Forensic Files

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 dro…

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 lead…

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 did…

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 homel…

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…

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 Inte…

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 dea…

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 i…

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 kill…

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 FB…

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 S…

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…

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 suspici…

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'…

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 thei…

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 i…

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 teena…

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 …

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 -- …

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 t…

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 deat…

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 hid…

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? Fo…

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 a…

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…