All Episodes 1996 - 2021

TV-14

This episode covers the 1993 disappearance and murder of twenty-year-old Bobby Kent in Weston, Florida, whose death was the work of seven people. The case, which became well known, is also the subject of a book and a movie.

A young sailor named Billy Bosko married his high school sweetheart, Michelle Moore Bosko. When he returns to his home port of Norfolk, Virginia on July 8, 1997, he finds his 19-year-old bride lying on the floor in a pool of blood. She had been raped and murdered. The police investigation focuses on a neighbor, who confesses. But his DNA does not match the killer's. That begins a series of police interrogations and "confessions," all of which are in conflict with the forensic evidence. Four men are eventually sent to prison. Three others are accused. Finally, an eighth man confesses in a letter, and his is the only DNA that matches. Defense investigators and others wonder why were the other men accused and sent to prison.

Beginning in December 1990, police uncover a string of murdered prostitutes. Each victim has had her eyes carved out. Charles Albright was eventually convicted of murder in 1991.

Several monks are massacred at a Buddhist temple in Arizona in 1991. Four men from Tucson, referred to as the "Tucson Four", were initially charged with the crime and gave confessions under controversial conditions, including the actual murder weapon – connected to unassociated individuals who were ignored by authorities – being left untested by the sheriff's department. However, the "Tucson Four" later recanted the confessions and were released when investigators finally confirmed that they had nothing to do with the murders. Local teenagers Johnathan Doody and Allessandro Garcia were arrested and imprisoned.

Over 40 years after the 1963 assassination of president John F. Kennedy, a majority of Americans still believe that there was a cover-up. Was Lee Harvey Oswald the sole gunman? Could one bullet pass through both the president and governor John Connally? Does a police radio recording hold the truth?

The 1932 kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. is reviewed.

A look back on 25 years of Forensic Files/Medical Detectives, featuring interviews with key figures behind the scenes as well as highlights of favored episodes and scenes.

The case of missing stewardess Helle Craft is recounted. Although her body was never recovered, police used forensic evidence to charge her husband with murder. It became the first murder conviction without a body in Connecticut.

At the Dallas 'Pistol & Revolver' club in 1991, Trey Cooley, a young spectator, was watching a shooting competition, seated behind an air gun range. He was struck and killed by a stray bullet. See how ballistics, lasers, and forensic animation solve the riddle of the "magic bullet".

Caren Campano disappeared and her husband, Chris became the prime suspect -- especially after police found a huge bloodstain on the Campano's bedroom carpet. When they sprayed the bedroom with Luminol, they discovered it was awash with blood spatter. Complex DNA testing - 'reverse paternity' tests - proved it was Caren's blood. Now all they had to do was find her body.

The first case to use DNA evidence is detailed. In 1983 Leicester, England, police were stymied by a rape/murder of a 15-year-old girl; three years later, faced with a similar crime, they turned to Dr. Alec Jeffreys, a molecular biologist with a revolutionary approach to solving the case.

Single mother Denise Johnson is found dead in a deserted area outside of Phoenix, Arizona. Local investigators ask a molecular geneticist to pick out a tree in a 'lineup' when unidentified seed pods are found in suspect Mark Bogan's truck. The judge rules into evidence DNA profiles linking the pods to a tree near where the body was found. This is the first U.S. case where plant DNA was used to convict a criminal.

The U.S. criminal justice system's first use of DNA profiling in a serial murder case frees an innocent man after he spent two years in prison, and convicts the real killer. FBI psychological profiling and DNA evidence identify the man who raped and strangled five young women in Virginia.

Legionnaires' disease is one of the most famous medical detective stories, especially irritating for its missteps and frustrations. When 180 Legionnaires contract pneumonia-like symptoms after a Philadelphia Convention and 29 of them die, doctors and scientists are mystified. The determination of one scientist helps to determine the cause and likely vector of this deadly disease.

On the night of May 22, 1992, Betty Wilson returned home after a meeting. She walked up the stairs to the bedroom and discovered her husband, Eye doctor Jack Wilson, beaten and stabbed to death, lying in a pool of blood with a baseball bat nearby. Jack Wilson had obviously been murdered... but how? And by whom? Even the experts couldn’t agree.

