Forensic Files

- Season 5

(2000)

For more than a decade, women in a small Louisiana city lived in fear of a rapist who becomes so experienced, he leaves no clues to his identity. But computer technology and behavioral science combine to give police a new forensic tool: geographical profiling. Police narrow their search to one man, local policeman Randy Comeaux. Originally aired as Season 5, Episode 1.

New evidence points to a different killer in the case of a dentist's murdered wife.

When Joann Katrinak is found dead with her infant son Alex next to her, the obvious suspect is the husband and father of the victims. But some insects found on the bodies reveal a vital clue, as does a blonde hair found on the victims which shares a commonality with the brunette hair of the husband's former love interest. Originally aired as Season 5, Episode 3.

A decomposed body is found stuffed in a barrel -- but the body had been placed in the barrel 30 years earlier. One of the few clues was an address book found along with the body, however, years of moisture had washed away the ink. Scientists desperately searched for a way to reveal the information written on the pages of the address book. Originally aired as Season 5, Episode 4.

When a Seattle policeman's house goes up in flames Fire officials think it's arson. One month later, in an ironic twist, the officer arrests a low-level drug dealer who confesses to the arson. But when the suspect vanishes, investigators start to question the authenticity of the so-called confession.

Dianna Green is brutally attacked in her own home and her unborn child is killed. After coming out of her coma and regaining her memory, she identifies her husband as the perpetrator.

Alaska, 1987: Nancy Newman and her two young daughters are found murdered. The husband is immediately suspected, but fingerprint and hair evidence points to someone else close to the family.

The murder of two young girls and abduction of a store clerk may all be linked to one man. Unusual orange carpet fibers found on the scene are the key to aid the police in solving the crime and bringing to justice the killer.

The autopsy played an important role in a murder investigation fof the suspicious 1997 death of Georgia resident Virginia Ridley. Police charged her mentally-unstable husband Alan with murder, but a medical examiner discovered that she died of other causes. Originally aired as Season 5, Episode 9.

A police investigation of a pediatrician, after the mysterious death of one of her patients, leads them to a Texas hospital where the pediatric mortality rate was higher than at any hospital in the country. The common link was nurse Genene Jones. Originally aired as Season 5, Episode 10.

When the decomposed body of a teenage girl is discovered in Pennsylvania, police have no clues to her identity. But weeks earlier, stabbing victim told investigators she thought she might have heard a murder taking place in her basement.

Police suspect Dr. Boyle in the disappearance of his wife Noreen after he signs mortgage papers for a new house with a woman pretending to be his spouse. Using the recollections of their twelve year-old son regarding what he heard the night his mother went missing, investigators discover Noreen's body in the basement of Dr. Boyle's new house. Originally aired as Season 5, Episode 12.

The story of Archbishop Valerian D. Trifa, former head of the Romanian Orthodox Church in America, is related. Following World War II, Trifa emigrated from Romania to the U.S. In 1957, survivors of Nazi atrocities recognized him.

When Russ Stager, a popular gym teacher, is found dead of what appears to be an accidental gunshot wound, his family becomes suspicious. They think his wife may have planned his murder. When police find that her previous husband died in questionable circumstances, they re-examine the crime scene and uncover evidence that the death was no accident. Originally aired as Season 5, Episode 16.

England, 1996: A man turns up dead in the ocean. Ronald Joseph Platt is identified using his tattoo and watch. A co-worker, Canadian financier Albert Johnson Walker, assumes the name of Platt as part of a money-laundering scheme.

When heart surgeon Darryl Sutorius is found dead in the basement of his upscale Cincinnati home, police assume he committed suicide. Friends and family indicate that the man suffered prolonged bouts of depression.

Features the first case in the United States where video animation was considered admissible to show to a jury. Six-year-old Nicole Rae Walker was walking with other kids when a pickup truck with a camper top struck them. Nicole was killed. Through technology and the outrage of the community, her killer was found.

When convenience store employee Wanda Mason is found dead, having been shot at point blank range, investigators find the entire murder has been caught on the store's videotape security camera.

The investigation into a missing college coed leads police to discover that, unbeknownst to her friends, she lived a bizarre double life, attending school by day and working as a call-girl by night. When her body is found, investigators gather evidence that implicates her killer. Originally aired as Season 5, Episode 14.