Great Crimes and Trials

In October 1989, Tracey Wigginton and her lesbian lover Lisa Ptaschinski together with another couple, Kim Jervis and Tracey Waugh, lure a drunk, 47-year-old local government employee, Edward Baldock, into their car before driving him to a park on the banks of the Brisbane River.

In March 2004, the European trial of the century begins: Marc Dutroux is accused of unspeakable crimes against young girls amidst allegations of official incompetence and cover up which have shaken Belgium to its core.

On June 28th 2005, Joan Porco arrives for the trial of the man accused of murdering her husband and attempting to murder her. But the strange thing about this trial is that the accused man is her son, Christopher Porco, and she is walking into court arm in arm with him.

The death of Peppino Impastato in May 1978 was initially dismissed by the Italian police as a case of either a suicide or a bungled bomb attack. In 1996, after years of campaigning, Impastato's elderly mother, Felicia, and his brother, Giovanni, managed to get the case of Peppino's death re-opened.

On 11th October 1998 in Preston in the North of England, an unassuming family doctor stands trial for murdering fifteen of his former elderly patients. Harold Shipman pleads not guilty to all charges and the investigation into his crimes is dramatically played out in court.

Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo were married in a picture perfect wedding by a lake in Niagara, Canada, right near the falls. They rode off in a horse-drawn carriage, the very image of romantic bliss. But despite their Ken and Barbie appearances, this couple had murder on their minds.

In July 2000, Sara Payne and her husband hear the news they have been dreading: the body of their eight year old daughter, Sarah, has been found in a shallow grave.

Truro, Cape Cod, is a place where people go to escape the grind of city life. Few could imagine anything horrible happening in such an idyllic place. However, in January 2002, the lifeless body of well connected fashion journalist, Christa Worthington, is discovered in the hallway of her home.

In 2001 a British couple, Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio, head off into the wilderness of the Australian outback in their orange VW Kombi on the final leg of their exciting round the world trip. They are travelling in the dark when a man in a white 4x4 utility truck flags them down.

In 1999, Rae Carruth is a professional football player for the NFL team, the Carolina Panthers. He was a talented rising star but for the past two seasons he had been plagued with injuries. Then, one of his girlfriends, 24-year old Cherica Adams tells him that she is pregnant with his child.

Belle Haven, Connecticut is an exclusive suburb of New York City. The Moxley family move here in 1974 and are thrilled with their new home. The community is rocked when on the night before Halloween 1975, 15 year-old Martha Moxley is found dead near the Moxley and Skakel properties.

In November 2007, twenty-one year old Meredith Kercher, a British university student is found brutally murdered in Perugia, Italy. She has been sexually assaulted and stabbed. Police attention turns to her attractive American housemate, Amanda Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.

On December 7th 1993 Jamaican born Colin Ferguson boarded a Long Island commuter train and began shooting passengers. The incident, known as the Long Island Railroad Massacre, resulted in six people being killed and nineteen injured.

In September 1987, elderly, reclusive, near blind, eccentric, Simon Dale, is found bludgeoned to death in his home Heath House, Shropshire, England. His ex-wife, Susan Wilberforce, quickly becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

In 1998 wealthy 45 year-old art appraiser, Peter Bergna, and his bubbly wife, Rinette, seem to have everything going for them. Then, they are involved in a terrible accident. He drives their car off a mountain road, and it plunges some 800 feet down.

In 1991 Ray and Faye Copeland become, at the ages of 76 and 69, the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the USA. They are convicted of killing five drifters on their farm in Missouri as part of bad cheque scam.

February 1977, a beautiful 24 year old Australian heiress, Janie Shepherd, goes missing from a smart area of central London. At first police think she may have been kidnapped as her stepfather is a wealthy businessman. A massive police hunt for Janie draws a blank.

In Paris, France, 1995 a beautiful young nurse, Hélène Frinking, is found bound, raped and stabbed to death in her apartment. She is just one of the victims of the serial killer who becomes known as the "The Beast of the Bastille".

On June 27th 2005, Dennis Lynn Rader appears in court. He works as an enforcement officer for the local authority, is a boy-scout leader and a prominent member of the Lutheran church. He's accused of the brutal murder of ten people.

Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was a known paedophile from Massachusetts. His speciality is dressing up as a policeman and enticing young boys to follow him home. In the early 90's, he relocates to Great Falls, Montana. In 1996 a ten year old boy, Zachary Ramsay, disappears on his way to school.

This is a story of a mother who murdered her children. The question is, was she a cold blooded murderess or a deluded victim?

In January 2002, 12-year old Ashley Pond disappears on her way to school. Exactly two months later, her best friend and classmate, Miranda Gaddis, also vanishes. A major hunt for the girls is launched, spearheaded by the FBI, and a media circus descends on the small suburb of Portland, Oregon.

In August 1997 university students Holly Dunn and Chris Maier are attacked while taking a short cut home along railway tracks. Maier is bludgeoned to death. Holly is savagely beaten and left for dead. But amazingly she survives and vows to bring her attacker to justice.

In July 1983, a thirteen-year old boy, Graeme Cunningham, leaves his home in Salt Lake City and vanishes. His panicked mother, Shona, calls the police. After they fail to shed any light on his disappearance, veteran detective Don Bell is enlisted to work on the case.