Thursday

The body of a wealthy American businessman was found in his rental car. The car had swerved off the road into a ravine, and caught fire. Teeth and bone fragments were all that remained of the body; miraculously, an engraved wristwatch and medic alert bracelet had escaped the inferno and were found in the ashes. When the victim’s wife filed a claim for $7 million of life insurance, investigators sought the help of a renowned forensic anthropologist. His findings and the work of other forensic scientists uncovered a chilling scheme of fraud and deceit.

When a pipe bomb ripped through a rural home, killing a young man and seriously injuring his mother, police had no idea who was responsible. A lot number on a 9-volt battery and the remnants of a mailing label found on a computer’s hard drive enabled investigators to determine who sent the bomb, and why.

No one in a quiet residential community saw or heard anything unusual the day one of their neighbors was brutally attacked and murdered. Fingerprints found at the crime scene and surveillance video from a security camera helped investigators to apprehend the presumed killer within twelve hours – even though he’d already left the state and was on a bus, headed for New York City.

Bruce Miller was shot to death in the office of the junkyard business he owned. The crime scene was almost pristine. In the untidy office which hadn’t been cleaned for years, there should have been footprints, or fingerprints, or foreign hairs and fibers… but there weren’t. When a computer forensics expert examined the computers owned by the victim’s wife and by her lover, he found all the evidence needed to convict the person most responsible for the crime.

Drug trafficking has spawned a violent and deadly criminal underground. It’s providing a challenge to forensic investigators devoted to cracking drug rings.

Some of the best clues come from the least likely places. Baffling crimes have been solved and criminals betrayed through evidence provided by insects, beer bottles, and other seemingly meaningless objects.

Tennessee v. Billy Ray Turner. Ten days after NBA player Lorenzen Wright went missing, the player's body was found in a swamp, shot 11 times. His death made headlines – Wright had played in the NBA for 13 seasons, was a first-round draft pick in 1996, and played for the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers. But police initially had no clue who killed him and reporters speculated it was a drug deal gone bad. Lorenzen’s mother was tireless in her pursuit for justice and kept the case in the headlines as the murder went unsolved for a half dozen years. Finally, a break in the case led police to a suspect who had been hiding in plain sight.

Florida v. Kimberly Kessler. Hairstylist Joleen Cummings, a mother of three, was last seen working at Tangles Hair Salon on Mother’s Day in 2018. But when she failed to pick up her children for a planned celebration, she was reported missing by her ex-husband. Investigators discovered a bloody scene at the salon – Cummings and her SUV were gone. The next day, authorities found the car but not Joleen, parked outside a nearby Home Depot. Soon, police were on the hunt for Joleen’s killer and would first arrest the suspect for Grand Theft Auto and later for first degree murder.

Although family is supposed to mean everything to those who live in the mountains of Townsend, Tennessee, a member of the large Griffin clan is discovered dead.

When police discover the Napier family massacred in their home in Laurel, Indiana, the residents become terrified that there may still be a killer on the loose.

In a small town in Kansas, Patricia Kimmi has disappeared from her home, and residents begin a search party, but police fear she may not be found alive.

People realize seclusion doesn't guarantee their safety when a 62-year-old woman is found tortured and brutally murdered in her home on Thanksgiving.

When Timothy Moore disappears from his home in South Bend, Washington, residents realize that they do not know there neighbors as well as they thought.

In the summer of 1996, in the River Park section of South Bend, Indiana, four women had been sexually assaulted and the perpetrator was still at large. After a few months, police arrested a suspect; he was identified by some – but not all -- of the victims, and subsequently convicted of the crimes. But the story doesn’t end there. Six years later, new developments in forensic science would uncover startling facts about the case – and change the lives of three men and the women who were attacked.

A young suburban couple was murdered during what appeared to be a drug deal gone awry. But police found no drugs in the home of the victims – and there were no traces of the victims’ blood on the clothing of the suspects. The victims’ dog, Chief, eventually led police to the killer.

When a 33-year-old woman falls in love with a handsome young doctor, she believes she’s found fairytale romance. She becomes pregnant and the two are engaged. She is alarmed by the severe morning sickness, cramps and nausea she experiences, particularly in light of her age and medical history. Eventually, suspecting her symptoms aren’t as tied to the baby as they are to her fiancé, she decides to conduct her own scientific investigation.

To the people of Olney, Texas, 39-year-old Faryion Wardrip was a model citizen: happily married, a valued employee and a respected Sunday school teacher. Faryion Wardrip was also a brutal serial killer who, for years, eluded police without suspicion. But smart police work and DNA from a discarded paper cup proved to be Wardrip’s undoing.

Following her divorce, a woman buys a new home that needs work and hopes that a handyman can fix it up, she ends up getting more than she bargained for.

When single mom Rosita accepts a stranger's friend request, she has no idea he's hiding a terrifying secret that will lead to a deadly game of cat and mouse.