CSI: Miami - Episode 7.02 “Won’t Get Fueled Again” Recap

September 30, 2008     CSI Fanatic, Entertainment

Miami - Episode 7.01: Resurrection Recap/Review

CSI: Miami - Episode 7.02 Won’t Get Fueled Again
Original Air Date: September 29, 2008

The episode’s primary crime takes off at a beach party, where the well-dressed scene is disrupted by a screaming man in flames. No one helps, but all manage to clear out of the flaming man’s way. [Wouldn’t want to get cinders on those white linen jackets. Plus, it’s 2008! Sure the man is freaking out, but no one else has heard “stop, drop, and roll” millions of times in any given week?!?]

The man was not a guest at the party, and no one recognizes the man. Dr. Tara Price, the new Medical Examiner, works on the poor man, as Horatio comes over to introduce himself. She explains the man’s status. Besides being badly burned, he is covered with an accelerant.

Cue, pointless one-liner setup…

Horatio: What does the position tell you?
Tara: Pugilistic pose… body contorts to after being badly burnt. From the Latin pugil, meaning “fights with fists”.
Horatio: A fight… to the death.


(click on “Read More” for the rest of the recap)

The party’s host, Paul Sanders, meets Horatio on the beach. The man is a bit cavalier, and very annoyed. H informs Mr. Sanders that his guests are all.

Calleigh and Eric follow the trail in hopes of finding the man’s starting point. At the point of origin, in the nearby parking lot, Eric spots a piece of melted garment. They don’t, however, find any signs of the accelerant.

Ryan finds a melted name tag, melted together with a piece of clothing. He and Horatio decide to use a liquid and a CT scanner to uncover any remnants of the engraving in the badge. The badge reveals the name “Sam” and the name of a valet service.

Calleigh and Ryan show up at the valet service. The first man they meet claims to be Sam, and that the badge must have been stolen. He gets a bit defensive about their assertion that he would have been near the murder scene. Sam says he’s the only valet, and works as an independent for private parties.

Eric meets Dr. Price, and is obviously smitten. She found high octane gasoline. He also had severe burns in his throat, indicating that he had swallowed gasoline. They deduce that he probably was forced to swallow it, rather than it being an indication of suicide. When Eric asks about the ID, she roughly yanks out a tooth, and tells him to take it up to DNA for the “old Nicholas II treatment.” Eric takes it to Natalia who tells him it’s a reference to cryogenic grinding, the technique used to ID the Russian Tsar’s family remains. She also tells Eric that she may have said that to impress him.

[So, the game is on between Eric and the new ME!]

The extreme cold preserves the sample, then it’s magnetically pulverized into a very fine powder. The man is Dan Granger, a Dade University student, with a record –trespassing and petty theft.

At Dade U., Horatio and Frank find Granger’s roommate, Johnny Young…selling gas cans from a pickup bed. Johnny and Dan were siphoning fuel from upscale cars at the beach, then selling it at a discount rate to students. This explains how he swallowed gasoline. He claims he saw Dan running, in flames. Dan had been siphoning from a black Escalade, when it happened. The SUV took off, at the same time that Dan caught on fire. Johnny gives them the can of fuel from the Escalade, but Frank and Horatio take him in for questioning.

Eric tests the fuel from the can, finding it’s high octane. It also has added toluene. This narrows it down to one particular station, Arago Fuel. Calleigh and Ryan talk to Mr. Nelson at Arago. He tells them that a black Escalade had been in…towing an Airstream trailer…the day before, but the driver hadn’t purchased any fuel. He was just looking under the hood, and hadn’t asked for any help.

Ryan asks the man about marks on the fuel tank filler covers. He says it looks like someone forced it open with a crowbar. He than finds that he is missing about 1,500 gallons. So, the Airstream owner must have pumped the fuel out through an opening beneath the trailer.

The man says he had a pretty customer that offered him “anything” for a tank of gas. She was the distraction for the fuel thieves, probably organized crime. Nelson tells them that the condom from the “payment” was in the ladies’ room.

DNA from the condom belongs to Andrea Rinell, who, of course, has a record…solicitation. When Horatio and Natalia question Rinell, she seems surprised about the fuel theft.

The surveillance cameras were out at the Arago Fuel, but Ryan shows Horatio video from the bank next door. The images reveal the hose extending from beneath the trailer, as well as the rear plate on the Escalade. The plate is bogus…a “cold” plate. Calleigh spots the Escalade at an intersection. She pursues, and calls for backup, but loses the vehicle. She catches up to it, though, as it’s sitting in the street on fire.

Ryan shows up at the torched Escalade scene. Calleigh has found a used flare, but no accelerant in the vehicle. Other evidence seems to have been wiped down, leaving little to work on, except a fingernail in the glovebox. It turns out to be Johnny Young’s fingernail.

Johnny admits to Frank and Ryan that he dug in the glovebox of the SUV, looking for cash. Instead, he found a plastic bag full of passports. He thought he could make money with them.

Frank finds all the passports belong to Central and South American women in their 20s. All of the women are in the country legally, having applied for student visas. All of them, though, have used the same address for their applications, leading Frank and Horatio to wonder if they’re being held. Police find Andrea Rinell. She tells Horatio that her captor had told them not to tell anyone, or they and their families would be killed. So, the team has uncovered a human trafficking ring.

Eric checks for hydrocarbons on the contents of the Escalade. After getting a hit on a cellphone, he finds that it has also been rigged as a stun gun. Prints on the cellphone/stun gun point to Sam Laughlin, the parking valet.

Calleigh tells Laughlin that they found the Airstream at his house, and are searching it. He admits to the fuel theft, but not the murder. When she tells him they know about the stun gun, he admits that he caught Dan stealing gasoline from him. He said he didn’t know the guy would ignite.

She then tells Laughlin that they know about his trafficking ring. He denies it. When Calleigh tells him that they have Andrea Rinell, he denies knowing her, and that he was only told there would be a distraction. He claims he was hired, and that the Escalade and trailer belong to someone else. He refuses to identify the ringleaders.

Ryan finds a hidden plate, belonging to Paul Sanders, the host at the party. Sanders owns a shipping business…one that transports women. Horatio leads the police to Sanders, and makes the bust in his usual, cool way. Sanders claims that he offers them a piece of the American dream…as he’s being handcuffed, and escorted out of the building.

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