13x10 - Submerged

[bunniefuu]

[R&B music playing]

[Whimpering, crying]

[Scream]

[Screaming continues]

JJ: Well, I say just open your mouth and get on in there.

Don't think I haven't considered it.

A late night?

Poker.

My friends were losing, so I let the game go on, give them a chance to win their money back.

Mm-hmm.

Or ride your hot streak a little longer.

JJ: So, uh, who was there last night?

Ooh, can I guess?

Um...

Ringo.

Of course.

One of your 3-star general buddies, and I saw Judge Judy was in town.

So close and yet...

so far.

I hate to break this up, but we have a case.

Garcia: So, remember that old expression, "don't go swimming while tethered to a cinder block"?

No?

Larry and Wanda Robbins from Ramona, California.

Newlyweds.

They were found dead last night in their backyard pool.

Wanda was sh*t once in the chest.

Larry was gagged and drowned because that cinder block thing I mentioned earlier.

Lewis: Anything stolen from the house?

Prentiss: Jewelry was missing from Wanda's vanity.

This is the latest in a string of backyard pool murders in Ramona over the last two weeks.

Oh...

that's my part.

Victim number one, Ben Stiles, 82-year-old widower.

He was found at the bottom of his pool, tied to a cinder block, like Larry Robbins.

Six days later, victim number two, Bert Schofield, divorced, lived alone, as you can see, same kind of awfulness.

Were their houses also burglarized?

Yeah.

Well, Ben Stiles' was.

His coin collection was missing.

I'm not sure about Bert Schofield.

Local law enforcement has been treating these as burglaries gone wrong, but...

The "gone wrong" part could have been easily avoided.

Exactly.

Straight-up burglary, the unsub would have made sure the homes were unoccupied first.

Lewis: And he wouldn't have wasted time with drownings and cinder blocks.

He would have been in and out.

Simmons: Yeah, it's pretty obvious the unsub wanted these occupants dead.

We've got a long flight ahead of us.

Wheels up in 30.

Aah!

Aah!

Uhh!

Uhh!

[Gasping]

Aah!

Simmons: A Lakota proverb warns, "do not speak of evil, for it creates curiosity in the heart of the young." Have we found a connection between the victims yet, Garcia?

None.

All of them were long-time area residents, and they all had backyard pools, but that's about it.

Simmons: It's possible these killings are random.

Lewis: Except the items taken were so specific.

I mean, the unsub must have had some familiarity with the people he targeted.

Garcia: Oh, and it turns out that Bert Schofield was, in fact, burglarized.

His bowling trophies were missing from his garage.

Bowling trophies?

Seriously?

I just report the facts as I find them, sir.

Curious how only the female was sh*t.

Well, that means the men are most likely the true targets.

He puts them through these prolonged agonizing deaths when the g*n would have done the job quickly.

Either that or he forgot an extra cinder block when he went to the Robbins' house.

Lewis: You know, this unsub doesn't strike me as the forgetful type.

Dave, JJ, go to the latest crime scene.

Luke, Tara, talk to the neighbors, see what you can find out about Ben Stiles and Bert Schofield.

Matt, you and I will set up at the local PD.

_ Small town like ours, we're not used to this.

Folks are jittery as hell.

Understandably.

Robbery's one thing, and Lord knows we've had a lot of that around here lately.

But these murders...

You've had an increase in robberies?

Yes, ma'am.

Burglaries, petty thefts.

It's on account of the drought.

Why would lack of rain cause an increase in burglaries?

Our local economy has taken a hit.

A big chunk of our revenue is from tourism and outdoor recreation...

Fishing, boating.

But everything's drying up.

We had to shut down the marina up at Lake Palmer and close it off from fishing.

I don't suppose you folks brought some rain-making secrets with you?

[Chuckles]

Well, the BAU has a variety of skill sets.

Unfortunately, that's not one of them.

Anyhow, uh, got you set up here.

Just let me know if you need anything else.

Great.

Thank you, sheriff.

That's interesting what the sheriff said about the drought.

He might be on to something.

Well, except we're not here to solve burglaries.

