Cold Case Files

Cold Case Files

Cold Case Files shows how timing, persistence and high-tech police work combine to catch people who have slipped through the cracks for decades.

Genre: DocumentaryCrime

Cast:Bill KurtisDave ReichertKathy MillsMelvyn FosterBob KeppelRandy MullinaxBeverly HimickMary HongTommy LeNoirMarvin CaseyKevin GreenMelvin GantmanJackie BissonnetteWayne AllenCharles HayesBarb BoudroJoan Matrisciano FiertnerDorothy Farrar


1Season 5

S5.E1 ∙ Finding BTK

Thu, Dec 1, 2005

The story of the hunt for one of the most notorious serial killers in recent American history--the BTK killer, who terrorized the Wichita, Kansas, area for years. After committing at least seven brutal murders, BTK (for Bind, Torture, Kill) vanished for over 25 years before sending clues of his crimes to the media in 2004. He continued to avoid capture until a forensic computer expert traced a computer disc that led investigators to a surprising suspect--a church president.

2Season 5

S5.E2 ∙ Obsession: Dave Reichert and the Green River Killer

Thu, Dec 15, 2005

One of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history, dubbed "The Green River Killer," confessed to murdering 71 women in the Seattle area. Dave Reichert had reopened the case after being elected sheriff and succeeded in solving the case (thanks to scientific advances). To escape the death penalty, Gary Ridgway also agreed to reveal burial places of many victims not known to police. Bill Kurtis accompanies search teams which include Ridgway.

3Season 5

S5.E3 ∙ Death of a Deacon/A Wife's Mission

Sat, Jan 14, 2006

A deacon suspected of having an affair is found shot to death in Tijuana, Mex; a woman claims she was assaulted by the man that killed her husband.

4Season 5

S5.E4 ∙ Snatched/A Detective's Promise

Sat, Jan 21, 2006

It's a quiet Sunday in Edmonton, Alberta on September 6, 1992. Corrine "Punky" Gustavson and her 5-year-old friend Lindsey are playing in the backyard of their townhouse complex when a man approaches them. He grabs 6-year-old Punky and drives off with her in his car. Lindsey tells her mother that a man took Corrine and the police are called. Constables from the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) arrive and they interview Lindsey and Punky's father, Ray Gustavson. Ray says he was watching the girls and stepped away for a moment. Soon after, his neighbor told him Punky was missing. Lindsey isn't able to provide a good description of the perpetrator and nobody else seems to have seen the man. Cst. Dave Bittman surveys the yard notices a patch of mud with a shoe print that looks like a sporting cleat. Bittman sketches the print. Soon after police begin a door-to-door search. Local media quickly picks up the story, and volunteers join in on a citywide search for a missing girl. Two days later, a truck driver finds Corrine's body face down in the mud of a trucking yard just outside of Edmonton. Investigators believe the young girl was raped and murdered elsewhere and then dumped at the site. At autopsy the medical examiner determines the six-year old was most likely smothered to death. The only evidence he gleans from the body is a single pubic hair. In 1992, however, analysts are able to do little with the hair. Part 2; Robert Wigley is suspected in the death of Camilla Randall.

5Season 5

S5.E5 ∙ The Sunday Morning Slasher

Sat, Jan 21, 2006

The story of Coral Eugene Watts, perhaps the U.S.'s most prolific serial killer.

6Season 5

S5.E6 ∙ Caught on Tape/A Son to Remember

Fri, Feb 29, 2008

A video tape made at an ATM machine helps police in Louisville, KY, to nab a man suspected of raping 13 women. And a DA investigator in Georgia helps crack a murder case that his father, a police chief, first worked on 30 years before.

7Season 5

S5.E7 ∙ On the Case: Nacole's Killer

Sat, Feb 18, 2006

This special edition of Cold Case Files offers an inside look, rarely seen, at an active cold case investigation. We follow Det. Vince Velazquez of Atlanta and Capt. Russell Popham of East Point, Ga., as they work to solve the 1995 rape and murder of 14-year-old Nacole Smith, one of Atlanta's most notorious unsolved crimes.

8Season 5

S5.E8 ∙ Killer on Campus/The Bow Hunter

Sat, Apr 1, 2006

This story is about the murder of a college student Jane Mixer in Ann Arbor Michigan. The murder took place in 1969.

9Season 5

S5.E9 ∙ Something Snapped/A Killer's Dream

Fri, Apr 7, 2006

On a summer night in 1987 a mother worries and waits for her 19-year-old daughter to come home. But Diana never comes home and she's found raped and strangled near the Hudson River. Investigators suspect her friend, Michael because his alibi is shaky and witnesses place his truck near the crime scene. Trouble is, he passes a polygraph and his DNA is no match.

10Season 5

S5.E10 ∙ Daddy Dearest/A Pastor's Wife

Sat, May 6, 2006

The day after Thanksgiving in 1994, 38-year-old Luz Mucino and her teenage daughters Edith and Gabriela are reported missing by a friend. And since Luz Mucino and her daughters were undocumented aliens, detectives cannot locate any family members who might be able to provide information. On May 15, 1999, 38-year-old Patty Jo Pulley is reported missing by her husband.

11Season 5

S5.E11 ∙ A Killer's Skin/Where's Peggy

Sat, Jun 3, 2006

A Killer's Skin/Where's Peggy?: Police track down a killer who preys on older women, while a protective mother disappears after learning her daughter has been assaulted. (S1, ep 4)

12Season 5

S5.E12 ∙ Innocence Stolen/Danger at the Door

Sat, Jul 8, 2006

DNA evidence is the key to solving 2 cold cases: a NY serial rapist of girls and young women, as well as a CA 9-year-old girl who was grabbed at her front door, mutilated and murdered.

