Michael Keppler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation character | |
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| Michael Keppler | |
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| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Brown |
| City | Las Vegas |
| Job | CSI |
| Rank | CSI Level 3 |
| Current status | Deceased |
| Portrayed by | Liev Schreiber |
| First appearance | Sweet Jane |
Michael Keppler is a fictional character on the show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Hailing from Trenton, New Jersey, he worked with the CSI team of Las Vegas on the graveyard shift, filling in for Gil Grissom who was on a four week sabbatical. In real life, actor William Petersen (Gil Grissom) took a four-week vacation to Connecticut to perform for a theatre group. Michael Keppler was portrayed by acclaimed actor Liev Schreiber.
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Childhood
Michael Keppler was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in either 1966 or 1967 (his age was cited as 40 in an on-screen database capture). He is an only child to his parents Herb & Roberta. His mother was a homemaker while his father was a plumber. When Keppler was three years old his father was killed in a car accident. This forced his mother to take her young son and move in with her "hippie" sister. After this she never remarried.
As a child Michael wasn't allowed to watch television, his mother forbade it. Instead he would read and play sports out in the neighborhood. He was forced to grow up fast, becoming the tough Jewish kid in an all-Irish neighborhood while at school and emerging as the "man" around the house.
His high school career was relatively average. He still played sports and was even the tight end on the football team. He wasn't one for alternative lifestyles or the drug scene but he did enjoy a night out in the woods drinking with his boys. Whenever he would listen to music however he didn't exactly go mainstream and kosher with bands like Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Squeeze and even a bit of Metallica. In his sophomore year, he got a job at a local garage to help out with the bills after his aunt moved to New Mexico, here he learned all about cars.
In his junior year he met a freshman girl named Amy McCarty. Michael and Amy fell in love. During his senior year, they planned to get married after she was finished with high school. He wanted them to move to Manhattan where he would become a fireman and she could raise a family. Their dreams of a happy life were ended when Amy allegedly committed suicide on January 22, 1985. Keppler was nearly destroyed by this, but eventually was able to cope with the help of Amy's father Frank who became Keppler's surrogate father. Frank had lost his wife a year before losing Amy, his only daughter. The two men forged a bond in grief and love. Frank used the money he'd saved for Amy to help put Keppler through college.
[edit] Education
Keppler received his undergraduate degree from SUNY Binghamton, and a Master's Degree in Chemistry from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. At college he was anti-social but soared academically even though he was functioning on little sleep. He became plagued with nightmares. While he was well-liked by everyone, he didn't let anyone get too close.
[edit] Early career
Shortly after his graduation, Keppler's mother was diagnosed with bone cancer. He returned home to care for her and began his life's work as a criminalist. After his mother died, he accepted a job in Philadelphia and left to start a new life. While there, he met and married a pretty, if less than challenging, woman. Keppler settled into a suburban life for five years. The problems of his past came back to haunt him, causing his marriage to disintegrate. Keppler began suffering from chronic insomnia. Despite a successful career in Philadelphia, Keppler took a new job in Baltimore. Shortly afterwards he transferred to Las Vegas, where he hoped the miles would put enough distance between himself and his troubled past.
[edit] Death
The anniversary of Amy's death brought back memories that he just couldn't shake -- 22 years after her death, it still haunted him. Keppler had been receiving numerous voicemail messages from Frank McCarty. The messages were brief and to the point: Frank wanted to see Keppler. Believing that Frank has gotten himself into "another fix", Keppler had been avoiding Frank, but Frank appeared in Vegas on a "vacation" to Vegas with his good friend.
Frank wanted Keppler to help him cover up his murder of a retired police officer. The officer was going to testify against McCarty. McCarty was a dirty cop who helped Keppler kill the man who he thought raped Amy. While investigating the retired cop's murder, Keppler realizes that it was Frank who raped his own daughter. He confronted McCarty while McCarty was trying to kill a prostitute that could identify him. Though Frank fatally shot Keppler through the lower chest (in an attempt to hit the witness), Keppler managed to return fire, putting six equally-fatal rounds into McCarty's torso.
Despite the efforts of CSI Catherine Willows and the paramedics, Michael Keppler died in the ambulance. He was only the second graveyard-shift CSI (after Holly Gribbs in episode 101, "Pilot") in seven years to be murdered (episode 715, "Law of Gravity").
[edit] References
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | |
|---|---|
| Episodes | Characters | |
| Characters | Gil Grissom | Catherine Willows | Nick Stokes | Warrick Brown Sara Sidle | Jim Brass | Greg Sanders | Al Robbins Sofia Curtis | Conrad Ecklie |
| Former Characters | Holly Gribbs | Paul Millander | Lady Heather | Michael Keppler |
| Creator(s) | Anthony E. Zuiker |
| Computer Games | CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | CSI: Dark Motives CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder | CSI: Hard Evidence |
| Related Series | CSI: NY | CSI: Miami |
