Forensic Files

Forensic Files

A series featuring detailed accounts on how notable crimes and diseases were solved through forensic science.

Genre: DocumentaryCrime

Cast:Peter ThomasTom BevelSkip PalenikLowell LevineMary CaseKim RossmoCyril H. WechtHenry C. LeeNeal HaskellTrey GowdyKatherine RamslandBruce CastorDennis AsenRoy HazelwoodMichael AtilanoRoy ShulerPeter DeanPaul Pinkham


1Season 12

S12.E1 ∙ Sharper Image

Wed, Sep 26, 2007

In the Season 12 premiere of Forensic Files, the longest running true crime series in television history, a young girl is found dead, and police quickly arrest the most likely suspect. But when cutting-edge technology from NASA enables a forensic odontologist to prove the wrong man is behind bars, the investigation resumes. Originally aired as Season 12, Episode 1.

2Season 12

S12.E2 ∙ Insulated Evidence

Wed, Oct 3, 2007

When a Texas man is found dead in his fire-damaged San Antonio apartment, police discover fiber evidence that leads to a killer who entered and exited the apartment through a ceiling.

3Season 12

S12.E3 ∙ Cold Hearted

Wed, Oct 10, 2007

When a young fireman died from what appeared to be serious but undiagnosed heart disease, his family and friends were devastated but they had no proof of foul play. Then they learned that six years earlier in a nearby town, a young police officer died in the same way. The men had one thing in common: they had been married to the same woman. Originally aired as Season 12, Episode 3.

4Season 12

S12.E4 ∙ Wheel of Misfortune

Wed, Oct 24, 2007

Security cameras in a casino tracked a young woman's movements until shortly before she disappeared. She was never seen again, but through the evidence she left behind, she was able to tell investigators what happened to her and who was responsible. Originally aired as Season 12, Episode 4.

5Season 12

S12.E5 ∙ Quite a Spectacle

Wed, Oct 31, 2007

Police in Canada received a chilling 9-1-1 call from a woman who was just attacked in her apartment, but by the time they arrived, she was dead. Little evidence remained at the scene, except for a pair of eyeglasses and a shoeprint in a squished tomato. With the help of Canada's only forensic optometrist, police put away a killer that is larger than life.

6Season 12

S12.E6 ∙ Transaction Failed

Wed, Nov 7, 2007

When a dedicated, well-respected teacher disappeared, police had to determine if she'd gone on vacation without telling anyone, or if she was the victim of foul play. Investigators turned to forensic science, hoping to find the answers they needed. Originally aired as Season 12, Episode 6.

7Season 12

S12.E7 ∙ The Day the Music Died

Wed, Nov 14, 2007

The mystery surrounding the 1993 slaying of Mia Zapata, the lead singer for the Seattle punk-rock band the Gits, is solved a decade later with DNA evidence.

8Season 12

S12.E8 ∙ Sole Survivor

Mon, Nov 19, 2007

A case of a disappearance and presumed death of a Michigan State student. A professor of geological sciences is on hand to help dig up some dirt of her killer.

9Season 12

S12.E9 ∙ Insignificant Others

Mon, Dec 10, 2007

When the investigation of a woman's apparent suicide turns up some anomalies, investigators reopen the case of the suicide of another woman that had dated the same man.

10Season 12

S12.E10 ∙ Catch 22

Mon, Dec 17, 2007

A Wal-Mart shoe clerk is gunned down in her driveway with a 22-caliber weapon. Police suspect first her husband, then a coworker and spurned would-be lover half her age.

11Season 12

S12.E11 ∙ A Cinderella Story

Mon, Dec 24, 2007

The victim had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death on the beach, just ten yards from the hotel where she was staying. A pair of men's tennis shoes was discovered near her body. Police were sure that if they found the man who fit the shoes, they would also find the man who committed the crime. Originally aired as Season 12, Episode 11.

12Season 12

S12.E12 ∙ Screen Pass

Mon, Jan 7, 2008

Fingerprints on a window screen hold the key to solving the abduction and murder of a 13-year-old Colorado girl.

13Season 12

S12.E13 ∙ Pressed for Crime

Mon, Jan 14, 2008

A killer drives off in his victim's car after the crime. Forensic scientists match an iron found in the car to some broken pieces of plastic found near the victim's body.

14Season 12

S12.E14 ∙ Finger Pane

Mon, Jan 21, 2008

Two women are found dead in a Texas field, and a bloody fingerprint is found on one of the bodies. Police hope it will lead them to the killer.

