A South Florida team of forensic investigators uses both cutting-edge scientific methods and old-fashioned police work to solve crimes. Horatio Caine, a former homicide detective, heads a group of investigators who work crimes amid the steamy tropical surroundings and cultural crossroads of Miami.

Jerry Dorfman is driving frantically, trying to escape a pursuer in a Cadillac. Suddenly he swerves to avoid a pothole, and his car careens off the road into a row of trees. When police Sergeant Dennis Barron finds him a few hours later, he's dead. But was it the car crash that killed him? Alexx notices petechiae in the victims eyes, suggesting that he died by strangulation, not from the car accident itself. Delko gets a bottle of Amido black and pours it on Dorfman's chin, which reveals a partial palm print. When Horatio learns that Dorfman was a celebrity photographer, his investigation leads him to a rival paparazzi, the shifty Ralph Durst. It was his palm print on the victim's face. Durst confesses to being at the scene of the crime, but but insists all he did was turn Jerry's face to get a picture of his dead body. He tells Horatio that "death shots" command a hefty price. Horatio questions hot young actor Brad Tustin, who was none too fond of Jerry. But the case takes another turn when some shocking photos of Brad, which were taken by Dorfman, turn up in a tabloid. When Calleigh closely examines the images, she notices someone inside the house holding a gun to a woman's face in the background of a few of the pictures...

-- www.tvtome.com

CASE FILE 53
MIAMI POLICE CODE: 31 Homicide

CSI PERSONELL: Horatio Caine, Tim Speedle, Eric Delko, Calleigh Duquesne, Alexx Woods

CRIME SCENE: A shady celebrity photographer is found dead in his car under suspicious circumstances.

INVESTIGATION: The body of Jerry Dorfman, 39, is found in his 1997 Honda Accord. the vehicle has smashed into a concrete wall in a remote orange orchard. An anonymous 911 hang-up alerted local officials to the possibility of foul play.

Crime notes a patterned blood smudged near the victim's mouth.

Delko uses amido black to reveal ridge detail from a palm. The victim's eyes show signs of petecchia, indicating that he was asphyxiated.

Duquesne and Speedle examine Dorfman's vehicle and discover that the back seat has been removed and there is an extensive amount of detritus, including a soda bottle filled with urine, a roll of paper towels and a bottle of window cleaner.

The contents of Dorfman's stomach indicate that he had recently eaten junk food, specifically, chocolate, almonds and coconut. Woods finds blonde hairs on the body as well as black fibers in the nose, likely from whatever his assailant used to smother him. The victim's arm has a ragged, elongated abrasion that contains a splinter of wood.

The wound is in the early stages of inflammation, caused perhaps by something on the wood itself.

The CSIs hypothesize that two people attended Dorfman before his death; the first made the 911 call, the second smothered him to death.

Delko runs the palmprint through a variety of databases and matches it to Ralph Durst, 32, who has priors fro trespassing and parking violations, as well as a number of restraining orders against him. Durst, a professional paparazzi, is found outside a hotel, attempting to take photographs of movie actor Brad Tustin, 28. Durst immediately identifies Dorfman from a photograph, calling him a "stalkerazzi," someone who uses cheap tricks to obtain embarrassing photographs of celebrities. He states that, cruising a wealthy neighborhood, he saw Dorfman's Honda being chased by a black Escalade with tinted windows. He intuited that the person chasing Dorfman was a celebrity and followed the two vehicles. He temporarily lost them and when he discovered Dorfman's wreck, the Escalade was nowhere in site. He took photographs of Dorfman's body to sell, moving the dead man's head to get a better angle. he then called 911 before he left. Caine produces a photo in which Durst is punching Dorfman, documenting a long history of animosity between the two men.

Duquesne and Speedle compare the official CSI crime scene photo with Durst's photos of Dorfman and find that they do not match; windshield glass is scattered uniformly in Durst's photo and it is apparent that a fast food bag has been moved.

The CSIs return to Dorfman's vehicle and find that the bag hides an empty film cooler.

Caine examines the wood splinter under a polarized light microscope and finds that it is speckled with gold resin.

The substance is plant material; specifically, it comes from the South American kapok tree, used for lining jackets in the absence of down. Under the infrared microscope the presence of acephate, an insecticide known as Orthene, is evident. A recent weevil infestation in Tropicala was treated with Orthene.

The CSIs locate a stand of kapok trees in the wealthy nighborhood. On the ground is a wrapper for a chocolate bar with almonds and coconut. The home in question belongs to Brad Tustin. The CSIs scale a wall and photograph the backyard.

Dorfman's phone records indicate that the last call he made was to Jenny Moylan, 32, Tustin's publicist. She states that Dorfman called to tell her that he had photographs of the film star that he thought would be of interest to her and that she told him she would pay top dollar, sight unseen. The authorities ask for a sample of her hair for DNA sampling.

Neither Moylan's nor Tustin's DNA matches that found in association with the crime scene.

In a current "Hollywood Scandal" tabloid the CSIs find a photo taken from the same angle that Dorfman likely photographed Tustin's home. The compromising photo depicts Tustin with a person clad only in a thong; close examination reveals that the person is a man.

The CSIs speculate that the photo in question was stolen from Dorfman.

Ross Kaye, 33, proprietor of "Hollywood Scandal," states that he purchased the photos in question for $10,000 from an anonymous source.

The taped phone conversation between Kaye and the anonymous source is notable in two respects; the unknown man appears to have a legal background, and never gives his name or a contact number. When Duquesne plays the tape for Caine, he immediately recognizes the formal, mid-Atlantic accent as belonging to Sgt Dennis Barron of the Tropicala Police Department.

Barron admits to removing a roll of film from Dorfman's vehicle as well as a black baseball cap, which has dried blood on the inside of the hat band.

From the presence of saliva inside the cap, the DNA lab confirms that Dorfman was smothered to death with his cap. Sweat from the inside of the cap comes from a different donor; amelogenin indicates that the person in question is male.

Examining the roll of photographs from Dorfman's camera, Duquesne notes a flash through the next-door-neighbor's window. Magnified, it becomes evident that the flash was a muzzle flash and that a man in a black baseball cap has just shot a woman.

The home next to Tustin's is owned by another film star, Danny Cato, 32. he states that to his knowledge no one was shot in his home and that he does not own a firearm. He is wearing a small bandage beneath the knuckles of one hand; he claims to have been injured in a recent stunt. When confronted with the incriminating photo, he provides a .9mm gun that he identifies as a prop and states that he and a stunt woman were rehearsing a scene on the day in question. The black hat that smothered Dorfman bears the insignia of the movie that Cato is currently filming.

Duquesne compares the muzzle flashes from the prop gun and from a real .9mm and finds that the flash in the photo was caused by a real firearm.

Cato is found to be the registered owner of a .9mm.

At Cato's home, Caine and Salas discover that Cato's body double and personal assistant , Gabriel Rotter, also lives in the house. His hair matches that found on Dorfman's body and it is his DNA on the cap band.

Rotter states that Cato told him to retrieve the film from Dorfman and in return he would ensure that Rotter was given a part in his upcoming film. Rotter admits that he smothered Dorfman to death.

Using anti-aliasing software, the AV technician is able to isolate a small band on the shooter's hand.

CRIME SCENE RECONSTRUCTION: Enraged at a prostitute who was demanding her payment, Cato shot and killed her. (Her body has just been pulled from a nearby canal.) When he spotted Dorfman in the tree photographing Tustin next door, he sent Rotter out to steal the film and kill the photographer.

CASE STATUS: Closed

-- Official CSI: Miami Website