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Watch Forensic Files Season 13 Episode 27 Online

Crime
Documentary

7.8/10
Subtitles: English

This episode documents a deadly bombing at a church in Oakwood, Illinois, in December 1997.

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Forensic Files - Season 13

S13 E012008-09-12

Frozen AssetsIn 2004, Mary Ann Clibbery was found brutally murdered in her Illinois business and investigators had to determine if this was a robbery gone wrong or a calculated murder. The evidence at the scene told police what happened and they got a huge break when evidence from the murder on top of a nearby frozen river. The investigation focused on the business co-owner George Hansen when police found that he was embezzling from the company and that evidence in the bag also pointed to him.

S13 E022008-09-19

House HuntingIn 2006, Texas real estate agent Sarah Anne Walker was found brutally murdered in a model home. Weeks later, a witness came forward who may have seen the killer and police used forensic hypnosis to help him recall every detail of the man's appearance. His description was used to create a composite sketch, which police used to draw the killer Kosoul Chanthakoummane out of hiding.

S13 E032008-10-03

Shoot to ThrillIn 2003, St. Cloud teenager Jason MacLennan returned home after a night out with friends and discovered his father Ken's body lying in a pool of blood. There were shoe impressions outside in the new-fallen snow; because the victim's wallet and watch were missing, the motive may have been robbery. But before making that determination, police needed to find out who had the most to gain from his death.

S13 E042008-10-10

Political ThrillerIn 2006, Nevada politician Kathy Augustine died mysteriously during a hard-fought re-election campaign and the medical examiner could neither isolate the cause of death, nor explain the tiny puncture wounds discovered during the autopsy. Upon deeper analysis, investigators focus on her husband Chaz Higgs, a critical care nurse who had ready access to succinylcholine.

S13 E052008-10-24

Double CrossIn 1996, Virginia Beach police arrive at the Makdessi apartment to find Elise Makdessi and her lover Quincy Brown dead. Elise's husband Eddie had reported that he killed Quincy Brown in self defense after Brown had murdered Elise. Eddie gave the police a videotape Elise had made a week before, alleging that she had been the victim of sexual harassment and assault while in the Navy. investigators found evidence that her allegations may have been part of an elaborate scheme for financial gain. Hoping to separate fact from fiction, they turned to forensic science.

S13 E062008-10-31

Dancing with the DevilIn 1999, Patrick McRae was found dead in his Des Moines home and the crime scene was awash with blood. Analysis showed it had come from two people, one of whom was female. The male DNA was McRae's, which meant the killer was a woman. Leads dried up and the case went cold until a suspect arrested for drug possession offered police a deal, and told a bizarre tale of an exotic dancer named Andrea Morris who listened to the voices in her head. She was later charged in 2005 and sentenced to life in prison for the murder.

S13 E072008-11-14

Last DanceIn 2000, the body of exotic dancer Rachel Siani was found beneath a New Jersey bridge and investigators wondered if she had committed suicide. Evidence at the scene proved not only that she'd been carried to the bridge and thrown over the side, but also that she was alive when she fell. Police first looked at customers at the gentlemen's club and discovered that Rachel offered to assist a drunk customer named John "Jack" Denofa back to his motel room and that was the last time Rachel was seen alive.

S13 E082008-11-21

Constructive CriticismIn 2000, construction manager Darrell North was found dead in his work trailer in Ft. Worth, Texas. When investigators arrived, they found that he had been stabbed 46 times, described as overkill and indicating a personal relationship between the victim and the attacker. Police hoped that, during the struggle, the killer had left some of his own blood and his DNA behind. Their challenge was to find it. They looked at several suspects, but focused on the last person known to see North alive, sub-contractor Curtis Wayne Pope.

S13 E092008-12-05

Home EvasionIn 2000, Judy Southern arrived home from work and was shot by a gunman waiting within. Her husband Allen arrived shortly afterwards, called 911 to report his wife had been shot and drove her to the hospital. She died on arrival and the investigation focused on her husband Allen, but forensic analysis and a suicide note found at the scene pointed to Jonathan Binney.

S13 E102008-12-12

Window WatcherIn 1986, Gary Dale Larson was stabbed to death in his Edmond, Oklahoma home and then the killer sexually assaulted Larson's girlfriend Janet Haynes. Hayne's story seemed farfetched: The perpetrator was wearing only underwear and gloves broke into the house, stabbed Larson to death, then raped and terrorized her for hours afterwards. But, the evidence at the scene supported her story, and investigators turned for help to the FBI and their criminal profilers. The case remained cold until 2004, when Jonathan Scott Graham was arrested in the same neighborhood where Larson was murdered and footprint and DNA analysis placed Graham at the scene of the murder.