Troubling clusters of deadly cancer cases strike concerned communities across the country. In a Phoenix suburb, too many children are fatally stricken with leukemia and, on a Connecticut street, there is a disproportionate amount of illness, including four cases of brain cancer. Modern environmental agents such as buried poisons and electrical substations are found... Could these be the culprits?

Between 1985 and 1988, 18 people were choked, molested and left for dead in the remote desert mountains of California. The only witnesses were the insects – and they also proved to play an important role in solving the crimes.

Alarmingly high levels of thyroid hormones pump through the systems of South Dakota residents. Investigators study one family who all got sick, except their 12-year-old son who is a vegetarian.

In 1971, John List left a note with the bodies of his mother, wife, and three children in his mansion ballroom, funeral organ music blaring from a central sound system, and disappeared. Eighteen years later, all detectives had to work from is an outdated photograph of List. In 1989, the popular television series America's Most Wanted commissioned an age-scaled bust of List to aid viewers in identifying the confessed murderer. Dr. Frank Bender, nationally-recognized artist and sculptor, worked with forensic psychologist Richard Walter to develop a profile of the aging List.

Escherichia coli (E-coli) bacteria can be found in meats, milk and in water. When food is properly processed, prepared and stored, E-Coli are harmless. But in the absence of these simple precautions, E-Coli can have deadly consequences. Raw Terror tells the story of Damion Heersink, an eleven-year-old boy who almost died after eating an improperly cooked hamburger teeming with E-Coli, and the people who saved his life.

The year was 1984, and a serial killer was on the loose in Florida. Eight women had been found dead. At each crime scene, investigators found tiny red fibers, fibers they hoped would lead them to the killer.

In this classic episode of Forensic Files, the longest running true crime series in television history, Eileen and Derrick Severs disappeared from their home in the small village of Hambleton in Great Britain, and police found evidence which suggested foul play. Careful analysis of a soil sample would tell investigators not only what happened to the couple, but who was responsible for the dirty deed.

It was the single, most deadly automobile accident in American history. Almost a hundred vehicles were involved, twelve people died, and more than fifty people were injured. It happened along a three mile stretch of highway long known for dense, thick fog. Investigators set out to determine if the fog was a natural phenomenon, or the result of something else.

While Earl Morris was vacationing in California, he learned his wife had gone missing from their home in Arizona. The search for Ruby Morris involved dozens of investigators and scientists, even the coast guard. And the results of that investigation surprised everyone... especially Earl Morris.

The flu-like symptoms of a mother and her children proved to be indicative something much more serious: thallium poisoning. Investigators had to find the source of the poison... and when the mother died, to determine if the exposure was accidental, or if they also needed to find a killer.

In a quiet village in Great Britain, a farmer came upon a chilling sight. Impaled on his fence post was a severed lamb’s head along with a note which read, “You next.” The author of the note didn’t elaborate on why the farmer had been targeted, but between the lines, he’d said plenty.

An infant was rushed to a Cleveland emergency room with serious breathing problems. The baby’s lungs were bleeding, a life threatening, extremely rare condition. Within months, there were more than 30 cases – an incidence more than a thousand times higher than anywhere else in the world. Doctors had never seen anything like it, and searched frantically for the cause and a cure.

Shortly after daybreak in Vancouver, British Columbia, a fire was set in a dumpster. No one saw either the arsonist or the fire, and it burned for hours in the deserted parking lot. But there was more than garbage in the container, and it would take sophisticated science to find the evidence in the ashes.

Two people in Seattle, Washington died after taking an over-the-counter pain reliever; lab analysis of the pills showed they were tainted with a lethal concentration of cyanide. The investigation which followed led police to a suspect with a motive for murder and a callous disregard for others.

For more than a year, angry, hateful letters were sent to a first grade school teacher in a small town in Pennsylvania. When scientists analyzed the letters, they found evidence that the stalker knew a lot about the victim - more, in fact, than anyone could possibly have imagined. DNA analysis would eventually help seal the perpetrator's fate.

On October 15, 1985, two bomb explosions rocked Salt Lake City and resulted in two deaths. A third explosion occurred the next day; this time, the victim was injured but survived. As the investigation progressed, police came to believe the survivor was more than an innocent by-stander. When they turned to forensic science for help, they uncovered an almost unbelievable story of forgery, fraud and murder.

