Felicia Prechtl is found raped and murdered in Dallas. Surrette Clark disappeared with nobody to even recognize that she was gone. Bob Crane was strangled and beaten to death in his own bed in 1978. Ronnie Bullock was a man who had served 10 years of his sentence for raping an 11 year old girl until DNA evidence was found.
The Boy and the Monster In Wisconsin in the winter of 1991 a young woman's body was found naked, badly beaten and to make it harder to identify her, her fingertips were cut off. After months of trying to figure out who she was they finally came up with a name. Doris McLeod. After finding out who she was the police find out a lot more about her. She had a troubled past. After being on the streets she ended up connected to a pimp. Only one month of being on the streets she is never seen again. It takes a 3 year old boy to finally tell the police about Doris and the Boy and the Monster. Secret in the Cellar The second part of this episode is about a young woman from South Portland, Maine who was in search of her mother. She contacts the police but they get nowhere. They question Bill Bruns, the missing woman's husband who told the police a story about how Pearl drank and ran off with another man. Elaine Woodward, the missing womans daughter, went to the media for help. An investigator takes the case and with the help of science and man power he finds out what happened to Pearl with the Secret in the Cellar.
Texas Drifter Two women in two separate towns in Texas who where raped. The rapist uses a knife to threaten these women then rapes them and leaves his DNA behind. Back when these happened DNA was not profected yet so having the DNA was useless. Many years later when CODIS was developed which is a database for DNA a match to the rapists DNA was found. It was to a known serial rapist. Fingerprint File It was two days before Christmas a woman if found stabbed to death with the only clue left is a fingerprint left on a pop bottle. The forensic people were able to lift the print but had no success in matching it to anybody. Years later a man still working on cold cases finds a match to the fingerpprint which gives the police a lead to a killer. Rose Among Thorns Juliet Rowe was the victim who got shot in the bedroom of her English Countryside home. She was shot execution style then was shot again in the heart. The killer wanted to make sure that Juliet was dead. After thousands of endless attempts her case remained unsolved. 8 years later a stranger comes into a pub and starts talking to Mr Rowe Juliet's husband. The stranger's name was Keith Rose. He was arrested on kidnapping charges 6 weeks later. Because of his arrest he brings attention to himself to the cold case investigators who then look at him in the "Rose Among Thorns" case.
Answer in the Box Alison Parrott was a runner. Not only was she was runner she was a great runner, So much so that she had the local media interested in her, So when she got a call from a photographer to take some pictures of her running she didn't think anything wrong with it. She left to go to her photo session and wasn't seen alive again. The police had a fellow runner as the lead suspect but nothing ever happened with that lead. A cold case detective named Vic Matanovic was going through some files 10 years later and came across the case. When the detective was looking for clues to solve the case the Answer is in the Box. Usually DNA is enough to prove a case but in this case the criminal who lured Alison to her death had a plan to lure the jury to believe in the lie he was about to tell. Maternal Instinct 1981 a brother and sister fell victim to a heartless mother with no regard for life. 3 month old Seth Davis was rushed to the hospital because of insulin poisoning. He was left brain damaged. 5 months later his sister, Tenga Davis, is rushed to the hospital. There she dies of Caffeine poisoning. Even though the autopsy that was turned in by the M.E. stated cause of death was a homicide, the police treated this as an accident. Their mother Mary Beth Davis moves on with her own life by moving to a different state. She starts a new family and forgets all about what happened back in her past. That is until 10 years later when Mary Beth gets a knock on her door by the cold case detectives which brings back her past as the detectives are there to prove a case of murder.
In the first story line in this series called Hunter Homicides 2 hunter were out hunting in 1993 when they were robbed and murdered. Many years pass with this murder gone cold until 1997 when one of the hunters guns shows up in a pawn shop. This case was solved by using psychology not evidence. This case takes you into the mind of the killer. In Vancouver’s Stanley Park in the 1950's skulls were found all being childrens. The case remains cold for almost 50 years until DNA was perfected. Using forensic technology and hundred of volunteers the case of The Skulls of Stanley Park. is re-opened.
George Morgan is serving time in an Illinois prison. For some unknown reason while he is serving his time he wants to talk about a cold case. The difference with George is he wants nothing in return for what he tells the detectives. Going back in his childhood, George talks about his childhood and his abusive step-mom. And the death of his 4 year old sister at her hands. With no evidence, only details, the detectives have to go back 30 years to look for evidence. The Killer Next Door is the second plot in this episode. John McRae began his killing at age 15. After his release and his proclaim to being reformed, the killings started again. His sexual motive was sadism and his preference was male boys. It would take 50 years, 4 homicides and 3 different state to find where the dumping grounds were.
In Louisiana, in 1994, police find the body of a victim who's throat was slashed and body stabbed. With no evidence the case goes cold for many years until years later when a man is arrested for theft. The man is looking to find a way out of jail and tell the detectives of a tale of a murder, fishing and revenge one night many years ago One Night on the Bayou The second story line in this episode is about two men wielding guns in a motel lobby.The only clues left are a few finger prints. Since there were no other clues the case goes cold and is filed in the Buckeye Misdemeanor file. It would be 20 years before the police would look at that file again. With new technology they restart the search to find a killer.
James McCutcheon who makes his home in Florida is reported missing. His roommate Jim Drysdale has basically taken over James' life since his dissappearance. Using his car, taking over his checking account and business. Jim becomes the prime suspect but disappeares before he is arrested. Nearly 4 years would pass before police would catch a break. Jim makes his first mistake from high on the mountain tops of Tennessee where he had been hiding out. He files a clain with Social Security. Where police converge and arrest Jim. While taking him back to Florida Jim confesses to the murder and shows police where the body is. He does this showing no remorse at all. After doing his shift at work, LA Sheriff’s Sergeant George Arthur get into his van and heades home. But what differs on this ride home is that George was shot in his van. Blood was collected from his van and eyewitnesses claim to see a man running from the scene. Without DNA advancement and tecnology the case goes cold. However in 1999 DNA has advanced so far that the this cold case was able to be looked at again. In the investigation police DNA swabs were voluntarily collected from all of Georges friends. That is until they came to former Sheriff’s Deputy Ted Eugene Kirby who refused to give his swab. Suspicous of this police dig and find out that Ted was dating George's soon to be ex wife. He was also treated for head injuries for head injuries shortly after the murder and he called off sick for almost 2 weeks after it as well. After having to file for a search warrant and got the ok, the police collected a swab and found the DNA matched. As police rush to arrest Ted he is missing. Later it turns out that Kirby committed suicide.