We have a serial k*ller on the loose.

Like I said, he might be on to something.

What, you think that drought could also be tied into the killings?

Look at the crime scenes.

Pool...

Pool...

Pool.

It's curious when a town without water.

Suddenly has a string of watery deaths.

Rossi: No forced entry up front.

Good bet the unsub came right through the gate, k*lled the victims out here and probably accessed the home from the porch.

Yeah, it looks like there was a struggle, but the M.E.

said that there were no defensive wounds on either of the victims.

Well, the unsub could have trashed the place after the fact.

Mayhem for the hell of it.

Means our guy's got a lot of rage.

Ok, so Wanda Robbins was partially nude, but there were no signs of sexual as*ault.

But Garcia did say they were newlyweds.

Warm night, champagne.

I'm guessing her top was already off when the unsub crashed the party.

Excuse me, Agent.

Here you are.

- Thank you.

- ‭What's that?

The insurance company's list of the missing jewelry.

Hmm, that's odd.

The unsub only took Wanda's costume jewelry.

The valuable stuff he left behind.

Our unsub had too much planning on this to drop the ball like that.

Maybe the theft is a smokescreen.

These were murders from jump, and the unsub grabbed the first thing he saw afterwards so we would think burglary.

Hey.

Any information on the first two victims?

Not much on Ben Stiles.

His wife d*ed 10 years ago and he pretty much kept to himself after that.

He had health issues.

Barely went out.

So that should make it easier to narrow down who had access to him or knew about that coin collection.

Which was just some silver dollars, by the way, not worth much.

It was more of a hobby with Stiles.

I just got a call from up at Lake Palmer.

Ben Stiles' coin collection is scattered all along the shore.

It's quite all right.

Man: No way of keeping some of these coins?

We need them for evidence for an ongoing investigation...

Oh, ok.

Lewis: I just don't get it.

I mean, the unsub goes through all the trouble to steal these only to turn around and throw them in the lake?

The guy didn't put a whole lot of heave-ho into it.

You know, we found them right here at the water's edge.

Problem?

Gentleman said he found the silver dollars an hour ago walking the shore.

He's not too happy.

I told him he can't keep them.

Why did he call the police, then?

Prentiss: He didn't.

A woman nearby remembered that silver dollars were stolen from Ben Stiles.

She's the one who called.

Practically in plain sight.

I mean, it's like the unsub wanted these coins to be discovered.

It could have been a forensic countermeasure.

Look at these shiny things over here while I go over there.

That would bolster our theory that the burglaries were just for show.

Lewis: Yeah, but if the unsub wanted to sell these home invasions as legit robberies, he wouldn't have taken junk.

He would have stolen something valuable.

Is that a body bag?

Damn.

Another one.

What's going on?

Remember I said this town is on pins and needles?

This is what kicked it off.

There are bodies in the lake?

Old bodies.

Skeletons, more like.

Lake Palmer is a man-made reservoir.

Before it got flooded, all of this out here was just rugged canyon.

So if someone drowns, they tend to get tangled in the submerged trees.

Hardly ever make it back up to the surface.

But with this drought...

The surface is coming down to them.

[Indistinct chatter]

Hey, mister.

What happened to your eye?

Nothing.

It looks gross.

Are you living in there?

It's ok if you are.

I won't tell anybody.

My name's Tim.

Hey, they found another body, you know, just now.

My mom and dad are freaked out.

They wouldn't even come to the lake now.

But I'm not scared.

What did it look like?

The body.

Uh, I don't know.

It was in a bag.

[Indistinct chatter nearby]

[Vehicle door shuts]

[Engine starting]

[Siren]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Oh, me, too.

I bet there are tons of them out here.

And all these dead people coming out.

Lake Palmer's a good 10 miles from our crime scene, and that's a long way to go just to dump some coins.

Rossi: The k*ller might work or live there.

What's the population of Lake Palmer, Sheriff?

It depends on the season.

Year-round, a couple of thousand, I'd say.

Less, maybe.

There's a disconnect with this unsub.

On the one hand, the crime scenes are extremely organized.

That would suggest a k*ller with maturity and skill.

