1. "Golden Parachute"
The team combs through the wreckage of a private plane that mysteriously crashed in a swamp, killing seven of its eight passengers. Horatio Caine (David Caruso), the city's top CSI, is the first to arrive at the site and immediately suspects foul play. The complexity of the case is compounded by the discovery of a female passenger's mangled body - five miles away. Meanwhile, Caine is also dealing with the return of Megan Donner (Kim Delaney) after a six-month absence: She was Caine's boss, but now he's her superior.
First Aired: September 23rd 2002

2. "Losing Face"
A necklace bomb explodes, killing a Colombian businessman and a bomb technician who was Horatio's former mentor.
First Aired: September 30th 2002

3. "Wet Foot/Dry Foot"
Horatio and his crew investigate the discovery of a man's partial torso by a group of fisherman who slit open a shark they caught, only to have the man's remains spill out. Megan soon realizes the man was murdered when she discovers a bullet wound on the corpse. Later, a second victim is found floating in an inner tube.
First Aired: October 7th 2002

4. "Just One Kiss"
A dead man with a slit throat and a partially burned face is discovered on a Miami beach, along with an unconscious young girl who was beaten and thrown into the ocean. The investigation leads Horatio to a prominent Florida family and its steely patriarch, who was once involved in a mysterious case that has plagued Horatio for years.
First Aired: October 14th 2002

5. "Ashes to Ashes"
The season's highest-rated new drama delivers a double dose of suspense as Horatio and Megan investigate separate, but equally perplexing, cases. Megan heads the probe into the bloody murder of a 50-year-old Cuban priest who was shot by a hunting rifle in a rectory. There's no sign of a break-in and the killing resembles an execution. Across town, Horatio is called to the scene of a single-car accident in which a young woman was killed, her body badly burned after the stolen car she was driving crashed into a ravine and exploded. However, suspicious findings at the site combined with the autopsy report convince Horatio that the woman was murdered.
First Aired: October 21st 2002

6. "Broken"
Horatio and his crew investigate the murder of a 5-year-old girl who was lured away from an indoor amusement center's main play area and into a bathroom, where she was killed.
First Aired: October 28th 2002

7. "Breathless"
The naked body of a male stripper who performed during a private party at a Coconut Grove estate is found the next morning in a nearby rose garden, and the CSIs have difficulty determining the cause of death. Meanwhile, Megan investigates the case of a male swimmer who suddenly dropped dead after climbing aboard a boat seven miles out in the Atlantic.
First Aired: November 4th 2002

8. "Slaughterhouse"
Members of a suburban Miami family are found slaughtered in their house after a blood-drenched toddler is discovered walking around a nearby neighborhood. Four of the victims were shot to death, while a fifth, the father, was wounded in the back. The investigation reveals that the mother was suffering from depression.
First Aired: November 11th 2002

9. "Kill Zone"
CBS planned this sniper-themed episode before the October shootings in the Washington, D.C. area, and, until two suspects were arrested last month, considered delaying its airdate. During a typical morning rush hour in downtown Miami, an unseen sniper chooses three victims at random and opens fire, killing each with a single shot to the head. Horatio and his crew rush to the scene, which is quickly mobbed by TV news reporters eager to spin the murders into a national story. The initial investigation doesn't reveal much, as there were no witnesses and little evidence remains. But the case heats up when the sniper strikes again, killing two more innocent people.
First Aired: November 18th 2002

10. "A Horrible Mind"
A well-written episode of the season's highest rated new drama marks the final appearance of Kim Delaney, whose character, Megan Donner, has been little used in recent weeks. Here, she's part of the secondary storyline as she works with Delko (Adam Rodriguez) to investigate a dead body discovered in the trunk of a stolen car found submerged in a canal. The hour's main focus is a bizarre murder. A controversial college professor, who taught a class on violence and believed his students should routinely experience pain, is found strung up in a tree. Evidence reveals that he was tortured with 13 different weapons for at least four hours before he died and that his eyelids were glued open.
First Aired: November 25th 2002

11. "Camp Fear"
Horatio and Calleigh investigate the death of a 15-year-old model, whose body is found near a juvenile detention camp for girls. Across town, Delko and Speedle probe the bizarre death of a man who was apparently burned from the inside.
First Aired: December 16th 2002

12. "Entrance Wound"
The separate murders of a prostitute and a German tourist are probed in this intense episode. Horatio and Speedle investigate the slaying of a hooker who is found dead under a bed in a plush beachside cottage, her naked body having been stabbed 23 times. But the crime scene yields few traces of blood because the killer bathed the victim in the cottage's tub with cardamom soap. Across town at an urban gas station, Calleigh and Delko attempt to uncover why a German tourist was gunned down in an apparent carjacking. They learn that a masked assailant approached a vacationing couple's rental car, shot and killed the husband, but left the wife unharmed and then fled the scene.
First Aired: January 6th 2003