Shoot outside her bedroom, Eva Shoen was shot to death. Living in Telluride, on the mountain side. Eva was married to the son of the billion dollar Shoen family who owned the U-Haul empire. With lacking evidence the case runs cold. Even though the police believe that her death was related to a fued in the family business. Years later the case is solved by a secret that was finally revealed and a recorded conversation is played. DNA also helped the killer to confess to the crime. Signature of a Killer Taylor Courtney was a 20 yr old man who was brutaly murdered in his apartment. The crime scene was bloody and vicious. A single print is found but in 1974 when fingerprint technology was still in its infancy it meant nothing. 20 years would pass before a cold case detective would pick up the case and look at it again. What they found was a match in the system which leads to a friend of Taylor's who had committed this murder because of mistaken suspicions and jealousy.
Every 2 years, a group of fire investigators meet for a conference. While attending the conference in 1987 in Fresno, California, 3 suspicious fires break out near the conference. They were in 3 different fabric stores nearby each other. The only clue being left behind is one latent pint. Two years later when the conference is held again in Monterey, California another group of fires break out. The firefighters at the conference begin to think that it's one of themselves. With fingerprinting in it's more advanced stage they were able to tie the arsons to one of the investigators. While searching through his things they find a manscript called DIARY OF A SERIAL ARSONIST which contained not only information on arson but instructions on murder. In the second story line an elderly woman from San Antonio, Texas lay in her room naked from the waist down with her throat slashed. In the next room was her 80 year old husband who had just suffered his 3rd stroke. But there was no evidence to charge him. With pressure from a Texas Ranger the case is re-looked at where in they find the LOST CLUE in solving the case.
In the beautiful byways of West Palm Beach, along the canals a woman was fond dead in the canal. After some research they found that the woman was a prostitute. Even with all the evidence and DNA collected at the scene The detecives still had nothing to go on so the case went cold. Four yeas would pass before her case got looked at again. One of the Cold Case detective's who was reviewing some cases where crimes were committed in the area in which he worked his beat. With some new perspective on the case he finds signs that this womans killer has all the signs of a serial attacker and a kille. His trickery is to pose as a police officer to the local prostitutes and lures them into hidden places where he has privacy and assults them and rapes them. And at least 1 case he murders them. Doll Murder A woman from For Collins, Colorado thought she was safe in her own home, but one night in 1989 that myth was shattered. She was found murdered in her own home. The only things that were missing from her home were all her underwear. Semen and fingerprints were collected bt since there was no testing of DNA back then the case went cold. It would be 6 years when across town the womans underwear was found in a furnace. With this new discovery the case was re-opened to be looked at to finally settle the case
Nine years after police had to release the teenage suspect in a woman's murder due to lack of evidence, they find a new lead in the case. Twenty years after a young woman is murdered while babysitting her nephew, police are able to find DNA evidence that points to her killer.
A rapist is captured seven years after the crime, but when he is released on a technicality his victim is determined to fight back. Fifteen years after a fire claimed the lives of a father and son, detectives interview the grown surviving son and learn a tragic tale of a mother who burned her family.
In Wisconsin, advances in forensic clay modeling help investigators identify a murder victim whose skin was stripped from her head, neck, and legs. And in California, police track down two boys who enjoy satanic rituals and setting fires.
Time is not always on the killer's side. He never knows where or when. Bt somebody is inevitably going to find something out and find out who committed the crime. Even if you have changed for the better since then. As taken from the Baretta TV series. "Don't do the crime if you can't pay the time." Terror struck Wichita Falls, Texas when three women, Terry Sims, Toni Gibbs and Ellen Blau were murdered and raped. Ten years would pass before a task force was assembled to compare the three murders. They found that the three semen samples all matched. That was the easy part. Finding who those samples were linked to was another story. John Little, an investigator, revisited the files and after careful and time consuming work he found a name in one of the files of a man who was a suspect but was never investigated. Faryion Wardip was the suspect and after some research on him it was found that he was already convicted of killing a woman named Tina Kimbrew in 1986. He was however paroled because of a very publicized meeting in which Wardip begged for forgiveness from Kimbrew's father. Little thought that Wardrip was still a major player in his cases so he found out where he was living and watched him. One lucky night, Little obtained a discarded coffee cup of Wardrip and brought it back for DNA analysis. Much to his satisfaction, the DNA from the saliva on the cup and the DNA from the semen matched. When detectives finally approached Wardrip with all their overwhelming evidence, Wardrip, without a struggle, turned himself in and also during this time confessed to a fifth murder, one he was not even a suspect in.
One will take 10 years and one will take 17 years to solve but they do get solved. Dedication, science, luck, and even hypnosis is used to make sure justice is done for the dead.
Police solve a murder when divers find a skeleton in a car at the bottom of a river. A dead dog’s DNA helps crack open a six-year-old case.
The accidental discovery of a human scalp leads to the conviction of a man for murder 18 years after the killing. And a teenager who likes to kidnap younger boys and break their bones, kills one and tortures another.
The story of serial killer James Rodney Hicks, who left a trail of bodies and kept police, prosecutors, and the FBI quite busy working on his cases for over 20 years. Hicks murdered his wife, his children's babysitter, and a girlfriend.
When a passing motorist spots a fire along a country road in South Carolina and calls it in, police arrive to discover the badly burned and battered remains of a woman, her skull smashed in to 97 fragments. After a forensic anthropologist at the University of South Carolina painstakingly pieces the bones back together, investigators use the skull to solve the murder.
The murder of scientist Helena Greenwood, who was helping to develop DNA forensic technology when she died, is solved 12 years later with the help of DNA evidence. And a Los Angeles County prosecutor uses criminal profiling to nab the notorious South Bay Rapist, who abducted and raped six young girls.
Using a hair dryer to thaw a frozen corpse, detectives get to the bottom of a grisly murder. And the discovery of a child's skeleton in a Chicago garden puts police on the trail of an "oddball" family.