But then he grabs these bright, shiny items of little monetary value...

The silver dollars, costume jewelry, bowling trophies.

Yeah, it's like he suddenly reverts to immature and impulsive behavior.

The thefts could be purely symbolic, but of what?

It might be about the lake, I mean, with everything going on there.

Human remains fished from tree limbs?

As unsub triggers go, that's hall of fame material.

Prentiss: How many have drowned there in the last years?

9 that we know of.

Sheriff, when they were pulling the body in, you said "another one." Yes, ma'am.

They've pulled 5 out of there so far.

Prentiss: When was the first body retrieved?

November 22nd.

I remember because I was getting my Thanksgiving turkey when I got the call.

Any other retrievals?

Well...

The next was pulled out of the lake on November 28th.

The other two bodies were recovered on December 3rd.

I'll be damned.

And that is what we in the serial k*ller business refer to as a pattern.

Prentiss: We need to notify every homeowner within a 20-mile radius who has a backyard pool.

This unsub will strike again within the next 24 hours.

[Muffled yelling]

No!

What are you doing?

Aah!

Uhh!

[Crying]

What are you doing?

Aah...

aah...

ohh!

Aah, aah, aah!

Aah...

The place was ransacked.

We don't know what was taken, if anything.

Lewis: The victim's name is Walter Knight.

Married, father of two.

The unsub didn't need a cinder block this time.

This chair was heavy enough to sink him to the bottom.

It almost looks like a shroud.

California King, 500-weave.

It's a bed sheet.

Unsub took it from inside.

We know where Walter's wife and kids are?

Florida, visiting relatives.

This is a deviation from his usual M.O.

It could be a sign of remorse.

Not that remorseful.

So the unsub sewed him up, stuck this needle through his nose, dumped the chair into the pool.

Level of sadism's ratcheting up.

We gotta find this guy fast.

Prentiss: The unsub appears to be k*lling as a direct response to the old accident victims being pulled from the lake.

So why is he dumping the stolen property into the lake instead of ‭the victims themselves?

Maybe the coins are an offering, some kind of superstition.

Prentiss: What if we've had this all backwards until now?

In what way?

We were thinking that the items he stole were unimportant, afterthoughts.

But what if just the opposite is true, that it's 100% about the stolen items?

Rossi: I just got off the phone with Reid.

That stitch through the nose, it's an ocean-burying tradition from centuries ago.

It was especially common among pirates.

JJ: Lovely.

And the reason being?

Rossi: To make sure that the body they were about to throw overboard was really dead.

So death by drowning, pillage and plunder, now this pirate burial tradition.

I think I know why the unsub is choosing these pools over others.

Diving boards.

They all have a plank to walk.

Hey.

I thought nobody could fish on the lake anymore.

They can't.

You look like a pirate with that thing on your eye.

What did you just say?

Lewis: Rossi just called.

They just recovered another body from the lake.

Now, it was all done covertly, so, hopefully, the unsub is unaware.

JJ: Ok, well, we profiled the unsub was stuck in early adolescence.

Something had to have happened to him, what, 20 years ago, to cause the shock to his system.

You're right.

I mean, if this is arrested development, something arrested it.

The reservoir was created around that time.

Yeah.

What if the k*ller's trauma occurred out there before the reservoir was formed?

Alvez: Or during.

Garcia?

Come get it, bae.

The land that was flooded to form Lake Palmer, did anyone live or work out there?

It's pretty remote country, but, yeah, it looks like there were 3 homes in the canyon.

Alvez: I assume they were all subject to eminent domain?

Garcia: Correct.

The city bought out those 3 families.

Do we know what happened to the residents?

Two of them moved to houses by the side of the new lake.

The third one is proving to be a little trickier.

Bob Turner, an off-the-gridish type, but he vanished right before the new reservoir was created.

I don't have a trace of him after that, but fret not.

There's the grid, and then there's the Garcia grid, and that one is not as easy to stay off of.

Do you know what I'm saying?

Of course you know what I'm saying.

Good-bye.

[Hangs up]

Everything all right?

They just identified the most recent set of remains.

