Dex Parios

Background

Dex is a veteran of the US Army, with tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. She lives in Portland taking care of her brother, Ansel, who has Down's Syndrome. When she's not hitting the bottle or gambling away all her money, she works as a private investigator.

Cases

The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo but Left Her Mini

Thanks to her growing gambling debt, Dex is forced to work for Sue-Lynne Supa, owner and operator of The Whispering Winds Casino and Resort. Sue-Lynne needs help finding her granddaughter, Charlotte. She had been missing for four days. She wasn't answering any calls, and she left her car behind at her apartment.

Charlotte's disappearance also got Dex involved with Hector Marenco, local businessman rumored to be running the local MS-13 group. He offers Dex more money just to clue him in when and where Dex finds her. Unbeknownst to Dex, Charlotte had ties to both of Hector's children: his son, Oscar, and his daughter, Isabel.

Oscar was Charlotte's ex-boyfriend, and she was hiding from him with Isabel. Charlotte was an archaeology major, and Oscar was using her for her access to digs. He was stealing Native American artifacts from her and trying to sell them on the black market. Charlotte found out, and the Marenco's decided she needed to be silenced. Oscar and Isabel were basically competing to see who could get her to their father, making the other one look bad. Dex was able to rescue her by offering all the evidence for the artifact theft but made copies to insure the Marenco's ultimately left them alone.

The Case of the Baby in the Velvet Case

Mim, the guitarist for an up and coming Portland-based band comes to Dex about her missing guitar. When Dex goes to interview a roadie, she comes across two skinheads assaulting him and is later greeted by a DEA agent that has been following her around. This convinces Dex that the band is involved in drug smuggling. Mim denies it, and the guitar ends up in Dex's place. Ansel says it was dropped off by a man in glasses.

Dex gives the guitar case to the DEA as it is evidence and leaves the guitar in her office. She takes Mim to her office to return it but catches the two skinheads breaking in. They run off with the guitar, and Dex and Mim follow. Dex makes a big enough scene to get the local cops attention. They are able to get the guitar back, but one of the skinheads shoots a cop and steals their cruiser. Dex figures she just has to evade them long enough for the rest of the police to react, which they do.

The two skinheads were arrested, while Dex and Mim were released. Mim was put up in a hotel by her manager until the whole thing could blow over, but Dex was still curious. They still didn't know who stole the guitar in the first place. Dex asks Mim about the description of the man who dropped off the guitar. Mim says it sounds like a particular roadie that they pay a visit. Different skinheads got to him first. They were beating information out of him. The roadie was not involved with smuggling any of the drugs, but when he found it, he ditched the drugs to protect the band. The DEA shows up just in time to save the roadie and Dex, but Dex never figures out who the connection was in the band.

In other media

Cobie Smulders plays Dex Parios on a "Stumptown" television show produced by ABC Studios.