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The Best Episodes of Cold Case Files

Every episode of Cold Case Files ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Cold Case Files!

The Best Episodes of Cold Case Files

There are over 100,000 cold cases in America, and only about 1% are ever solved. With recent advancements in technology and the methods used to...

Seasons4

  1. Background image for The Smoking Gun
    8.3/10(13 votes)

    #1 - The Smoking Gun

    S4:E5

    A 2007 cold case resurfaces when a detective reopens the investigation into the brutal killing of Audrey Giannotti, 20, in rural Pennsylvania. Uncovering hidden secrets, he races against time to bring justice to a family desperate for answers.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  2. Background image for A Family Secret
    8.0/10(116 votes)

    #2 - A Family Secret

    S1:E8

    Ten years after a 17-year-old girl is found strangled in the woods in small-town Kentucky, detectives uncover a terrible family secret.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  3. Background image for Viciously Murdered
    7.9/10(11 votes)

    #3 - Viciously Murdered

    S4:E6

    When Susan Schwarz is found shot to death in her apartment in 1979, police suspect a robbery gone wrong. Thirty-two years pass before a witness reveals a much darker motive that breaks the case wide open and leads to Susan's killer.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for Sweethearts, Silenced
    7.8/10(134 votes)

    #4 - Sweethearts, Silenced

    S1:E4

    A killer authors a book about his con-man past that becomes the key to solving a 29-year-old cold case of two high school sweethearts--and three other cold case murders--leading police to believe he could be the Zodiac Killer.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Evil in Huntington Beach
    7.8/10(12 votes)

    #5 - Evil in Huntington Beach

    S4:E8

    When the body of a woman turns up in a field in Huntington Beach, CA in 1968, police simultaneously seek a killer and the identity of the victim herself. It takes 52 years for detectives to solve this dual mystery and expose a vicious predator.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Who Killed My Father
    7.8/10(11 votes)

    #6 - Who Killed My Father

    S4:E9

    When 34-year-old Freddie Farah is gunned down in his Florida grocery store, police urgently seek his killer. Decades later, Farah's son will have a chance encounter with a cold case detective which brings the case back to life and exposes a killer.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Cold Case Files

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  8. Background image for She Never Came Home
    7.7/10(146 votes)

    #7 - She Never Came Home

    S1:E3

    The case of a gruesome stabbing death of a bullied teenager remains unsolved for 27 years.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  9. Background image for Blood Red Snow
    7.7/10(10 votes)

    #8 - Blood Red Snow

    S4:E11

    In 2002, Chris Green, 19, is found beaten to death in a ditch in Michigan. The case remains cold for nearly a decade until investigators uncover a suspect whose incriminating statements blow the case wide open.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  10. Background image for Little Girl Lost
    7.6/10(194 votes)

    #9 - Little Girl Lost

    S1:E1

    Halloween in a small town is cancelled indefinitely when a young girl is kidnapped and killed on her way home from a costume party.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for A Bullet to the Heart
    7.6/10(10 votes)

    #10 - A Bullet to the Heart

    S4:E4

    When night manager Rodney Castlin is gunned down in the lobby of his hotel three weeks before Christmas, detectives scour Georgia for his killer. Two decades pass before an informant's shocking testimony breaks the case wide open.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Killings on Christmas Eve
    7.5/10(147 votes)

    #11 - Killings on Christmas Eve

    S1:E2

    The death of an elderly couple, Edward "Ed" and Wilhelmina "Minnie" Maurin Ed in Washington state on Christmas Eve 1985.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Circle of Friends
    7.5/10(114 votes)

    #12 - Circle of Friends

    S1:E7

    When 18-year-old Shannon Siders' body is found in the woods, everyone in the small town of Newaygo, Michigan, becomes a suspect--but no one is convicted of the crime.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for A Killer Confession
    7.5/10(15 votes)

    #13 - A Killer Confession

    S4:E10

    The quiet town of Redding, CA, is rocked by the disappearance of Frank McAlister, a teen with a recent cash windfall who leaves only a blood-stained car behind. 25 years will pass before someone makes a stunning on-air confession.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for Damn His Soul to Hell
    7.5/10(9 votes)

    #14 - Damn His Soul to Hell

    S4:E12

    The 1964 murder of 9-year-old Marise Chiverella leaves the town of Hazelton, PA, in fear; an intense manhunt yields numerous suspects but no killer. Five decades pass before a student moonlighting as a genetic genealogist reignites the case.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for A Killer Slips Away
    7.4/10(102 votes)