After a day of fishing in a small, quiet village in Switzerland, a teenage boy did not return home as planned. The investigation revealed some important microscopic evidence in the water near where he was last seen. It was the only forensic evidence detectives had. But would it be enough for them to find him?

In the spring of 1993, an unexplained illness struck the residents of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Four hundred thousand people developed a serious gastrointestinal illness, 4,000 were hospitalized and, by the time the epidemic was under control, more than 100 people were dead. Health officials suspected it was influenza, but it proved to be more serious and more difficult to identify.

In Omaha, the deaths of a child and a truck driver in the same hospital on the same day are investigated to see if there is a link between them.

In the mid-1980s, bodies of nude woman were found in remote hill of California. The killer gags and molests prostitutes, cuts their clothes in random patterns and cuts off their hair; microscopic evidence helps solve the case.

In 1987, a human skull and some bones were discovered at a Boy Scout Camp near Farmington, Missouri. A facial reconstruction aided the investigators in this case. Once the victim was identified as Bun Chee Nyhuis, her husband Richard H. Nyhuis, was no longer just a person of interest.

Between 1986 and 1989, a disease swept through British cattle herds, which came to be known as Mad Cow disease. Scientists began to suspect that this was somehow related to some human illness. A California neurologist said both humans and animals were suffering from a mutated prion. When defective prions are transmitted from an infected host to a new host, they convert any normal prions they come across into copies of themselves so it is possible for a mutated prion to be transmitted from a cow to a person by eating beef. Dr. Stanley B. Prusiner received a Nobel prize for his work with prion.

A serial bomber was waging a vendetta against the legal profession: a judge, two attorneys, and even a courthouse had been targeted. Employing a range of forensic techniques, investigators used evidence from the bombs to lead them to the perpetrator.

Robert Sims returned home after working the night shift, and found his wife, Paula, unconscious on the kitchen floor. Their two-year-old son, Randy, was asleep in an upstairs bedroom, but their six-week-old daughter, Heather, was missing. Paula Sims was the only witness to a crime that baffles investigators to this very day.

The shooting of a man during a hunting trip is reopened years after the incident, and the victim's hunting partner becomes a suspect.

A possible case of Munchhausen syndrome is investigated after an infant dies of what appears to be toxic levels of antifreeze in his system.

Early one fall morning, Laura Houghteling left her Bethesda home and walked to the station to take a train to work. She was never seen again. A peculiar strand of hair found in Laura’s hairbrush enabled investigators to unravel the mystery of her disappearance.

Edward Honaker was convicted of rape, sodomy and aggravated sexual battery; he was sentenced to three life terms in prison. Honaker steadfastly maintained his innocence. After years in prison and writing countless letters, he finally found someone who believed him, and was willing to pay for DNA testing which could prove he was telling the truth.

On September 17, 1984, in a suburb of Tucson, Arizona, eight-year-old Vicki Hoskins left home on her pink bicycle to mail a letter for her mother. She never returned, but her slightly damaged bicycle was found nearby. Investigators turned to forensic science, in the hope it would tell them not only what happened to Vicki, but also who was responsible.

When a two-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital suffering from brain seizures and breathing difficulties, doctors could not find the cause of his illness. Then the boy’s sister provided an important clue, and raised the possibility of a syndrome of which few had ever heard.

On a cold December night in 1993, Rose Larner stopped in a convenience store on her way to her boyfriend’s house. She was never seen or heard from again. Rose’s disappearance remained a mystery, until a tiny clue found years later revealed a tragic tale of drugs, romance and revenge.

In 1996, police received a call from Darlie Routier telling them of her two sons' murders. However, investigators were not certain about the validity of Darlie's story and began an intensive search of the crime scene. The police found out who the killer was by analyzing blood spatter, doing behavioral profiling and analyzing Darlie's 911 call.

Scott Dunn was missing and when the police sprayed his bedroom with Luminol, a scene of horrific violence emerged. Now investigators faced a daunting task: to prove Scott Dunn had been murdered, even though they had no body, no weapon, and no witnesses.

A 1995 fire razes the mansion of Kansas doctor Debora Green, killing two of her three children; disturbing accounts from her ex-husband, Mike Farrar, lead investigators to believe she set the blaze herself.

In 1990, Shirley Andronowich's body was found one morning after she was murdered and mutilated. Eyewitnesses told police Shirley and her husband Ed were seen fighting in a bar the night before. Police first suspected Ed and even arrested him after he confessed to the murder. But all forensic evidence proved that Ed had actually nothing to do with the crime.

