When police discovered the body of Douglas Beamish's estranged wife, authorities linked 20 cat hairs found on her jacket to a cat owned by Beamish's parents. It was the first time animal DNA was used to solve a criminal case.
Showing1to20of1111results
In 1996, Indiana police identified Richard Alexander as the "River Park Rapist" who assaulted four women that year. Later, DNA analysis casts doubt on his conviction.
A coroner finds telltale clues on the badly burned body of a murder victim, sending police in pursuit of a couple of killers.
The police investigate when a severed leg is discovered among garbage. Conventional means of identifying the victim are impossible, leading investigators to rely on DNA, forensic anthropology and toxicology.
The investigation into the kidnapping and rape of an 18-year-old Ohio woman is aided when the victim returns hours after the incident occurred. With her help, the police are able to track the assailant to his front door.
In 1984, a passerby finds the torso of a woman in a cardboard box. A forensic entomologist analyzes nearby insect activity to determine when the victim was killed.
Two people witness a truck driving over an unconscious man and flee into a nearby bar, but when the police turn up, the truck, the man and the witnesses are gone.
In 1995, the founder of American Atheists disappeared with one of her sons, her granddaughter and $500,000 in gold coins. The police investigated several suspects, including David R. Waters, who worked for American Atheists.
A woman is found dead from a gunshot wound and police suspect her husband, however, forensic teams prove what really happened, and the truth is stranger than fiction.
When more than 700 Oregonians contracted food poisoning from a unique strain of salmonella in 1984, investigators uncovered a secret plot to influence local elections.
When police discovered the body of Douglas Beamish's estranged wife, authorities linked 20 cat hairs found on her jacket to a cat owned by Beamish's parents. It was the first time animal DNA was used to solve a criminal case.
In 1991, a high school girl vanished after attending a party. The prime suspect had two alibi witnesses for the night she disappeared. A solid alibi can often overcome circumstantial evidence, but forensic evidence is another matter.
In 1988, the body of a young woman was discovered in an Ohio river. Most of the evidence had been washed away, but the victim's 6-year-old son unwittingly told investigators all they needed to know - without saying a word. The clue was in his genes.
When two boys are brutally attacked, investigators rely on evidence fished out of a nearby pond. It became the first case where diatom analysis was used to place a suspect at the scene of the crime.
In a search for the killer of two teenagers in Texas, a behavioral profile led to suspect Jason Massey, and hard science proved the profile was correct. Massey was executed by lethal injection on April 3, 2001.
In rural Canada, Dr. John Schneeberger is accused of sedating and sexually assaulting one of his female patients and his stepdaughter. DNA tests demonstrate that the doctor is innocent, but the patient insists that he sedated and raped her.
In 1994, a human skull retrieved from an Ohio pond reveals a ghastly crime. Markings on the skull indicate that the victim had been stabbed multiple times and that the teeth had been removed with needle-nose pliers.
When police in the Great Plains are called about a dead body, they do a background check on the victim.
For 15 months, a serial killer was strangling prostitutes in Florida then taunting police by leaving the bodies in plain sight. The only clues were a tire impression and some threads.
In 1980, Michigan resident Shannon Mohr died in what was reported to be a horseback riding accident by her new husband David Davis. After her death, Shannon's family reported to police their suspicions that Davis seemed far from grief-stricken.
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 discovered in his hotel room after a fire.
Showing1to20of1111results
