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Chris Downey is a character in Mr. Monk vs. The Cobra.

Biography[]

Chris Downey is first introduced as an ex-con-turned-grave digger for a San Francisco cemetery, who Adrian Monk and Captain Stottlemeyer bump into, as they were exhuming the body of Sonny Chow, a famous martial art actor, who, despite having been dead for six years, had his DNA found in the house of John Ricca, a murder victim. Stottlemeyer recognizes Chris, having been one of the arresting officers when Chris was charged for assaulting an off-duty cop in 1999. He had initally been also investigated for larceny, as the assault occured shortly after a courier was robbed of a delivery of diamonds, but the police were unable to recover the loot. Stottlemeyer questions him about his connection to the robbery, which Chris all but answers. He is then revealed to have an unspecified heart condition that requires him to regularly take medication, downing a handful after the stressful encounter.

Chris is later identified as the culprit for both the recent murder and the armed robbery six years ago, which coincided with the death of Sonny Chow. Following the robbery, he had snuck into the funeral home and hidden the diamonds in a pillow insdie Sonny's coffin, hoping to dig them up later on, but was prevented from such when he was jailed for the assault. When he was released just a few days prior, Chris attempted to unearthen Sonny's grave, only to find that the Filipino branch of the Sonny Chow fan club had financed a massive stone monument that was build over the entire grave. Knowing it was impossible for him to breach the stone, let alone undetected, he came up with a plan to bring about the exhumation of Sonny by implicating him for homicide, which, in the face of overwhelming evidence combined with the prevalent rumor that Sonny faked his death, would force the city to order a disinterment to confirm that the body's identity. He targeted Ricca, a critic, for his outspokenly negative view on Sonny and impersonated one of Sonny's movie characters, also doing numerous flips and kicks to convince Ricca of his disguise before beating him to death with Sonny's trademark weapon, nunchucks, before planting some hair he stole from a fan museum and writing "CHOW" on the floor with Ricca's blood.

When he overhears Monk saying that he solved the case, Chris hits Monk over the head with a shovel and buries him near a traffic light. As he attempts to take off with the haul of diamonds, he is stopped by Stottlemeyer and Co., alerted by Natalie, who they command to divulge the location of Monk. Knowing he has the upper hand, he makes a line of requirements, expecting to be given immunity for his crimes and a one-way flight overseas on a private jet, but starts slurring halfway through his demands and collapses from a heart attack. Despite their efforts, the police is unable to bring Chris to talk or keep him alive for that matter, as he dies moments later without revealing where Monk is trapped. After a massive rescue operation, Monk is found, unconcious, but breathing.

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