Sometime during a neighborhood Christmas party, five-year-old Melissa Brannen disappeared. No one saw where she went or noticed anything unusual. Investigators turned to forensic science to help them see what the witnesses missed. The young girl was never seen again but fiber analysis led police to a suspect nonetheless.

When a Pennsylvania man checks into a hospital for leg pain and later dies of thallium poisoning, police investigate his wife and find her in the process of collecting an insurance payment for her previous husband's death.

When a sexual predator murders two young boys in Nebraska within three months of each other, an obscure style of rope and forensic analysis lead to his arrest and conviction.

Mark Fair left for work and his fiancée Karla Brown stayed home. Later, Mark found Karla dead. Karla's body told police that she was a victim of sexual assault. During the autopsy, they were able to re-examine bite marks on her body. A computer gave a view of the marks and forensic odontology identified the killer.

Clayton Johnson, a Nova Scotia schoolteacher, left for work on the morning of February 20, 1989. At 7.40 AM, the school bus arrived to pick up the Johnson children. At 7.51 Mrs. Molloy arrived to drop off her child at the Johnson home. She found Janice Johnson lying at the bottom of the basement stairs in a pool of blood. A new life-insurance policy sparks suspicions of murder.

In 1996, more than a dozen children in Seattle, Washington, were fighting for their lives. Each one of them had contracted a serious illness, and no one knew what it was. When one of the children died, investigators knew the clock was ticking and they needed to isolate the cause and find the cure before time ran out.

Lori Keidel, her two sisters and her brother were left home alone while their father went to a nearby laundromat. Suddenly, a large fire engulfed their brick ranch home. Only a few months earlier, the children's mother had disappeared and made no effort to contact them. Lori found the courage to tell police that she had witnessed her own mother's death.

Young Navajos on a reservation in the Southwest were dying at an alarming rate. CDC officials had never seen anything like it; the mysterious illness had claimed the lives of more than 20 people. The tribe's medicine men provided investigators with a critical clue which would lead halfway around the world to a most unlikely killer.

Edward Post left the Omni Hotel and went for a forty minute run. Before leaving, he said that he drew a bath for his wife. When he returned, he found her in the bathtub, not breathing. She was dead by the time emergency response arrived. Police considered accidental death, until they discovered that Ed had a large life insurance policy on Julie.

For more than a decade, women in a small Louisiana city lived in fear of a serial rapist. Fortunately, computer technology and behavioral science combined to give police a new forensic tool: geographical profiling. Police narrow their search to one man, but to prove he’s the perpetrator they turn to an unlikely piece of evidence--- a discarded cigarette butt.

When the wife of a well-known dentist is found dead, police are unsure who killed her. Some fibers and a study of the weather patterns on the night of the murder break the case open and reveal the real killer.

When a young mother and her infant son are found dead in a cornfield, the obvious suspect is the husband and father of the victims. But some insects found on the bodies reveal a vital clue, as does a long, blonde hair found on the victims.

When a decomposed body is discovered inside a barrel, police immediately suspect foul play. But the body had been placed there 30 years earlier. One of the few clues was an address book found along with the body but years of moisture had washed away the ink. Scientists desperately searched for a way to unlock the secrets of that address book.

In this classic episode of Forensic Files, the longest running true crime series in television history, a Seattle policeman’s home is destroyed by an arsonist. One month later, the officer arrests a low-level drug dealer, who confesses to the arson. But when the suspect vanishes, investigators begin to question the authenticity of his confession.

Dianna Green was just 20 years-old and pregnant when she was brutally raped and beaten in her apartment. The assault caused the death of her unborn baby. When Dianna came out of a coma 3 weeks later, she told police she knew the identity of her attacker. But was her memory accurate?

A mother and her two young daughters are found brutally murdered. The crime scene yielded a good deal of evidence, but no conclusive link to the prime suspect. To solve the puzzle, an FBI analyst designs a unique experiment.

A young girl is found dead, the victim of an apparent sex-killer. Authorities are intrigued by unusual orange fibers embedded in clothing found near the victim. Months pass and the case goes cold, until a van turns up with what appear to be the same orange fibers.

