CSI:New York

Season 3 - Episode 12 - Silent Night

Teleplay by Peter M. Lenkov & Sam Humphrey
Story by Anthony E. Zuiker
Directed by Rob Bailey
Special Guest Stars Marlee Matlin
Guest Starring Sasha Cohen

The murder of a nineteen year-old girl in Bronx brings Mac and Stella to the scene. Allison was murdered in her parent’s home and she was shot in the nursery. An interpreter is brought in when Mac realizes that the entire family is deaf. When Lindsay arrives at the scene she quickly leaves. Hawkes finds partials and blood at the entry point and a broken window that the murderer used to enter the house. Gina (Allison’s mother) tells Mac that her daughter recently broke up with her boyfriend after the birth of her sister. However, when Hawkes confirms that the shooter’s blood has alleles in common with that of the baby he realizes that Allison’s murderer is the baby’s father. Allison’s ex-boyfriend Seth states that he never knew Allison was pregnant. Hawkes confirms that Seth is not the father even though Allison put his name on her baby’s birth certificate. Meanwhile, Mac goes to the scene of the crime with Gina to reconstruct the shooting. Gina eventually confirms with Mac that a Winchester double ought buckshot was used to kill her daughter. Mac finds prints on a gun license that match the prints lifted from the home. The prints belong to Cole Rowen, a friend of Allison’s from the deaf academy. After receiving a cochlear implant, Cole urged Allison to do so as well and when she refused the implant they stopped being friends. With suspicions pointing to Cole who might be the baby’s father, the team is hot on his trail.

Across town, young ice-skating legend Krista Palmer finds her friend Mackenzie dead and stuffed under the bleachers at the rink. Danny notes a gunshot wound to the stomach. Danny finds evidence that suggests Krista might have been the killer’s target, however Mackenzie got in the way. Danny also finds blood and an I and an arrow carved on the ice. Stella mentions that the blood found on the ice is a match to the victim’s and she tells Danny that the Zamboni driver had an infatuation with Krista. Meanwhile, Sid confirms that the victim’s cause of death was a stab wound and Danny notes that a skate lacer was found on the rink. Danny also finds specialized paint at the scene that changes color. Meanwhile, Stella finds a fan letter written to Mackenzie that shows the exact physics-based symbol that was carved onto the ice. Danny realizes that the symbol was about rotation and that the killer was trying to teach Mackenzie the winning moves. When Danny and Stella realize that there is a view of the ice-skating rink from a Tom Howard’s office at New Jersey Advanced Tech, the paint manufacturer, they realize that they may have caught their culprit.

Lindsay confides in Stella about the reason why she became a CSI. Years ago, she witnessed her friends murders and luckily she was the only one spared.