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The Worst Episodes of Cold Case Files

Every episode of Cold Case Files ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Cold Case Files!

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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 Worst Episode
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    Cold Case Files Season 1 Episode 7 - One Night on the Bayou / Buckeye Misdemeanor
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #1 - One Night on the Bayou / Buckeye Misdemeanor

    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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  2. Cold Case Files Season 2 Episode 20 - Soft Kill/Unsolved
    0.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - Soft Kill/Unsolved

    S2:E20

    Police run down more than 11,000 leads before coming up with a suspect in the murders of three Virginia girls; and the abduction and strangulation of a California woman continues to baffle investigators more than 11 years after the crime.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 4 - The Merry Widow/The Bad Cop
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - The Merry Widow/The Bad Cop

    S3:E4

    Included: the case of Douglas J. Wright, a former state trooper whose 1993 murder of his wife brought a conviction in 2003. Also: the murder of a Navy seaman. Host: Bill Kurtis.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 5 - Daddy Knows Best/Dawn of the Dead
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - Daddy Knows Best/Dawn of the Dead

    S3:E5

    A detective works for 15 years to nab a man who murdered his wife and dismembered her body to hide the sexual abuse of his children. Then, 20 years after the shooting murder of a gas station attendant, detectives get a lead.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 6 - The Killer's Tattoo
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - The Killer's Tattoo

    S3:E6

    The search for a killer with a distinctive tattoo is recalled. Host: Bill Kurtis.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 7 - The Green River Killer
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - The Green River Killer

    S3:E7

    Cold Case discusses the story of the nearly 20-year hunt for the man responsible for the murders of 49 prostitutes and other women in the Seattle, Washington area.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 8 - A Hitchhike to Murder/Never Forgotten
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - A Hitchhike to Murder/Never Forgotten

    S3:E8

    Police must wait nearly 30 years before advances in DNA technology give them the chance to convict the killer of a young hitchhiker, and Philadelphia police wage a 16-year hunt for the man who raped and killed a 10-year-old girl.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 9 - The DNA Link/The Secret Slide
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - The DNA Link/The Secret Slide

    S3:E9

    Detectives from three different departments in Westchester County, NY team up to track down a serial killer; and a man known as the Bus Stop Rapist becomes the lead suspect decades after a woman is found murdered under a hotel bed in the case.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 10 - Death Before I Do/Hollywood Homicide
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - Death Before I Do/Hollywood Homicide

    S3:E10

    Included: the 1988 murder of actress Myra Davis, Janet Leigh's stand-in for “Psycho,” brings a conviction in 2001. Also: a phone tip helps solve a cold case.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 11 - Blood Money/Precious Doe
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Blood Money/Precious Doe

    S3:E11

    Testimony about the growth of larvae in dead bodies helps convict the man who stabbed a couple to death and strangled their 4-year-old daughter in 1993. And the 2001 murder of a young girl, whose head was cut off, remains unsolved.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 12 - Unholy Bible/A Daughter's Justice
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Unholy Bible/A Daughter's Justice

    S3:E12

    A Texas woman's murder is solved when the killer's plan to murder another woman and stuff her into a duffel bag goes awry; and a reporter doing a story on unsolved homicides helps crack a case of murder that had been ruled an accidental death.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 13 - Officer Down/Secret Twin
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Officer Down/Secret Twin

    S3:E13

    After 23 years, investigators finally track down the killers of an Atlanta policeman when the ex-wife of one of the killers phones in a tip; and a mother keeps the skeletal remains of the 3-year-old daughter she killed in a footlocker.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 14 - Weepy-Voiced Killer/The Mr. Big Sting
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Weepy-Voiced Killer/The Mr. Big Sting

    S3:E14

    A prostitute who fights off a screwdriver-wielding man helps police track down a serial killer; and undercover agents acting as mobsters conduct an elaborate sting to solve a murder case that had gone cold for years. Then, detectives from three different police departments in Westchester County, New York team up to track down a serial killer.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 15 - Blood on the Badge/Bump in the Night
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - Blood on the Badge/Bump in the Night