S13 E112008-12-19

Stranger in the NightIn 1991, Dorothy Donovan was murdered in her Dover, Delaware home and police are skeptical when her son Charles Holden stated that she was murdered by a hitchhiker he had picked up. Their suspicions were heightened when he refused to take a polygraph test and they turned to forensic science. Would the blood and fingerprint evidence at the crime scene support Charles' story or prove his guilt? The case went cold for many years until the DNA of ex-con Gilbert Cannon linked him to the crime.

S13 E122009-01-09

KidnappingIn 2001, Ginger Hayes and her infant son Nicholas were abducted during a carjacking and the crime had been reported by a witness within minutes of occurrence. 45 minutes after the kidnapping, Ginger is seen with a black man in a local store's surveillance video and then they find her car in a nearby neighborhood. Both the witness to the carjacking and the owner of the home where the car was found pointed to Andre Edwards, but he wouldn't tell the police anything. A farmer 50 miles away called to report the body of a woman and a baby, which were determined to be Ginger, who had been beaten to death and her son Nicholas, who was still alive. Further analysis of Ginger's car and evidence at the scene where Ginger was found both linked Edwards to her death.

S13 E132009-02-20

Sands of CrimeIn the early hours of a morning just before Christmas, a college co-ed was abducted from the parking lot of her apartment. Her body was found later that day; she'd been sexually assaulted and then shot at point blank range. Eight long years passed and then a pair of running shoes and a cell phone breathed new life into a very cold case.

S13 E142009-02-06

Calculated CoincidenceA young woman is found dead in her apartment. There's little evidence at the scene, leads don't pan out and the case turns cold... until police discover a link between their prime suspect and an unsolved murder committed six years earlier in different state.

S13 E152009-01-30

Sworded SchemeWhen a college student is reported missing, police believe their investigation will be like countless others, and she'd turn-up a few days later. But when they discover blood spatter in her boyfriend's bedroom, blood spatter someone had gone to great lengths to conceal, they know this case is going to be different.

S13 E162009-02-20

UnmaskedA serial rapist is on the loose in a Texas town. No one knew where he'd strike next, but the audacity of his attacks and the escalation of violence against his victims made finding him imperative.

S13 E172009-03-13

Fashion PoliceThe victim has been stabbed more than thirty times, and the crime scene is awash with her blood. Near her head, police discover a distinctive button with strands of thread still attached. If they can find the owner of the shirt the button came from, they'll also find the killer.

S13 E182009-04-03

Church Dis-serviceA young woman attends evening church services... then disappears. When her abandoned car is found, the tank is empty and a gas can she kept in her trunk for emergencies is missing. Eyewitnesses place her at a nearby gas station, getting into a van, but their descriptions of the vehicle don't match. Three days later when her body is discovered, the search for the driver of that van intensifies.

S13 E192009-04-17

Seedy IntentionsWhen a nine-year-old girl goes missing, police and volunteers spend weeks searching for her. A psychic's vision leads to a field where her body is discovered, along with what investigators hope is enough evidence to help them to also find her killer.

S13 E202009-05-15

DNA DragnetDigital enhancement of security camera video shows that what appears to be a casual encounter is actually a forced abduction, leading to murder. The perpetrator's MO is remarkably similar to another murder which occurred five months earlier, 15 miles away. When investigators learn the crimes might not be isolated or random, they also realise a serial killer may be on the loose.

S13 E212009-05-22

Smiley FaceThe woman had been sexually assaulted, stabbed repeatedly, and left for dead. She survived, and gave police a detailed description of her attacker. When someone who fit that description practically turned himself in, police were sure they had their man... until the DNA evidence proved them wrong.

S13 E222009-06-05

Dirty LaundryThe victim was a self-made man who never minced words. Perhaps he was murdered by a disgruntled client or employee. Perhaps the racy photos in his safe held the clue to solving the crime. Or perhaps with the help of the IRS, investigators could follow the money and find the killer.

S13 E232009-06-12

Drowning SorrowsA family vacation turns into a nightmare when the wife is found face-down in the lake. There are no witnesses and little conclusive evidence to help police determine if they're dealing with a suicide, an accident, or something more sinister... until a forensic pathologist uses a groundbreaking technique to discover the truth.

S13 E242009-06-19

As FaultThe woman in the back of the truck was flailing her arms, screaming. They thought she was doing something dangerous for the fun of it. But when they found a jacket near a pool of blood, they knew what they'd seen wasn't a joy ride; it was an abduction.

S13 E252009-07-17

Family TiesWhen court clerk Peter Porco doesn't report to his work in November 2004, a courts officer is ordered to the Porcos' family home in Bethlehem, NY. Inside the home he finds murdered Peter Porco and his barely alive wife Joan who had both been savagely attacked with a fireman's axe. Eventually police can prove the crime was committed by the couple's son Christopher Porco.

S13 E262009-07-24

Trouble BrewingThis series profiles intriguing crimes where science catches the bad guy. Follow coroners, medical examiners, physicians, law enforcement officials, journalists and legal experts as they put together the pieces of the crime puzzle.

