- The Jeffersonian team investigates the death of Stephanie McNamara, the daughter of a wealthy family whose remains were found in a national park. When the team digs deeper into the circumstances surrounding her death, clues from the case lead them to believe she may be the Ghost Killer's latest victim, with a surprising connection to a previous victim. Meanwhile, the FBI Deputy Director takes a special interest in the team's high-profile case and Booth's career may be in for some changes.—Ester Castro
- A corpse found in a national park is identified, considering a rare congenital deformation, as Stephanie McNamara, the last surviving member of the once super-rich and powerful 'industrial royalty' family, whose name still commands FBI deputy director Victor Stark personally urging Booth to solve this case top-priority. Dr. Clark Edison, brought in as Bones is too closely involved personally having concluded from the MO it may well by the phantom killer, confirms he's involved. The team works out however there was an elaborate cover-up, involving major corruption bought with McNamara money, and a complex chain of betrayal, revenge and related crimes.—KGF Vissers
- A campfire scene with a family toasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories is rudely interrupted when a body drops out of the trees above them. Bones and Booth are discussing Booth's potential promotion when they receive a phone call about the body, but Dr. Savoyan asks that only Booth visit the scene.
The victim was both stabbed and hung, and Savoyan thinks it might be the work of the Ghost Killer. Disregarding instructions, Bones arrives at the scene and pronounces the murder to have a Ghost Killer modus operandi. One indicator was that the third fingernail had been torn off, but they soon realize the victim had real nails glued on to all of her own fingernails. Bones points out that the victim suffered from prognathism, indicating she was a McNamara, an extremely rich family whose son was recently murdered. From the age and sex of the victim, they identify her as Stephanie McNamara, the earlier victim's sister. Booth theorizes that she was killed after investigating her brother's murder. The Deputy Director Stark tells Booth he has been leaned on to solve the murder of the wealthy girl.
Savoyan and Hodges determine that victim tested positive for sophorine, indicating she was drugged. This throws suspicion on the McNamara's gardener, and when Booth and Bones visit the scene, they find scratch marks and dried blood, dating from fifteen years ago, on a horse stall. Meanwhile, Clark has determined that Stephanie's nails were torn out 15 years ago, thus they conclude that it was she who was locked in the stall. The Ghost Killer must have glued the other nails onto Stephanie, but why?
Next, Booth and Bones visit an SEC representative, who reveals that the McNamara's have had several financial run-ins with the law. They request records from the investigations - 18 years of records with a million and a half pages. Hodgins finds that gardening chemicals were in the injuries, so they bring the gardener in. Bones realizes that Giles McNamara was her father and she would inherit billions upon the deaths of others in the family.
Dr. Savoyan does DNA analysis on all of the glued-on nails, determining that they all belonged to victims of the Ghost Killer. Angela works out that Stephanie was at the scene of all of the crimes. The team surmises that she was the Ghost Killer and that she kept a nail from each of her victims and glued them on herself. But who killed Stephanie?
One victim remains unidentified. They identify her as Maya Zinkow, a schoolmate of Hodgins and Stephanie's. They disinter her remains, and determine that Stephanie killed her and the family had used their wealth to frame another person, Herman Kessler, who served 20 years for the murder: Zinkow had not been embalmed and had been sent straight to the cemetery from the coroner's office; the Medical Examiner's report was incompetent, and he had probably been paid off by Giles McNamara.
Booth and Sweets visit Kessler's apartment, where they find he had been collecting information on the McNamaras. Among the papers are house blueprints of the McNamara estate and another house. They conclude he will go after someone else. Kessler had also found crime scene pictures from the Zinkow investigation which had been lost, presumably by McNamara's inside agent.
The ME's report had been written to set up Kessler. Zinkow had been raped, so Dr. Savoyan attempts to find DNA from the rapist. Angela identifies the second house as belonging to Congressman Stephen Palter, who had been the judge on the case. DNA results show that it was Giles McNamara who raped Zinkow. Sweets theorizes that this event was what triggered Stephanie into becoming a murderer. Booth and Bones rush to the congressmen's estate, where they find evidence of a struggle, and then the congressman's body hanging from a chandelier.
The autopsy shows that Palter's body has wounds identical to Stephanie's and Zinkow's. Hodgins finds traces of tobacco and pesticides in the wounds, just like Stephanie's. He also identifies asbestos, and based on this and an analysis of the wounds, they identify the weapon as an old tobacco scythe. Going to a nearby abandoned tobacco warehouse, they find Kessler about to hang himself. Booth shoots and breaks the rope before he can drop to his death.
Booth is recommended for promotion.
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