Los Nuevos Detectives (Doblado)

A blazing house fire illuminates cold-blooded homicide, and has possibly destroyed all evidence leading to the killer. It looked like a suicide. Now investigators aren’t so sure. The clues are unusual, but do they add up to murder? A killer tries to steer investigators down the wrong road. Can forensics get them back on course?

In criminal investigations, a simple clue can provide the missing link by placing a suspect at a crime scene. Dirt left on shoes, tires or clothes, or even a tiny piece of plastic can pinpoint a crime scene. But it takes the keen eye of the forensic investigator to follow the trail of evidence that leads to the killer.

Approximately 1.8 million Americans are reported missing each year. Some are runaways who find their way home, but others simply disappear. When foul play is suspected, investigators turn to forensics to find the missing.

Bombers, snipers, spree killers: some people don’t care who they kill, they just want to hurt innocent people. These killers are the hardest to catch because they have no connection with their victims, who are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But even random bloodshed leaves traces at the scene that can direct an investigation and stop the killer before he can strike again.

Every family has its secrets, and sometimes blood relations lead to bloodshed. When money is the motive, murder can rip at the very foundation of marriage and family. When murder becomes a family affair, investigators must turn to forensics to uncover a death in the family when the motive is for love or money.

The tiniest residue left at the scene can become a mark of distinction in the most singular and intimate of ways. Investigators have come to rely on forensic evidence as simple as a smudge on a piece of tape or a faint impression left in the dirt. Investigators must have their eyes trained to find the full story of a murder etched in clues left at the scene.

A young electrician suffers an agonizing death. Was it a job-related poisoning or a deliberate act of murder? The wife and mother-in-law of a police officer die from apparent heart attacks just weeks apart. A paper trail leads to a possible double homicide and a bizarre double life. An engineer with no apparent health problems becomes mysteriously ill and dies. A bounced check triggers a relentless search for the truth.

A serial killer in Texas goes undetected for 11 years. Investigators hope new forensic techniques can establish a link among the murders. In California, a missing persons case leads detectives to a secret burial ground at a Sacramento boardinghouse.

Police investigating the disappearance of a woman in Iowa close in on a suspect. But to prove murder, they must identify a severed torso pulled from the Mississippi River. In Ohio, a grave is unearthed at a construction site. A makeshift coffin and human bones are all investigators have to lead them to a killer. An Illinois state trooper makes a gruesome discovery on the side of the road. Investigators must make their case from the unknown victim’s teeth.

Time of death is an important consideration in a murder investigation, but when a killer freezes, burns, or grinds his victim, even the most skilled medical examiner would be at a loss about how to calculate it. Forensics has its own techniques to foil a killer’s plans to halt an investigation.

Accidental deaths, suicides, disappearances, and fires; they’re an everyday part of an insurance investigator’s life. But cases shouldn’t be taken at face value. Forensics has become a tool for exposing insurance fraud.

Drowning deaths often look like accidents and water can destroy the scant clues the killer may have left behind. Investigators must turn to forensic science to solve cases where the victim is found dead in the water.

A dog can be a dead man’s best friend. Dogs have been trained to sniff out corpses, drugs, explosives, and missing persons. They’re often the first to find the essential clue that sets an investigation in motion.