Forty-one years after the crime, a woman implicates her brother and cousin in the murder of a New Jersey policeman. And members of the Vidocq Society, a group of law enforcement professionals who volunteer their expertise to crack difficult cases, find blood-spatter evidence that helps solve a Texas murder.
A sunset boat ride in Florida leads to death for a vacationing woman and her two daughters, and police investigate a Texas man whose three wives all died in mysterious fashions.
A New Orleans police officer goes undercover on a Baton Rouge riverboat to gain a confession from one of the ship's maintenance workers who is suspected of murder. And a Wisconsin man, suspected of committing murder using a nunchukus, a weapon consisting of handles connected by a chain, goes on trial nearly 10 years after the victim's body was found on Christmas Eve 1987.
A series of brutal rapes in St. Louis goes unsolved for many years until a fluke audit of a license plate number leads police to the culprit.
A killer's bite marks and a jailhouse snitch lead to a murder conviction in a case gone cold for eight years, and Bill Kurtis joins a group of super sleuths trying to solve the slaying of 18-year-old Jamie Weiss, found dead in her bathtub in 1996.
Investigators in Virginia, probing the murder case of a sailor, seek the help of a forensic anthropologist from the "body farm" in the Great Smoky Mountains. Dr. William Bass became an expert on the human body's rate of decay by watching bodies rot at his plot at the University of Tennessee and keeping tables of weather data.
A 13-year-old girl's mother is murdered and 20 years later she helps bring the killer to justice; and a dogged policeman gets to the bottom of the brutal murder of a 63-year-old newspaper delivery woman.
A killer helps convict himself when he boasts about his crime to prison cellmates; and New Hampshire investigators probing the murder of a pregnant woman found raped, strangled, and dumped into her bathtub, get a new lead when they discover a similar case in Florida.
A woman's fall from a cliff in the Grand Canyon leads police to uncover a series of grisly murders, and investigators smoke out a killer when they find crucial DNA evidence on his cigarette butts.
The suspicious death of 2-year-old Billy Blankenship is solved when police force his babysitter to re-enact the circumstances of his death. Then, a murder case is solved when the dead man's body is accidentally found by divers searching underwater for an antique car.
The murder of an Ohio woman in 1974 is solved more than 20 years later after police get a crucial clue--the woman's husband was seen building a coffin-shaped box about the time the woman disappeared.
Klan leader Sam Bowers goes on trial for ordering the murder of an African-American storeowner 32 years prior, and investigators reopen the unsolved case of an African-American truck driver who was forced to leap to his death from a bridge by Klan members.
A boy's toy Batmobile car provides an important clue for detectives struggling to make a case against a serial killer who stalks and kills waitresses.
After the murder of her aunt goes cold, a woman helps launch Citizens Against Homicide, an advocate group that brings awareness to cases that have gone unsolved. And police solve a young girl's rape and murder when the car where her body was discovered acts like a refrigerator, preserving half of her body and allowing authorities to recover incriminating DNA from semen in her body.
Police doggedly reopen a rape-murder case 25 years after the crime and find enough DNA evidence on the suspect's cigarette butts to bring him to justice. And a confession made to a "Baywatch" TV star helps police solve the three-year-old riddle of a wealthy Newport Beach woman's murder.
It takes nine years and the work of cutting-edge forensic toxicologists to solve the murder of a medical examiner's wife. Then, a determined Alabama sheriff reopens the case of the deaths of two babies, hoping to get their mother to confess.
Fire investigator Jack Malooly helps crack the case of an arsonist and killer who set a series of fires to collect insurance money; and a prison inmate tells a homicide detective that he can't help him with his current murder investigation, but knows plenty about another murder that took place in California 15 years earlier.
A police investigator discovers a letter written 16 years earlier that provides clues to a woman's murder. And a firearms expert supplies the evidence that South Carolina authorities need to put a man on trial in 2002 for a murder committed in 1961. It was the oldest murder case ever tried in the state.
Police solve an old murder case with a painstaking examination of the tool mark on the plastic flex cuff that bound the victim's hands, and a 15-year-old murder case is finally cracked open when a disgruntled wife tells police that her husband committed the crime.
New DNA technology and the national DNA databank help police hunt down a rapist-killer 11 years after he committed his crimes, and a detective's painstaking recreation of a woman's shooting death proves it wasn't an accident.
After a long manhunt, cops finally close in on a serial killer with the help of the Internet and information supplied by a subsidiary of Microsoft. And a drug trafficker jumps bail, goes into the bike shop business, and helps pioneer the sport of mountain biking while he's on the lam.
Police run down more than 11,000 leads before coming up with a suspect in the murders of three Virginia girls; and the abduction and strangulation of a California woman continues to baffle investigators more than 11 years after the crime.
A quarter of a century after the murders of two nurses, Canadian police suspect that a former Toronto cop committed the crimes. A blow to the head of a garbage collector in San Jose leaves strange markings, and decades later a detective, with help from forensic science, matches the markings to the etchings of a vintage bar sign. California police hope that DNA will help them track down the man who stabbed and killed a woman as she sat in her parked car in front of a supermarket in 1985.
In the 1980s, a serial killer prowled the posh streets of Orange County. Police were unaware of the serial attacks until 1996, when DNA revealed the killer's secret and they linked four murders to a single DNA profile. Detectives uncovered three more crimes attributed to the man dubbed "The Original Night Stalker" before learning he had an earlier career as a serial rapist! Watch as cold case detectives compare the attacker's DNA with nearly every convicted violent offender in California.
A thumbprint connects two separate murders and it is later discovered that the suspect had a strange fetish for women's lingerie. Then, an elderly woman is found murdered in her bed and the only evidence is a single strand of hair.
A mother is suspected in the murders of two of her daughters, when her third daughter finally convinces police to reopen two cold cases.
A murderer's saliva, found on envelopes that he sealed, helps seal his doom 37 years after his first killing. And Colorado police crack a cold case 24 years later when they take a DNA sample from the victim's son that proves that his father murdered his mother.
After 46 years, LA homicide detectives take a Lover's Lane bandit who also gunned down two police officers into custody. Then, DNA testing helps lead police in Florida to a suspected killer, however the killer has an identical twin.
