Editor’s Note: The following contains talk of sexual abuse.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigationcompletely changed the police procedural genre. With a focus on the gritty, gory details of crimes and the forensic techniques used to process evidence,the series established an entirely new type of cop drama.CSIwas all about the spellbinding science used to solve the outlandish, often horrifying homicides. The characters had their place, and their interpersonal relationships were compelling, but theshow’s real stars were the sickening crimessuperbly set in Sin City. With fifteen seasons of shocking, stomach-churning crime scenes, many episodes could vie for most disturbing, but there is one that clearly stands above the rest.
InCSISeason 11, Episode 4, titled “Sqweegel,” a man in a latex bodysuit creepily lives in his victim’s homes, lying in wait under the beds, before murdering them. What makes this one particularly disturbing is that this criminal gets away with murder, literally, since the crime team never apprehends the perpetrator. One of theother more alarming episodesinvolves the murder of a family, save one daughter, in the Season 6 episode “Gum Drops.” The youngest member of the family is found, but with her entire family gone, this is a tragedy on a whole other level. With so many seasons to choose from, it seems unlikely that the most detestable crime would occur in Season 1. However, the quadruple family homicide inSeason 1, Episode 7, “Blood Drops,” remains the most gut-wrenching crime of all.
CSIis a procedural franchise of American television series created by Anthony E. Zuiker. The first threeCSIseries follow the work of forensic scientists as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious deaths, while the fourth series,CSI: Cyber, emphasizes behavioral psychology and how it can be applied to cyber forensics.
‘CSI’ Broke the Unspoken Rule
Whether it’s a television show, movie, or book, there is one rule you don’t break…killing a child. While the death of a child is often talked about in various works of fiction, typically as a tragic backstory,making children the victims of monstrous murders is unspeakably unsettling, to say the least. As a parent, watching your worst fears come to life before your eyes, even in a fictional television show, likeCSI, is hard to stomach. There’s an overwhelming impulse to cry out in indignation and contempt. Manysuccessful crime shows and movieshave included plot lines about this very thing, but many have also been met with audience resistance and anger. Choosing to kill off a couple of children was a bold one forCSI, and that was just the beginning of the depravity depicted in their most disturbing episode.
TheCSIepisode “Blood Drops” begins with a terrified teenage girl screaming for help outside of her home. Cut to a plethora of police arriving, Gil Grissom (William Petersen) pulling up to the scene, a police officer vomiting outside the house, and it’s obvious something is really, really wrong. Grissom, first on the scene, quickly finds out fourmembers of the Collins family were brutally murderedin their home. A middle-aged mother and father, and two teenage boys, one of whom can’t be more than 13. As Grissom walks through the crime scene with Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox), it becomes clear just how brutal the murder was, particularly of the two boys. One boy is still in bed with a fatal cut to the throat, and the younger boy is on the floor facing the bloody hand prints he made on his wall while being stabbed to death from behind. You wouldn’t think it could get much worse,but this is just the beginning.
TheCSIepisode quickly reveals that not only are the parents and two boys dead, but two girls are left without their family. Tina (Allison Lange), a teenage girl, andher much younger sister,Brenda (yes, that is a youngDakota Fanning), were in the home when the homicides took place. They are terrified and in shock. Brenda, who can’t be more than five or six, is taken to the hospital for a physical and mental evaluation, as she has not spoken to anyone save one word, “Buffalo,” uttered to Grissom as he was walking away. Sidle goes with Brenda and offers her comfort as she is processed for evidence and evaluated for signs of trauma. As the rest of the team assesses the evidence from the crime scene, blood spatter expert Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) realizes the blood they thought had been a result of the father going to protect his young daughter actuallyshows that the father was coming out of the little girl’s roomjust before the murderer attacked him.
‘CSI’ Took “Blood Drops” From Unspeakable to Unthinkable
Evidence from the crime scene reveals that someone on a motorcycle had been at the Collins house the night of the murders. Tracking the tire prints of a Honda bike, CSI Warrick Brown (Gary Dourdan) finds out the owner lives only four blocks away. As it turns out, the bike is shared by several teenage boys, and each one admits to having a sexual relationship with the oldest daughter, Tina. Theevidence points to one suspect, Jesse Overton(Eric Nenninger), who, in a polygraph test,admits to slaying the entire familyat the behest of Tina so that they could be together. Though the team is sure Jesse committed the murders and that Tina collaborated, the polygraph reveals Jesse is lying about his motives. And this is where things get really icky.
The Longest-Running Character on a TV Drama Will Surprise You
We can never get enough.
As theCSIepisode progresses, while processing young Brenda for evidence, Sara Sidle uncovers the disgusting truth about her sexual abuse by her father. And, as it turns out, “Buffalo,” the word spoken to Grissom, was a reference to the buffalo pendant Brenda’s father wore around his neck. A pendant she must have looked at every time he abused her. As Tina is questioned, we find out that not only was Brenda sexually abused,but Tina was abused by her father as well. Pretty unforgivable, right? That’s not the end, though. Brenda isn’t Tina’s sister but her daughter. Brenda is the result of theincestuous rape of a thirteen-year-old girlby her own father. Tina had her father killed to prevent her daughter from further sexual abuse, and she wanted her mother and brothers gone because they did nothing to stop the years of abuse perpetrated against Tina and now Brenda.
CSI’s episode “Blood Drops” managed to include child murder, and somehow, that wasn’t even the worst part of the episode! Not only that, but as horrifying as it is even to think this, the murders even seemed justified in a way. With years of rape and sexual abuse by her father, Tina’s desire to protect her daughter from enduring the same traumas she did, it isn’t hard to understand her motives. What parent wouldn’t do everything possible to protect their child? Needless to say, thisepisode takes things from bad to worse, and what’s worse still,even the most heinous crime seems justified as revengefor an even more heinous crime. That’s not the kind of one-upping anyone needs. Thanks,CSI!
CSI: Crime Scene Investigationis available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.
