In most homicides, police rely on motive to pursue a murderer. But when the killer is a stranger the crime may go unsolved for years. It takes a full arsenal of forensic techniques to trace a lethal encounter.
Showing1to20of28results
When a murder is committed and deceit clouds the evidence, investigators turn to science and technology to uncover the truth and expose a murderous lie and capture the killer.
Drug trafficking has spawned a violent and deadly criminal underground. It's providing a challenge to forensic investigators devoted to cracking drug rings.
In most homicides, police rely on motive to pursue a murderer. But when the killer is a stranger the crime may go unsolved for years. It takes a full arsenal of forensic techniques to trace a lethal encounter.
The solution to the most heinous crimes often hinge on the smallest of clues. Investigators must have their eyes trained to find the full story of a murder written in a single scrap of evidence.
When a theft is committed, something valuable is stolen. But when a criminal needs a new identity, theft becomes a matter of life and death.
Forensic Sculpting: Forensic sculptors retrieve people from oblivion. Using clay and an intricate knowledge of anatomy, forensic arts place a face on an unidentified skull, recreating the victim's likeness, which often leads to his name.
Using science as their most powerful weapon, investigators must find these hired killers and make them pay the true price of murder.
Tool marking: A tool used to commit a crime can often be the same tool used to solve it. The pattern a machine leaves on an item, the unusual way a tool crimps a wire, and even something as innocuous as the shape of a wood chip can lead to a killer.
Some killers choose to hide their victims And investigators must then rely on forensic examiners to uncover proof of murder These are just two extraordinary crimes that have made their way into the medical examiner's casebook.
Forensic scientists find clues written in blood as they investigate the deaths of three women killed by the men who once loved them.
Some cases simply can't be solved with current technology or with the evidence at hand. But that doesn't mean they'll remain unsolved forever.
An abandoned car outside Philadelphia brings heartbreak to a family and terror to a community. A young woman is dead, the killer gone. But the marks of his passage remain.
In Northern California, a fire rages in the middle of the night. A woman's charred body is discovered in the smoldering aftermath.
A woman's body is found and investigators have little time and few clues to lead them to a killer who could strike again. Perpetrators try to conceal their crimes, yet savvy investigators can take the most obscure data and recreate a murder.
A millionaire is found dead, murdered for a stash of buried silver. A young woman dates violent men, only to be killed by her best friend.
When victims of murder know their killers, they are often caught off guard. But even the best-laid plans leave traces of the forsaken trust.
Forensic Photography: Forensic photographers are among the first people at a crime scene, capturing vital clues on film. What do the cameras capture that can't be seen first-hand, and who are the men and women who analyze the camera's clues?
Killers often attempt to deflect attention away from their crimes by hiding the remains of their victims. Bodies may lay hidden for years before they are discovered.
Terrorism: Thanks to new technology and, perhaps, the approaching millennium, terrorism is a growing international threat. The Oklahoma City explosion and the bombing of the World Trade Center are just two of the incidents of this growing problem.
There's never a good reason for murder, but some killers are particularly brutalchoosing their prey at random or with no apparent motive and then cunningly covering their tracks. Even so, telltale clues remain.
Showing1to20of28results