With access to the San Francisco Police Department's work, including saliva samples taken from letters the infamous Zodiac Killer sent 30 year ago, we reevaluate the case of the serial killer who began terrorizing California in the late 1960s.
While hiking with husband Dennis in Montana, Leslee Larson fell into Wolf Creek. Then Dennis is convicted of murdering his wife, while in Main. And 15-year-old papergirl Penny Parker goes missing, then her body is found by a search volunteer.
In 1983, Navy seamen Sonny Grotton left base for a long weekend at home. But as he pulled into his driveway, a gunman killed him. And in 1993, former state trooper Doug Wright claimed his estranged wife shot and killed herself in their home.
A detective works for 15 years to nab a man who murdered his wife and dismembered her body to hide the sexual abuse of his children. Then, 20 years after the shooting murder of a gas station attendant, detectives get a lead.
The murder of a 73-year-old man leads police on a long chase for a man who's suspected of identity theft and bears a rose tattoo with the name Phyllis.
Cold Case discusses the story of the nearly 20-year hunt for the man responsible for the murders of 49 prostitutes and other women in the Seattle, Washington area.
Police must wait nearly 30 years before advances in DNA technology give them the chance to convict the killer of a young hitchhiker, and Philadelphia police wage a 16-year hunt for the man who raped and killed a 10-year-old girl.
Detectives from three different departments in Westchester County, NY team up to track down a serial killer; and a man known as the Bus Stop Rapist becomes the lead suspect decades after a woman is found murdered under a hotel bed in the case.
Police crack a cold case of murder when a mysterious woman calls to say that her boyfriend is the killer; and the murder of a woman in 1998 provides clues to the 1988 murder of actress Myra Davis, a stand-in for Janet Leigh in the movie Psycho.
Testimony about the growth of larvae in dead bodies helps convict the man who stabbed a couple to death and strangled their 4-year-old daughter in 1993. And the 2001 murder of a young girl, whose head was cut off, remains unsolved.
A Texas woman's murder is solved when the killer's plan to murder another woman and stuff her into a duffel bag goes awry; and a reporter doing a story on unsolved homicides helps crack a case of murder that had been ruled an accidental death.
After 23 years, investigators finally track down the killers of an Atlanta policeman when the ex-wife of one of the killers phones in a tip; and a mother keeps the skeletal remains of the 3-year-old daughter she killed in a footlocker.
A prostitute who fights off a screwdriver-wielding man helps police track down a serial killer; and undercover agents acting as mobsters conduct an elaborate sting to solve a murder case that had gone cold for years. Then, detectives from three different police departments in Westchester County, New York team up to track down a serial killer.
A prostitute who fights off a screwdriver-wielding man helps police track down a serial killer; and undercover agents acting as mobsters conduct an elaborate sting to solve a murder case that had gone cold for years. Then, detectives from three different police departments in Westchester County, New York team up to track down a serial killer.
The testimony of three prison inmates helps convict a man who viciously killed a woman out for a bike ride nearly two decades prior; and a self-admitted sex addict who strangled his cat is a suspect in the 30-year-old murder of a neighbor.
DNA technology that take place over 20 years help police to finally identify the man who brutally stabbed two women to death; and an anonymous caller leads police to the killer of a 13-year-old girl who was shot dead and left in the woods.
Police suspect brothers J.R. and Coco Duvall beat two Michigan hunters to death, chopped up the bodies, and fed them to pigs; and a serial rapist, who holds a mini-flashlight in his mouth to blind victims, is nabbed when he drops it during an attack.
Four retired law enforcement officers, known as the Cold Case Cowboys, help track down the killer of a man wanted for rape and robbery; and police await for advancements in DNA technology before they can put away a killer.
A man suspected of the cold case murder of his wife and son hatches a new plot to kill his mother and father; and detectives solve the 20-year-old murder of a teenager by tricking her killer into licking an envelope, then extracting DNA from the saliva.
Police hunt for a man who killed three women in three different hotels, not far from one another in Des Moines, Iowa. And police get a killer to confess when they tell him prosecutors will show photos of the gruesome crime scene.
A dry cleaning tag inside a sweatshirt left at a crime scene helps police track down a serial killer and rapist who had been eluding them for years.
A scheme to bribe a country music magazine to manipulate the charts leads to murder in Nashville and a 13-year hunt for the killer; and a murderer's plan to hide his gun is foiled when the man who buried the evidence for him spills the beans to cops.
An eerie note left on a grave helps solve a 12-year-old case of murder, and an exhaustive questioning of a mother helps police unravel the mysterious deaths of three of her
Police play a wild hunch that pays off in the capture of a serial rapist. And after 26 years, investigators finally solve the murder of a 6-year-old girl who had been forced to take a cold-water bath as punishment for painting her nails with pink polish without permission.
A phone-sting operation produces a big surprise and helps police nab the killers of a San Diego man several years after the case went cold. And a California DA uses an unprecedented legal strategy in the 6-year-old hunt for a rapist.
Business cards found at a murder scene plus 38 years of advances in DNA technology reveal the killer of a 19-year-old New York woman. And, the lead suspect in a 22-year-old murder confesses after police take DNA samples from him.
Forensic testing helps police solve the 20-year-old murder of a California beauty queen; and two hairs pulled from a bandana used in a double murder is the evidence that police need to put the killer behind bars.
The killer of an 11-year-old girl is brought to justice when his ex-girl friend tells police he confessed the crime to her. And a mysterious set of bones puts police hot on the trail of a man who killed a teenage boy 17 years before.
A Miami undercover operation nabs the man who beat four black prostitutes, and set them aflame. And DNA helps solve the cold case of a man who posed as a fisherman to get a 6-year-old girl's attention, then raped and killed her.
Police suspect a gay man murdered a woman because she became too friendly with his boy friend. And a man goes on a monstrous crime spree, abducting five women over 15 years and forcing each to spend months and even years as his sex slave.
The conviction of a man found guilty of sexually assaulting and stabbing an Ohio woman to death is overturned because his Miranda rights were violated when he was arrested. And police spend 13 years looking for the killer of a Houston security guard who was shot 11 times when he tried to stop a car theft.
A California jury convicts Kevin Green of raping and bludgeoning his wife, despite his claims of innocence. But 15 years later, police nab a serial killer known as the Bedroom Basher and discover that Green may have been wrongly jailed after all.
