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The Best Episodes of Cold Case Season 1

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

Binge this in 17h 7m•Peaking at 8.4/10

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 natural instincts with the updated technology available today to bring

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Cold Case Season 1 Episode 7 - A Time to Hate
    8.4/10(961 votes)

    S1:E7

    Lilly investigates the case of Daniel Holtz, a college baseball player who was found beaten to death in an alley behind a gay bar in 1964. Daniel's mother comes to Lilly in the hopes that his killer can be brought to justice before she dies. Lilly discovers the maltreatment gay victims received in the 60's, when her investigation discloses that it may have been a policeman's nightstick that made the lethal blows.

    Director:Deran Sarafian
    Writer:Jan Oxenberg

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  2. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 13 - The Letter
    8.3/10(785 votes)

    S1:E13

    Rush and Valens re-open the case of a 25-year-old black woman, who was murdered in 1939, after the woman's granddaughter comes forward with new information. The woman was assumed to be a prostitute murdered by a client, but letters written by the victim indicate that she was afraid of a milkman.

    Director:Tim Hunter
    Writer:Veena Sud

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  3. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 8 - Fly Away
    8.2/10(875 votes)

    S1:E8

    When a young woman, Rosie, wakes up from a coma, Lilly re-opens the fall in which her 6-year-old daughter Toya died. Things get complicated when the mother remembers very little of that night, and Lilly feels especially motivated to find the killer.

    Director:James Whitmore Jr.
    Writer:Veena Sud

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  4. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 14 - Boy in the Box
    8.2/10(804 votes)

    S1:E14

    The 1958 death of an unknown 6-year-old boy found in a field inside a cardboard box is reinvestigated after a small suitcase with the child's picture and his old cowboy hat is left in front of a church. The new probe reveals that the rowdy boy lived at a Catholic-run orphanage and was adopted two days before his suspicious demise.

    Director:Karen Gaviola
    Writer:Meredith Stiehm

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  5. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 22 - The Plan
    8.0/10(673 votes)

    S1:E22

    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

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  6. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 4 - Churchgoing People
    7.8/10(849 votes)

    S1:E4

    Lilly re-investigates the case of a murdered church organist, when his Alzheimer's-stricken widow begins having flashbacks of the night in question.

    Director:Mark Pellington
    Writer:Meredith Stiehm

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  7. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 23 - Lover's Lane
    7.8/10(678 votes)

    S1:E23

    When DNA evidence reveals that a wrong man was convicted for killing 15-year-old Eve Kendall back in 1986, the team re-opens her case in an attempt to find the real killer.

    Director:Nelson McCormick
    Writer:Meredith Stiehm

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  8. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 11 - Hubris
    7.7/10(685 votes)

    S1:E11

    A college professor (Jeffrey Nordling), who lost everything − his career, his family, his reputation − after being suspected of murdering one of his female students (Kaitlin Doubleday) in 1995, offers new information regarding the case that he hopes will clear his name. He believes the student's death is connected to a copycat murder of a prostitute. Rush investigates the woman who was killed and the men in her life in order to discover which one of them killed her.

    Director:Agnieszka Holland
    Writers:Kim Newton, Stacy Kravetz

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  9. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 16 - Volunteers
    7.7/10(706 votes)

    S1:E16

    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

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  10. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 21 - Maternal Instincts
    7.7/10(630 votes)

    S1:E21

    The 1989 case of a woman murdered in front of her 3-year-old son is re-opened. A psychologist asks Det. Rush to look into the case again when the son, now a 17-year-old teen, suffers from intense nightmares and troubled behavior.

    Director:Kevin Hooks
    Writer:Laurie Arent

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  11. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 1 - Look Again
    7.6/10(1188 votes)

    S1:E1

    Lilly investigates a 1976 case involving a teenage girl who was beaten to death on a tennis court during a party at a plush estate.

