Forensic Files
Upcoming episodes
Oct 9th
900p
A Leg to Stand On
When a severed leg is found in a dumpster, investigators are faced with the challenge of identifying the victim. Conventional methods – fingerprinting, comparison with dental records, reports of missing persons – are useless. Using anthropology, toxicology and DNA testing, police are able to determine who the victim was, and follow the trail of evidence to his killer.
Oct 9th
930p
Partners in Crime
It takes a long time and a very hot fire to cremate a human body, and thus destroy any evidence of foul play. But the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the badly burned body of Charles “Jack” Lynch found telltale clues. Not only had the victim been burned, he’d also been stabbed -- 24 times, with two different knives. Police knew that a person, acting alone, would probably use only one weapon. So investigators were on the lookout for a couple of killers.
Oct 9th
1000p
Within a Hair
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.
Oct 9th
1030p
Chief Evidence
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.
Oct 10th
700a
Over and Out
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.
Oct 10th
730a
Death by a Salesman
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.
Oct 10th
800a
Web of Seduction
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.
Oct 10th
830a
Grounds for Indictment
A drive-by shooting leaves one man dead and another seriously wounded. Cell phone calls and shell casings point to a suspect, but authorities are unable to place him at the crime scene. When a forensic geologist compared soil from the crime scene with soil found in the wheel wells of the suspect’s car, he proved that dirt is anything but dumb.
Oct 10th
900a
Dueling Confessions
When a teenaged girl is found dead on the side of the road, her boyfriend becomes the prime suspect. He eventually confessed to her murder – but so did another man. It would take the passage of forty years, an author, and an expert in the field of pedestrian accident reconstruction to determine who was telling the truth.
Oct 10th
930a
Traces of Truth
A high school gym teacher took time off from class to give his friend a ride home -- and never returned. After his disappearance, his wife and friend received letters, explaining that he needed to make a clean break and start a new life. Investigators suspected foul play but, without a body, the case would be difficult to prove… difficult, but with the help of forensic science, not impossible.