In the back woods of Georgia, in a dilapidated house, a 49 year old recluse named Virginia Ridley was found dead. A medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. But who would murder someone who seldom ventured out of her home? Investigators found some clues in the notes she had written shortly before her death.

Why do children at a Texas hospital seem to be dying at a higher rate than at any other hospital in the country? Medical investigators have no answers until they discover that one nurse seems to be on-duty in almost all the fatal cases. But proving the connection seems impossible until an international team of doctors uncovers an unlikely murder weapon.

When the decomposed body of a young girl is discovered, police have no clues to her identity. But days earlier, a stabbing victim told them she thought she might have witnessed a murder. Police think the cases might be related, and to prove it, they turn to an unusual piece of evidence: a tiny wad of chewing gum found near the victim’s body.

At the age of 12, a boy's testimony helped convict the man who murdered his mother. Five years later, discrepancies in the autopsy lead him to question if the murdered woman really was his mother. If it wasn't, an innocent man had been sent to prison.

Some of the refugees who sought asylum in the United States after World War II lied about the atrocities in which they’d participated. Years later, when a high-ranking religious figure was suspected of war crimes, there seemed to be no way to prove his guilt or innocence... until a postcard allegedly written by him 40 years earlier was found in a German archive.

When Russ Stager, a popular gym teacher, is found dead of what appears to be an accidental gunshot wound, his family becomes suspicious. They think his wife may have planned his murder. When police find that her previous husband died in questionable circumstances, they re-examine the crime scene and uncover evidence that the death was no accident.

A Canadian financier assumed the name of a co-worker as part of a money-laundering scheme. The man turned up dead in the ocean, with an anchor tied around his torso. Police hoped to identify him with a tattoo and the watch he was wearing. But it would be the ten-pound anchor which enabled them to crack the case.

Cincinnati heart surgeon Dr. Darryl Sutorius had a second chance at love when he married a pretty, young divorcee, but happiness is sometimes elusive. Dr. Sutoruis fell into a serious depression and apparently commited suicide with a .38-caliber pistol. But why did he fire a test shot into the sofa cushion before killing himself?

When a prosecutor discovers evidence linking a habitual drunk driver to a hit-and-run in which a child is killed, he combines the talents of an accident reconstruction expert with a video specialist. This case was the first in which video in the courtroom withstood an appeal, and helped make “video testimony” viable in other cases.

In 1998, a convience store clerk in Lansing, Michigan, was shot to death during a robbery. No one else was in the store at the time. But there was an eye witness, a security camera. Unfortunately, the story it told was far from clear.

When 23-year-old college co-ed Tina Biggar goes missing, her boyfriend and family fear she has been murdered. A police investigation reveals details about her past that no one, not even her closest friends, suspected: She was a student by day and a $100-an-hour call-girl by night. Her many clients were all suspects in her disappearance, as was her boyfriend. But when her body is discovered, investigators gather evidence that implicates her killer.

A young woman was reported missing after a fight with her husband. She was presumed to be dead and her husband was the prime suspect. Police were suspicious of a secondary suspect when he reported a suspicious fire in his car. Two tiny drops of blood were found in the burned interior. Traditional DNA testing was difficult, since there was no body for DNA comparison. But a tiny clue inside the suspect's watchband and a popular television show helped solve the case.

In 1991, Maine resident Pearl Smith is missing after an argument with her husband, Bill Bruns. Despite pleas from her children, police treat it as a routine missing person's case. But, when an investigation turns up a blood trail that leads to the couple's basement, police are certain they'll finally find the victim's body.

In 1989, 4-year-old April Loveless was found dead in the backyard of her Texas home. Her mother Debbie Loveless and step-father John Miller told police that she was attacked and killed by neighborhood dogs, but the injuries on her body didn't match their account of what happened. Investigators believed April's wounds were slashing injuries, consistent with a knife wound. John and Debbie were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Five years later, the parent's prayers were answered when a forensic scientist saw something in the crime scene photographs that had been missed the first time around.

In 1995, police in San Diego, CA, are baffled by a pair of hands found in a dumpster. Through further investigation, they determine that the hands are those of missing person Don Hardin. With this knowledge, the police focus on local homeless man Dale Whitmer, whom had lived with Hardin around the time of his disappearance. However, they can find no solid, forensic evidence on Whitmer and the case goes cold. About a year later, investigators receive an anonymous letter with information about the crime that had been withheld from the press – information only the killer (or someone close to the killer) would know. Laser technology helps to identify the state, city, street address and even the office number from where the anonymous letter was mailed.

