Dr. Christiaan Vezza was the personal physician for Dale J. Biederbeck III (a.k.a. Dale "the Whale") and an accomplice in the murder of Judge Catherine Lavinio. The Whale conceived the plan and extorted Vezza into carrying it out.
Background and Criminal Activity[]
Born Glenn Q. Sindell in 1965, he became a practicing surgeon. One day in 1997, while under the influence of drugs, he killed a young girl by accident on his operating table. He was subsequently convicted of manslaughter and reckless endangerment, carrying a minimum sentence of 15 years. Before sentencing, however, he jumped bail and disappeared.
Taking the name Christiaan Vezza, he billed himself as an expert on the treatment of morbidly obese people, and came into the employ of Dale Biederbeck. In exchange for being on call 24 hours a day, Vezza received a generous salary, funding for his research, and his very own clinic.
In the end, Christiaan openly detested working for Biederbeck, especially since Dale was an uncooperative client. He tended not to follow Vezza's diet plan, though he did manage to help Dale lose about 100 pounds (getting the patient down to a mere 800).
Employment Under Extortion[]
At some point, Biederbeck learned his physician's secret, thus heavily leveraging the reluctant Vezza's loyalty.
In 2002, Dale ordered Vezza to murder Superior Court Judge Catherine Lavinio in retribution for her ruling against him in an anti-trust lawsuit and costing him $200,000,000. As a way of flaunting his power and taunting investigators, Biederbeck instructed Vezza to fabricate clues implicating Dale "the Whale" in the murder. He wanted to be accused even though his immobility made it impossible for him to perpetrate the act. (Beyond that, he'd have been unable to fit through his own bedchamber's 48-inch-wide door, let alone the smaller doors of Judge Lavinio's house.)
The Murder of Judge Lavinio[]
Vezza began by wearing over-sized boots as he walked up to the house to root around for its outdoor hide-a-key (the location of which Dale managed to coax out of the judge's former maid). The boots left notably large footprints in the yard and finding the key hider among rocks in the yard granted him easy access. Vezza proceeded to beat Lavinio to death with a baseball bat traceable to Dale.
Next began the main effort of implicating his boss. Vezza ransacked the Judge's home. Also, he started making a stove-top meal, intentionally burning it to set off a smoke detector.
He disabled the detector by standing on furniture while wearing one of the customized "empathy fat-suits" from his clinic. Thus he ensured that a neighborhood girl saw his rotund silhouette through the large, front window. Lastly, he used his female voice mimicry talent to impersonate the Judge making a 911 call.
It seemed as if her last words were identifying Dale the Whale as her home-invading assailant.
Investigation, Arrest, and Plea Bargaining[]
Unfortunately for Biederbeck, the Doctor made some minor mistakes (both during and following the crime) that hinted at the truth.
- He'd commenced to cook a fresh meal while leftovers were in the fridge. Adrian Monk later posited that the crime scene had been staged, suggesting it made no sense that the Judge would neglect the leftovers and cook something from scratch.
- In choosing between chairs, stools, etc. that were handy at the scene, Vezza went with one that could support a man of average weight at most. An identical article later broke under the bulk of a man who was as heavy as he looked after Monk requested he try standing on it. The implication was that the witness saw someone faking girth and not a truly overweight person.
- While flirting with Monk's assistant, Sharona Fleming, Vezza showed off his talent for vocal impressions of famous women. Connecting this with the discovery of video recordings of Catherine provided by Dale the Whale, Monk reasoned that Vezza could have studied her voice and faked her supposed 911 call.
- Vezza also told Sharona a bit about himself. He included his age and that he was named after Christiaan Barnard, the first successful heart transplant surgeon. Monk noted the factual inconsistency that the age stated put Vezza's birth year two years before Barnard first had any claim to fame. The likely conclusion was that Vezza had betrayed the origin of an alias chosen for himself.
Based on these plausible theories, the S.F.P.D. applied for F.B.I. assistance and ascertained Vezza's true identity. Arrest warrants were granted and the investigators confronted the two conspirators with their case.
Heartlessly as ever, Dale the Whale accused Vezza of attempting a frame-up job and challenged the police to prove his own involvement. In response, they offered Vespa a redemptive plea bargain if he would agree to testify against Biederbeck and affirm that he'd masterminded the murder. Vezza gladly accepted the deal, ensuring that his hated employer would at least go to prison as well.