Tuesday

The world’s top criminal investigators, forensic scientists and behavioral analysts go behind the scenes of some of their most challenging serial murder cases to reveal the cutting edge forensic science, technology, behavioral psychology and investigative techniques involved in tracking down a serial killer. The detection and apprehension of the gainesville ripper, who brutally attacked and murdered five college students in florida, provides the core narrative against which the unique forensic and investigative details of four other cases are compared and contrasted.

On the outskirts of hamilton, ontario, a jogger makes a gruesome discovery – the partially mummified remains of a human body. Using state of the art forensics, police are able to identify the body as that of a suburban wife and mother of two. She has been brutally bludgeoned to death, but no missing person’s report has ever been filed. As police investigate, they discover evidence of domestic strife, including a love triangle and charges of assault. Determined to find the killer, police dig further into the victim’s life, doggedly tracking down a former lover to new york city, where they uncover another crime. But it is a forensic entomologist and her knowledge of the minute lives of insects that leads investigators back to ontario and the arrest of the woman’s husband for murder.

A college senior was found raped and murdered near an unpaved footpath used by students to walk from one side of campus to the other. Five years earlier, a student was assaulted and killed in her off-campus apartment and, a year after that, another student was killed in almost the same way. Police feared a serial killer was on the loose and they needed to determine what -- or who -- these women had in common.

When a respected business owner was brutally attacked and killed, investigators had to determine if this was a robbery gone wrong or a calculated murder. The evidence at the scene told police what happened but not who was responsible -- and then they got a huge break because of a frozen river five miles away.

When a successful real estate agent is brutally murdered, panicked townspeople begin looking over their shoulders and locking their doors. Weeks later, a witness comes forward who may have seen the killer, and police use forensic hypnosis to help him recall every detail of the man’s appearance. His description is used to create a composite sketch, which police hope will draw the killer out of hiding.

A teenager returned home after a night out with friends, and discovered his father’s body lying in a pool of blood. There were shoe impressions outside in the new-fallen snow; because the victim’s wallet and watch were missing, the motive may have been robbery. But before making that determination, police needed to find out who had the most to gain from his death.

A criminal who kills a police officer wages war on society. In 1987 such a criminal vanished after shooting two Boston officers, one fatally. He had a history of violence against cops and the protection of a group of outlaws.

A kidnapping can shatter a family, bringing terror and heartache without warning. In 1984 with the flash of a gun, an ordinary business transaction became a violent abduction. In seconds, the son of a wealthy Miami developer was gone.

Ballistic analysis is the key to finding killers who turn guns on their victims. Each shot fired leaves its own "fingerprint", allowing scientists to target murderers with deadly aim.

Border patrol agents discovered the bodies of a young mother and her toddler son along the Rio Grande.  Detectives closed in on a surprising suspect.

Wildest arrests in the Sunshine State.

In April 2004, the dismembered body of a chef is found in trash bags along a highway. Detectives grill everyone from an estranged wife to a blade-happy sous-chef. Finally, the bones give investigators the twisted answer to a bloody puzzle.

In June 1993, a California mother of two is found strangled in her home. Was she silenced by her estranged husband? An obsessed coworker? A fledgling serial killer? Undaunted, a veteran detective uncovers evidence that brings a killer to justice.

On a winter morning in 1993, a beloved veterinarian and his wife and son are viciously gunned down in their rural Kentucky home. Investigators leave no stone unturned as the bitter truth behind this tragic, triple slaying is revealed.

In 2006, a 20-year-old woman is brutally gunned down while walking home from her shift at a Scottsdale, Arizona, nightclub. Could her death be connected to a violent shooting spree plaguing the area? A tip reveals the gunman's shocking identity.

Near Montreal, a husband comes home from work and finds his wife bound, gagged and shot in the head. There is no evidence of sexual assault or theft and police are left without a lead to go on. Some years later, police are called out to a crime scene very similar to the scene four years earlier, but this time they find that the killer has stolen the victimÕs bankcard. They trace the card to a convenience store and by ingeniously matching the security camera to the bank records detectives acquire an image of their prime suspect. Police quickly locate and arrest the man who promptly admits to both murders as well as the murder of a woman gone missing 7 years earlier.

A mother of two is found dead in the most expensive part of Colorado Springs, leaving Lt. Joe Kenda stumped—until he looks into her personal life. And in another case, Kenda gets called to a homicide scene, only to realize it’s his favorite bar.

A criminal who kills a police officer wages war on society. In 1987 such a criminal vanished after shooting two Boston officers, one fatally. He had a history of violence against cops and the protection of a group of outlaws.

A kidnapping can shatter a family, bringing terror and heartache without warning. In 1984 with the flash of a gun, an ordinary business transaction became a violent abduction. In seconds, the son of a wealthy Miami developer was gone.