CSI:New York

Season 2 - Episode 3 - Zoo York

Written by Peter Lenkov & Tim Lea
Directed by Norberto Barba

What initially seemed to be just another Saturday at the zoo turns into a nightmare as the crowds witness the unthinkable: a man has fallen into the tiger pit and is being eaten by a full grown Siberian tiger. Mac, Danny and new CSI Lindsay Monroe arrive at the bloody scene, noting that at least half of their victim appears to be inside the tiger. Further inspection finds a hand with duct tape wrapped around the wrist. Danny weighs in: the way the hands are bound makes him believe this was a mob hit. Mac is equally intrigued by the fact that there’s no evidence of the medium velocity blood spatter you’d expect from a mauling. He looks around, sees a broken branch at the top of the security wall, and concludes that this wasn’t a Kodak moment gone bad -- the victim was thrown into the tiger pit.

After getting the huge cat’s dental and claw impressions, the CSIs are back at the lab to find out what really happened. The cause of death would appear obvious—death by tiger, but closer examination reveals that the curvature of the initially fatal wound track does not match the teeth or claws. Further, the flesh and blood found on the victim’s shoes and under the victim’s fingernails was not human. The trail leads our CSIs into the meatpacking district of New York, where new boutiques compete with old school slaughterhouses for prime real estate. It’s a competition that results in a motive for murder. To complicate matters, our CSIs find the victim is “connected”, and his uncle makes an appearance, demanding a quicker justice than Mac can comfortably prove. And when the uncle decides to exact his own revenge, Mac vows to take down a killer’s killer.

Across town, Stella and Hawkes are called to Central Park to find a young wearing a wedding gown and white gloves, riding the carousel-- dead. No evidence of sexual assault, but her feet are blistered and her expensive shoes have been tossed near by. Back at the lab, C.O.D. remains elusive, but our CSIs learn that she was dressed up for her debutant ball at the Waldorf. Evidence leads first to a jealous sister and her attempts to sabotage the victim’s big day, then to a scorned boyfriend with an affinity for dangerous pets. But discovery of a most unusual poison in the girl’s body points in a totally different direction: a killer with a 20-year-old score to settle who uses the young debutant to do so.