Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
In season 4, Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows lead the Las Vegas night shift through cases that turn on evidence other people overlook. Nick Stokes causes trouble for himself when he gives a former college friend confidential details that later appear in the news. The team handles a string of murders linked to couples meeting at a hotel, a missing gun tied to two home invasions, a baby who dies in a parked car during a heat wave, and a severed head that sends Grissom to the Nevada town of Jackpot. Catherine also takes charge when a suspect insists on speaking only with her about a missing dancer.
Workplace pressure runs alongside the investigations. Warrick’s mistake over a search warrant nearly lets a rape and murder suspect walk, but fresh evidence points to a planted knife and another culprit. The team revisits an old missing-person case, follows a car bombing and a roller-coaster derailment, and investigates the death of a young woman who has already survived an assault. Lindley Parker identifies psychiatrist Todd Coombs as her attacker, yet his DNA appears to clear him. After Lindley is murdered, hair evidence links Todd to her; Grissom recognizes that Todd’s chimerism gave him two DNA profiles, explaining the apparent mismatch. In the closing scene, Sara’s drinking leads to a DUI arrest, and Grissom comes to take her home.