Cold Case Files

In early 1984, three-year-old Vanessa Bennett becomes the lone survivor of her family's brutal murder.

In Cree culture, a promise is sacred. When Cree woman Shirley Soosay goes missing in 1980, her niece Violet promises her grandmother that she will bring Shirley home.

In 1979 Janie Landers disappears from a home for the impaired--the latest consequence of the facility's history of neglect.

Chuck and Cheryl Hall are torn apart when Chuck finds Cheryl murdered. Cheryl's family is certain they know her killer. After several decades, a DNA match erases all doubt.

When firefighter Gary Parks is killed in a fire ruled arson, the investigation into his death shifts to homicide. A serial arsonist is thought to be the culprit; but it will take a dogged cold-case detective following his gut to track down the real killer.

In December 1985, human bones are discovered in the woods and it puts an end to the search for missing teen David Reed. It will be decades before investigators can find his killer.

In June 1985, a 20-year-old "Sucker Day" Festival Queen is found brutalized. After 25 years DNA reveals the true killer.

When a deadly house fire claims the life of a family in rural Oklahoma, investigators suspect foul play and it sends a mother on a decades-long crusade to find out what happened.

In July of 1970, the brutal murder of single mom Loretta Jones leaves four-year-old Heidi motherless. Nearly 40 years later, she vows to solve her mother's cold case.

In July 1997, the brutal murder of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston rocks the small town of Bethany, Oklahoma. DNA points to her killer over a decade later.

March 1984. Jack Kennedy discovers his daughters brutally murdered. Their mother and niece spend their lives keeping the case alive.

When 23-year-old Tonya McKinley is found brutally murdered on New Years Day 1985, a little boy is left motherless. A family must wait 35 years for advancements in forensic science to finally catch a killer using familial DNA.

In late 1983, the bodies of five people abducted from a local fast food restaurant are found brutally murdered. The main suspect is long believed to be a well-connected local man, until new evidence reveals the true killers.

13 days after Pam Pitts disappears in 1988 her body is found at a hangout spot in the Arizona desert. Then a second victim is discovered.

On February 2, 2010, two masked gunmen commit a violent robbery and shoot Michael Temple Jr., rendering him a quadriplegic for five years before his death. In this unusual cold case, DNA is used to create a sketch of the killer.

In August 1972, the body of Jody Loomis is found in the woods. 34 years later, the killer's DNA is recovered from Jody's old clothing but it isn't matched until 2018.

When a schoolteacher is found murdered in the fall of 2009, suspicion is cast on her soon to be ex-husband. Now, a detective embarks on a mission to help the man clear his name.

Just after the last day of school in 1984, 15-year-old Reesa Trexler is found murdered in her grandparents' home.

Easter Sunday of 1992, the body of a missing woman is found. The investigation yields hundreds of leads but no true suspect. After more than two decades on ice the case is revived.

On a bitter morning in 1980, Helene Pruszynski is found brutalized in a field.

Near what's known as the hanging tree, the mutilated body of Timothy Coggins is found in late 1983. The investigation is thwarted and the case freezes for over 30 years, until now.

A 23-year-old teacher vanished the evening before Easter after giving confession. Her body was later found floating in a drainage canal.

In the 1980s, a suspected serial killer preyed on women in small towns located on the banks of the Mississippi River until the murders abruptly ceased and went unsolved.

25-year-old schoolteacher Christy Mirack is found murdered in her Lancaster, Pennsylvania, apartment in 1992. There is no shortage of suspects but eventually the case goes cold. In 2018, a relative of the killer uploads DNA to a public genealogy website.