CSI:New York

Season 3 - Episode 10 - Sweet 16

Written by Ken Solarz
Directed by David Jackson

When a pro parachute legend is found dead and hanging limply from his chute, which is covered in dead racing pigeons, Mac, Danny and Flack arrive at the scene for investigation. The animal control center employee postulates that the birds were poisoned. When Mac examines one of the birds he finds a bloody handprint across its wings and because the victim is wearing gloves he is automatically ruled out. Mac notes that another bird has high velocity blood spatter on it meaning there is another victim out there. When the birds are traced to the national pigeon racing union, Flack is determined to reach out to the organization to find out who the birds belonged to. When they get to the building in question, they find pigeon owner Ray Seeley dead behind the coops. Mac notes defense wounds on the victim and notices that he was stabbed to death. The man that showed them in says Ray and his assistant were fighting the night before. Danny finds termite poison mixed in with the pigeon feed. He also finds a reflective substance in the coop which Sid later confirms is mother of pearl. Flack comes to the conclusion that Ray Seeley was really Rudy Santangelo and was in the witness protection program. Meanwhile, Danny ties Ray Seeley’s assistant Jesse to a pool-table store where he works. All their pool tables featured mother-of-pearl inlays. Mac and Flack head to the pool shop and when Jesse sees their badges he immediately takes off running. When Mac catches up with him he sees bruises and cuts on his chest and lets him go. Flack later finds a wooden birdcage with blood on it out behind the shop. While Flack swears that Jesse is their guy, Mac goes with his gut and keeps the search going strong.

Across town, at an expensive sweet sixteen birthday party decorated with an Arabian theme, Stella and Hawkes find the birthday girl’s father dead behind the wheel of her gift: a new Mercedes. When Lindsay opens the car she is bit by a snake. Hawkes states that the cause of death could be hemorrhaging which is attributed to respiratory failure from a snake bite. Stella notes scratches on the hood of the new car. Hawkes finds gold fabric in the car which is also found in the victim’s son’s guitar case. His son Chaz confesses that as a joke he put the snake in the car. Meanwhile, Sid confirms that the cause of death was strangulation. He also confirms that although the victim had an empty bottle of whiskey in his pocket, he hadn’t been drinking. Hawkes finds a piece of hair from a hair extension under the victim’s fingernail. Stella ties the prints on the bottle to high-school student Tim Swirsky who was constantly made fun of by the victim’s daughter. Lindsay notes that the scratches on the car are from a belly-dancer belt. Lindsay realizes that the victim was having an affair with one of his daughter’s friends. Pictures show that the victim’s mistress was wearing the exact belt that scratched the car on the night of the murder. Later evidence proves that the victim’s wife who was well aware that he was having an affair was wearing a hair extension on the night of the party. The team weighs the evidence to determine which suspect is guilty.