See Also: 'Dead Ringer' Episode Guide

A runner in a major cross-country race turns out to be a "Dead Ringer" in episode twenty.

The Las Vegas Crime Lab is fielding a team in the annual Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay when they are called out to investigate the death of a contestant, according to CSI Files sources. Teams from various law enforcement agencies participate in the real-life event, a 120 mile, 20 stage, foot race which runs from from Baker, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.

Billy Marsh, a sheriff's deputy from the Special Enforcement Bureau, was scheduled to run leg 16, the hardest, before turning up dead. The first suspect is Rick Adams, the LAPD's representative on lap 16, who got into a scuffle with Billy during warm up. Rick had run the same lap against the same SEB contestant for the past six years, but then Billy showed up, all bluster, and the pair clashed.

Rick suggests that Billy was a "ringer", a contestant fraudulently transferred into the SEB in order to give them a better chance of winning the leg. The finger of suspicion then points at Paul Avery, the man who was in competition with Billy for a place in the SEB. They were equals for their first two SEB tests, but by the third contest Billy was way out in front and took Paul's spot. Could this have been enough to kill his friend?

While Grissom and Catherine work the A-case, Warrick, Nick and Sara will investigate the death of another Baker to Vegas contestant. Michael Senteno, a police officer, is found shot dead inside his hotel room with a woman who isn't his wife. Every year he booked the same hotel room during the Baker to Vegas race for a fling, so why did he end up dead this time?

Please note that the above plot details have not 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 above information comes from an early draft of the script and details may change before the episode goes to air.

"Dead Ringer" will likely air in April, 2004.

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