Tyler Hart, college kid who got k*lled in a jet ski accident back in 2003.

Did you know him?

No.

But every time they bring in someone new, it's like playing Russian roulette.

Well, it can't be Russian roulette unless there's a b*llet in one of the chambers.

You're right.

Please.

Her name was Holly Freeman.

She was my high-school sweetheart.

She drowned out on the lake a couple years ago while boating with her family.

I'm sorry.

Me and Holly ended up marrying different people.

Didn't work out so well for me, but hers did.

Nice husband.

Had 3 beautiful daughters.

It wasn't in the cards, Agent Rossi, but...

I always felt like she was the one who got away.

Crazy, right?

The girl you took to the prom.

No.

Not so crazy.

I hold my damn breath every time they bring in someone new, afraid it might be her.

The chance for a proper burial might not be the worst thing.

It gives her loved ones some closure.

Closure.

[Sighs]

You want to hear my idea about closure?

Let the dead rest in peace.

I want to remember Holly like she was, not like this.

Whoa.

This is so cool.

How long have you had it?

A long time.

What's this?

It's a flag.

From what?

Well, I had a friend, and we made a blood vow.

Recited the pirates' code, and then...

and then we cut our hands and we...

And we held them together.

Mm...

We could do it, too.

You and me.

Really?

Yeah.

But...

Well, first you'd have to prove yourself.

How?

You'd have to spend a night out at the lake.

Alone.

The whole night.

I can't.

Wait.

Are...

are you afraid?

No.

But my mom and dad will get worried if I don't get home.

Are you a pirate or a scared little boy?

Gotcha.

[Telephone rings]

What is it, Garcia?

Garcia: Bob Turner, our missing canyon dweller, has gone from off the grid to gridlocked.

Turns out Bob Turner isn't even his real name.

It's Casey Peters, and Mr.

Peters has what I would diplomatically call a sketchy history.

Sketchy how?

Embezzlement, fraud, forgery.

I could go on.

He's lived mostly in Florida and the Carolinas.

What brought him to Ramona, California?

A place to hide out, apparently.

From what?

Something to do with money.

Months before the canyon was flooded, federal treasury agents were closing in on him.

And that's when he pulled up stakes in Ramona and vanished.

Do we know where he is now?

We do not, but I am on the hunt.

I am sending you a DMV photo of Casey Peters from his Bob Turner days.

I know that guy...

From the lake.

Yeah.

That's the guy who found the coins.

Help you with something?

Actually, yeah.

You mind taking off your hat and sunglasses?

Do what?

The hat and glasses, just for a second.

Sorry.

That's not gonna happen, pal.

Seriously, man, I'm drying to dry-dock my boat, ok?

What the hell is your problem, huh?

The sunglasses.

Are you drunk or something?

Do not touch...

FBI!

Alvez: Casey Peters, let me see your hands.

JJ: Ah-ah-ah.

Don't even think about it.

So, which one of us tells them Peters is not our unsub?

He doesn't remotely fit the profile.

I know.

It doesn't mean he's guilt-free, though.

Peters is tied into this somehow.

Escondido PD just called.

Casey Peters was locked up over there November 20th through the 24th on a drunk and disorderly.

Means he was in custody when Ben Stiles was m*rder*d.

Rossi: Convenient.

Happy accident or part of his plan to build an alibi?

Prentiss: Why don't we ask him?

I gotta warn you, he's not in a very talkative mood.

Oh, that's ok.

We specialize in mood adjustment.

Good evening, Mr.

Peters.

I'm SSA Prentiss.

This is SSA Rossi.

We're with the FBI.

We have some questions to ask.

So, what brings you to Lake Palmer?

Prentiss: Do you live in the area?

Rossi: Well, how about this?

We'll talk, and you sit there practicing your stonewalling, because we already know a lot.

Back in the nineties, you got into trouble with the law down in Florida...

Embezzling, writing bad checks.

Then you moved to Ramona, you changed your identity, and you hid out in the canyon.

And then right before they flooded the canyon, you packed up again and took off.

Now, lo and behold, you are back at the exact same time these murders started up.

