The Best Episodes of Forensic Files

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8.5/10(256 votes)
#1 - The List Murders
S1:E1212/12/1996
In 1971, John List left a note with the bodies of his mother, wife, and three children in his mansion ballroom, funeral organ music blaring from a central sound system, and disappeared. Eighteen years later, all detectives had to work from is an outdated photograph of List. In 1989, the popular television series America's Most Wanted commissioned an age-scaled bust of List to aid viewers in identifying the confessed murderer. Dr. Frank Bender, nationally-recognized artist and sculptor, worked with forensic psychologist Richard Walter to develop a profile of the aging List.
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8.1/10(155 votes)
#2 - Bad Blood
S6:E189/17/2001
In 1992, in a rural Canadian community, Dr. John Schneeberger is accused of sedating and sexually assaulting two of his female patients. DNA tests show him to be innocent, but the women persist with their claims; 7 years later, a private investigation leads to a surprising discovery.
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8.0/10(100 votes)
#3 - All Butt Certain
S12:E193/14/2008
A 6-year-old girl ran and hid when she saw her grandmother being beaten to death, but the man followed her, beat her and assaulted her. The girl said he was her Uncle Clarence, and he was convicted because of her identification. She recanted her testimony years later, but the court denied Clarence's petition for a new trial. His wife was convinced he was innocent, and decided to conduct her own investigation to prove it.
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8.0/10(110 votes)
#4 - Family Ties
S13:E257/17/2009
When court clerk Peter Porco doesn't report to his work in November 2004, a courts officer is ordered to the Porcos' family home in Bethlehem, NY. Inside the home, he finds murdered Peter Porco and his barely alive wife Joan who had both been savagely attacked with a fireman's axe. Eventually, a DNA sample may lead to the killer.
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8.0/10(130 votes)
#5 - Dirty Little Secret
S13:E475/28/2010
Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley spent Memorial Day weekend at the beach, and then they simply vanished. A week later, police would get an unexpected lead from a robbery in progress, and the evidence they found helped solve a crime of unparalleled violence and brutality.
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8.0/10(150 votes)
#6 - Water Logged
S14:E111/28/2011
In 1989, the bodies of Joan Rogers and her two teenage daughters were found floating in Tampa Bay. The water washed away any evidence, but police hoped a handwritten note found in the victims' car would lead to the killer, so they posted huge copies of the note on five highway billboards.
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The 20 WORST Episodes of Forensic Files

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7.9/10(135 votes)
#7 - Something's Fishy
S2:E912/4/1997
Two people in Seattle, Washington died after taking an over-the-counter pain reliever; lab analysis of the pills showed they were tainted with a lethal concentration of cyanide. The investigation which followed led police to a suspect with a motive for murder and a callous disregard for others.
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7.9/10(161 votes)
#8 - Haunting Vision
S4:E1112/15/1999
Lori Keidel, her two sisters and her brother were left home alone while their father went to a nearby laundromat. Suddenly, a large fire engulfed their brick ranch home. Only a few months earlier, the children's mother had disappeared and made no effort to contact them. Lori found the courage to tell police that she had witnessed her own mother's death.
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7.9/10(142 votes)
#9 - A Voice from Beyond
S5:E410/3/2000
When a decomposed body is discovered inside a barrel, police immediately suspect foul play. But the body had been placed there 30 years earlier. One of the few clues was an address book found along with the body but years of moisture had washed away the ink. Scientists desperately searched for a way to unlock the secrets of that address book.
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7.9/10(123 votes)
#10 - Skin of Her Teeth
S6:E169/3/2001
In 1994, a human skull found in an Ohio pond uncovers a ghastly crime. Markings on the skull indicate that the victim had been stabbed many times and that the teeth had been removed with needle-nose pliers in an attempt to keep the victim's identity a secret. Forensic scientists use DNA matches to indentify the skull.
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7.9/10(128 votes)
#11 - A Daughter's Journey
S9:E138/23/2004
Haunted by the disappearance of her mother some twenty years earlier, a young woman undertook an investigation of her own. Her mother's diary was in the now cold case file; there, in her mother's own handwriting, she discovered a dark family secret, which might have been the reason her mother vanished.
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7.9/10(106 votes)
#12 - Grave Danger
S11:E1611/1/2006
A young man was killed in a mysterious car crash, but the evidence at the scene led investigators to believe it was not an accident. Forensic science revealed what really happened, and the truth devastated three families.
