Forensic Files

It's usually easy to determine how a criminal entered the crime scene. But in this case, it was far from clear. It looked like the killer vanished into thin air...and perhaps he had.

When a young fireman died from what appeared to be serious but undiagnosed heart disease, his family and friends were devastated but they had no proof of foul play.¾

Security cameras in a casino tracked a young woman's movements until shortly before she disappeared. She was never seen again, but through the evidence she left behind, she was able to tell investigators what happened to her and who was responsible.

It was one of the most unusual cases in forensic history. Investigators had to find a way to solve a murder case with evidence which consisted of a squashed tomato found at the crime scene, and tiny, pinpoint reflections of light in a photograph.

When a dedicated, well-respected teacher disappeared, police had to determine if she'd gone on vacation without telling anyone, or if she was the victim of foul play.¾

Seattle police had no suspects in the violent murder of post-grunge singer, Mia Zapata. More than a decade passed before the evidence collected by a prescient medical examiner could be used by forensic scientists to identify the killer.

A Michigan State University grad student disappeared and was presumed dead. With the help of a professor of geological sciences, police hoped to get the 'dirt' on her killer.

How unlucky could one man be? His wife took her own life, and his college sweetheart killed herself in much the same fashion fourteen years earlier. Investigators had to determine if this was just a bizarre coincidence, or murder.

In 1996, 54-year-old Gayle Isleib was ambushed in her Manchester, Connecticut driveway and shot to death. Now police must determine if love had turned into obsession... and a motive for murder.

The victim had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death on the beach. A pair of men's tennis shoes was discovered near her body. Police were sure that if they found the man who fit the shoes, they would also find the man who committed the crime.

A 13-year-old girl went missing from her Colorado home, and the only evidence¾the kidnapper¾left behind was three fingerprints on a window screen.

A brutal murder, lots of suspects, and conflicting evidence but the forensics were clear on one thing: The killer knew his victim. And that alone gave investigators a head start.

A serial killer was on the loose and police had to find him before he struck again. Their most promising lead was an unusual one: a bloody fingerprint on the body of one of the victims.

On Halloween night 2004, Adriane Insogna and Leslie Mazzara were brutally murdered in their Napa, California home.¾

After the suspect was convicted of arson and murder, he maintained his innocence but was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He turned to the law books in the prison library and TV about forensic science and set out to prove his innocence.

A woman was brutally murdered in her home, and the only witnesses to the crime were the family dogs. An expert in canine behavior was convinced the killer knew both the victim and the animals, and he was determined find out what the dogs had seen.

The killer probably hoped to cover his tracks by staging the crime scene. But investigators saw through the attempt almost immediately, and turned to forensic science to learn what really happened that night.

A six-year-old girl ran and hid when she saw her grandmother being beaten to death, but the man followed, beat and assaulted her. She said the assailant was her uncle, who was convicted. She recanted her testimony years later.

In 1984, the body of college co-ed Laura Salmon was found on a Middle Tennessee farm, covered with her own denim jeans as well as the jeans of the killer.¾

The body of an attractive young woman was found a mile from her abandoned car. Police were especially concerned when they realized the victim had come to them for protection just two weeks earlier, after a road rage incident.

In 1969, 25-year-old phone operator¾Diane Maxwell is raped and murdered. Her brother promised he'd find out who was responsible and bring the killer to justice.

The crime scene was especially violent: A husband and wife had been shot to death in their bedroom. Was their 16-year-daughter complicit?

A young, attractive hairdresser was sexually assaulted and murdered in her own beauty salon. The evidence at the crime scene didn't match any of the suspects and, after the initial investigation, the case went cold for ten years.¾

When¾two women went missing and were later found brutally murdered, police wondered if they were victims of a hate crime.

A human skeleton was discovered in the North Carolina marshlands and, when investigators learned she'd been dead for 18 months, they knew it would be difficult to find out who she was, much less who killed her.

After shooting his victims in the head, the killer staged the scene, placed the incriminating evidence into a plastic bag and tossed it into the river.¾

In a tragic twist of fate, just days after the woman sold her home and moved to a modest trailer, a fire took both the trailer and her life. But the autopsy proved this was no accident.

A security guard disappeared from his post without a trace; his remains were found a year later in a remote camp site.¾

A college senior was found raped and murdered near an unpaved footpath used by students to walk from one side of campus to the other.¾