When a Nevada couple demands the return of a baby they had sold to another couple, the burned body of the baby turns up in Arizona. Then, a man discovers a barrel in his crawlspace that contains the body of a woman who has been dead for decades.
A forensic dentist helps police nab a child killer by showing that the teeth marks on the killer's arms matches the teeth of the murdered boy. And telltale blood stains on a blue bandana solve the 10-year-old case of a teenage girl murdered.
Police in Overland Park, Kansas, hunt for over 15 years for a serial killer who lures women to Kansas for sadomasochistic sexual trysts at hotels.
After an Arkansas man confesses to the brutal murders of two women, police are shocked when the DNA evidence shows that he isn't the killer. And a DNA profile on a scarf helps solve the 21-year-old case of an Ohio woman who was raped and strangled.
A police officer helps solve an 18-year-old murder case when he finds the prime suspect-his older brother. And a biker with a bloody finger is the clue that police need to put away a rapist who assaulted 31 women over six years.
A pawned gun and a stolen pick-up truck are the clues that investigators need to solve an elderly man's murder. And a tip from a prison informant cracks open the 15-year-old case of a man who had his ex-wife killed.
A new fingerprint identification system helps detectives track down a killer after three years of searching. And a Georgia investigator gets to the bottom of a 16-year-old murder case when he discovers the victim's body -- in the bottom of a well.
DNA evidence found on a murder victim whose body had been dumped in a Dairy Queen drive-thru leads to the arrest of Houston's notorious tourniquet killer.
A look at the case of James Allen Selby, a serial rapist who eluded police for years while attacking 11 women in five states - Oklahoma, Nevada, California, Arizona, and Colorado.
A detective vows not to shave until he solves the murder of a young Oregon woman. It takes three years and a string of Mexican Mafia informants to crack the case and allow the dedicated detective to shave his beard. And in a California case, investigators track down a killer with the help of DNA found on the duct tape used to wrap the murder victim's head.
After running DNA tests on more than 50 suspects, Ohio police finally get a lead on a serial rapist suspected of attacking at least 14 women. And a cigarette butt found at a murder scene helps investigators to smoke out the killer 29 years later.
A forensic scientist's painstaking examination of a rape kit helps solve the 15-year-old murder of a teenage girl. And when California investigators probe the murder of a 71-year-old man, they get help from the top suspect's former therapist.
A high school janitor is suspected in the murder of a young girl, but with only circumstantial evidence to go on, police must let the case go cold. And a woman asks police to reopen the 24-year-old case of her cousin's disappearance.
A North Carolina man looking to clear his conscience gives police the information they need to solve a murder. And Indiana police are baffled by the murder of an 86-year-old woman, found dead in her bedroom.
The brutal stabbing murder of a Florida woman is solved when police find crucial DNA evidence in spit left on a pavement. And a man is put away for rape and murder when his footprint matches the footprint he left at the crime scene 18 years before.
A bloody dagger and a phone tap help detectives solve a 20-year-old murder case. And DNA taken from an eyelash found on a dead prostitute's body brings a killer to justice.
A kidnapper grabs 8-year-old Chad Choice from his home in Texas, then torments his parents with two ransom demands. The case goes cold until the parents receive a chilling package in the mail that contains a letter--and a skull.
In this special 100th edition of Cold Case Files, we look at the biggest serial murder case in U.S. history - the 20-year hunt for the Green River Killer. Dave Reichert, the detective who made finding the killer his obsession, walks us through the case. He tells vivid, sometimes harrowing stories about the murders, saying, "You never forget the sight of a 16-year-old body lying on her back on the riverbank with ligature around her neck." Reichert headed up two Green River task forces until forensic DNA technology helped crack the case and brought him face to face with the killer thought to be responsible for 48 deaths.
The story of the hunt for one of the most notorious serial killers in recent American history--the BTK killer, who terrorized the Wichita, Kansas, area for years. After committing at least seven brutal murders, BTK (for Bind, Torture, Kill) vanished for over 25 years before sending clues of his crimes to the media in 2004. He continued to avoid capture until a forensic computer expert traced a computer disc that led investigators to a surprising suspect--a church president.
When an adulterous church deacon is found shot to death in the back seat of his car, it looks like police may have stumbled upon a multi-party murder plot. And, a wife remains a key suspect in her husband's murder case for six years, until she takes the matter into her own hands to prove her innocence.
The dogged work of an Alberta, Canada, detective finally pays off when he tracks down the man who raped and murdered a 6-year-old girl 10 years earlier. And when police search for the killer of an 18-year-old hitchhiker, they find that the victim's diary is one of their best clues.
Law enforcement officials fear they may have to release a serial killer from prison until a 24-year-old murder case gives them a chance to lock him up for good.
A video tape made at an ATM machine helps police in Louisville, KY, to nab a man suspected of raping 13 women. And a DA investigator in Georgia helps crack a murder case that his father, a police chief, first worked on 30 years before.
This special edition of Cold Case Files offers an inside look, rarely seen, at an active cold case investigation. We follow Det. Vince Velazquez of Atlanta and Capt. Russell Popham of East Point, Ga., as they work to solve the 1995 rape and murder of 14-year-old Nacole Smith, one of Atlanta's most notorious unsolved crimes. We see Velazquez and Popham hit the streets to question people who might recognize the man in their composite sketch, and obtain DNA samples from potential suspects. "It's almost like the carrot's dangling in front of us, but we just can't catch it," Velazquez says of his painstaking, frustrating search for the killer.
Thirty-two years after the killing of University of Michigan law student Jane Mixer, police use DNA found on her pantyhose to finally track down the killer. And psychologists help solve a cold case by suggesting the lead detective take a page from the game of romance, and play hard to get with the killer.
On a summer night in 1987 a mother worries and waits for her 19-year-old daughter to come home. But Diana never comes home and she's found raped and strangled near the Hudson River. Investigators suspect her friend, Michael because his alibi is shaky and witnesses place his truck near the crime scene. Trouble is, he passes a polygraph and his DNA is no match. Nevertheless, Michael remains the chief suspect for 17 years, until DNA fingers another man who offers a chilling story of Diana's last breath. Then, a young family's life is shattered when a San Antonio interior design shop becomes a crime scene. In 1983, a young mother is raped and murdered at work. The crime remains unsolved for two decades. Then in 2003 detectives reopen the case pegging their hopes on DNA. But when the evidence turns up missing, detectives worry this case could be over before it starts.