News flash...

I was in jail when the first guy got k*lled.

Rossi: Well, that guy you were hassling out on the dock, what was that all about?

You can ask all the questions you want.

I'm done talking.

[Frogs croaking]

[Owl hooting]

Ohh!

Ooh!

No!

No!

[Gasping]

Prentiss: Yeah, Garcia.

It's pieces-fall-into-place day here at Garcia central.

I have been looking at old Ramona public records for all things Bob Turner, and another Turner caught my eye...

A Leland Turner.

In 1997, he was 13 years old.

He has a long juvie record, no family history.

And he listed his address as Palmer Canyon Road.

That's the road that used to lead to the residences in the flooded canyon.

Casey Peters had a son.

I did it.

I spent the whole night by the lake.

You're ready now.

Come on.

Well, I gotta give you a tip of the hat, Casey.

It is not easy to evade law enforcement for 20 years.

And if you hadn't come back to Lake Palmer, you'd still be out there free as a bird.

But you're here.

Why?

That boat owner down at the dock...

I think you were trying to see if maybe that was your son Leland behind those sunglasses.

How do you know about Leland?

Casey, people are dying, and we're on a clock.

So if you know where Leland is, you need to tell us.

I don't.

I haven't seen my boy in 20 years.

But when you heard about these murders, you thought he might be involved.

That's why you came back.

Leland didn't want to leave Ramona.

They were supposed to go.

We got into this fight.

Boy runs away.

That's the last I ever saw him.

He was 13 years old.

Did you look for him?

Called around, asked some people.

I mean, it's not like I could walk into a police station and file a report.

I had my own problems.

Casey, did your son like to play at being a pirate?

Yeah.

He did.

Why?

Whoever's committing these murders in Ramona, it's tied into a pirate fantasy.

Are you smiling, Mr.

Peters?

He's alive.

My boy is out there.

What's that for?

To sterilize it.

Does it hurt?

A real pirate doesn't care about pain.

And after we do this, we can go.

Go where?

The lake.

To the treasure.

There's treasure at the lake?

Do you trust me?

Give me your hand.

All right.

We sail under a black flag.

We live the way that we want to live.

And we train to fight against all of our enemies.

Yaah!

We take what we want.

But we...

we always defend our treasure.

And that's why you take the blood oath.

We swear to defend the treasure to the death.

To the death.

And beware the curse.

To any pirate who would go against the oath, may he be visited by the ghosts of all the pirates who have gone before.

Leland knew the...

the power of the curse.

Who's Leland?

We have to defend the treasure.

Then they...

they flooded our hiding place.

They...

You mean the treasure got flooded.

Leland said...

he said that we needed to stand guard until we could move the treasure someplace else.

You gotta do it.

It's really important.

And then that morning, he went down to the treasure to stand guard, and...

And I was...

I was too afraid, so I stayed home, and it...

I broke the oath.

And then they let all the water in.

I better get going.

I told my parents I spent the night at Kevin's house.

What are you talking about?

Pirates stick together.

I need to go.

I just...

No.

You can't go.

No, you can't.

I came back to the lake to make it right and to add to the treasure.

And then...

and then I found you, a fellow pirate.

Leland's gonna forgive me now.

I know.

We're brothers now, all three of us...

In life...

and in death.

It's not just my blood that's inside of you.

It's somebody else's, too.

Well, Leland’s juvie history was pretty innocuous.

Vandalism, shoplifting.

Hardly gateway crimes to the life of a serial k*ller.

Well, every grown-up monster was once a cute little baby monster.

Alvez: The bigger issue for me is how does a 13-year-old boy stay off the radar for 20 years?

When Garcia can't find a breadcrumb, it's usually because the bread was never baked.

Alvez: Yeah, at some point, it's time to stop thinking about what's possible and start thinking about what's likely.

Which, for me, is that Leland is dead and has been dead for a long, long time.

JJ: Which would leave us where?

Well, Emily said that Peters told her Leland had other kids he'd play pirates with.

[Dialing]

Release the genie.

Leland Peters...

did his juvie trouble ever involve another kid?