In 1993, 16-year-old Marie Robards suffered the devastating loss of her father Steve Robards. The death was ruled the result of cardiac arrest. One year later, she won a part in her high school production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The lines she was required to recite onstage were more than the thoughts and feelings of her character; they struck a chord, and hinted at her own inner turmoil, from the secret she had been hiding.

In 1996, 17-month-old Josh Hinson died in a fire in his North Carolina home. A federal agency ruled that a fire was intentionally set and Josh's mother Terri Strickland was charged with murder. Using the then-emerging resources of the Internet, Terri Strickland undertook her own investigation. An independent fire investigator was able to poke enough holes in the government's scientific conclusions to raise serious questions about whether the fire was intentionally set.

In 1988, when a patient, later identified as Gene Hanson, dies unexpectedly in the office of California neurologist Richard Boggs, police begin what they think will be a routine investigation. What they find throws doubt on the time of death, the identity of Hanson and raises questions about the doctor's role in his death. Soon they uncover a bizarre story of corpse stealing, fake identities and sexual perversion – all part of an elaborate insurance case that will center on what actually caused the victim's death: a sex act gone wrong or premeditated murder?

In 1992, two masked gunmen enter the Canadian home of Ward and Diana Maracle to rob them, but Ward was shot in the head. If a perpetrator leaves a shoe print in the mud, investigators use established techniques to make a mold of the shoe impression for later identification. In this case, the impression is left in the snow. Here's the story of one investigator, whose quick thinking and knowledge of science enabled him to capture a shoe impression made in snow, before the evidence melted away.

In 1992, 22-year-old Dawn Bruce was brutally raped and murdered in her Virginia apartment. The killer left very little evidence, but investigators did notice a blood smear on a pillow case that appeared to have been made by one of the killer's fingers. New technology enabled investigators to identify a fingerprint from the cloth surface of the pillow case.

In 1981, six-year-old Cassie Hansen disappeared from her St. Paul, Minnesota church during a Sunday evening service. After a tip from a witness that an older man was seen carrying a small body, Cassie's body was found in a dumpster. The FBI created a psychological profile of the perpetrator, but are still unable to find the killer.

In 1995, California model Linda Sobek goes missing. A park employee discovers photographs and some vital pieces of information in a dumpster, which eventually led investigators to professional photographer Charles Rathbun. Rathbun claims Sobek died during a consensual sexual encounter gone wrong, but Sobek's corpse and some high tech digital imagery tell a more sinister story.

In 1998, an evening out at a Maryland murder mystery theatre performance turns into a real life whodunit when the badly burned body of Stephen Hricko is found in his hotel room after a fire. Upon initial investigation, it appeared to be an accidental fire. Lies, greed and medical trickery can't match the skills of forensic scientists, who pull the curtain down on the real killer.

In 1980, Michigan resident Shannon Mohr died tragically in what was reported by her new husband, David Davis, as a horseback riding accident. Upon deeper investigation, police uncover a thread of lies in Davis' background after his suspicious behavior prompts a closer look.

For 15 months, a serial killer in Tampa, FL, taunts police by strangling prostitutes and leaving their bodies in plain sight, but tire marks and fibers lead to the culprit.

When Missouri police in the Great Plains were called to retrieve a dead body, they did a background check on the victim. The trail guided them into a strange thread of homeless drifters, cattle auctions and bad checks.

In 1994, a human skull found in an Ohio pond uncovers a ghastly crime. Markings on the skull indicate that the victim had been stabbed many times and that the teeth had been removed with needle-nose pliers in an attempt to keep the victim's identity a secret. Forensic scientists use DNA matches to indentify the skull.

In 1996, when a fundamentalist group is accused of robbing banks in the Spokane, WA area, authorities know immediately they are dealing with experienced criminals. A tip leads them to the alleged perpetrators and the evidence found at their homes is extensive. But in court, this wealth of evidence must withstand a well-funded defense.

In 1992, in a rural Canadian community, Dr. John Schneeberger is accused of sedating and sexually assaulting two of his female patients. DNA tests show him to be innocent, but the women persist with their claims; 7 years later, a private investigation leads to a surprising discovery.

