Forensic Files (1996)

A house erupted in flames on a cold January night, killing one person and injuring another. The survivor blamed a kerosene heater but the e…

In 1957, California police searched for a man who had committed several crimes in one night – including murder, but after following thousan…

A man riding a bicycle was fatally injured, the victim of a hit-and-run accident. Tiny clues found at the scene created a picture of the ve…

When an elderly couple died in a suspicious house fire, their son became the prime suspect. The son insisted he was innocent; he said he tr…

A mother of two young children went missing and, less than a day later, her body was found. The evidence was little better than circumstant…

When hunters reported finding a skull in a Texas canyon, police find bits of clothing, a woman's shoe, some small bones and a strand of hai…

A married couple decided to escape the cold of winter with a mini-vacation in Key West. The wife went missing, and police searched every sq…

A mother of two young children was found dead in her bedroom. It appeared she had killed herself: There were suicide notes near her body, a…

In 1991, when the wife of a serviceman was brutally murdered in the Philippines, the Air Force Office of Special Investigators swung into a…

Bombings are difficult to solve, because the perpetrator isn't usually at the scene, and the evidence goes up in smoke. But there are clues…

The wife of an Air Force officer was found dead in her bed, with a plastic laundry bag near her face. At first glance, it appeared she'd be…

When a fire destroyed most of a home and a young boy went missing, police organized the largest search in the history of their small town.…

A highway patrolman was dispatched to what he thought would be a routine traffic accident until he looked in the car. While he had no forma…

The decomposed body of a young woman was discovered in a Bakersfield irrigation canal. If there was trace evidence, it had been washed away…

A behavioral profile is helpful in a murder investigation, but it's not a road map to the killer. One such profile caused the Baton Rouge P…

An obstetrician returned home from the hospital and found his wife on the floor of the bathroom. She was covered with blood and not breathi…

A Modesto, CA, teenager went missing. There was no sign of a struggle in her home, and police suspected she'd simply run away until her nak…

When police recovered the submerged car of a man reported missing, they expected to find his body – but it wasn't there. His broken eyeglas…

Emergency dispatch received a call from a man who said his girlfriend shot and killed herself. Police found the victim in the caller's hous…

A Native American woman was brutally killed in the desert of New Mexico, and the crime scene was rich in forensic evidence: tyre tracks, sh…

A brilliant young architect became ill and died just before she was to testify in a criminal trial. The autopsy revealed she'd been poisone…

An employee of a dry cleaner was raped and murdered in the store, and investigators thought themselves fortunate to have two eyewitnesses.…

The murder of an eccentric millionaire was not entirely unexpected; he flaunted his wealth and cared little for personal security. The evid…

When a young woman disappeared, police feared she was the latest victim in a string of similar crimes but the MO wasn't quite right. A pair…

Two men were convicted of intentionally shooting and killing a passenger in a moving car, their friend was granted immunity for testifying…

Police initially suspect that the death of a gay student is a hate crime, until just three strands of hair and some microscopic cells help…

In an affluent suburb of Philadelphia, police were called to the scene of what appeared to be an accidental drowning. The investigation gra…

Kansas City attorney Richard Armitage was brutally murdered in his office in broad daylight. The first prime suspect was Lou Campbell, who…

When two women from the same town were murdered in the same way, police feared a serial killer was on the loose. At first they thought the…

A young woman was found dead on a golf course in the Bahamas. The grass on that course was so distinctive, it had evidentiary value. The ev…

A teenager went missing after an evening of horseback riding. Her body was found a month later, three miles from her home. The killer unkno…

When a popular disc jockey was found murdered in a community garden, police swung into action. A sniffer dog and a blood spatter expert led…

When a woman's husband was gunned down in his own garage by intruders, investigators worked tirelessly to find the assassins. But when they…

Three seemingly unrelated deaths proved to be serial murders. The killer had been careful – he used poison which had no taste or odor. Fort…

The crime scene was awash with blood. The victim had been brutally murdered as he slept in his own bed. There were no foreign fingerprints…

Now it's not only a fingerprint which can link a killer to a crime; a shoe print can be just as telling. Armed with little else, police hop…

When the head chef of a historic Philadelphia restaurant was found dead, investigators interviewed the usual suspects: family, friends and…

A serial arsonist was on the loose in Washington, DC. Each of the fires was started with the same type of incendiary device. The perpetrato…

When Genell Plude was found dead in her bathroom, the scene pointed to suicide. But a coroner's inquest and a unique application of forensi…

Three homicides on two continents looked like professional executions. Investigators on both sides of the Atlantic needed to find out if th…

A 29-year-old woman was killed instantly when a bomb exploded in her home. The device was so powerful that shrapnel was embedded in houses…

A killer tried to incinerate and destroy everything that could link him to his crime. But in doing so, he inadvertently created new forensi…