Uh, yeah.

A whole group of kids.

They ran in a pack.

Does one name pop up more than the others?

Oh.

Like B-14 in a bingo parlor.

Jess Carney.

He and Leland were thick as thieves.

Literally.

Stole stuff, truancy.

But this is weird.

At age 14, Jess...

poof...

like disappears.

His behavior took a violent turn shortly after the canyon flooded.

His parents couldn't control him anymore.

And as soon as the mystery presents itself, the mystery is solved.

Jess was institutionalized out of state and put on antidepressants.

That would explain the arrested development.

He was medicated and isolated during some crucial formative years.

Jess Carney returned to California when he was 24 and worked odd jobs in and around San Diego.

And then...

Suddenly left the area about a month ago.

That's right around the time the killings started.

Do we know where Jess is now?

Oh.

Oh, we do not.

After he left San Diego, he...

he...

poof...

vanished again.

It's like a re-poof, I guess you'd call it.

Is there a recent photo of Carney?

The best I have is a DMV photo from 6 years ago.

Sending it now.

[Muffled shouting]

It's time to go.

Leland is waiting for us down there.

It's time we join him.

[Muffled cries]

Officers canvassed the crime scene neighborhoods.

Nobody's recognized the photo.

It's 6 years old.

Jess Carney could look a lot different now.

It might not have anything to do with this, but a 12-year-old kid's just gone missing.

His name's Timmy Kane.

Rossi: When was he last seen?

Yesterday afternoon.

What's got me worried is, parents say the boy spends a lot of time up at Lake Palmer.

[Dialing]

Hi, Emily.

Matt...

[Muffled cries]

We need to get down to Leland.

We've gotta guard the treasure.

Jess: Say "I cannot leave my pirate ship..." [Muffled cries]

Emily, I need backup now.

Jess: You don't cry if you're a pirate.

Real pirates don't cry.

There's no crying when you're a pirate!

You've just made it worse.

You want to cry?

FBI!

Hands where I can see them!

Let the boy go.

Let him go!

Uhh!

Oh!

Ohh...

[Muffled screaming]

No!

[Both gasping]

You're ok?

Rossi: This kind of thing we don't see enough of.

Drink it in.

Tim: I'm sorry, Mommy.

Chopper found Jess' boat drifting in the middle of the lake, empty.

Was there a cinder block on board?

No, sir.

Nothing.

We're searching the perimeter of the lake now just in case he swam to the shore and made a run for it.

He didn't.

Jess went back to a place where you'll never find him.

It's over.

Casey.

We found the k*ller.

It wasn't your son.

It was a friend of his, a kid he used to play pirates with, Jess Carney.

Do you remember him?

It wasn't Leland?

No.

He d*ed that day, didn't he?

When they flooded the lake.

We may never know exactly what happened, but, yes, it points that way.

Mr.

Peters...

You're being transferred into the custody of Agent Samuelson of the U.S.

treasury.

I wanted it to be him.

Excuse me?

The k*ller.

I wanted it to be Leland.

Because if it was, it meant he was alive, he's always been alive, breathing the same air I've been breathing.

Is that wrong?

You loved your son.

Let's leave it at that.

Appreciate everything you've done for us, Agent Rossi.

I'm just glad the boy's safe.

It's a beautiful lake.

Yes, it is.

I have to remind myself of that now and then.

Take care.

You, too, sir.

Ready?

Avanti.

[Engine starts]

JJ: You hear that?

Hear what?

Cut the engine.

[Thunder]

[Rain falling]

Singer: ♪ who you gonna call when the rain comes...

♪ Well, I'll be damned.

♪ And you're drowned out with something left to say?

♪ ♪ And the windows won't close ♪ ♪ and the wind is spinning out...

♪ Let's get out of the water.

♪ And the sound drips down our house ♪ ♪ for the soil to hold me ♪ ♪ ooh...

♪ Rossi: "Where there is ruin", there is hope for a treasure." Jalaluddin Rumi.

Singer: ♪ so who you gonna call ♪ ♪ when the rain comes ♪ ♪ and you're drowned out with something left to say?

♪