The Most Disturbing Criminal In CSI: Miami Season 2
Like most long-running crime procedural dramas, the hit CBS series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" was followed by several spin-offs. "CSI: Miami," the first spin-off series, premiered in September 2002 and ran for 10 seasons until April 2012. While the Florida-based iteration of the series continues following a team of detectives who use physical evidence from crime scenes to solve cases, it also leans into a more humorous approach.
The Miami-Dade Police Department's CSI unit is led by Lieutenant Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and his partner Detective Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter) as they attempt to unpack what happened at often gruesome murder scenes. "CSI: Miami" explored countless terrifying killers over the years, but this jaw-dropping case from Season 2 stands out as one of the most disturbing.
People often joke about the absurd headlines that come with coverage of crimes in Florida, but "Deadline" saw the tables turn as a shady newspaper staff found themselves at the center of a CSI investigation.
Deadline exposed a dark side of journalism
While many of the murder cases in "CSI: Miami" prove to be personal, Season 2 Episode 19, "Deadline," was especially disturbing given how emotionally-detached its killer was. As the detectives investigate the suspicious murder of a city councilman who had been collaborating with Josh Dalton (Peter Spears), a high-profile journalist, they stumble into a shocking conspiracy about the legitimacy of reporting at the Miami Sun.
It turns out that Dalton has been making up crime stories to attract an audience, and his editor Jim Rennert (Mark Blum) is in on the charade. Their desire for professional success trumps any journalistic ethics and leaves room for Dalton to do whatever he wants . When fellow Miami Sun reporter Amy James (Elena Evangelo) turns up dead, the team realizes how far Dalton is willing to go for these fake stories.
What makes this crime so insidious is the way that both Dalton and Rennert dismiss the gravity of what they've done because the falsified articles improved their readership. Dalton, who found out that James was trying to expose him as a fraud, didn't hesitate to murder her to protect his reputation. As Caine put it, though, "the truth has this funny, mysterious way of finding daylight," and justice was finally served.