13Season 5

S5.E13 ∙ The Interrogation/The Slide

Sat, Jul 15, 2006

A 14-year-old boy is charged with the murder of his sister, but his public defender believes the police coerced the boy's confession and that the real killer is still on the loose. And two deteriorated medical examiner's slides, made in a murder investigation 16 years earlier, give police the evidence they need to reopen the cold case and bring the lead suspect to trial.

14Season 5

S5.E14 ∙ The Taunt/Death in Deadwood

Sat, Jul 29, 2006

The Taunt/Death in Deadwood: Detectives look at the cold case of two women who were raped in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1995, and a murder in Deadwood, South Dakota, in 1982. (S1, ep 7)

15Season 5

S5.E15 ∙ On the Case: A Child Remembers

Fri, Apr 2, 1999

Our cameras follow Detective Manny Reyes as he investigates the 1990 murder of a Fort Worth, Texas woman. Reyes talks to the woman's two sons, who believe that her husband, Bobby, was the murderer.

16Season 5

S5.E16 ∙ The Black Dahlia

Sat, Sep 9, 2006

Bill Kurtis reviews the 1947 murder of Elizabeth Short, popularly known as the "Black Dahlia" because of her black bouffant hairstyle. Her dismembered body was found near a sidewalk in L.A., and is the oldest unsolved case in LAPD files. Several suspects are named, including the father of a retired cop, who has written several books on the subject.

17Season 5

S5.E17 ∙ The Deadly Stroll/Unholy Secret

Sat, Sep 23, 2006

Deadly Stroll/Unholy Secret: Police go undercover to catch a man they suspect of killing three prostitutes. Meanwhile, a letter opener links a priest to the murder of a nun. (S1, ep 8)

18Season 5

S5.E18 ∙ A Deadly Affair/The Sting Operation

2006

Deadly Affair/The Sting Operation: Police investigate when a Kansas banker is beaten to death in his bed. Meanwhile, an Arkansas murder case is reopened. (S1, ep 9)

19Season 5

S5.E19 ∙ NCIS/Exhuming the Truth

Sat, Oct 7, 2006

NCIS/Exhuming the Truth: A sailor's disappearance is reinvestigated and DNA gathered from a cigarette butt helps detectives unravel a 20-year-old murder case. (S1, ep 10)

20Season 5

S5.E20 ∙ Cross Country Connection/Eyes at the Window

Sat, Oct 21, 2006

Cross Country Connection/Eyes at the Window: New DNA evidence helps to solve the 1988 murder of a California woman, and a cold case murder in Illinois suddenly heats up. (S1, ep 11)

21Season 5

S5.E21 ∙ Abandoned Houses/A Son's Memory

Sat, Oct 28, 2006

Abandoned Houses/A Son's Memory: Two young girls are raped, murdered and dumped in an abandoned house. Also, a 26-year-old mother of three disappears on Christmas Eve. (S1, ep 12)

22Season 5

S5.E22 ∙ A Knock at the Door/Shattered

Sat, Nov 18, 2006

A Knock at the Door/Shattered: A 25-year-old woman is killed in a hotel room in 1978 and a young woman is shot dead during a jewellery store robbery in 1980. (S1, ep 13)

23Season 5

S5.E23 ∙ A Deadly Pattern/A Desperate Housewife

Sat, Nov 18, 2006

A Deadly Pattern/Desperate Housewife: A look at two chilling cold cases. A woman is found murdered in her mobile home, while in Oregon a man is shot dead. (S1, ep 14)

24Season 5

S5.E24 ∙ Muder He Wrote/Caught by the Past

2007

Murder He Wrote/Caught By The Past: A look at cold cases involving the slaying of a Detroit cab company owner and a woman who was found murdered in her bedroom. (S1, ep 15)

25Season 5

S5.E25 ∙ Left for Dead/On the Case

Sun, Dec 31, 2006

A Californian detective tracks down a prostitute's killer with the help of a key piece of evidence. While two persistent cold case detectives wait many years for science and technology to evolve, so they can use the DNA results to investigate the 1990 murder of a woman and the death of a man killed in a car crash in 1988.

26Season 5

S5.E26 ∙ The Execution of Michael Johnson

Thu, Jul 26, 2007

Michael Johnson was convicted of the senseless killing of Jeff Wetterman, 11 years earlier. While being interviewed in his last days, cameras capture how Michael's family fights to save him from being executed, and the rising tension leading up to the execution date. In a shocking twist, the story ends in a way no one could have foreseen.

27Season 5

S5.E27 ∙ Innocence Files

Thu, Sep 20, 2007

Students of the University of Cincinnati and Texas Tech University Innocence Project take on the cases of jailed murderers who claim they're innocent. With exclusive, behind-the-scenes access, viewers watch as the students visit the inmates, track down key witnesses, and seek DNA testing that could prove their clients' innocence. While their focus is on the cases of Texas death row inmate, Anthony Graves, and mentally ill Ohio inmate Glen Tinney, who plead guilty but now professes his innocence.

28Season 5

S5.E28 ∙ Evidence Kit

Sun, Oct 14, 2007

The Chicago Police Department launches the Women's DNA initiative to fund the testing of backlogged rape evidence kits and help rape victims find justice. Meanwhile in Sacramento County, California, the deputy district attorney hunts for the killer of a man who was brutally stabbed to death in his home 16 years earlier, using a new grant for DNA testing.