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| Slaughterhouse | |
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| Season | 1 |
| Number | 8 |
| Writer | Laurie McCarthy |
| Director | Dick Pearce |
| Original Airdate | November 11, 2002 |
| Navigation | |
| Previous Episode: "Breathless" | |
| Next Episode: "Kill Zone" | |
"Slaughterhouse" is the eighth episode in Season One of CSI: Miami.
Synopsis
Horatio and his team must uncover the evidence in the brutal murder of an entire family in their own home. The only survivors are a blood-soaked toddler, and the father who's in surgery. The immediate assumption is that the mother is responsible—postpartum depression—but the evidence discloses a different outcome.
Plot
A toddler is spotted walking on the streets of a suburb, with blood all over her jumpsuit. After the paramedics take care of her, Calleigh, Speed and Megan analyze the drops, marking four different victims. Analyzing the soil on her suit, they find a house nearby, where a whole family is gunned down, with only the father surviving. With only the mother not shot in the back, suspicion arises, suggesting a murder-suicide by her. It is further strengthened when it turns out she had severe depression, and medication that she didn't take. However, her sister states that she only stopped taking her meds out of fear that it would have an impact on her breastfeeding the youngest child who was only six weeks old, and that she loved her family and wouldn't be able to do so. Further investigation of the shot by Horatio and Calleigh proves that her position was inconsistent with someone about to murder herself.
Speed and Delko finds the towel of the sole survivor child in the empty dog house, with only the mother's blood on it, which means she was the first victim. With the younger son being shot while playing a video game, only two suspects remain: the elder child, Luke, and the dad, Jason. When Speed and Horatio analyze the jumpsuit of the youngest child, they realize the dad's blood got on it by gravitational drops, which means he held him when he got shot. They figure out what happened: after Luke came home, he saw her mother shot. While Jason was murdering Timmy, he secured the toddler, and when he came back, he saw Jason approaching the baby. He attacked his dad and held him at gunpoint, but he grabbed the baby, thinking he wouldn't get shot with him in his hands. Luke shot though, and tried to escape with the baby, but he left the shotgun there, and the wounded Jason gunned them both down.
Horatio and Sevilla go after Jason, and after the initial confusion, he confesses in the car that he couldn't live his life with his four children, grew tired and sleepless, and that morning, he woke up with the thought of ending it all.
Cast
Main Cast
- David Caruso as Horatio Caine
- Emily Procter as Calleigh Duquesne
- Adam Rodríguez as Eric Delko
- Khandi Alexander as Alexx Woods
- Rory Cochrane as Tim Speedle
- Kim Delaney as Megan Donner
Guest Cast
- Wanda De Jesús as Detective Adelle Sevilla
- Thomas Curtis as Timmy Caplin
- Calvin DeVault as Luke Caplin
- Denice Duff as Mrs. Caplin's Sister
- Tom R. Hughes as Paramedic
- Ingrid Koopman as Stephanie Caplin
- David Moreland as OR Doctor
- Albie Selznick as Jason Caplin
Trivia
- The episode is primarily inspired by the family massacre committed by John List at the List Family home in Westfield, New Jersey on the night of the 9th November 1971.
- Like in the episode, in the real-life massacre, List killed his family by shooting them in which he got into a struggle with one of his sons beforehand. He then escaped justice for 18 years before being arrested at his workplace in Richmond, Virginia on the 1st June 1989. After his arrest, List had stated his motive for the murders was depression and a sense of failing being the man of the house.
- The episode is also inspired by the White House Farm murders committed by Jeremy Bamber.
- The episode is also inspired by the Ronald DeFeo Jr. family massacre. DeFeo killed his entire immediate family and acted like the only survivor. The police were left to suspect organized criminals or some of the victims killed the family, until DeFeo’s changing statements revealed he killed out of rage against his father. The DeFeo home is now considered haunted and is the subject of the film The Amityville Horror.
- The episode's plot is inspired by the film The Usual Suspects.
See Also
| CSI: Miami Season 1 | ||
| Golden Parachute • Losing Face • Wet Foot/Dry Foot • Just One Kiss • Ashes to Ashes • Broken • Breathless • Slaughterhouse • Kill Zone • A Horrible Mind • Camp Fear • Entrance Wound • Bunk • Forced Entry • Dead Woman Walking • Evidence of Things Unseen • Simple Man • Dispo Day • Double Cap • Grave Young Men • Spring Break • Tinder Box • Freaks and Tweaks • Body Count | ||