Auto Salvage Yard

Auto Salvage Yard is a location in Season One of Showtime’s series DEXTER.

The owner of the yard, Jorge Castillo, used his boat to smuggle people from Cuba to the United States. He kept them locked up until they paid an additional fee. If they didn’t, he would drown them and dump their bodies overboard.

Location

 * Vicinity of Miami, Florida

Summary

 * “Love American Style”

Yelina, a maid who works with Rita at the Z Hotel, tells her that her fiance is missing. He had paid a fee to be smuggled into the U.S. from Cuba but never arrived. Rita asks Dexter to help find out what happened to him.

Dexter talks to Officer Gerard who says there are illegal smuggler suspects, but there is not enough evidence for convictions or warrants. The officer tells Dexter that once the migrants reach America, a smuggler will hold them hostage and demand more money from their families. If they don't pay up, he kills them.

Dexter obtains a list of the smuggler suspects and visits the third name, Jorge Castillo, since he is the closest to the park where the maid's family was told to leave the ransom money. He drives to an auto salvage yard, which is piled high with old cars stacked one atop another. Dexter lets himself into the yard and walks around, noting that there are no neighbors, no foot traffic, making it a good place to carry out nefarious activities. He is interrupted when the owner, Jorge, shows up and politely asks Dexter to leave, saying that it is a private yard. Under the alias, Dave Cutler, Dexter pretends that he is looking for a ‘69 Stingray headlight. Jorge won’t let Dexter look around, instead giving him the address of a Corvette shop. Jorge lets it slip that he runs the place alone.

As they walk toward the entrance, Dexter notices the floater on Jorge’s key chain and says that he has a 32’ Concept. Jorge replies that he has a rowboat with a hole in it, making Dexter laugh. Dexter comments in Spanish, but Jorge claims that he doesn’t speak Spanish. Dexter remarks that he assumed he was Cuban. Jorge says, “American, pal, just like you” as he closes the door to the yard. With a smirk, Dexter, thinks to himself, “Just like me.” Later, Dexter returns to the auto yard after dark. He enters a storage building and finds old mattresses, spoiled food, and other signs that people have been held there in squalid conditions.

From his boat the next day, Dexter photographs Jorge’s high-priced home. He observes his expensive sports car with a sticker for Reefshore Marina, and attractive wife. (At this point, Dexter believes she is unaware of her husband’s activities.)

That night, Dexter sneaks aboard Jorge’s boat, and finds evidence of human smuggling, including old cell phones. When he opens the boat's fishhold, he discovers it filled with dead bodies submerged in water. While he is taking photos of the drowned victims, Jorge suddenly appears at the dock and unties his boat, but Dexter manages to escape, unseen.

Later, Jorge returns to the salvage yard, holding at gunpoint a new group of kidnapped Cubans, and locks them in the storage building. Then he notices something odd. There is a line of lit candles leading to an old Airstream trailer. Jorge follows them inside, and is surprised to see photos of his victims fastened to the walls. From behind, Dexter injects Jorge with M99 as he says, “God bless America.” Jorge immediately passes out.

Dexter suddenly hears a car outside. It is Jorge's wife, Valerie, looking for her husband. From a hiding spot, Dexter watches her as she opens the door to the storage building. When a woman tries to escape, Valerie pushes her back inside, calling her a “Cuban piece of shit,” adding that they are all “fucking animals.” It is now obvious that she is just as guilty as her husband, and Dexter calls it a true partnership. He decides to kill both of them.

When Valerie and Jorge awake, they are both bound to kill tables inside the trailer. Dexter informs them that he rarely deviates from a plan, but he didn’t have the heart to split up such a perfect couple. He admits they had a clever, lucrative plan, because no one questions a drowned Cuban man or woman. Realizing they are about to die, Jorge and Valerie profess their love for each other. Hoping to learn something, Dexter asks them how long they have been married and how they make their relationship work. They answer that they have been married for twelve year and want the same thing, same life, and share the same dream.

Because he is limited for time, Dexter only slices Valerie’s carotid arteries and doesn’t dismember her. While he's putting bagged remains inside his car's trunk, Dexter doesn't realize that someone is watching from inside the closed trunk of a junked Mercedes. Before leaving, Dexter unlocks the storage building, allowing the Cuban captives to escape, without seeing him. The next day, Dexter is called back to the salvage yard, which is now a crime scene. When he enters the trailer, Dexter is shocked to see Valerie’s nude body there since he had thrown it into the ocean. He realizes that someone had been watching him and dived down to recover her body, then brought it back to the murder scene. He believes it to be The Ice Truck Killer, since he has played similar games with him.
 * “Return to Sender”

While at the yard, the police discover a young boy named Oscar hiding in the trunk of the Mercedes who may have witnessed what happened. Dexter is very worried about being exposed. He even has a nightmare and dumps his kill tools into the ocean.

Dexter devises a plan to set up Jorge for killing his wife. He scrapes blood from Valerie’s blood slide and plants it on Jorge’s socks. He also transfer Jorge’s fingerprints onto a knife and places it inside a truck at the salvage yard. Then, in spite of Debra’s objections, he convinces Sgt. James Doakes to suspect Valerie’s husband for her murder since Jorge is a deep-fisherman who knows how to use a knife -- and he is still missing. Cadets are instructed to search the salvage yard and the knife is found. This convinces the police that Jorge is the killer.

Meanwhile, Oscar has described the man he saw in the salvage yard to a sketch artist. To Dexter’s amusement, it turns out to be a depiction of Jesus.

Related Pages

 * Jorge Castillo
 * Valerie Castillo
 * The Castillos
 * Yelina
 * Mariel
 * Oscar
 * Ernesto Rodriguez
 * Human Smuggler Murder Case
 * Officer Gerard
 * Officer Bruno
 * Officer Forbes
 * Ice Truck Killer Case

Trivia

 * Strictly speaking, Jorge Castillo is not a coyote. “Coyotes" is the name for smugglers who facilitate the migration of people across the Mexico–United States, and Bolivia–Chile borders. (Jorge brought people from Cuba.)

Quotes
Dexter Morgan: “I don’t understand America’s obsession with cars.” As he walks past an Airstream trailer, “I can just images squeezing Rita and the kids into this thing, hitting the open road -- cramped quarters, public bathrooms, hours of nothing but conversation. It’s someone’s American Dream -- my nightmare.”