Crime Seen: Early Days of CSI
  Posted by Anthony E. Zuiker on Aug 24, 2009
As the creator of CSI, I’ve seen my share of dead bodies. I remember them all… especially my first one. The year was 1999. The month was August. I was doing research for CSI, which then was called CSA. “CSA” stood for Crime Scene Analyst. The CSI division pre-show was known as “Field Services.” Today, it’s called (you guessed it) CSI. Now, when a civilian wants to do research with the real CSIs, you have to make submissions to the Public Affairs Office. I did and they granted me “eight hours only” for the year of 1999. I’m like “eight hours” for the entire year to do research on a TV show? I’m dead. Forget it. By the grace of God, I went to high school with Monte Spoor who’s a real-life CSI. He took me under his wing and we rode along together the entire week, ten hours a day, including midnight lunches at Caesar’s Palace. The shrimp cocktail rocked!

      

Anyway, one day we got a call about an officer-involved shooting. Apparently, a man was angry at the cops and tried to burn his own house down with him in it. When we arrived, the body was gone but we walked the crime scene. I don’t know if you’ve ever been inside of a burnt-down house, but it’s very creepy. The smell of burned life is a smell you can never forget in a million years. The way fire enjoys ripping lives apart, turning pictures into ashes, melting children’s toys without a care -- it’s so tragic. The one piece of evidence the CSI pointed out was an air conditioning unit that fell from the roof to the bottom floor and hit the victim on top of the head. Ouch! I, to this day, don’t know if the burn vic was shot by a police officer. That wasn’t my business at the time. However, I was invited to see the burned body. “Groovy…”

                  

When I went to the coroner’s office, I met Dr. T. He’s a really cool guy who drives a love wagon (don’t ask) and has a great sense of humor. He also is a musician and we’ve used a song of his on CSI. The song was called “I’ll Speak for You.” It’s a song about a coroner being the voice for the dead after they’ve been killed. You gotta love it. So, when I arrive for the autopsy, I get dressed in a lab coat, face mask, and booties. Through the window, I can see the burned body curled up on the slab. Nasty. Dr. T said, “Wait…” When you see your first dead body, it’s not that bad. It seems fake really. The skin was black crusted with pink flesh. The hair was burned off. And the hands were clenched in fear. Weird.

Dr. T took a scalpel and cut the chest open right in front of me. And I have to tell you, the smell of freshly cooked human flesh is so fucking disgusting I thought I was going to die. To make it worse, he showed me the ribs, which looked like something you’d eat at Outback Steak House. Gross, I know. Anyway, Dr. T showed me the victim’s trachea where there was a lot of “soot residue” from smoke inhalation. I think it was cutting out the gums to retrieve the teeth that got me. He literally took a scalpel and carved out the gums like a candy bracelet of teeth. At that point, I was about to yak. I think I might’ve swallowed some vomit. Truth be told, I had to step out to get some fresh air. And when I heard the other coroners giggling, I realized that their macabre sense of humor was satisfied. Make the Hollywood kid from Vegas queasy. It worked. I haven’t ordered a slab of ribs since.


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Wow, that is quite the tale.  Thanks for sharing.
Well, I could say that I understand you, Zuiker. I lived a situation like that. I know how you can feel the 'dead' smell hehe While I was doing my job in a company called Aluar, a man did something wrong and it made an explotion. When I turned, I saw that man was so burnt, but he was alive. The smell was so disgusting and then I sat next to him to ask him how he felt. I have seen another things like that, but I stay 'strong' hehe Last week a woman tried to steal me at home and I think (I don't believe it yet!) I had have courage to confront her... You are brave Zuiker. (SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH)
Sounds fine reading it, but I'm sure I would completely freak looking at a dead body too. Though I wouldn't mind doing someday. Just to experience it.
if i ever witnessed a freshly burned body (maybe even not so fresh...) i would become an instant vegeterian... even after reading about your experience, i may consider it...  i have a friend who was going to school for forensics psychology.. i myself never finished highschool.. i was VERY interested in the subject she was studying & started to read her books. at 1 point i came across some pictures, some were of burn victims, some were of people who's bodies have been dismembered.. it was grotesque.. but i was still oddly intrigued. i've even come across some disgusting youtube videos where 1 man was being decapitated, 1 was casterated & 1 guy shot himself in the head... it was all very disgusting & when u think of someone being decapitated or casterated u dont really stop to consider that bodily fluids will come spewing out..  but these are all things that i couldn't tear my eyes away from. and i still see the images every once in a while..  anyway, now that i've rambled on & on... i dont think i could handle seeing any of this in real life... face to face. i can barely handle the site of a dead body at a funeral... AZ i think ur awesome to be able to handle it... and then tell us about it.. not only in a blog but in your writing.. (ie CSI & Level26 etc)
*squinches nose up*
I can smell it, and I can tell you, it's not pretty. Makes me want to go back to being vegan. Fruits, veggies, and nuts don't resemble anything on a dead human! *shivers*
Thanks AZ :)
YAY thats the CSI crew I know and LOVE!
Wow... I was at the dentist today and now I have a mental image of what the Dr. could have done *shivers*

In college, a friend of mine from my film class and I looked up this site he had heard about (WARNING: If you go to this site, it is incredibly graphic!!!!) called Rotten.com. We got sick just looking at it and had to pretend these were doctored photos so we didn't lose our lunch or our sanity. I have never had the desire to go back and look at that site since. I doubt I would fare as well as you facing down a burnt body.
*Stands up to applaud*

Bravo to you, Mr Zuiker, for being able to go through that and put it in to writing such brilliants works for the CSIs on TV (my fav is Miami)!
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