10.0/101 votesLoading...#1 - Dead Heat
Season 7 Episode 6 - Aired 11/8/2009
The 1986 murder of a jockey is investigated after his body is discovered in a mass grave for horses. The victim disappeared shortly after losing a race that he had planned to be his finale before retiring.
Director: Nathan Hope
Writer: Adam Glass
10.0/101 votesLoading...#2 - Shattered
Season 7 Episode 22 - Aired 5/2/2010
Valens partners with Rush to locate her abducted, drug-addicted sister, while Jeffries tries to bring justice to the case of a murdered teenaged girl that has haunted him for 17 years.
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Greg Plageman, Elwood Reid
9.0/104 votesLoading...#3 - Glued
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/18/2004
Det. Stillman asks Lilly to re-open a case he couldn't solve, wherein an 8-year-old boy, Tim Barnes, was murdered in 1980. The prime suspects included a catholic priest, three glue-sniffing teenagers, one elusive suspect, and the boy's own parents.
Director: Peter Markle
Writer: Tyler Bensinger
9.0/101 votesLoading...#4 - Dog Day Afternoons
Season 3 Episode 14 - Aired 2/26/2006
The case of a female bank teller shot to death in her work in 2000 is reopened when the same bank is robbed again by perpetrators wearing identical masks and equipped with identical weapons as six years earlier.
Director: Craig Ross Jr.
Writer: Sean Whitesell
9.0/101 votesLoading...#5 - Torn
Season 4 Episode 21 - Aired 4/8/2007
The team re-investigates their oldest cold case yet, the 1919 murder of a young woman who was a passionate advocate for women's right to vote.
Director: Kevin Bray
Writer: Tyler Bensinger
9.0/101 votesLoading...#6 - Almost Paradise
Season 7 Episode 21 - Aired 5/2/2010
Rush tries to ignore her father's appeals to give her troublemaker sister another chance after she suddenly resurfaces.
Director: Alex Zakrzewski
Writer: Christopher Silber, Adam Glass
8.8/106 votesLoading...#7 - The Plan
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 5/2/2004
The 1999 drowning death of a military academy's swim coach, which was originally ruled as accidental, is reinvestigated after the homicide division receives a note that suggests it was murder. Back at the office, Valens searches for Elisa after she goes missing.
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Writer: Veena Sud
8.8/104 votesLoading...#8 - Factory Girls
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 10/10/2004
On the eve of the 60-year reunion of women who worked in a weapons factory during World War II, Lilly is asked to re-investigate the death of Alice Miller, one of the worker girls. The death was deemed accidental at the time, but her friend pleads to Lilly to look closer into the case.
Director: David Von Ancken
Writer: N/A
8.7/103 votesLoading...#9 - Discretion
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 12/19/2004
The team re-opens the 2000 case of a prominent Puerto Rican assistant district attorney when rumors about his connection to a large amount of money gone missing at the time of his death start to circulate. However, his widow insists that the claims are not true. The re-investigation reveals that the victim was prosecuting a murder trial and the man convicted for the crime after his death may possibly be innocent.
Director: James Whitmore Jr.
Writer: Henry Robles
8.7/103 votesLoading...#10 - Shuffle, Ball Change
Season 4 Episode 17 - Aired 3/11/2007
When a body is found in a dumpster, the team re-opens the 1984 case of a murdered teenage boy who wanted to become a dancer against his father's wishes.
Director: Mark Pellington
Writer: Liz W. Garcia
8.5/104 votesLoading...#11 - The Lost Soul of Herman Lester
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 3/14/2004
When the son of a murdered high-school basketball star receives a death threat, Rush and Valens reopen the 1987 case of Herman Lester who was stabbed to death only hours after leading his team to win the state championship.
Director: Tim Matheson
Writer: Sean Whitesell
8.5/102 votesLoading...#12 - Bad Night
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 10/9/2005
The 1978 murder of a young man is re-opened after the victim's mother finds a letter suggesting that his death wasn't random.
Director: Kevin Bray
Writer: Andrea Newman
8.5/102 votesLoading...#13 - Colors
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 10/16/2005
Det. Rush re-opens the 1945 case of a baseball player, bludgeoned to death with his own bat.
Director: Paris Barclay
Writer: Sean Whitesell
8.5/102 votesLoading...#14 - A Perfect Day
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 11/27/2005
When a fisherman finds evidence of a young girl's death washed up on a shore in New Jersey, Lilly re-opens the 1965 case of 4-year-old child who had a seemingly abusive mother.