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7.9/10(95 votes)
#13 - All That Glitters Is Gold
S13:E3210/16/2009
A bullet-riddled car, a missing driver, and no witnesses. Was this an ambush or a random attack? Had the victim been abducted or was she dead? The answers lay in a unique clue so tiny it was measured in millionths of a meter.
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7.9/10(105 votes)
#14 - Family Interrupted
S13:E434/2/2010
On December 10, 2003, a gunman opened fire as a family of four entered their home, killing two and wounding the others. He’d pulled open a few drawers to make it look like a robbery, but the scene was clearly staged. When police pieced together the clues, they discovered an unlikely suspect and a carefully orchestrated plot.
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7.8/10(150 votes)
#15 - Invisible Intruder
S4:E16/10/1999
In 1996, police received a call from Darlie Routier telling them of her two sons' murders. However, investigators were not certain about the validity of Darlie's story and began an intensive search of the crime scene. The police found out who the killer was by analyzing blood spatter, doing behavioral profiling and analyzing Darlie's 911 call.
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7.8/10(116 votes)
#16 - Ties That Bind
S4:E78/5/1999
When a sexual predator murders two young boys in Nebraska within three months of each other, an obscure style of rope and forensic analysis lead to his arrest and conviction.
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7.8/10(81 votes)
#17 - X Marks the Spot
S7:E3512/9/2002
The use of the computers by law enforcement is detailed in this look at a series of crimes in St. Louis that stumped the local police and the FBI. (also marked as S7:E44)
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7.8/10(105 votes)
#18 - Breaking the Mold
S7:E3712/11/2002
In Dripping Springs, TX, March 1999, a 3-year-old boy develops serious respiratory problems and then his father later shows signs of early Alzheimer's disease. A chance encounter with a stranger kicks off an investigation into the cause. [also marked as S7:E19]
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7.8/10(116 votes)
#19 - Last Will
S7:E421/29/2003
Authorities are able to apprehend a kidnapper because he allowed his victim, 17-year-old Shari Smith, to write a will on a telltale pad of paper. [also marked as S7:E52]
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7.8/10(122 votes)
#20 - Badge of Betrayal
S9:E189/22/2004
The body of a young California co-ed was found under an isolated ramp of the Interstate, and San Diego police had no idea who would want this girl dead. But their questions would be answered when they discovered a tiny, unique fiber on the victim's clothing, which led them straight to the most unlikely of killers.
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7.8/10(105 votes)
#21 - Fishing for the Truth
S9:E261/12/2005
A two-man shrimp boat sank when a fast-moving, violent storm struck the Louisiana coast. The captain drowned, and the deckhand was rescued fourteen hours later. He told the Coast Guard that the captain's foot had become entangled in the fishing nets; they tried frantically to free him, but they failed. The deckhand was considered a hero until the captain's body was found. Eventually, the public discovers that he was coerced into confessing to the captain's murder.
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7.8/10(77 votes)
#22 - Signed, Sealed & Delivered
S10:E2511/23/2005
Two men were convicted of intentionally shooting and killing a passenger in a moving car, their friend was granted immunity for testifying against them, and the case was closed. Then a bomb exploded in the family home of the state's witness, instantly killing his father. Investigators turned to forensic science, hoping to determine if this was an act of revenge and if there was a way to link the two deadly crimes.
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7.8/10(117 votes)
#23 - Social Circle
S14:E122/11/2011
In 2003, Tiffany Rowell and three of her friends were brutally murdered in their affluent Clear Lake, TX, neighborhood and the crime scene yielded little evidence. The next-door neighbors had seen two young people dressed in black walking nearby and their descriptions were used to create composite drawings, which become a key element in solving the crime.
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7.7/10(257 votes)
#24 - The Disappearance of Helle Crafts
S1:E14/21/1996
The case of missing stewardess Helle Craft is recounted. Although her body was never recovered, police used forensic evidence to charge her husband with murder. It became the first murder conviction without a body in Connecticut.
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7.7/10(138 votes)
#25 - The Footpath Murders
S1:E410/17/1996
The first case to use DNA evidence is detailed. In 1983 Leicester, England, police were stymied by a rape/murder of a 15-year-old girl; three years later, faced with a similar crime, they turned to Dr. Alec Jeffreys, a molecular biologist with a revolutionary approach to solving the case.
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