    Director:Mark Pellington
    Writer:Meredith Stiehm

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  12. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 2 - Gleen
    7.6/10(929 votes)

    S1:E2

    The fiancé of a fireman asks Lilly to help prove that a convicted felon, about to be paroled on an unrelated crime, is responsible for the murder of the fireman's first wife. The young mother was killed by a homemade bomb shortly before she was to testify in court against a man who exposed himself to her.

    Director:Paris Barclay
    Writer:Jan Oxenberg

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  13. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 6 - Love Conquers Al
    7.6/10(800 votes)

    S1:E6

    A petty crook, Ricky, hoping to get a reduced sentence, relates witnessing a young man washing blood out of his car the night a teen track runner was murdered. The young athlete, Paige Pratt, was found shot, and her boyfriend Al Clarkson was originally imprisoned for the crime.

    Director:Greg Yaitanes
    Writer:Kim Newton

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  14. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 12 - Glued
    7.6/10(669 votes)

    S1:E12

    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

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  15. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 15 - Disco Inferno
    7.6/10(673 votes)

    S1:E15

    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

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  16. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 3 - Our Boy Is Back
    7.5/10(802 votes)

    S1:E3

    A serial rapist sends a letter to the squad announcing his return to Philadelphia after five years and his plan to strike again. Lilly's best hope of catching the rapist comes from a victim who is able to provide a composite sketch.

    Director:Bryan Spicer
    Writer:Stacy Kravetz

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  17. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 9 - Sherry Darlin'
    7.5/10(742 votes)

    S1:E9

    Lilly gets an anonymous phone call from a man claiming he killed an elderly woman back in 1989 and buried her body in the basement of a house. When Lilly checks the dwelling, a body is recovered, but the alleged murderer refuses to identify himself.

    Director:Rachel Talalay
    Writer:Sean Whitesell

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  18. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 18 - Resolutions
    7.5/10(580 votes)

    S1:E18

    Lilly investigates an unsolved hit-and-run accident from New Year's Eve 1999 that left a man dead, after a recovering alcoholic comes forward and claims she is the one who hit him. But the evidence points to the guy being murdered, not accidentally run down.

    Director:Alex Zakrzewski
    Writer:Kim Newton

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  19. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 5 - The Runner
    7.4/10(760 votes)

    S1:E5

    After a drug addict brings in an audio tape she found on which a fatal shooting is heard, Lilly reopens a 1973 murder case involving the death of a twenty-one-year-old rookie cop. The young officer was shot three times in the chest while responding to a call at a drug-infested housing project.

    Director:David Straiton
    Writer:Veena Sud

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  20. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 17 - The Lost Soul of Herman Lester
    7.4/10(607 votes)

    S1:E17

    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

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  21. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 20 - Greed
    7.4/10(601 votes)

    S1:E20

    The team reopens the 1985 case of a wealthy stock broker. At the time it was deemed that Charles Danville was killed when someone attempted to steal his car, but new evidence suggests that he may, in fact, have been murdered.

    Director:Karen Gaviola
    Writer:Stacy Kravetz

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  22. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 19 - Late Returns
    7.3/10(592 votes)

    S1:E19

    The shooting death of a man in his driveway is connected to the unsolved 1992 murder of a Democratic campaign worker whose lifeless body was thrown into a nearby river on election night. The investigation centers on the relationship the dead woman had with a present-day congressman. Apparently, the victim in the current homicide probed into the earlier slaying and discovered damning new evidence. Elsewhere, Lilly spies Kite flirting with a new ADA and gets jealous.

    Director:David Straiton
    Writers:Jay Beattie, Dan Dworkin

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  23. Cold Case Season 1 Episode 10 - The Hitchhiker
    7.2/10(660 votes)

    S1:E10

    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

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Season 1 Ratings Summary

"A Time to Hate" is the best rated episode of "Cold Case" season 1. It scored 8.4/10 based on 961 votes. Directed by Deran Sarafian and written by Jan Oxenberg, it aired on 11/16/2003. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "The Letter".