Nine years after the murders of a mother and her teenage daughters, a wiretapped conversation between the suspected killer and his sister helps police to crack the case. And the baffling murder of a Virginia woman is solved when human bones are discovered by a geologist working in North Carolina.
Police in Albany, N.Y., get a surprise when a killer they think targets only older women is suspected in the murder of an elderly man. And the contents of a secret storage shed holds the grisly clues to a murder that has gone cold for more than 14 years.
A district attorney uses a clever technique--a "John Doe indictment"--to give law enforcement officials the time they need to track down the Schoolgirl Rapist from Rochester, N. Y. And prosecutors reluctantly decide not to prosecute their lead suspect in the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl because they have only circumstantial evidence. But 12 years later, the cold case squad reopens the case, hoping DNA evidence will prove the supect's guilt.
A 14-year-old boy is charged with the murder of his sister, but his public defender believes the police coerced the boy's confession and that the real killer is still on the loose. And two deteriorated medical examiner's slides, made in a murder investigation 16 years earlier, give police the evidence they need to reopen the cold case and bring the lead suspect to trial.
A serial rapist seals his own fate when he sends a taunting letter to police, who use the DNA extracted from the saliva in the envelope's seal to track him down. And when a man is found dead in South Dakota, his head bashed in by a 50-pound rock, investigators go on a 20-year search for the killers--a man and woman who were part of a free-loving hippie group and are known only by the names "Outlaw" and "Inlaw."
Our cameras follow Detective Manny Reyes as he investigates the 1990 murder of a Fort Worth, Texas woman. Reyes talks to the woman's two sons, who believe that her husband, Bobby, was the murderer. We then watch as one of the husband's relatives tells Reyes that Bobby has confessed the crime to him. To make the case even stronger, Reyes collects physical evidence that connects him to the crime. Finally, Reyes meets Bobby for a dramatic interrogation. Will he crack and admit the crime--or will he hang tough and deny it all?
Bill Kurtis examines one of the most infamous cold cases in Los Angeles history -- the 1947 murder of actress Elizabeth Short, who was found nude and cut in half in an empty lot. Though charges have never been filed in the case, theories abound, and Kurtis investigates some of the most prominent ones. He talks to a retired LAPD detective whose 3 year investigation led to the stunning conclusion that his own father committed the murder. Kurtis also probes the theory that the killer was a surgeon named Walter Bayley. Kurtis finally explores the possibility that there may have been a police cover-up in the case to protect the real killer.
In Rhode Island, policewomen go undercover in as street walkers to nab the man suspected of murdering three prostitutes. And a dagger-shaped letter opener is the key piece of evidence that links a priest to the grisly 1980 murder of a nun in Toledo, Ohio.
After 19 years, Kansas detectives reopen the case of a banker found beaten to death in his bed--and the chief suspect is his cheating wife. And a man with a guilty conscience helps Arkansas police to crack a cold case of murder when he tells them that his ex-wife knows who the killer is.
After U.S. Navy sailor Andrew Muns disappears in 1968, the Navy claims that Muns went AWOL from his ship. But his sister works tirelessly for over 30 years to prove that Muns was really killed. And DNA surreptitiously gathered from a cigarette butt helps detectives to unravel a 20-year-old case of rape and murder.
DNA found on a marijuana joint in Florida in 2005 helps to solve the 1988 rape and murder of a California woman. And a cold case of murder in Illinois heats up when a jailhouse lawyer turns jailhouse snitch.
Detectives are baffled when two young girls are raped, murdered, and dumped in an abandoned house in Akron, Ohio. And a 26-year-old mother of three disappears on Christmas Eve in 1995, but the missing persons case goes cold when police can find few clues to her whereabouts.
The killing of a woman in a Virginia hotel room goes unsolved for a quarter of a century before investigators are finally able to zero in on the likely killer. And, when a 25-year -old women is shot to death during a jewelry store robbery in 1980, investigators collect fingerprints and blood from the crime scene. There are few leads and the case goes cold until 1999, when detectives test the blood evidence and develop a DNA profile. For two years more, that profile sits without a match, until 2001 when a convicted burglar is entered into the DNA databank.
When a woman is found murdered in her mobile home, police make two shocking discoveries--her husband may not only have been the killer, but he may have also killed his first wife 31 years before. And after an Oregon man is shot dead, the case takes an unusual twist when one of the investigating detectives has an affair with the chief suspect--the dead man's wife.
Guns found dumped in a pond outside of Atlantic City, N.J., help police to solve the 15-year-old murder of Detroit cab company owner. And the rape and murder of an Atlanta TV station receptionist goes cold for 20 years before the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) links a man with three prior burglary convictions to the crime.
A detective in California tracks down a prostitute's killer with the help of a key piece of evidence--fingerprints lifted off two beer bottles found at the murder scene. And two persistent cold case detectives in Kansas City, Mo., use DNA analyses to investigate the 1990 murder of a woman and the death of a man killed in a car crash in 1988.
Bill Kurtis narrates this look at the last 48 hours before the scheduled execution of Michael Johnson, convicted in the senseless killing of Jeff Wetterman 11 years earlier. Our cameras capture the rising tension as we interview Johnson the day before his date with death and as his family fights to save him. Will Johnson die, or will he receive a last-minute stay of execution? In a shocking turn of events, the story ends in a way no one could have foreseen.
A look at the work of college students who take on the cases of jailed murderers who claim they're innocent. With exclusive, behind-the-scenes access to Innocence Projects at the University of Cincinnati and Texas Tech University, viewers watch as the students visit the inmates, track down key witnesses, and seek DNA testing that could prove their clients' innocence. We focus on the cases of Anthony Graves, a Texas death row prisoner, and Glen Tinney, a mentally ill Ohio inmate who pleaded guilty but now says he didn't do the crime.
A member of the Chicago Police Department launches the Women's DNA Initiative to fund the testing of rape kits; a deputy district attorney in Sacramento County, Calif., uses a DNA grant to find a killer.
Halloween in a small town is canceled indefinitely when a young girl is kidnapped and killed on her way home from a costume party.
