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: Elwood Reid, Greg Plageman
9.3/103 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
9.0/105 votesLoading...#4 - 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
9.0/103 votesLoading...#5 - 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
9.0/102 votesLoading...#6 - 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
9.0/101 votesLoading...#7 - 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
9.0/101 votesLoading...#8 - 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
9.0/101 votesLoading...#9 - 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
9.0/101 votesLoading...#10 - 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...#11 - 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
9.0/101 votesLoading...#12 - 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
9.0/102 votesLoading...#13 - 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
9.0/101 votesLoading...#14 - 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
9.0/101 votesLoading...#15 - 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
8.7/103 votesLoading...#16 - 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
8.5/104 votesLoading...#17 - 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
8.5/104 votesLoading...#18 - 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
8.5/104 votesLoading...#19 - 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
8.5/102 votesLoading...#20 - Who's Your Daddy
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 10/31/2004
Det. Rush investigates the 1991 double murder of married illegal immigrants from Cambodia who were shot to death in their apartment and found by their 6-year old daughter. The now-teenage girl brings the case to Lilly after she discovers a bracelet once owned by her mother is for sale on the internet. The probe reveals that the parents had dark secrets unknown to their daughter.
Director: Greg Yaitanes
Writer: Tyler Bensinger
8.5/102 votesLoading...#21 - Red Glare
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 11/21/2004
The 1953 murder of a white school teacher, a communist sympathizer who was involved in civil-rights issues, is reopened after the victim's youngest son asks for it to be reinvestigated. The probe reveals that the slain man was killed on the same day that the Rosenbergs were executed and was set to testify the next day before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
Director: Tim Matheson
Writer: Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie
8.5/102 votesLoading...#22 - Mind Hunters
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 11/28/2004
The headless torso of a woman who disappeared in 1985, on the same day she filed domestic-abuse charges against her husband, is found by hikers in a wildlife preserve. The investigation quickly leads to the grisly discovery of 8 more decapitated bodies, the victims of a serial killer.
Director: Kevin Bray
Writer: Veena Sud
8.5/102 votesLoading...#23 - Blank Generation
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 1/9/2005
The team re-opens the case of Matthew Adams, a teen-aged cult member who apparently committed suicide back in 1978, when his sister comes forth with new evidence about the deprogrammer her family hired to rescue her brother.
Director: David Barrett
Writer: Chris Mundy
8.5/102 votesLoading...#24 - Time to Crime
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 1/30/2005
After a murder weapon connected to the 1987 drive-by shooting of a little girl turns up, Det. Rush and her team re-open the case. The team slowly tracks back the gun's previous owners until the shocking original owner is finally revealed.
Director: Tim Hunter
Writer: Tyler Bensinger
8.5/101 votesLoading...#25 - Revolution
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 2/20/2005
Rush and the team investigate the 1969 murder of a 19-year-old girl whose body was found in her boyfriend's apartment the day he fled to Canada to avoid fighting in Vietnam.
Director: Alex Zakrzewski
Writer: Liz W. Garcia
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".