects the crane operator’s position, 200 feet atop the crane tower. Obviously very frightened by the altitude, he tells Calleigh about the on-board computer that might keep track of activity of the crane. He also finds some blood on the wall inside the cab. Natalia matches the blood in the cab to Kurt Greenfield, a crane operator.
Horatio and Frank talk to Greenfield. He also denies knowing Salucci, until confronted with the fact that he was once on Salucci’s payroll. He admits to working on the site, but under the table. He said he returned to the site to fetch his pills in the cab.
Calleigh and Delko talk to Beth and Noah Campbell, William’s wife and son. Mrs. Campbell is very upset, and even slaps Calleigh, just for praising William’s courage. She isn’t impressed when Delko tells her that they’ll find the killer.
Ryan meets up with Calleigh at the construction site. They find fresh tire tracks, as well as a piece of glass with a bit of charcoal paint transferred to it. On the Hummer computer, Calleigh matches the tire tread to that used on BMW 645ci convertible. There are only a few of them registered in Miami, and only one registered to a known associate of Salucci, Mick Ragozza.
Horatio and Frank find Ragozza, who claims that falling debris from the site fell on his can.
Jane shows Natalia what she found from the crane recorder…time, arm motion speed, etc. The data shows that the crane controls weren’t being used to control it, at the time of the crash. So, someone was operating it remotely. The controllers have a limited range, but there is a parking garage, down the street, that would have offered a good view of the crash.
Delko and Calleigh check out the top level of the parking garage. They find the remote controller dumped in a trash can. No tissue on the neck strap for the controller match in the Codis. It does match, however, 96@ with William Campbell. This indicates that it could be a familial match, to Noah Campbell.
Calleigh questions Noah. He tells Calleigh, and Beth Campbell, that his father never asked him about testifying. He was resentfull for having to go into witness protection. He only wanted to scare his father, but lost control of the crane, killing him accidentally.
Salucci is jubilant toward Horatio. Though he’s off the hook for William Campbell’s death, Horatio mentions AJ Watkins, the young man who was involved in the 4-wheeler accident that killed Salucci’s daughter. Watkins disappeared a few weeks before, and Horatio assures Salucci that he’ll find the body, and make the connection to the crime boss.
Horatio asks Delko about AJ Watkins. Going over what Campbell told them about the events in the Spiral Bar restroom, Horatio tells Delko to get the 911 recording of Campbell’s call.
Jane is able to isolate the sound of a toilet flushing in the recording. Deducing that it must be the killer flushing something in the stall next to the one where Campbell was hiding, Ryan and Natalia return to the Spiral Bar. Using a scope, they find a 9mm shell casing in the toilet drain. Ryan opens the drain, and retrieves the shell.
Horatio uses a new technique to find a print on the heavily “washed” shell. Applying an electric current to the shell, and then exposing it to conductive powder, this method will reveal the very latent corrosion that occurs when human skin touches metal. They find a thumb print, and match it to Ragozza. Ragozza is very smug.
Calleigh and Ryan search Ragozza’s car. They find blood in the trunk, as well as a small shovel hidden in the spare tire compartment. Ryan tells Horatio that the shovel had traces of silica and quartz: sand. While sand is not uncommon, the sand’s shape indicate that it was melted. Ryan apologetically tells Horatio that this only narrows down the location of Watkins’ burial to a beach, near a bonfire. Horatio’s response indicates that that’s all he needs.
The team finds AJ Watkins below a pier, at the site where Salucci’s daughter Emma died in the accident. Dr. Price points out that there is only one bullet wound, in the knee cap. “Why not shoot to kill?” She tells Calleigh that the real cause of death appears to be strangulation. The marks on his neck have lily pollen.
Horatio realizes that Ragozza started the murder with the gunshot, but Salucci finished it.
Calleigh solemnly visits William Campbell’s body in the morgue. She holds his hand, as she imagines her attempt to pull him up from the scene where he died.
