First 'Formalities' Plot Details Revealed

See Also: 'Formalities' Episode Guide

The CSI: Crime Scene Investigation team will have to fight the indifference of a father to save the life of his daughter in the upcoming episode "Formalities", CSI Files sources revealed today.

Becca Jensen was a teen girl who forever tried to get in with the cool crowd. Just a few hours ago, she thought she finally had her lucky night, as her classmate Janelle Macklin allowed her to come along to a party in the Empire, the hotel owned by Janelle's dad. But now, Becca's lifeless body is slumped on the floor of Janelle's suite, next to a room service cart filled with all the latest designer drugs.

The CSIs begin to investigate Becca's death by interrogating the other party guests - everyone but Janelle, whose whereabouts are unaccounted for. It turns out that nobody was really close with Becca. Her dad is a thug who used to work for the Vegas mob, and Becca herself didn't really fit with the Armani and Prada crowd. But this apparently was no problem for one of the male guests, as Dr. Robbins discovers during his autopsy that Becca had sex just before her death - but he has no way to determine whether this was consensual or not.

Back at the Empire, Grissom and Brass discover that a rich kid named Gavin Layne supplied the drugs for the party. Gavin denies everything, until Grissom shows him the plastic bag from which Becca took her drugs, and warns Gavin he's going to be charged with murder if his fingerprints are found on the bag. Gavin freaks out, and eventually provides an unexpected excuse: Becca's death wasn't his fault, but that of two masked men who crashed the party and kidnapped Janelle.

The other kids at the party now confirm Gavin's story. Two men wearing Kiss masks and wielding handguns came in and tied up everyone with duct tape. After the men dragged away Janelle the kids eventually managed to get free, but by that time Becca was going berserk. Spurred on by the drugs, she was shoving people and screaming so loudly that Gavin and several other kids tried to subdue her by pushing her face into a pillow - but they pushed a little too hard, and before they realised what happened Becca went limp.

The CSIs now know what happened to Becca, but they still don't know why the kids tried to hide the kidnapping. Janelle's father, hotel mogul Charlie Macklin, provides the answer to Catherine. He asked them not to report it, as he is sure his daughter arranged the whole thing as a ploy to get more attention. To put the CSIs at ease, Macklin offers to call Janelle on her cell phone right now. But instead of his daughter, Macklin gets a digitised voice on her voicemail, ordering him to wire a million dollars to an offshore account within 24 hours, or face the death of his daughter.

From an investigation into the death of one girl, this has turned into a race against the clock to save the life of another.

Please note that these plot details have not yet been confirmed by CBS, Alliance Atlantis or Bruckheimer Films and until such time you should treat this information as you would any other rumour. The information comes from an early draft of the script and aspects of the episode may change before it goes to air.

"Formalities" will likely air in late 2004.

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