    #15 - A Killer Slips Away

    S1:E10

    Two decades after a close-knit family's loving aunt is stabbed in her home, detectives return to the crime scene and discover a pivotal clue hidden in plain view.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for Death of a Baseball Mom
    7.4/10(13 votes)

    #16 - Death of a Baseball Mom

    S4:E2

    When beloved mother and sister Janora Stevens is found brutally stabbed in her Tulsa, OK, home, her family is bitterly divided and increasingly suspicious of each other. The case chills until a trail of tell-tale fibers leads cops to her killer.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for The Night Shift
    7.3/10(119 votes)

    #17 - The Night Shift

    S1:E5

    College student Brad Perry shows up to work his graveyard shift at the gas station and is never seen alive again.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for Officer Down
    7.3/10(120 votes)

    #18 - Officer Down

    S1:E6

    The longest running cold case of a law enforcement officer in the United States was the murder of Sheriff's Lt. Joe Clark.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for The Voice in the Lake
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #19 - The Voice in the Lake

    S2:E1

    When 31-year-old real estate appraiser Mike Williams mysteriously vanishes while duck hunting in the Florida swamps in December of 2000, authorities suspect he accidentally drowned. For sixteen years Mike’s disappearance remains a mystery. The case heats up when police receive a distress call from the victim’s wife in 2016. Featuring interviews with detectives and the victim’s mother as well as rare footage of the crime scene and recorded audio confessions with the accused, the episode explores how the disappearance unfolded into a sinister plot to cash in on millions of dollars of life insurance.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  21. Background image for Devil at the Door
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #20 - Devil at the Door

    S2:E2

    When 36-year-old computer programmer Lisa Valdez fails to show up for work, her apartment manager finds her brutally murdered in her tiny studio. Her body is riddled with stab wounds, the walls are covered in blood. Evidence shows the killer cut off her long, dark hair, taking it as an apparent trophy. Detectives ask, could she be the victim of a brutal serial killer? Or was Lisa murdered by someone she knew? Clues left on an answering machine point to a co-worker who was known to have feelings for Lisa, but two bloody fingerprints left on a toilet seat clear him as a suspect, and the case goes cold for thirteen years. Things heat up when a detective gets a hit during a search of the state's DNA database, leading to an unsuspected person from Lisa's past.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  22. Background image for Missing in Altoona
    7.3/10(3 votes)

    #21 - Missing in Altoona

    S2:E3

    When Sherry Leighty goes missing in 1999, her family is left wondering how a dedicated mother of three could vanish without a trace. A decade later, the cold case heats up when Sherry's sister launches a social media campaign to help solve her sister's mysterious disappearance. An online tip unearths the killer truth and a sinister family secret. Featuring an interview with Shelly Leighty, who never gave up on solving her sister's case, along with rare home video of Sherry and her family.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  23. Background image for Good Girl Gone
    7.3/10(9 votes)

    #22 - Good Girl Gone

    S4:E3

    When 19-year-old Tara Sidarovich goes missing from her Punta Gorda home, Florida police consider her a runaway; then her body turns up in a swamp. Shocking prison recordings will send detectives on a nationwide hunt for her killer.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  24. Background image for Killer in the Storm
    7.2/10(44 votes)

    #23 - Killer in the Storm

    S3:E1

    After a young mother's death in 1988 goes unsolved, her older sister promises to solve the crime, no matter how long it takes, so she sets about on a quest for answers to determine who killed the victim in her own home and why.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  25. Background image for Taken in Tacoma
    7.2/10(34 votes)

    #24 - Taken in Tacoma

    S3:E6

    When 13-year-old Jennifer Bastian is abducted and murdered in August of 1986, residents of Tacoma panic. This is the second young girl killed in five months. Convinced a predator is loose, police embark on a 32-year inquiry.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  26. Background image for Sooner State Nightmare
    7.2/10(11 votes)

    #25 - Sooner State Nightmare

    S4:E7

    A massive search unfolds in Chandler, OK, when two women and a child go missing from a Walmart parking lot in 1992. It will take 23 years and a tip from an unlikely source to piece together a heinous plot of misdirection and murder.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"The Smoking Gun" is the best rated episode of "Cold Case Files". It scored 8.3/10 based on 13 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/13/2024. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "A Family Secret".