Forensic Files
Upcoming episodes
Dec 18th
900a
Shattered Innocence
The killer probably hoped to cover his tracks by staging the crime scene. But investigators saw through the attempt almost immediately, and they turned to forensic science to learn what really happened that night.
Dec 18th
930a
All "Butt" Certain
A six-year-old girl ran and hid when she saw her grandmother being beaten to death, but the man followed her, beat her, assaulted her. The girl said he was her Uncle Clarence, and he was convicted because of her identification. She recanted her testimony years later, but the court denied Clarence’s petition for a new trial. His wife was convinced he was innocent, and decided to conduct her own investigation to prove it.
Dec 18th
1000a
Jean Pool
Police investigating the 1984 murder of a college student had plenty of suspects, but no conclusive evidence linking any of them to the crime. More than a decade later, sophisticated technology would breathe new life into a case grown cold with the passage of time.
Dec 18th
1030a
Traffic Violations
The body of an attractive young woman was found a mile from her abandoned car. Police were especially concerned when they realized the victim had come to them for protection just two weeks earlier, after a road rage incident. Concern turned to dread when the evidence began to point not to an aggressive driver, but to one of their own.
Dec 19th
900a
Brotherly Love
When a young single mother was brutally assaulted and murdered, her brother promised he’d find out who was responsible and bring the killer to justice. It would take more than thirty years, but the young man kept his promise and, in doing so, brought closure to his family.
Dec 19th
930a
Disrobed
The crime scene was especially violent: A husband and wife had been shot to death in their bedroom. At first, investigators thought their 16-year-old daughter was lucky to have escaped unharmed... but after a while, they wondered if the reason she was alive had more to do with careful planning than good fortune.
Dec 19th
1000a
Driven to Silence
A young, attractive hairdresser was sexually assaulted and murdered in her own beauty salon. The evidence at the crime scene didn’t match any of the suspects and, after the initial investigation, the case went cold for ten years. Then a witness who’d been silent for more than a decade decided to do the right thing.
Dec 19th
1030a
Printed Proof
When two women went missing and were later found brutally murdered, police wondered if they were victims of a hate crime; the women lived together and were politically active, outspoken advocates of gay rights. But the motive turned out to be something age-old, something with which investigators were all too familiar: greed, fueled by obsession.
Dec 22nd
900a
About Face
A human skeleton was discovered in the North Carolina marshlands and, when investigators learned she’d been dead for 18 months, they knew it would be difficult to find out who she was, much less who killed her. A forensic anthropologist was able to determine the victim’s race, age and height, but it would take an inventive computer consultant to give her a face and a name.
Dec 22nd
930a
In the Bag
After shooting his victims in the head, the killer staged the scene, placed the incriminating evidence into a plastic bag and tossed it into the river. Instead of floating downstream, it became entangled in overhanging branches. Days later, when police found it, they hoped clues to the killer’s identity and the solution to the crime were “in the bag.”