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The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science Season 3 Episodes
Season 3 Episode Guide
10 Episodes 1997 - 1998
Episode 1
Fatal Compulsion
Tue, Dec 2, 199754 mins
The most famous serial killer (Ted Bundy), who may have killed 40 women, was only convicted because of an odontologist's being able to match his teeth with a bite mark on a victim in Florida. In the home of a Canadian serial rapist-turned-killer, tiny trace evidence was found. Videotapes convicted him, but his wife's participation in torture and sexual abuse was ignored because she turned state's evidence for a 12-year sentence before the tapes were found. A single bloody palm print led to the female serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who confessed to killing six middle-aged men.
Episode 2
Bodies of Evidence
Tue, Dec 9, 199753 mins
How do you find a murderer when you can't even find a body? A case known as the "Wood-chipper Murder" is solved on trace evidence, a discarded chain saw, and an odontologist's ID of a single tooth! In the second case, a sister doesn't give up learning what happened to her sister; police DO recover the skeleton and succeed in determining identity and cause of death, convicting her murderer. The third case starts with bloodstains in the back of an abandoned Chevette. After a suspect fails a polygraph, brain tissue is found on the carburetor, and DNA links it to the presumed victim. A conviction results, even without a body, entirely on forensic evidence.
Episode 3
Shreds of Evidence
Tue, Dec 16, 199753 mins
More than 20 young African-American males were murdered in Atlanta; racial hatred was suspected as a motive. Forensics found carpet fibers that tied the cases together, and an unlikely suspect was convicted. The second case was a missing person in Maine whose body was found nude, except for her socks. Fibers found on her socks clinched the case for a jury. The third case involved determining who was the driver in a car accident which killed the car's owner. The crime lab used trace evidence from the windshield (wig hairs), seat belts and the airbag to prove a manslaughter charge.
Episode 4
Seeds of Destruction
Tue, Dec 30, 199754 mins
A beeping pager is found on a woman's body in Maricopa County, AZ. Its owner admitted having sex with the victim but denied killing her. Seed pods found in his truck bed led to the new information that the DNA of a seed pod can be determined to belong to a specific tree. Since his truck had scraped a tree at the crime scene, a life sentence resulted. The second case involved minute grains of sand. A woman in a red cocktail dress was found beaten to death by a shovel, placed under two feet of sand in Rhode Island. A suspect claimed he had accidentally killed her, but FBI forensics proved the sand found in his car matched the samples at the bottom of the grave and the number of hits was no accident--Gotcha! In the third case (from Denver, CO), a murder suspect had bragged while in prison that his next victim(s) would never be found. NecroSearch, an all-volunteer group of scientists specializing in locating bodies, is called in, but weather shuts them down. To get a reduced sentence, another offender helps find the body (which he had helped bury); and a NecroSearch tree expert proves she was killed at the time the suspect was out of prison; conviction brings a 48-year sentence.
Episode 5
Lethal Dosage
Tue, Jan 6, 199853 mins
Case 1: His girlfriend Judy had given him vitamins, but they made him sick. When a bomb went off in his car, she was suspected since a large insurance policy would have benefited her. Investigation of her past showed a trail of bodies, including a son, with all of them insured to her benefit. She was convicted on multiple counts. 2: The "Ramirez Incident" in a California hospital left 27 ER workers with strange symptoms. Scientists felt the DMSO in her blood had transformed into DMSO4, a nerve gas, but they were unable to duplicate ER conditions--so it may happen again! 3: Thallium poisoning of a Florida family (one of whom died) came from glass Coke bottles, but who had planted them? A neighbor who had complained about the family's loud music was the prime suspect. A policewoman went undercover for a year to get evidence, even renting the suspect's house after he moved in order to find the source of the poison. Bingo! A vial on the workbench proved his undoing. Sentence? Death.
Episode 6
Tools of Death
Tue, Jan 13, 199853 mins
In Chicago a Cuban couple and their 10-month-old baby were found dead in their apartment. First glance led police to think a shotgun might have been used because of the amount of blood. Later they saw it had been a horrific beating with a weapon which left an oddly shaped "J" on the victims. An officer realized almost accidentally what had caused it; informants led to an arrest and retrieval of the weapon from the river. Case 2 was solved because of marks made on the shooter's battery post by the victim's battery cables when giving him a "jump." Case 3 involved the rape and murder of six Univ. of Florida coeds in Gainesville. Though his knife was never found, the Peeping Tom/burglar/rapist/killer was convicted because of the screwdriver he used to gain entrance.
Episode 7
Out of the Grave
Tue, Jan 20, 199854 mins
Was it an accident or merely staged when a young woman fell to her death off a California cliff? A Kentucky lawyer's inquiry found a tangled web of insurance deception, drugs in her blood, fingernail evidence, and repeated murder. A Missouri woman disappeared and was assumed to have run from an abusive husband, but would she have abandoned her 2 children? Two years later a car in unpaid storage was found to have blood and tissue; how could forensics prove murder--and even identity? One element was a "reverse paternity test." In Canada, a museum mummy is examined (a CT scan is used in order to "see" the body without destroying the mummy's wrapping) to determine the cause of her death nearly 3 THOUSAND years ago!!
Episode 8
Infallible Witness
Tue, Jan 27, 199853 mins
Kirkland, WA police were called on Mother's Day to a murder scene. Handprints were found on a bedsheet, but unclear; computer enhancement was used to identify the killer. A California fur trapper found a mattress in the snow, covering 2 bodies: a male with tattoos and his girlfriend; shotgun blasts had killed them. Laser light sources were used to see arterial blood spurts below the fresh paint in a suspect's home with a missing mattress. An Iowa brain researcher is developing a brain-fingerprinting technique to analyze a suspect's response to crime scene evidence. The FBI is studying whether it can be used forensically; one difficulty is differentiating between a witness and a guilty criminal. Someday a suspect's brain waves may be a witness for the prosecution.
Episode 9
From the Ashes
Tue, Feb 3, 199853 mins
A serial arsonist was at work in Baltimore, finally killing a vagrant in an abandoned building. Investigators first find the point of origin, then determine if accelerant was involved, sometimes using trained dogs; BATF is often brought in. An arson/insurance scheme was uncovered. A less sophisticated arson in Reno, Nevada, destroyed a mental health facility. To convict the arsonist, they must get DNA from blood spots baked on a sidewalk under 6" of debris! When 3 firefighters died in a Pittsburgh, PA home fire, an observant investigator noticed charring on a ceiling which led to charges of murder, arson and insurance fraud.
Episode 10
Living in Terror
Tue, Feb 10, 199853 mins
The New Detectives looks at bomb attacks and examines how careful investigation of bomb residue and debris can help uncover the people behind the explosions. It looks at the case of serial mail bomber Walter Leroy Moody who murdered Judge Robert Vance and Attorney Robert E. Robinson. It also looks at the case of bomber Dean Harvey Hicks who targeted the IRS in California.