A family torn apart by their grandparents’ murders. Two decades later, a cold case detective takes on the case that has haunted him since he was a child.
The case of a gruesome stabbing death of a bullied teenager remains unsolved for 27 years – until a rookie cold case detective sees a new clue in an old crime scene photo, leading her to a killer that everyone thought could not possibly have committed the crime.
A killer authors a book about his con-man past that becomes the key to solving a 29-year-old cold case of two high school sweethearts–and three other cold case murders–leading police to believe he could be the Zodiac Killer.
College student Brad Perry shows up to work his graveyard shift at the gas station and is never seen alive again. It will take twenty years, the uncovering of an illegal drug ring in a squeaky-clean Mormon town, and the development of new forensic technology to solve this cold case.
The longest running cold case of a law enforcement officer in the United States was the murder of Sheriff’s Lt. Joe Clark – shot execution style in his own home. Given his tough stance on drug crime, detectives become convinced his death is the beginning of a drug war. It takes 33 years for them to discover the truth.
When 18-year-old Shannon Siders’ body is found in the woods, everyone in the small town of Newaygo, Michigan, becomes a suspect – but no one is convicted of the crime. It takes 22 years for a special cold case unit – along with the help of the entire town – to solve Shannon’s murder.
A 17-year-old girl from a small Kentucky town goes missing, then is found strangled two weeks later; a police investigation into the crime uncovers a terrible family secret.
Two unsolved murders of loved ones plague a family; detectives uncover a hidden crime scene that may help solve the 13-year-old cold case.
Police learn the key witness in the stabbing death of a beloved aunt was an imposter; a return to the crime scene reveals a clue hidden in plain sight.
When 31-year-old real estate appraiser Mike Williams mysteriously vanishes while duck hunting in the Florida swamps in December of 2000, authorities suspect he accidentally drowned. For sixteen years Mike's disappearance remains a mystery. The case heats up when police receive a distress call from the victim's wife in 2016. Featuring interviews with detectives and the victim's mother as well as rare footage of the crime scene and recorded audio confessions with the accused, the episode explores how the disappearance unfolded into a sinister plot to cash in on millions of dollars of life insurance.
When 36-year-old computer programmer Lisa Valdez fails to show up for work, her apartment manager finds her brutally murdered in her tiny studio. Her body is riddled with stab wounds, the walls are covered in blood. Evidence shows the killer cut off her long, dark hair, taking it as an apparent trophy. Detectives ask, could she be the victim of a brutal serial killer? Or was Lisa murdered by someone she knew? Clues left on an answering machine point to a co-worker who was known to have feelings for Lisa, but two bloody fingerprints left on a toilet seat clear him as a suspect, and the case goes cold for thirteen years. Things heat up when a detective gets a hit during a search of the state's DNA database, leading to an unsuspected person from Lisa's past.
When Sherry Leighty goes missing in 1999, her family is left wondering how a dedicated mother of three could vanish without a trace. A decade later, the cold case heats up when Sherry's sister launches a social media campaign to help solve her sister's mysterious disappearance. An online tip unearths the killer truth and a sinister family secret. This episode features an interview with Shelly Leighty, who never gave up on solving her sister's case, along with rare home video of Sherry and her family not long before she disappeared.
When 25-year-old schoolteacher Christy Mirack is found brutally murdered in her Lancaster, Pennsylvania, apartment in 1992, there is no shortage of suspects. Frustration and fear mount as each person is ruled out, one by one, and eventually the case goes cold. Twenty-six years later, in 2018, cold case detectives get a break when a relative of the killer uploads DNA to a public genealogy website. This story features a rare interview with the victim's brother and the forensic genealogist who helped crack one of state's first cold cases to be solved by familial DNA technology.
In the 1980s, a suspected serial killer preyed on women in small towns located on the banks of the Mississippi River until the murders abruptly ceased and went unsolved. In 2006, 26 years later, a cold case detective and producer on the set of "Cold Case Files" unknowingly began to connect the dots that would crack the case while discussing the murder of Deborah Sheppard, a Southern Illinois University student whose death had remained a mystery since 1982.
23-year-old teacher Irene Garza was a former beauty queen and devout Catholic who vanished the evening before Easter after giving confession. Residents of her close-knit border town did their best to find her, but after a series of false leads, her body was found floating in a drainage canal clearly the victim of a violent sexual predator. At the time, a key witness hinted that a member of the Catholic clergy may have been responsible, but the clue remained buried for 42 years until a former priest comes forward with a damning confession from another man of the cloth that reveals a sinister coverup.
Near what's known as the hanging tree, the mutilated body of Timothy Coggins is found in late 1983. The investigation is thwarted and the case freezes for over 30 years, until a newly elected sheriff vows to bring the killers to justice.
On a bitter morning in 1980, radio intern Helene Pruszynski is found brutalized in a snowy field. After 37 years of fruitless leads, investigators tap into a public genealogy website that leads them across the country to the killer they've been hunting.
The body of 24-year-old Lisa Ziegert is found stabbed to death in a field in Agawam, Massachusetts on Easter Sunday of 1992. The investigation yields several leads, but there is no prime suspect. After more than two decades, DNA phenotyping puts a face to the killer.
Just after the last day of school in 1984, 15-year-old Reesa Trexler is found murdered in her grandparents' home. For decades, a stalled investigation only fuels the town rumor mill, pointing an accusing finger at Reesa's 13-year-old sister, Jodie.
When a beloved schoolteacher is found murdered in her Neptune, New Jersey apartment in the fall of 2009, suspicion is cast on her soon to be ex-husband. Long after the case goes cold, a detective embarks on a mission to help the man clear his name and track down the real killers.
In August 1972, the body of Jody Loomis is found in the woods. 34 years later, the killer's DNA is recovered from Jody's old clothing but it isn't matched until 2018, when genetic genealogy helps point to one suspect--whose guilt must be proven in court.
On February 2, 2010, two masked gunmen commit a violent robbery and shoot Michael Temple Jr., rendering him a quadriplegic for five years before his death. In this unusual cold case, DNA from a knife is used to create a sketch of the killer.
13 days after Pam Pitts disappears in 1988 her charred body is found at a popular hangout spot in the Arizona desert. When a second victim is discovered in a mineshaft, detectives suspect the killer may have known them both, but the truth is decades away.