    S3:E15

    A woman who takes down the license plate number of a car that had been following her helps police solve the murder of another young woman.; a phone call gives police the lead they need to solve a 30-year-old crime.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 16 - The Lady Killer/A Husband's Secret
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - The Lady Killer/A Husband's Secret

    S3:E16

    The testimony of three prison inmates helps convict a man who viciously killed a woman out for a bike ride nearly two decades prior; and a self-admitted sex addict who strangled his cat is a suspect in the 30-year-old murder of a neighbor.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 17 - Mistaken for a Killer/A Woman Scorned
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Mistaken for a Killer/A Woman Scorned

    S3:E17

    DNA technology that take place over 20 years help police to finally identify the man who brutally stabbed two women to death; and an anonymous caller leads police to the killer of a 13-year-old girl who was shot dead and left in the woods.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  17. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 18 - The Missing Hunters/The Flashlight Rapist
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - The Missing Hunters/The Flashlight Rapist

    S3:E18

    Police suspect brothers J.R. and Coco Duvall beat two Michigan hunters to death, chopped up the bodies, and fed them to pigs; and a serial rapist, who holds a mini-flashlight in his mouth to blind victims, is nabbed when he drops it during an attack.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  18. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 19 - Cowboys on the Case/Office Politics
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Cowboys on the Case/Office Politics

    S3:E19

    Four retired law enforcement officers, known as the Cold Case Cowboys, help track down the killer of a man wanted for rape and robbery; and police await for advancements in DNA technology before they can put away a killer.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  19. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 20 - The Flaming Gorge Falls/Caught in the Mail
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - The Flaming Gorge Falls/Caught in the Mail

    S3:E20

    A man suspected of the cold case murder of his wife and son hatches a new plot to kill his mother and father; and detectives solve the 20-year-old murder of a teenager by tricking her killer into licking an envelope, then extracting DNA from the saliva.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 21 - Murder Checks In / Killer in the City
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - Murder Checks In / Killer in the City

    S3:E21

    Police hunt for a man who killed three women in three different hotels, not far from one another in Des Moines, Iowa. And police get a killer to confess when they tell him prosecutors will show photos of the gruesome crime scene.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 22 - The Shopping Cart Killer
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - The Shopping Cart Killer

    S3:E22

    A dry cleaning tag inside a sweatshirt left at a crime scene helps police track down a serial killer and rapist who had been eluding them for years.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 23 - The Hit makers/Favor For A Friend
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - The Hit makers/Favor For A Friend

    S3:E23

    A scheme to bribe a country music magazine to manipulate the charts leads to murder in Nashville and a 13-year hunt for the killer; and a murderer's plan to hide his gun is foiled when the man who buried the evidence for him spills the beans to cops.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 24 - Lil' Miss /Skeletons In The Closet
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Lil' Miss /Skeletons In The Closet

    S3:E24

    An eerie note left on a grave helps solve a 12-year-old case of murder, and an exhaustive questioning of a mother helps police unravel the mysterious deaths of three of her

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Cold Case Files Season 3 Episode 25 - Innocent Prey/The Punishment
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Innocent Prey/The Punishment

    S3:E25

    Police play a wild hunch that pays off in the capture of a serial rapist. And after 26 years, investigators finally solve the murder of a 6-year-old girl who had been forced to take a cold-water bath as punishment for painting her nails with pink polish without permission.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Cold Case Files Season 4 Episode 1 - Love Triangle/2nd Story Rapist
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Love Triangle/2nd Story Rapist

    S4:E1

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"One Night on the Bayou / Buckeye Misdemeanor" is the worst rated episode of "Cold Case Files". It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 2/12/1999. This episode scored 0.0 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Soft Kill/Unsolved".