The Best Episodes of 48 Hours Season 35

Earlier this year, 58-year-old former Olympic equestrian Michael Barisone stood trial in a Morristown, New Jersey, courtroom for the attempted murder of his own riding student, Lauren Kanarek. Barisone's legal team of Ed Bilinkas and Christopher Deininger would gamble on an unusual defense. They claimed that at the time of the shooting Barisone was insane, and not legally responsible for his actions. Insanity pleas are uncommon and rarely successful. Barisone's defense would be that Lauren Kanarek had driven him over the edge, in large part by her use of social media. Michael Barisone speaks out in his first television interview since the end of his trial.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

A young woman vanishes. The prime suspect has a criminal past — he murdered his parents when he was a child. Did he kill again? "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Megan Hargan was suspected of killing her mother and sister. Her defense had an unusual theory: her sister was the one who pulled the trigger – with her toe. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

A respected professor dies in a hot tub. Two friends are at the scene. Only one survives to tell the tale.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Schanda Handley details how she survived an abduction and later found video linking her estranged husband Michael Handley to the crime.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

When his parents disappear, Chandler Halderson's social media helps investigators unravel the case. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

How a DNA "detective," an undercover cop and a cast-off cigarette butt helped catch a killer. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

In 1982 the bodies of Annette Schnee and Bobbie Jo Oberholtzer were found outside a luxe ski town. A man rescued from a snowdrift the night of the murders turned out to be their killer. "48 Hours" contributor Natalie Morales reports.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Michael Politte was just 14 years old when he was charged in 1998 with murdering his mother, Rita Politte, who died after being hit in the head and set on fire in her Missouri home. More than three years after the crime, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder, though he maintained he was innocent. He spent nearly 20 years in prison before a new law passed in Missouri that made him eligible for parole. Now 38 and out on parole, Michael Politte claims he knows who is responsible for killing his mother and talks with 48 HOURS correspondent Erin Moriarty.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

On Sept. 4, 1981, Jeff and Tim Slaten were awakened by Lakeland, Fla., police and told that their mother, Linda Slaten, had been murdered. Jeff was 15 and Tim was 12. Investigators collected a rape kit and lifted a palm print from the windowsill where the killer had entered. They questioned a slew of suspects, but no one was charged. The case went cold. Prior to and after Linda Slaten's murder, Tim Slaten's football coach, Joe Mills, would regularly drive Slaten to and from football practice. Coach Joe became a role model for Slaten, who proudly hung up his football team photo in his room where Coach Joe stood right behind him. But nearly 40 years later, advances in DNA technology and a carefully stored rape kit revealed Linda Slaten's likely killer: Coach Joe. 48 HOURS and contributor Jim Axelrod report on how detectives and a DNA genealogist finally were able to catch Joe Mills.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

On Oct. 10, 2019, Joseph Elledge, then 23, reported his wife, Mengqi Ji, missing. Elledge told Columbia, Mo., police that he believed his wife may have left him and their 1-year-old daughter for another man with whom he said she had an online relationship. But when police searched the couple's apartment, they found a muddy pair of Elledge's boots - evidence that would become important months later, after Ji's remains were found buried under a juniper tree. Elledge's boots were found to have several juniper tree needles stuck to the soles. 48 HOURS correspondent Peter Van Sant reports on how DNA from those needles was linked to the tree directly above Ji's shallow grave, providing prosecutors with the evidence they needed to help convict Elledge of her murder.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Four college students are found stabbed to death in their home. Police say the suspect had studied the criminal mind. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

A cosplay actor finds herself in the spotlight when she's accused of murdering her boyfriend. Can she convince a jury it was self-defense? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

More than two decades after 48 HOURS correspondent Erin Moriarty began reporting on the case of a missing 12-year-old girl from Friendswood, Texas, there is finally a conclusion. What no one knew when Laura Smither first went missing in 1997 was that she had been the victim of a serial killer. William Reece would go on to murder three young women that same year before he was eventually identified by DNA. Moriarty, who has been on the trail since 1997, has the latest in "The Daughters Who Disappeared".

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Police officer Seth Perrault reports his wife, Amanda, had taken her own life -- just days after she made allegations of abuse against him.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

A mother is forced to rob a bank after she and her daughter are threatened with dynamite, but in court she is falsely accused of masterminding the plot.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

The 1982 murder of Cathy Krauseneck and the case against her husband, Jim, who says he found her dead in their bed with an ax in her head.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

The double life of once prominent lawyer Alex Murdaugh and his stunning fall from grace.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

A woman claims self-defense in the stabbing death of her fiancé; her daughter, who witnessed the crime scene at 11 years old, tells her story.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

A kidnapping survivor discusses her ordeal and her fight to keep her kidnappers behind bars; narrated by David Begnaud.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

When a young woman is found dead in her car, her husband claims she took her own life, but there are two bullet wounds in her head.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

Three days after a Washington woman's disappearance, surveillance footage of a mysterious man in a fedora leaving her car is discovered.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

When two women are dumped outside hospitals by masked men after a night out, authorities question whether they are good samaritans or if they were involved in the women's death.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

After a man manipulates his children into thinking he wants to get back together with their mother, he holds her captive and attempts to kill her.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A

A man gets his life back after spending 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. "48 Hours" investigates and is there as Johnson is freed in time to walk his daughter down the aisle. Correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.

Director: N/A

Writer: N/A