Diane Lambert (Sandra Lee Gimpel) was the main villainess from "Crash & Burn," episode 3.17 of CSI (airdate March 13, 2003). She was introduced as the victim of a deadly car accident, which had her driving her car into a restaurant, killing herself and three others.
The beginning of the investigation revealed that Diane was driving twice the speed limit, and after medical marijuana was found in her system, it was believed that the prescription (which was for her glaucoma) impaired her, though it turned out that the amount wasn't enough to do so legally. However, after Sara Sidle discovered that Diane's hormone levels were high, it led her to a shocking conclusion: Diane intentionally drove into the restaurant. Regarding a motive, Sara ended up finding one after seeing her lover, Hank Peddigrew, at the restaurant with Elaine Alcott, who introduced herself not only as an employee at Sillmont Healthcare, but as Hank's girlfriend--while unaware of Hank's affair with Sara.
A search of Diane's phone records revealed that she made 80 calls to the same number, revealed as Sillmont when Sara dialed it. When Sara asked for their address, she was informed that it was 16 South Meadows Lane. The restaurant's address was 16 North Meadows Lane, revealing that Diane's intended target of her villainous vehicular rampage was Sillmont. During Sara and Catherine Willows' interview with Elaine and her boss, Elaine revealed that Diane was a member of their HMO due to being diagnosed with colon cancer, which was in remission until two months prior to the events. It was after the disease's re-emergence that Diane called Sillmont regarding more aggressive treatment, only to be told that the recommendation for the treatment was pending. She received no further updates after her numerous calls, and knowing that she was running out of time, she had her will changed and named her grandson, Corey, as the recipient.
A week prior to the incident, Diane asked Corey to help her with the GPS in her car, with Corey doing so. Unbeknownst to Corey, Diane turned heel and planned to run down Sillmont in her car, but she needed to know how to work the GPS so she could commit her murderous plot. The villainess entered the restaurant's address by mistake, and on the day in question, the evil Diane drove from Laughlin to her destination and sped up once she reached the address, killing three people and striking her head on the dashboard, killing herself as well. During Diane's posthumous villainous reveal, Catherine stated to Corey that her actions were intended to have been committed to help him financially, but because Diane's death was suicide, he would not receive any money. This was uttered due to Corey being suspected of knowing about his grandmother's plans, with Corey stating that he had no knowledge of Diane's villainous plan, and that he would have stopped her if he had.
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