Director: Roxann Dawson
Writer: Veena Sud
8.5/102 votesLoading...#15 - Superstar
Season 3 Episode 17 - Aired 3/26/2006
When a poison-soaked towel turns up at the station, Lilly re-opens the 1973 case of a murdered female college tennis star.
Director: Bill Eagles
Writer: Craig S. O'Neill, Jason Tracey
8.5/102 votesLoading...#16 - Beautiful Little Fool
Season 3 Episode 19 - Aired 4/9/2006
Lilly re-opens the 1929 case of a woman found dead in a ravine on Christmas Day when the victim's great-granddaughter comes in asking for help. Meanwhile, Lilly's estranged mother shows up, hoping to re-connect with her daughter.
Director: Kevin Bray
Writer: Liz W. Garcia
8.5/102 votesLoading...#17 - Death Penalty: Final Appeal
Season 3 Episode 20 - Aired 4/16/2006
The 1994 case of a raped and murdered 16-year-old girl is re-opened when Det. Jeffries gets a call from a prisoner on death-row -- scheduled to be executed in just three days.
Director: Alex Zakrzewski
Writer: Sean Whitesell
8.5/102 votesLoading...#18 - The Hen House
Season 3 Episode 21 - Aired 4/30/2006
The 1945 case of a murdered newspaper reporter is reopened when new evidence suggests that the woman was thrown in front of a passing train by someone she knew.
Director: David Von Ancken
Writer: Craig Turk
8.5/102 votesLoading...#19 - Offender
Season 4 Episode 19 - Aired 3/25/2007
A father pushes a registered sex offender off of a building and threatens to kill a different sex offender each day until the cold-case unit solves his son's 1987 rape and murder.
Director: David Barrett
Writer: Greg Plageman
8.5/102 votesLoading...#20 - Mind Games
Season 6 Episode 18 - Aired 3/22/2009
The team suspect a 2004 arson that killed a psychiatrist may have been caused by her former patient.
Director: Donald E. Thorin Jr.
Writer: Gavin Harris
8.5/102 votesLoading...#21 - Flashover
Season 7 Episode 17 - Aired 3/21/2010
Realizing that the missing Vera has finally hit rock bottom, his worried team members hope that a new twist to a 2006 arson case, which he was secretly obsessing about in recent weeks, might supply leads to his whereabouts.
Director: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Greg Plageman
8.4/105 votesLoading...#22 - The Hitchhiker
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/21/2003
Rush and Valens investigate the case of a cold-blooded killer who shot a young man trying to hitchhike his way home to Philly from Atlanta.
Director: Marita Grabiak
Writer: Sean Whitesell
8.4/105 votesLoading...#23 - Disco Inferno
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 2/22/2004
Construction workers discover a skull with bullet hole under the ruins of a disco club burned down in 1978. 22 people died in the fire. Rush and Valens come to the conclusion that the burning of the club was arson, meant to cover up a murder leaving them with not one, but 23 cold cases.
Director: James Whitmore Jr.
Writer: Tyler Bensinger
8.4/105 votesLoading...#24 - Daniela
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/17/2004
Lilly and Valens reopen a presumed homicide from 1979 in which an unidentified victim's blood-drenched shoes, underwear and sheets were found in a trash bag, but no body. The investigation begins when a battered wife accuses her husband of murdering a girl in 1979 and brings in an amateur film from the time that supposedly shows him committing the crime.
Director: David Barrett
Writer: Veena Sud
8.3/104 votesLoading...#25 - Volunteers
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 3/7/2004
When the remains of a young black man and a white woman are found under the foundation of a building, Rush and Valens discover that not only did the two go missing in 1969, but that they may have been killed professionally for their work in an underground abortion clinic.
Director: Allison Anders
Writer: Jan Oxenberg
The Best Episodes of Cold Case
Every episode of Cold Case ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Cold Case!
The Philadelphia homicide squad's lone female detective finds her calling when she is assigned cases that have never been solved. Detective Lilly Rush combines her...
Genres:CrimeDramaMystery
Network:CBS
Best Episodes Summary
"Dead Heat" is the best rated episode of "Cold Case". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Nathan Hope and written by Adam Glass, it aired on 11/8/2009. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Shattered".