Forensic Files

The bomb was constructed to cause as much damage as possible... and it did, killing the victim with deadly force and flame. A painstaking search yielded tiny clues, which identified the killer as surely as if he'd signed them.

They thought the fire would cover their crime. But one tiny clue, no bigger than a thumbtack, remained. It held all the information investigators needed to put a trio of cold-blooded killers behind bars. Originally aired as Season 11, Episode 25.

She won $5,000 at the Blackjack tables. Three hours later, she was abducted; a month after that, she was found dead. Then the trail turned cold, until police got a call from a woman whose husband had a criminal past and a fondness for Chevy Berettas.

Lives changed in the 20 years following an unsolved murder, and so did forensic science. In time, a high-powered microscope and DNA profiling revealed not only a clue no one had seen before... but also the identity of the killer.

When a wealthy socialite died after falling down the stairs, the eyewitnesses said one thing and the evidence seemed to indicate another.

When a house burned to the ground and a woman's charred remains were found in the rubble, investigators had to determine if it was an unfortunate accident, or arson and murder.

A very successful stockbroker told his wife he'd be working late, but when he didn't come home she reported him missing. Police discovered his car a few blocks from his office and, two days later, evidence that he had been murdered.

A woman who was known to have suffered from depression seemingly took her own life. But her sister told police that, a year before her death, she said if anything were to happen to her, there would be a note in the china cabinet.

The medical examiner ruled the death an accident, but the investigators on the case thought the evidence at the scene indicated otherwise. It would take three long years, an exhumation, and a second autopsy to finally conclude who was right.

When a hit-and-run boating accident caused the death of a popular young man, police faced the discouraging task of looking for one boat among thousands of others.