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The Best Episodes of Cold Case Files Season 1

Every episode of Cold Case Files Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Cold Case Files Season 1!

Binge this in 1d 0h•Peaking at 8.2/10

Explore compelling cases that have gone cold for years, chronicling the journeys of the detectives who reopened them. The detectives relive the events of the crimes, reveal new twists and startling revelations, relying on breakthroughs

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 6 - Through the Eyes of a Child / Killer Next Door
    8.2/10(40 votes)

    S1:E6

    In Missouri, a part-time missionary is convicted, 38 years later, of killing her 5-year-old stepdaughter, and the skeleton of a Michigan boy, dead for 10 years, leads police to a serial killer.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 5 - The Hunter Homicides / Skulls in Stanley Park
    8.0/10(20 votes)

    S1:E5

    DNA tests identify a skull of a 14-year-old boy who went missing 6 years earlier. When a second skull is found, investigators fear they have a serial killer in the area. In Florida, detectives trace a gun used in a 4-year-old murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 26 - Man in the Shadows/The Hitchhiker
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    S1:E26

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 15 - Killer in the County
    7.9/10(30 votes)

    S1:E15

    A serial killer of four women, Faryion Wardrip, is brought to justice in Wichita Falls, Texas after a DNA sample is found on a coffee cup.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 14 - Reconstructing Murder/Fire Flicks
    7.8/10(33 votes)

    S1:E14

    In Wisconsin, advances in forensic clay modeling help investigators identify a murder victim whose skin was stripped from her head, neck, and legs. And in California, police track down two boys who enjoy satanic rituals and setting fires.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 20 - The Missing and the Dead
    7.8/10(22 votes)

    S1:E20

    When a passing motorist spots a fire along a country road in South Carolina and calls it in, police arrive to discover the badly burned and battered remains of a woman, her skull smashed in to 97 fragments. After a forensic anthropologist at the University of South Carolina painstakingly pieces the bones back together, investigators use the skull to solve the murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 2 - The Boy and the Monster/Secret in the Cellar
    7.7/10(42 votes)

    S1:E2

    The Boy and the Monster In Wisconsin in the winter of 1991 a young woman's body was found naked, badly beaten and to make it harder to identify her, her fingertips were cut off. After months of trying to figure out who she was they finally came up with a name. Doris McLeod. After finding out who she was the police find out a lot more about her. She had a troubled past. After being on the streets she ended up connected to a pimp. Only one month of being on the streets she is never seen again. It takes a 3 year old boy to finally tell the police about Doris and the Boy and the Monster. Secret in the Cellar The second part of this episode is about a young woman from South Portland, Maine who was in search of her mother. She contacts the police but they get nowhere. They question Bill Bruns, the missing woman's husband who told the police a story about how Pearl drank and ran off with another man. Elaine Woodward, the missing womans daughter, went to the media for help. An investigator takes the case and with the help of science and man power he finds out what happened to Pearl with the Secret in the Cellar.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 13 - The Burning Secret/Justice Delayed
    7.7/10(24 votes)

    S1:E13

    A rapist is captured seven years after the crime, but when he is released on a technicality his victim is determined to fight back. Fifteen years after a fire claimed the lives of a father and son, detectives interview the grown surviving son and learn a tragic tale of a mother who burned her family.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 1 - Hour 1 - Cold Case Files
    7.6/10(21 votes)

    S1:E1

    In the first case in this episode Felicia Prechtl is found raped and murdered in Dallas, Texas/ The only thing the killer left behind was a fingerprint which was smudged. The fingerprint was left on a piece of duct tape that the killer used to tie up Felicia. It would take many years before Felicia would get justice. It would take the work of a dedicated detective to runs the prints through the system and find not only a match to the print but also finds the killer. And he wants to confess. The second story in this episode is about a little girl, Surrette Clark, who lived in the Arizona desert. She disappeared with nobody to even recognize that she was gone. After Surrette went missing at the age of 3 it would take more then 20 years to solve this mystery. Her parents took off across the Canadian border right after her disappearance. Finally a woman comes forward to tell of the families secret. With this information cold case detectives find out about a story of child abuse and how deadly some people will go to hide them. The third story in this episode is about a known man. One who has passed through our live via television either from watching the show or somebody talking about it. Its Bob Crane. Best known for his role on Hogan's Heroes as Colonel Hogan. Crane was strangled and beaten to death in his own bed in 1978. The story goes that Bob and a friend of his had a fight one night. With the small evidence that the police did have the police suspected his friend of his murder but could not prove it. It would be 12 years before anybody takes a second look at this case. On the second try police do find the evidence they need but will it be enough? In the fourth installment to this episode is about Ronnie Bullock. He was a man who had served 10 years of his sentence for raping an 11 year old girl. Through the entire time of his imprisionment he stayed stedfast to his claim of innocence. It would not be until DNA was founded that someone would listen to him and prove him innocent.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 10 - Diary Of A Serial Arsonist/The Lost Clue
    7.6/10(25 votes)