Creating a “profile” of a serial killer is part science and part intuition. The science involves studying criminals who have committed similar crimes, to see what characteristics they have in common. In a search for the killer of two teenagers in Texas, a behavioral profile led to a possible suspect - and hard science proved the profile was correct; it shows a behavioral study on how most serial killers also have a history of abusing animals.

In 1981, Charlotte Grabbe, the estranged wife of prominent Illinois farmer Fred Grabbe, disappeared from her farm without a trace. His former lover comes forward with an outlandish tale of rage, murder, mutilation and cremation. The tests of a plant pathologist and a dendrochronologist lead to a surprising revelation.

In 1987, Susie Mowbray was charged for her husband Bill Mowbray's death, which had the appearance of suicide. Her son was so convinced of her innocence that he enrolled in law school to try and clear her name.

In 1994, 67-year-old grandmother Rhoda Nathan was found murdered in a Cincinnati hotel room. When a patient in a hospital emergency room said he cut his hand on a dumpster, the doctor treating the injury recognizes it as something else -- and soon because the chief witness and a murder case.

In 1991, San Francisco pornographer Artie Mitchell was murdered in his home. His brother and business partner Jim is found near the scene carrying a rifle and, later, confesses to shooting Artie. The question for investigators is whether the shooting was pre-meditated. A 911 call in which the fatal shots can be heard, and a computer reconstruction of the crime scene, provide the answer.

In 1981, New York correctional officer Donna Payant disappeared and her body was later found in a landfill; investigators suspect the prisoners in the facility where she worked. The medical examiner uses a "signature" clue to link her death to a murder the same examiner investigated 10 years earlier.

In 1999, 9-year-old Valiree Jackson vanishes on her way to school near Spokane, WA. The entire community helps with the search; detectives believe her long-lost mother might be connected to the disappearance. The Secret Service finds a hidden fingerprint that helps detectives seal the case.

The investigation of a murder case in New Jersey is stalled until a strikingly similar attack occurs in 1995, to off-duty Maine State Trooper Vicky Gardner during a routine stop.

In 1989, 19-year-old mother Lori Auker left her Pennsylvania home for work, but never arrived. It takes space-age technology, cat hairs and insects to help build an image of the woman's abductor.

In 1999, expectant mother Leann Fletcher is reported dead in her Michigan home of an accidental gunshot wound to the head. Was the wound self-inflicted, and if it was, why would this young mother, with so much to live for, kill herself? Forensic computer analysis, blood spatter analysis and a painstaking investigation leads police to the truth.

In 1980, 4-year-old Vicky Lyons is found unconscious in a parking lot with severe head trauma. Police concluded it was a hit-and-run vehicle accident and closed the case. But Vicky's mother, Crystal, suspected there was more to the story and was determined to find out exactly what had happened.

Lisa Manderach and her daughter Devon left their home to go shopping, but didn't come back home at the expected time. Lisa's husband Jimmy called police in a panic to report their disappearance and directed them to a nearby shopping center. Later that day, Devon's body was found dumped off the side of the road, but there was no sign of Lisa.

Exploring how an American hit single from 1966 -- the cheater by Bob Kuban And The In-man -- foreshadowed the demise of the group's lead singer, Walter Scott (Walter Notheis Jr.), who disappeared in 1983.

In Texas 1988, Nancy DePriest was raped and murdered while working at Pizza Hut. After a suspect confessed and implicated another, they were both imprisoned; the case was considered closed. Eight years later, another man claims that he committed the crime, and investigators must use forensic evidence to determine the true killer.

Although a group of teenage thugs are suspected of attacking two boys on a fishing trip, there is no solid evidence until a murky fishing hole provides some answers.

In 1988, when a young prostitute's body turns up in an Ohio waterway under ice, authorities have one tiny clue which could point to her killer, but face huge challenges due to her policemen clients and DNA evidence being washed away.

In a small South Carolina town in 1991, 17-year-old Crystal Faye Todd, a popular high school student, is raped, murdered and dumped in a deserted field, after attending a party. With few leads, authorities test the DNA of several friends and one match shocks everyone.

In 1997, two years after a series of unsolved kidnappings and sexual assaults in California. One of the victims suddenly recalled an important detail of the crime which she had not told police. She left some forensic evidence in the assailant's vehicle, evidence that left quite an impression.