15Season 12

S12.E15 ∙ Good as Gold

Mon, Jan 28, 2008

On Halloween night 2004, Adriane Insogna and Leslie Mazzara were brutally murdered in their Napa, California home. The killer was not seen by their downstairs roommate, but he left his DNA behind in some cigarette butts and a groundbreaking test determined his race and even the color of his eyes and hair. Originally aired as Season 12, Episode 15.

16Season 12

S12.E16 ∙ Freedom Fighter

Fri, Jun 13, 2008

A county social worker is murdered and her home set on fire. Bite marks are used to convict a man who had threatened people in her office. The man, Roy Brown, protests his innocence, and spends 15 years in jail finding the real killer.

17Season 12

S12.E17 ∙ Dog Day Afternoon

Mon, Feb 25, 2008

When the only witness to a brutal killing is the family dog, investigators turn to a microscopic analysis of some articles of clothing to find the guilty party.

18Season 12

S12.E18 ∙ Shattered Innocence

Fri, Mar 7, 2008

A lawyer's son calls 911 after hearing a shot fired from his father's locked bedroom. Discrepancies in the stories of key witnesses reveal the killer.

19Season 12

S12.E19 ∙ All Butt Certain

Fri, Mar 14, 2008

A man is sent to jail based on eye-witness testimony that he killed his mother-in-law. But it was dark and the witness was a young child - is her identification reliable? His family says no, and armed with a DNA sample of the real, unidentified, killer; his courageous wife conducts her own investigation.

20Season 12

S12.E20 ∙ Jean Pool

Fri, Apr 18, 2008

The 1984 murder of a college student, Laura Salmon, seems to have plenty of suspects, but nothing which solidly links any of them to the crime. After a decade now, this cold case has a breath of new life.

21Season 12

S12.E21 ∙ Traffic Violations

Fri, May 9, 2008

On March 30, 1997 an attractive waitress, Kim Medlin, is found dead in Monroe, North Carolina a mile and a half from her abandoned vehicle.

22Season 12

S12.E22 ∙ Brotherly Love

Fri, May 23, 2008

Fingerprints from a 1969 murder investigation turn up more than 30 years later, and detectives wonder if there could be a match in a modern fingerprint database.

23Season 12

S12.E23 ∙ Disrobed

Fri, Jun 6, 2008

Diane and Alan Johnson are shot to death in their Idaho bedroom. The killer's careful efforts to avoid leaving DNA evidence go for naught when forensic scientists take a careful look at the scene.

24Season 12

S12.E24 ∙ Driven to Silence

Fri, Jun 20, 2008

A witness comes forward to help solve the murder of a South Carolina hairdresser.

25Season 12

S12.E25 ∙ Printed Proof

Sat, Jun 28, 2008

A pair of lesbian women are found murdered in Oregon. Forensic investigators trace fingerprints on duct tape used to bind them and make a composite sketch of a man seen nearby.

26Season 12

S12.E26 ∙ About Face

Fri, Jul 18, 2008

A skeleton found in the woods behind a rented home in Wilmington, North Carolina is matched to a missing person using a free photo editing application.

27Season 12

S12.E27 ∙ In the Bag

Fri, Jul 25, 2008

A 4-year-old finds his great-grandparents murdered. Investigators find a shotgun and plastic bag in a nearby river, and forensic analysts recover the serial number of the gun and also manage to get a fingerprint from a glove in the bag.

28Season 12

S12.E28 ∙ Yes in Deed

Fri, Aug 8, 2008

When a woman's body is found in the remains of a burned mobile home, an autopsy is performed, revealing that she had been beaten to death before the fire began. Can forensic analysis break the solid alibi of one suspect?

29Season 12

S12.E29 ∙ Guarded Secrets

Fri, Aug 22, 2008

When a security guard disappeared from work without a trace, investigators couldn't determine if he left willingly or if foul play was involved. But homicide was confirmed when the body was found 19 months later. Without any substantial evidence or leads the case went cold. 14 years later, a cold case investigator solved the case after finding crucial evidence hidden beneath the victim's sole.

30Season 12

S12.E30 ∙ Smoking Out a Killer

Fri, Aug 29, 2008

Susan Schumake, an SIU (Carbondale) student, was strangled to death in a wooded area on the SIU campus. Over 20 years later, implementing new forensic techniques by revisiting DNA evidence was required in order to convict killer Daniel Woloson.