    S1:E10

    Every 2 years, a group of fire investigators meet for a conference. While attending the conference in 1987 in Fresno, California, 3 suspicious fires break out near the conference. They were in 3 different fabric stores nearby each other. The only clue being left behind is one latent pint. Two years later when the conference is held again in Monterey, California another group of fires break out. The firefighters at the conference begin to think that it's one of themselves. With fingerprinting in it's more advanced stage they were able to tie the arsons to one of the investigators. While searching through his things they find a manscript called DIARY OF A SERIAL ARSONIST which contained not only information on arson but instructions on murder. In the second story line an elderly woman from San Antonio, Texas lay in her room naked from the waist down with her throat slashed. In the next room was her 80 year old husband who had just suffered his 3rd stroke. But there was no evidence to charge him. With pressure from a Texas Ranger the case is re-looked at where in they find the LOST CLUE in solving the case.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 17 - The Missing Informant/Man's Best Friend
    7.6/10(19 votes)

    S1:E17

    Police solve a murder when divers find a skeleton in a car at the bottom of a river, and a dead dog's DNA helps crack open a 6-year-old case.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 18 - The Tortured Truth/Portrait Of A Killer
    7.6/10(25 votes)

    S1:E18

    The accidental discovery of a human scalp leads to the conviction of a man for murder 18 years after the killing. And a teenager who likes to kidnap younger boys and break their bones, kills one and tortures another.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 23 - Family Secret/Blood Trail
    7.6/10(25 votes)

    S1:E23

    Forty-one years after the crime, a woman implicates her brother and cousin in the murder of a New Jersey policeman. And members of the Vidocq Society, a group of law enforcement professionals who volunteer their expertise to crack difficult cases, find blood-spatter evidence that helps solve a Texas murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 4 - The Answer in the Box/Maternal Instinct
    7.5/10(19 votes)

    S1:E4

    Answer in the Box Alison Parrott was a runner. Not only was she was runner she was a great runner, So much so that she had the local media interested in her, So when she got a call from a photographer to take some pictures of her running she didn't think anything wrong with it. She left to go to her photo session and wasn't seen alive again. The police had a fellow runner as the lead suspect but nothing ever happened with that lead. A cold case detective named Vic Matanovic was going through some files 10 years later and came across the case. When the detective was looking for clues to solve the case the Answer is in the Box. Usually DNA is enough to prove a case but in this case the criminal who lured Alison to her death had a plan to lure the jury to believe in the lie he was about to tell. Maternal Instinct 1981 a brother and sister fell victim to a heartless mother with no regard for life. 3 month old Seth Davis was rushed to the hospital because of insulin poisoning. He was left brain damaged. 5 months later his sister, Tenga Davis, is rushed to the hospital. There she dies of Caffeine poisoning. Even though the autopsy that was turned in by the M.E. stated cause of death was a homicide, the police treated this as an accident. Their mother Mary Beth Davis moves on with her own life by moving to a different state. She starts a new family and forgets all about what happened back in her past. That is until 10 years later when Mary Beth gets a knock on her door by the cold case detectives which brings back her past as the detectives are there to prove a case of murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 11 - Killer on the Strip/The Doll Murder
    7.5/10(29 votes)

    S1:E11

    In the beautiful byways of West Palm Beach, along the canals a woman was fond dead in the canal. After some research they found that the woman was a prostitute. Even with all the evidence and DNA collected at the scene The detecives still had nothing to go on so the case went cold. Four yeas would pass before her case got looked at again. One of the Cold Case detective's who was reviewing some cases where crimes were committed in the area in which he worked his beat. With some new perspective on the case he finds signs that this womans killer has all the signs of a serial attacker and a kille. His trickery is to pose as a police officer to the local prostitutes and lures them into hidden places where he has privacy and assults them and rapes them. And at least 1 case he murders them. Doll Murder A woman from For Collins, Colorado thought she was safe in her own home, but one night in 1989 that myth was shattered. She was found murdered in her own home. The only things that were missing from her home were all her underwear. Semen and fingerprints were collected bt since there was no testing of DNA back then the case went cold. It would be 6 years when across town the womans underwear was found in a furnace. With this new discovery the case was re-opened to be looked at to finally settle the case

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 3 - The Texas Drifter/The Fingerprint File
    7.4/10(24 votes)

