The evil Vickie Winston
Vickie Winston (Stacy Edwards) is a villainess from "Feeling the Heat," episode 4.04 of CSI (airdate October 23, 2003).
Backstory[]
Vickie Winston is a horticulturist and the wife of Paul Winston, and in August 2000, the couple welcomed a baby boy, Howard Aston Winston. However, Howard was born with Tay-Sachs Disease, an affliction similar to multiple sclerosis, and sometime in 2002, Howard passed away due to the illness, leaving the couple distraught.
Events[]
Six months prior, the couple welcomed another son, Joshua, but in the episode's events, they noticed that Joshua began to show the same symptoms that Howard had. In actuality, Joshua had been exposed to pesticides on numerous occasions, not only from Vickie's job, but for her use of the pesticides in her garden. Vickie called Dr. Garner, who confirmed that Joshua was showing the signs of the disease, leaving both parents worried that they would lose Joshua in the same fashion as Howard. In spite of and contrary to their fears, Vickie turned heel and planned to kill Joshua, doing so in a twisted way of preventing him from suffering as Howard did. She colluded with Paul in the plan, which had Paul leaving Joshua in their overheated car, giving him cough syrup before Joshua was left to die in the car, which was revealed to be 145 degrees inside.
In her first appearance, Vickie slapped Paul and berated him for leaving Joshua in the car, playing up the ruse that the death was accidental. The investigation's progression revealed that the couple had lost another child--Howard--due to Tay-Sachs, and after pesticides were found in Joshua's system, Vickie was interrogated by Catherine Willows regarding the chemicals, as well as Howard, with the villainess berating Catherine and claiming that she had to bury two children, while also blaming Joshua's death on Paul's neglect.
It was in the episode's climax that everything was revealed, as Vickie responded to Catherine's question about having Joshua with her while gardening with denial, only for Paul to state otherwise, as they were arguing over holding him. When Catherine asked Vickie if she washed her hands after gardening, Vickie stated that she was sure she did, despite not remembering, and it was afterwards that Catherine and Jim Brass revealed that Joshua's exposure to the pesticides caused the similar symptoms. The pair also revealed that the villainous couple killed Joshua due to their paranoia and fear that he had Tay-Sachs, leading to Vickie informing Catherine that she had no idea what it was like to watch your child die. In response, Catherine revealed that Dr. Garner's enzyme test on Joshua came back negative; he did not have Tay-Sachs, meaning that the couple killed a healthy infant. After the reveal, Vickie and Paul were both arrested (off-screen).
Trivia[]
- Stacy Edwards later appeared on Lie to Me as villainous psychiatrist Christina Knowlton, on The Mentalist as murderess Concetta Wale, and in The Devil's Hand as the evil Susan Brown.
- Stacy Edwards also portrayed redeemed child molester Meredith Rice in an episode of Law & Order: SVU.