In late 1983, the bodies of five people abducted from a local fast food restaurant are found brutally murdered in an oil field. The main suspect is long believed to be a well-connected local man, until new evidence reveals the true killers had been hiding in plain sight for decades.
When 23-year-old Tonya McKinley is found brutally murdered on New Years Day 1985, a little boy is left motherless. A family must wait 35 years for advancements in forensic science to finally catch a killer using familial DNA.
March 1984. Jack Kennedy discovers his daughters brutally murdered. Their mother and niece spend their lives keeping the case alive. DNA leads nowhere. Thirty years later, an informant gives up a name. But the family's ordeal is far from over.
In July 1997, the brutal murder of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston rocks the small town of Bethany, Oklahoma. DNA points to her killer over a decade later and leads investigators across state lines to Texas--to the buried bodies of two other missing women.
In July of 1970, the brutal murder of single mom Loretta Jones leaves four-year-old Heidi Jones motherless. Nearly 40 years later, Heidi vows to solve her mother's cold case and calls on an old high school friend to help her find justice for Loretta.
When a deadly house fire claims the life of a family in rural Oklahoma, investigators suspect foul play and it sends a mother on a decades-long crusade to find out what happened to her missing teenage daughter and best friend.
In June 1985, a 20-year-old "Sucker Day" Festival Queen is found brutalized. The small community of Nixa, Missouri, is certain her blood is on the hands of a local wealthy businessman, but after 25 years DNA reveals the true killer.
In December 1985, when human bones are discovered in the woods, it puts an end to the search for missing teen David Reed. David's disappearance shook a small town, and skull fractures point to murder; but it will be decades before investigators can find his killer.
When firefighter Gary Parks is killed in a fire ruled arson, the investigation into his death shifts to homicide. A serial arsonist is thought to be the culprit; but it will take a dogged cold-case detective following his gut to track down the real killer.
Just two years into their marriage, Chuck and Cheryl Hall are torn apart when Chuck finds Cheryl murdered. Though Cheryl's family is certain they know her killer, the law isn't as sure. After several decades, a DNA match erases all doubt.
In 1979, Janie Landers disappears from a home for the impaired. When Janie's body is found, there are many suspects but it takes years before the killer and the atrocities in the care facility are revealed.
In Cree culture, a promise is sacred. When Cree woman Shirley Soosay goes missing in 1980, her niece Violet promises her grandmother that she will bring Shirley home. But Violet never dreamed the search for Shirley-and justice-would take a lifetime.
Aurora, Colorado: In 1984, three-year-old Vanessa Bennett becomes the lone survivor of her family's brutal murder. Initial investigators suspect a serial killer is at large, but decades pass before DNA narrows the suspect pool to one man.
In the heart of Cajun country, young mother Brenda DuPont is found murdered in her home in May 1988. The initial investigation sputters and turns cold, but Brenda's older sister Linda vows to solve Brenda's murder, no matter how long it takes.
In a city of eight million, landlord Bruce Blackwood disappears without a trace in March 2006. Though there is no body, the NYPD is sure this is a homicide and they, along with Bruce's brother Ed, spend the next nine years searching for answers and a killer.
The body of Lori Nesson is found in a ditch in 1974, yet her death is not ruled a homicide. But Lori's sister knows this has to be murder. After four decades, the cause of death is changed to homicide, and the search begins for a killer with a 40-year head start.
A fire in January 2007 claims the life of WWII vet Bennie Angelo. A closer look at the crime scene reveals Bennie was dead before the fire, bumping an arson case up to homicide. Leads are few and the case sits on ice--until a key witness comes forward.
When a 30-year-old mother, Lisa Gaudenzi, fails to report for duty in Virginia, the Army lists her as AWOL. Her family immediately suspects foul play. They embark on a 13-year quest for answers before an eyewitness blows the case wide open.
When 13-year-old Jennifer Bastian is abducted and murdered in August of 1986, residents of Tacoma panic. This is the second young girl killed in five months. Convinced a predator is loose, Police embark on a 32-year inquiry to catch the killer.
The quiet town of Redding, California is rocked by the disappearance of Frank McAlister – a teen with a recent cash windfall who leaves only a blood-stained car behind. Twenty-five years will pass before someone makes a stunning on-air confession.
When 19-year old Tara Sidarovich goes missing from her Punta Gorda home, Florida Police consider her a runaway. Then her body turns up in a swamp. Shocking prison recordings will send detectives on a nationwide hunt for her killer.
When 34-year-old Freddie Farah is gunned down in his Florida grocery store, police urgently seek his killer. Decades later, Farah’s son will have a chance encounter with a cold case detective which brings the case back to life and exposes a killer.
The 1964 murder of 9-year-old Marise Chiverella leaves the devout town of Hazelton, PA, in fear. An intense manhunt yields numerous suspects but no killer. Five decades pass before a student moonlighting as a genetic genealogist reignites the case.
In 1977 Florida Nurse Deborah Clark, 23, is found brutally slain in her home. Detectives unearth an affair, a jilted wife, and a web of money and power, but no true suspect. It will take 40 years and advanced DNA testing to expose Deb’s killer.
When the body of a woman turns up in a field in Huntington Beach, CA, in 1968, police simultaneously seek a killer and the identity of the victim herself. It takes 52 years for detectives to solve this dual mystery and expose a vicious predator.
A 2007 cold-case resurfaces when a detective reopens the investigation into the brutal killing of Audrey Giannotti, 20, in rural Pennsylvania. Uncovering hidden secrets, he races against time to bring justice to a family desperate for answers.
When Night Manager, Rodney Castin, is gunned down in the lobby of his hotel 3 weeks before Christmas, Detectives scour Georgia for his killer. Two decades pass before an informant’s shocking testimony breaks the case wide open.
When Susan Schwarz is found shot to death in her apartment in 1979, police suspect a robbery gone wrong. Thirty-two years pass before a witness reveals a much darker motive that breaks the case wide open and leads to Susan’s killer.
When beloved mother and sister, Janora Stevens is found brutally stabbed in her Tulsa home, her family is bitterly divided and increasingly suspicious of each other. The case chills until a trail of tell-tale fibers leads cops to Janora’s killer.