    S1:E3

    Texas Drifter Two women in two separate towns in Texas who where raped. The rapist uses a knife to threaten these women then rapes them and leaves his DNA behind. Back when these happened DNA was not profected yet so having the DNA was useless. Many years later when CODIS was developed which is a database for DNA a match to the rapists DNA was found. It was to a known serial rapist. Fingerprint File It was two days before Christmas a woman if found stabbed to death with the only clue left is a fingerprint left on a pop bottle. The forensic people were able to lift the print but had no success in matching it to anybody. Years later a man still working on cold cases finds a match to the fingerpprint which gives the police a lead to a killer. Rose Among Thorns Juliet Rowe was the victim who got shot in the bedroom of her English Countryside home. She was shot execution style then was shot again in the heart. The killer wanted to make sure that Juliet was dead. After thousands of endless attempts her case remained unsolved. 8 years later a stranger comes into a pub and starts talking to Mr Rowe Juliet's husband. The stranger's name was Keith Rose. He was arrested on kidnapping charges 6 weeks later. Because of his arrest he brings attention to himself to the cold case investigators who then look at him in the "Rose Among Thorns" case.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 16 - Presumed Dead/The Tow Truck Killer
    7.4/10(29 votes)

    S1:E16

    One will take 10 years and one will take 17 years to solve but they do get solved. Dedication, science, luck, and even hypnosis is used to make sure justice is done for the dead.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 19 - Vanished
    7.4/10(18 votes)

    S1:E19

    The story of serial killer James Rodney Hicks, who left a trail of bodies and kept police, prosecutors, and the FBI quite busy working on his cases for over 20 years. Hicks murdered his wife, his children's babysitter, and a girlfriend.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 8 - The Mark of Cain / Death on the Freeway
    7.3/10(18 votes)

    S1:E8

    A man in Florida is reported missing and his roommate is the main suspect. Then, at first it looks like L.A.P.D. Sgt. George Arthur died in a car crash. But two days later, four bullets are found in his skull.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 24 - Bodies In The Bay/Cold Hit
    7.3/10(18 votes)

    S1:E24

    A sunset boat ride in Florida leads to death for a vacationing woman and her two daughters, and police investigate a Texas man whose three wives all died in mysterious fashions.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 7 - One Night on the Bayou / Buckeye Misdemeanor
    7.1/10(22 votes)

    S1:E7

    Alligators feasting on a human corpse help police to crack a murder investigation. Phoenix police discover that a preacher is the culprit in a 20-year-old murder.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 21 - Silent Witness/Innocence Lost
    7.1/10(18 votes)

    S1:E21

    The murder of scientist Helena Greenwood, who was helping to develop DNA forensic technology when she died, is solved 12 years later with the help of DNA evidence. And a Los Angeles County prosecutor uses criminal profiling to nab the notorious South Bay Rapist, who abducted and raped six young girls.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 9 - Terror in Telluride/Signature of a Killer
    6.9/10(17 votes)

    S1:E9

    Shoot outside her bedroom, Eva Shoen was shot to death. Living in Telluride, on the mountain side. Eva was married to the son of the billion dollar Shoen family who owned the U-Haul empire. With lacking evidence the case runs cold. Even though the police believe that her death was related to a fued in the family business. Years later the case is solved by a secret that was finally revealed and a recorded conversation is played. DNA also helped the killer to confess to the crime. Signature of a Killer Taylor Courtney was a 20 yr old man who was brutaly murdered in his apartment. The crime scene was bloody and vicious. A single print is found but in 1974 when fingerprint technology was still in its infancy it meant nothing. 20 years would pass before a cold case detective would pick up the case and look at it again. What they found was a match in the system which leads to a friend of Taylor's who had committed this murder because of mistaken suspicions and jealousy.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 22 - Frozen in Time/Little Girl Lost
    6.9/10(22 votes)

    S1:E22

    Using a hair dryer to thaw a frozen corpse, detectives get to the bottom of a grisly murder. And the discovery of a child's skeleton in a Chicago garden puts police on the trail of an "oddball" family.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 12 - Murder Illustrated/Blood Relations
    4.9/10(15 votes)

    S1:E12

    Nine years after police had to release the teenage suspect in a woman's murder due to lack of evidence, they find a new lead in the case. Twenty years after a young woman is murdered while babysitting her nephew, police are able to find DNA evidence that points to her killer.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"Through the Eyes of a Child / Killer Next Door" is the best rated episode of "Cold Case Files" season 1. It scored 8.2/10 based on 40 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 2/6/1999. This episode is rated 0.2 points higher than the second-best, "The Hunter Homicides / Skulls in Stanley Park".