13. "Bunk"
Horatio investigates the death of a man who accidentally inhaled a lethal combination of chemicals in a neighboring house after he went inside to retrieve his dog. Elsewhere, a resident of a retirement community is found dead in a pool of blood, an apparent victim of a vicious attack.
First Aired: January 27th 2003

14. "Forced Entry"
A nude man is found tied to his bed, having suffocated on a rag stuffed in his mouth while he was being sexually assaulted. Also: a crematorium owner is murdered. When the CSIs investigate, they discover dozens of bodies that were never cremated.
First Aired: February 3rd 2003

15. "Dead Woman Walking"
Horatio races against time to find a killer before the victim dies in this well-crafted whodunit. A dead junkie is found on a Miami street with a broken neck and a wad of cash in his hand. When the body is taken to the lab, Alexx notices that the victim's right hand is burned down to the muscle, even though it wasn't like that when he was found. It's deduced that he was exposed to radioactive material. The investigation leads Horatio to an environmental lawyer (Karen Sillas) involved in radiation cases. Shortly thereafter, she learns that she is being eaten up inside by the deadly substance and has only days to live, but she doesn't know how she ingested it or who gave it to her.
First Aired: February 10th 2003

16. "Evidence of Things Unseen"
Horatio and his team investigate after a Russian immigrant is stabbed to death in a peep-show booth. And the only witness to the crime is the stripper who was performing for him.
First Aired: February 17th 2003

17. "Simple Man"
Shortly before Horatio is set to testify at a high-profile murder case in which the defendant is the husband of a city councilwoman, he's given new facts that could prove the man is innocent. The information revolves around the discovery of a second victim who matches the profile of the first one and was killed in a similar manner. If the man on trial isn't guilty, then Horatio fears that a serial killer may be on the loose.
First Aired: February 24th 2003

18. "Dispo Day"
The investigation into a drug heist offers brief glimpses into the private lives of the CSIs, whose nerves are on edge when they become suspects in the crime they're trying to solve. A police convoy headed across town includes an unmarked truck filled with confiscated drugs being taken to an incinerator to be destroyed. The trip ends abruptly when thieves hijack the vehicle, kill its driver and shoot Speedle, who was riding shotgun. It's hard for Horatio when the media draw comparisons to a similar case 10 years ago in which his cop brother was killed. But it's worse for his team when Internal Affairs decides that one of them tipped off the robbers about the delivery.
First Aired: March 10th 2003

19. "Double Cap"
Horatio battles the FBI and U.S. Marshals in this well-crafted episode as he tries to uncover why a beautiful woman was murdered poolside at a ritzy hotel. His investigation begins shortly after the bikini-clad 27-year-old is found dead from two shots to the head. Evidence suggests it was a professional hit, which is strange enough. But the case becomes really puzzling when the Feds take an interest and U.S. Marshals show up. Plus, the murder weapon may be linked to a cold case once investigated by Horatio's sister-in-law (Sofia Milos). Elsewhere, Calleigh confronts her dad about his drinking problem after she's called away from work to drag him out of a bar.
First Aired: March 31st 2003

20. "Grave Young Men"
Horatio is approached by a parolee he helped put away several years ago, who begs for the lawman's assistance in finding his missing teenage son. As the investigation gets underway, Horatio discovers that the boy may be planning a deadly assault. Also: Speedle becomes attracted to a sexy model who may be involved in her boyfriend's death.
First Aired: April 14th 2003

21. "Spring Break"
Horatio and his crew investigate the deaths of two college students who were in Miami on spring break. The first is a teen girl found dead on a beach with her neck broken and human bite marks on her legs. The second is a young man found on the bottom of a motel swimming pool who apparently died before he hit the water.
First Aired: April 28th 2003

22. "Tinder Box"
Speedle and Delko are present when a trendy nightclub catches fire, apparently from a deejay's pyrotechnics display, killing 16 people and injuring dozens of others. But the ensuing investigation reveals it may have been arson to cover up a murder. Also: Horatio probes the death of a prostitute who is found dead in a judge's bathroom in his home.
First Aired: May 5th 2003

23. "Freaks and Tweaks"
An explosion in a rundown barn nearly kills Horatio and his crew just after they find a dead man inside, bound with duct tape. The case gets personal for Horatio when it's discovered that the leading suspect knew his late brother. At the lab, Alexx is shocked to learn that her best friend's husband has been murdered, apparently the victim of a random shooting.
First Aired: May 12th 2003

24. "Body Count"
The highest-rated new drama concludes its freshman season with an expanded 75-minute episode in which three convicts escape from a massive Miami prison complex. The trouble begins when an inmate is stabbed to death in the prison yard. Shortly after Horatio arrives on the scene, a helicopter appears above the correctional facility. He immediately fears that the murder was a decoy to set up an escape. That's confirmed as three prisoners hop aboard the chopper and flee. As the investigation gets underway, the identities of the fugitives become known and a horrible realization sweeps over Horatio: Two of the escapees are cold-blooded killers who already have their next victims picked out.
First Aired: May 19th 2003