The Plain in the Prodigy - Recap

An entire skeleton's worth of skull and bones of a young male were found scattered on a much used rail road track in a wooded area, prompting Bones and Seeley to begin a lengthy search for all the bones they could find, considering the miles of track available to search. What bones were found were taken back to the FBI lab and an in depth inspection was begun into them. Marks on the bones were determined to be from kudzu vines which grow in extreme abundance in the south. He had come from the mid-Atlantic states. Bone markers on the skeleton indicated that it bore no processed foods, chemicals or other indicators of the victim having been from the present century and what remnants of clothing that were found on the skeleton were hand stitched, a curiousity in this day and age. Bones thought that the victim might have been an immigrant, but was not sure. Further study of the bones determined that he had been an Amish youth. What had happened to him? He had been at least two months.


Computer comparisons of the bones determined him to have been a missing male named Levi. Bones and Seeley went to his home and talked to his parents who told the agents that Levi had been allowed to leave home during the Amish period allowed young people to determine if they want to stay in the church for good or join the world. He had not returned but had phoned his parents about two months past and had said he was on his way home but had never come back. They had feared for his life and had reported him missing. The agents inspected the dead youth's plain room and found a small wooden box containing black and white rocks hidden under his bed. His mother said she had never seen the box before but told the agents that his son was musically inclined which led to a clash of beliefs. The father said that the Amish did not believe in using or playing musical instruments and that Levi had been pursuing piano lessons in town at a piano studio, taking lessons from an older lady. The agents asked if they could take the box of rocks back to the lab and the parents agreed. On the way back to the car, the agents met up with a teen age Amish girl named Sara who said that she and Levi had been courting but he had never returned. Sara's brother, Amos, in the nearby carriage, demanded that she return to the carriage, seemed very angry and upset, and whipped up the horse when Sara climbed into the vehicle and took off quickly.

At the FBI lab, Hodgins and Sweets figured out that the rocks that Levi had collected in the box had been used by the boy as piano keys for practice, which fit in with what the parents had told Bones and Seeley. Levi had had a part time job in the music store in town and the agents went to talk to the store's owner who showed them a video of Levi testing for the National Conservatory using a piano. He had also had a friend named Josef Beechy, a young man known for partying. The agents went to his apartment and talked to him, who told them that Levi had stayed with him during the Amish testing period but hadn't stayed much beyond that. He did tell them that there was a piano student named Carolyn who had a nice apartment in an older building in the city. Bones and Seeley went back to the lab and re-watched the video and it was determined, after some audio study of the tape, that Carolyn's apartment could be in one of six buildings that bore the same architecture. A train's whistle had been heard in the video, pinpointing it to one certain building to which the agents went. The victim's skeleton bore fracture marks on one hand, and the skull had a break in the top. Bones determined that Levi had broken his own hand on one of the pianos in the building because he'd thought his musical gift had been a curse and he and Beechy had had a fight on Carolyn's apartment's balcony when Beechy was raiding the place for Levi's money and Beechy had pushed Levi off the balcony and onto the dumpster several stories below, breaking Levi's neck.

Carolyn told the agents she had been out the day that Levi and Beechy had their struggle and that she had only been trying to help Levi get into the conservatory, but Levi had had second thoughts about his very considerable musical gift. She had tried to encourage him by giving him a fake gold medallion she'd been given but evidently Beechy had thought it was real gold and was trying to find it and Levi's money in a hidden drawer of Carolyn's antique roll top desk. He had not found either item and was shocked and infuriated when Levi happened to come home early and find him rifling through the apartment. Seeley arrested Beechy for the theft and causing the death of Levi and not reporting it.

Amos, Sara's brother, was questioned who told the agents that he had found out about Levi's musical genius and had tried to encourage him, but Levi told him that he thought he was possessed and afraid of what might happen if he was admitted to the conservatory. Amos reassured the youth that he would look after Sara until such time that Levi felt free to return to Amish country and marry Sara, but he never returned. His death had been caused by the fall and no one had ever identified his body. As to how it had gotten to the rail road tracks would always remain a mystery. Levi's parents were told that Levi had indeed planned to return to the farm and help his father with the work and also marry Sara, but he had wanted to make his mark in the world by joining the conservatory, pursuing his musical gift of playing the piano, but his youthful plans were cut short by a stupid quarrel over some money and a fake gold medallion.




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