Forensic Files
Upcoming episodes
Jun 3rd
1100a
Telltale Tracks
An abandoned car was found on a busy Philadelphia highway; the engine was running, the radio was blaring and the driver’s door was wide open. Investigators suspected the driver had been the victim of a car-jacking. The next day, police found the body of the driver: Aimee Willard, a young college co-ed, home for summer vacation. There were unusual marks on her body… marks which eventually led to her killer.
Jun 3rd
1130a
Ghost in the Machine
In May of 1999, a Presbyterian minister in South Dakota called 911. His wife was unconscious in the bathtub. Emergency medical crews could not revive her, and she died. She had ingested large doses of several medications, a behavior common in suicide. The minister said his wife had been distraught, but bits of deleted computer files suggested a murder plot. Bizarre tales of infidelity and the courtroom revelation of what could be a suicide note, challenge an array of forensic experts to find the truth: suicide, or murder?
Jun 3rd
1200p
Frozen in Time
A beautiful 23-year-old girl was driving home after a rock concert when her tire blew out. Investigators found her car, but no trace of her. At first there were hundreds of leads, but after three years, the trail turned cold. Police got a break when someone called to report a suspicious truck in a neighbor’s driveway; something inside that truck was plugged into an electrical outlet, allowing the device to run 24‑hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year. Suddenly, the cold trail turned even colder.
Jun 3rd
1230p
Cold Storage
Tracy Jo Shine grew up in a middle-class home in Houston, Texas. She was a promising young dancer, whose ability landed her a spot in Houston’s prestigious High School for Performing Arts. Unfortunately, while there, Tracy Jo became involved with the wrong crowd, and began experimenting with drugs. When she disappeared without a trace, her family immediately suspected her new friends, some of whom were members of the Aryian Brotherhood.
Jun 4th
1100a
The Metal Business
It looked like sixty-two-year-old Phillip Rouss, Jr. had it all: family, friends, and a new business which was the culmination of a life-long dream. Then his health began to deteriorate. Doctors couldn’t pinpoint the cause of the illness and Phil began to suspect his condition was no accident. Toxicologists and investigators identified the real problem just in time to save Phil’s life.
Jun 4th
1130a
Dressed to Kill
When six-year-old Michelle Door disappeared without a trace, her father became the prime suspect. He failed a polygraph test and even confessed to the murder of his daughter, but his confession was later discounted. Years later, police learned that a man who’d been convicted of another murder lived just two doors away from Michelle when she disappeared. This discovery, and tiny drops of blood shed a decade earlier, helped police to solve the crime.
Jun 4th
1200p
Palm Print Conviction
The discovery of a woman's naked body, covered with bruises, leaves no doubt that she was the victim of foul play. Quick-thinking investigators erected a makeshift tent around the body and used Super Glue fumes to lift the killer’s palm print from the victim’s skin. With this technique, they were able to determine who had a hand in the murder.
Jun 4th
1230p
A Vow of Silence
In 1987, Emelita Villa came to Arlington, Texas from the Philippines as a shy, impoverished, 18-year-old mail order bride for Jack Reeves, a man almost 30 years her senior. Six and a half years later, Emelita disappeared. During their investigation, detectives learned that both Reeves’ second and third wives had died amid mysterious circumstances. The death of Reeves’ second wife, Sharon, had been ruled a suicide, but blood spatter evidence in a photo indicated she might have been murdered. An autopsy, performed on Sharon’s body 14 years after her death, revealed even more.
Jun 5th
1100a
Elephant Tracks
An elderly couple was bludgeoned to death in their home, but the crime went unsolved. Two years later, the owner of a pawn shop was looking through a stack of old newspapers and came across an article about the murders. There was a photograph of the victims, and the woman pictured was wearing an unusual elephant pendant necklace – a necklace which the owner realized was in her shop. Not only that, she still had the pawn ticket, identifying who had sold the jewelry.
Jun 5th
1130a
A Bag of Evidence
When nine-year-old Jessica Knott disappeared from her home and was later found murdered, all of the tools in the arsenal of forensic scientists were brought to bear. Painstaking analysis of hairs, tiny fibers, and the plastic garbage covering her body lead police to a suspect – who turned out to be the same person who made what he thought was an anonymous 911-call, reporting where Jessica’s body could be found.