Wednesday

Spoiled suspects are knocked down a peg by police.

A man takes a nap and never wakes up. But when the clues don’t add up, Doctor G finds herself in uncharted waters. And then a woman is stricken with an intense but mysterious pain. The son is absolutely flabbergasted that she’s dead. It just really came as a shock to him.

In the fall of 2002, the eyes of the world were on Virginia and Maryland. A serial sniper was on the loose, killing innocent, unsuspecting citizens as they went about their normal activities. By the time it was over, 13 people had been shot, and 11 died. This program examines the behind-the-scenes forensic tests which led to the capture of the killers, including geographic and behavioral profiling, ballistics, crime scene animation, handwriting analysis, DNA testing and fingerprinting. Viewers will also see an exact replica of the car – the mobile bunker the alleged killers called home.

Sheila Bryan was convicted of killing her own mother in a car fire, and sentenced to life in prison. She was set free after appealing to the Georgia Supreme Court, but retried a few months later. Her chances of winning seemed slim – until an expert witness advanced a different theory of how the fire started.

Seventeen-year-old Shari Faye Smith was abducted in broad daylight, in front of her own home. The kidnapper tormented her family with phone calls, leading them to believe Shari was alive – and then they received a letter he’d forced Shari to write, her “last will and testament.” This document would lead investigators to Shari’s killer, a fitting postscript to a heinous crime.

When a Massachusetts man dropped dead of an apparent heart attack, no one thought foul play was a possibility until police looked into his girlfriend’s odd behavior in the days before his death. Controversy surrounded the case for almost a decade, which pitted competing teams of toxicologists against each other: One claimed the death was due to natural causes, and the other said it was cold-blooded murder.

Two men are found dead, beaten to death in the bar where they work. They had both sustained multiple blows to the head. A safe from the bar was missing, as well as the money from a cigarette machine that had been pried open. A local television station received an anonymous letter about the murders, though no fingerprints are obtained from it. Witnesses tell police of a man who frequents the bar, and investigators arrest him on unrelated charges. A search of his home and vehicle turn up several objects, including a tire iron, which lab tests conclude was the same object used to pry open the cigarette machine. Handwriting analysis also links the man to the letter. He is sentenced to consecutive life terms for the murders.

In the late 1990s, one criminal terrorized an entire community. Witnesses refused to speak out. They knew the consequences could be deadly.

In this special episode, we take a closer look at cases previously featured on this series. Our goal is to explore more fully some of the investigative methods and techniques that have made the FBI the premier law enforcement agency in the world.

When Jade Janks discovered her beloved stepfather, Thomas Merriman, had secretly downloaded nude photos of her onto his computer, she set out to put an end to the abuse.  

The body of a young woman surfaces in a Florida river with few clues beyond rope and duct tape. To identify her killer, investigators push forensic science to the limit, even turning to DNA from her former pet dog.

When 71-year-old Colleen Harris discovered her 73-year-old husband Robert was having a long-distance affair with a 35-year-old woman in Mongolia, she decided to teach him a lesson.

Adam Mayes' best friend has two young daughters - with whom Adam has a twisted obsession. He kills their mother and elder sister before kidnapping the two younger girls.

When a vicious attack leads to the death of a young parent and child, investigators are stumped. Years later, they arrest the gunman surprisingly close to home – but a change in the law puts the case in jeopardy.

In the small town of Logan, OH., a quiet community known for its annual Washboard Festival, Summer Inman is violently abducted in a back alley behind her work. With multiple eye-witness accounts, investigators quickly zero in on three suspects. But when they refuse to cooperate, the odds of bringing Summer home alive start to look grim.

Neighbors are aghast when Ernestine Addison and her teenaged son Bobby are gunned down in cold blood. A young tipster points Lt Joe Kenda towards a shadowy figure spotted fleeing the scene, but the case heats up when he receives word that the killer’s murderous rampage isn’t over just yet.

A common-law couple was found guilty of the 1990 rape and murder of taunja bennett near portland, oregon. However, a letter signed with a happy face sent to a portland newspaper claimed responsibility for the murder of taunja and others. The happy face letter remained a mystery until keith jesperson was arrested on an unrelated murder charge. Investigators unraveled the truth, convicted jesperson of taunja’s murder, and freed the wrongfully convicted couple.

In December of 1998, the body of telemarketing manager David Stevens is found in a torched car in La Jolla, California, the victim of homicide. Detectives encounter a rogue’s gallery of suspects and outlandish leads on their way to finding the killer.