Wednesday

A man is gunned down on a Louisville sidewalk during Derby week. A few weeks later the bodies of two teenage boys are found burned and abandoned in a vacant lot. Detectives investigate a strange connection between the murders.

Just weeks before a witness is to testify against the man accused of sexually assaulting her, she is murdered in the front yard of her own home. Investigators immediately suspect her attacker, but they don’t have enough evidence to prove his guilt. It would take fifteen years, and the remarkable advances in forensic science and DNA testing which occurred during that time, to enable police to nail the killer.

For six years, a serial killer prowled the streets of New York City. He wrote letters to police and “The New York Post,” indicating he would kill twelve people, one for each astrological sign. Forensic astronomy, handwriting analysis, and DNA extracted from the flap of an envelope gave investigators a profile of the killer, and a stroke of luck enabled them to find him.

A healthy young man dies mysteriously in his sleep. There are no signs of trauma or injury, but toxicology tests reveal a lethal dose of lidocaine in his blood. Investigators find a suicide note, and presume he killed himself -- until a forensic linguist examines the note and determines that what the victim said is less important than how he said it.

In the summer of 1986, Kathleen Lipscomb’s body was found on a deserted road outside of San Antonio. Months passed, then years, and the crime was never solved. Then Kathleen’s family hired a private investigator, who discovered a diary among her personal effects. Two of the diary entries helped police to piece together what had happened to Kathleen Lipscomb, and why.

Every family has its secrets, and sometimes blood relations lead to bloodshed. When murder becomes a family affair, investigators must turn to forensics to uncover family plots.

Some people murder for love. But these killers did it for the money. When greed is the motive, investigators must make every clue pay off.

For serial killers, once is never enough. For investigators, the challenge is steep when the killers murder by numbers.

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.  

Kay Baker, a school teacher and mom, was found lying in her neighbor’s yard bleeding to death. Soon after discovering her body, police spotted a wounded man on the run in the woods, leading to a suspenseful chase, arrest, and a possible suspect.   

Between january 1994 and april 1996, in central florida, the bodies of four men are found in a wooded area known as the hog trails. All are severely decomposed, all are naked, and all have been genitally mutilated. Police realize they are chasing a serial killer, but the investigation is hampered by the fact that they are unable to identify any of the victims. Finally a fifth body yields a name, and soon puts authorities on the trail of nurse daniel conahan. Police are able to prove that conahan --a sexual sadist with a taste for bondage-- lured transients to the woods with promises of easy money posing for nude photographs. In the privacy of the wilderness, he tied them to trees and brutally murdered them.

April, 1992. An elderly couple is found dead in the trunk of their car at their home in upscale toronto. The investigation eventually leads authorities to the couple’s vacation home one hour north of the city. Police soon learn of the “house hermit”— a mysterious intruder breaking into area cottages and camping in them. He becomes the prime suspect in the murders, but though police finally identify him they cannot find him anywhere. That’s because he’s moved 3,000 miles away to vancouver, where he abducts and assaults three women before finally being caught red handed tstrangled one of his victims

A retired fireman on a morning bike ride notices a burning bundle in a farmer’s field…and recognizes the smell of burning human flesh. Investigators at the scene find an unrecognizable body, a distinctive lighter, 2 pairs of latex gloves and the box they came in, paper towels and torn scraps of an office memo. State of the art forensics, dogged police work, and some extraordinary turns of events lead police to the murder scene - the medical room of a ball bearings factory, and the arrest of a former armenian mafia thug turned english family man for the brutal murder of his cruel ex-boss.

For 23 days in october, 2002 a sniper terrorizes the washington dc area, shooting thirteen people and killing ten. The victims are ordinary people doing routine activities.

The 1996 summer olympics in atlanta, georgia are rocked by a massive pipe bomb explosion. A woman is killed and hundreds injured. Subsequent bombs at an abortion clinic and a gay bar show a similar m.O., And increasing refinement. Police have no clue who is behind the bombings until they receive a letter signed by ‘the army of god’, an anti-abortion, anti-gay, white supremacist group. When another abortion clinic is bombed in birmingham, alabama, a witness sees a suspicious man leaving the scene and gets his license number. Police are soon on the trail of christian extremist eric rudolph, but it will take a five year manhunt through the rugged terrain of the natahala national forest before they can catch america’s most wanted criminal.

When a pregnant mother and her two young sons are brutally slain, pressure mounts for the CSPD to catch the cold-blooded monster who did it. After an exhaustive city-wide manhunt, Kenda begins to tighten the noose on a prime suspect, but what happens next will shock him to his core.

When a squabble between customers at a liquor store heats up, 31-year-old Raymond Archuleta steps in—only to be fatally stabbed. Lt. Joe Kenda must somehow solve a stranger-on-stranger crime with just a composite sketch of the killer and a mysterious bouquet of flowers.

Jennifer gets a visit from a member of her church congregation as Bill wants to visit her, but the visit soon turns to fear as he wants to take her.

A landscaper with a strong desire towards one of his female clients begins to stalk her, and as she continues to refuse his advances, he becomes aggressive.