A woman was being beaten and was then murdered in a motel room at the show's opening. Her body washed up at the sea port and the CSIs discovered she was the same woman who had stolen Veronica Parker's identity. Veronica Parker's body had been found after a fifteen year disappearance in last week's episode.

Mack suspected that Chief Carver had murdered his sister, and possibly the woman who had assumed her identity, Marcella Gomez. The bullet from the gun that had killed Marcella had once belonged to Chief Carver. Evidence to prove the chief's guilt was hard to come by as Marcella had been killed by her abusive husband, and the gun had been in Marcella's possession. 

A knife found with Veronica's body had belonged to a young man, but it had been confiscated by a police officer, and that officer was Chief Carver. The evidence continued to mount against the chief, but was not enough for an arrest. An examination of the wounds on the body of Veronica Parker showed that Chief Carver could not have inflicted the injuries. A piece of chewing gum also left in the grave contained DNA with a familial match to Veronica Parker, and Mack went to arrest Chief Carver's nephew, Jay, who gave himself up willing.

Jay revealed that he had plotted to kill his mother for a long time when opportunity had presented itself. He told Jo Danville that his mother had abused his siblings and himself, and he killed his mother because he was afraid that one day she would have killed them. He had turned himself in to his uncle at the time, but Chief Carver covered up the crime instead.

Being complacent in the cover up Chief Carver resigned his position and Jay was charged with manslaughter with no time served.