Forensic Files

The investigation of a discarded sleeping bag, containing bloody sneakers and a purse, leads police to the body of a young woman. A mark found on the victim's body would enable police to track the killer, Jesse Pratt.

An Alaskan police officer found a woman's body while on routine patrol of a public park. The victim had been stabbed to death and, during the autopsy, the medical examiner preserved the portion of her rib cage which sustained the fatal wound.

A woman disappears without a trace. Even though foul play is suspected, the leads don't pan out and the trail turns cold. Twenty years would pass before police are able to link a clump of hair discovered in an isolated area with the missing woman.

A talented television news anchor was shot to death outside her home; it appeared to be a crime of passion, perpetrated by an obsessed fan.

Investigators sift through the ashes of a fire which killed a 40-year-old woman. The fire appeared to have been started by an unattended cigarette. On closer look, forensic scientists discover the cause was far more complicated.

For seven years, a trio of men robbed one bank after another. They always got away before the police arrived, and they left no evidence behind. But the way they stood and the clothes they wore told a story that could be read by forensic scientists.

A young woman suddenly becomes critically ill, eventually leaving her unable to walk. A bone marrow test reveals the cause: arsenic. Investigators must determine if the poisoning was caused by groundwater contamination or something more sinister.

Residents of Noel, Missouri were stunned to learn that their bank had been robbed and the bank president was missing. His body was later found floating in a lake, securely bound to a chair with duct tape.

A young couple decided to celebrate their first wedding anniversary with a camping trip to Mount Hood. During the trip, the husband was shot and killed, and his wife told two different versions of the events which led to his death.

The body of 16-year-old Leanne Tiernan was discovered nine months after she disappeared. Forensic scientists found clues that painted a virtual portrait of her killer.

A beautiful young woman fell to her death from a cliff overlooking the ocean. Initially, investigators thought it was a tragic accident. But after a forensic examination, police had a very different picture of what happened.

Haunted by the disappearance of her mother, a young woman undertook an investigation of her own. Her mother's diary was in the cold case file; there, she discovered a dark family secret, which might have been the reason her mother vanished.

California police had several suspects in the robbery and brutal murder of an elderly couple. Ten years later, a determined forensic scientist used material from a dentist's office to uncover ballistic evidence which had been overlooked.

After a street fight took the life of a national wrestling champion, police had to determine if he was killed in cold blood, or in self-defense. A jury decided it was murder, and sentenced the accused to a minimum of twenty years in prison.

A 19-year-old woman was found dead in her car; the scene had been staged to make murder appear to be suicide. During their investigation, police discovered the victim was involved in a love quadrangle, giving several people a motive to kill her.

A man disappears one year to the day after beginning an affair with his friend's wife. 15 years later, with the help of a metal detector, police found evidence which would prove what had happened, and who was responsible.

The body of a young woman was found under an isolated ramp of the Interstate, and a tiny, unique fiber on the victim's clothing led San Diego police straight to the most unlikely of killers.

A go-go dancer told her family she needed to get away for a while, and then she simply disappeared. Investigators were suspicious, because she took neither her car nor her clothes. 20 years later, her family received a call that changed everything.

A Colorado hunter who'd been shot three times was the victim of a well planned crime. Investigators suspected two weapons and two killers. But analysis of the forensic evidence pointed them in a different direction--one much closer to home.

In 1984, California firefighters had battled ten arson fires in three weeks. When cigarettes and a scrap of paper connected the southern California fires to several fires further north, the hunt was on for a dangerous pyromaniac.

In 2002, a small community in upstate New York was devastated when Patty Wlasiuk died in a truck accident. But burdock seed pods found in her hair and on her clothes would indicate that this was no accident. It was cold-blooded murder.

When a woman disappeared without a trace, there were two possible explanations: kidnapping or murder. Careful investigation, a forensic artist, and DNA profiling enabled police to find a single suspect, who was known to prey upon vulnerable women.

Hikers near Anchorage, Alaska discovered a body wrapped in sheets which were edged in orange stitching. Clinging to the sheet, they also discovered a tuft of red carpet fibers _ threads of evidence which led them straight to the killer.

The news of a flight attendant's brutal murder prompted the son of a victim who had been killed five years earlier to contact police. Both murders had similar MOs, and analysis of biological evidence proved that these were serial killings.

A two-man shrimp boat sank when a fast-moving, violent storm struck the Louisiana coast. The captain drowned, and the deckhand was rescued fourteen hours later. The deckhand was considered a hero until the captain's body was found.

When a wealthy real estate tycoon went missing, it appeared to be foul play. In his will, he left instructions regarding what was to happen if he died under violent circumstances_which were carried out after a hiker came across a bullet-ridden skull.

The murder of an American tourist in a Mexican resort focused law enforcement resources on both sides of the border. At first glance, the motive appeared to be robbery, but careful analysis of the forensic evidence pointed to something more sinister.

The investigation of the kidnapping of a prominent banker's wife led police on a wild goose chase. An unexpected discovery made by an entomologist led to a new suspect, and the realization that ordinary office equipment can leave extraordinary clues.

A neighbor watched as a man stabbed his wife, pushed her into the swimming pool and held her head under water. The husband, however, had no recollection of the crime. A jury would have to decide between evidence and the mysteries of the mind.