S13 E272009-08-14

Holy TerrorThis episode documents a deadly bombing at a church in Oakwood, Illinois, in December 1997.

S13 E282009-08-28

Needle in a HaystackThis series profiles intriguing crimes where science catches the bad guy. Follow coroners, medical examiners, physicians, law enforcement officials, journalists and legal experts as they put together the pieces of the crime puzzle.

S13 E292009-09-11

Room With A ViewThis series profiles intriguing crimes where science catches the bad guy. Follow coroners, medical examiners, physicians, law enforcement officials, journalists and legal experts as they put together the pieces of the crime puzzle.

S13 E302009-09-25

Dollars and SenseOn Christmas eve 2005, the corpse of a black male is found burning near Baltimore. He's eventually identified as 26-year-old Wesley Person. Distinctive building materials from the 1930s found near the body play a crucial role in solving this case.

S13 E312009-10-02

Hair LineDoctors don't know why the young scientist is gravely ill. When tests finally reveal the cause, it's too late to save him. Police hope that lab analysis of his hair, showing when attempts were made on his life and what was used will lead to the killer.

S13 E322009-10-16

All That Glitters is GoldA bullet-riddled car, a missing driver, and no witnesses. Was this an ambush or a random attack? Had the victim been abducted or was she dead? The answers lay in a unique clue, so tiny it was measured in millionths of a meter.

S13 E332009-10-30

Deadly RebellionEven though their daughter had run away before, she'd always come back. Her parents were sure this time would be no different, but they were wrong. Workers discovered the teen's half-naked body on the side of the road; her throat had been slit. Police hoped the single foreign hair found in a defensive wound on her thumb would lead them to the killer.

S13 E342009-11-13

Sign of the CrimeIn little more than a month, two women who lived in the same apartment complex were brutally murdered. The similarities of the crime scenes led police to conclude they were dealing with a serial killer who harboured an intense hatred of women... and they had to find him before he struck again.

S13 E352009-11-20

Covet Thy NeighbourWhen a college co-ed vanished without a trace, her fellow students were concerned about her safety and their own. Weeks later, the body of an unknown female was discovered 700 miles away in the ashes of a barn fire, and an alert police officer realised the two crimes might be connected.

S13 E362009-12-04

Writing on the WallThe victim was well liked and successful, which made the brutality of the crime even harder to understand. In the final moments of her life, she'd written a name on the wall, presumably that of the killer – in her own blood. But this wasn't an open and shut case and, in order to solve it, investigators would have to read between the lines.

S13 E372009-12-11

Hundreds of ReasonsAn assistant manager of a Florida steakhouse is stabbed to death. It appears to be a robbery gone wrong, but a bloody fingerprint reveals that he knew his killer.

S13 E382009-12-18

Cold FeetJames Kenneth Elmen Jr. abducted Julie Estes, then 21, from the Southside convenience store where she worked in 1985. He raped and murdered her. Her body was found the next day, but the killing went unsolved until 2003 when it became the first murder arrest by the new cold case squad at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. A sample of Elmen's blood was taken after sentencing for the 1986 rape and kidnapping of another woman and the attempted abduction of a third and his DNA was entered into a database, which was eventually matched to Estes' DNA. Elmen is also a suspect in the 1985 murder his 10-year-old half sister, Dana Loomis, and the slaying of a female acquaintance, Christina Casey. In June 1984 a jury acquitted Elmen of killing Steven Linthicum of Titusville.

S13 E392010-01-08

Separation AnxietyTracey Frame, 35, was convicted of killing David Nixon in April 2002 after he planned to end their relationship.

S13 E402010-03-05

Office VisitA surgeon is stabbed to death, and the most likely suspect is seen in a restaurant at the time of the murder. Episode documents the murder of Brian Stidham.

S13 E412010-03-12

Palm SaturdayIn 2007, Brian & Beverly Mauck were found dead in their Graham, Washington home. Using a bloody palm print and shoe prints at the scene, investigators focus their attention on neighbor Daniel Tavares, who had previously been inking a tattoo on Brian's back.

S13 E422010-03-19

Shoe-In for MurderOn May 12, 1994, Crystal Perry was viciously murdered in her home in Bridgton, Maine. Michael Hutchinson, 32, was found guilty of murder in the 1994 slaying at Perry's home.

S13 E432010-04-02

Family InterruptedOn December 10, 2003, in a murder-for-hire scheme, Thomas "Bart" Whitaker hired Chris Brashear, his college roommate, to kill his family so he could inherit the estimated $1.5 million family estate.

S13 E442010-04-16

Runaway LoveRachael Mullenix, 19, was convicted of stabbing her mother, Barbara Mullenix, on Sept. 13, 2006, and then packing her bloodied corpse in a cardboard box before dumping it in Newport Bay on the California coast.

S13 E452010-04-30

Watchful EyeOn May 20, 2001, Carrie Nelson, then 20, was beaten to death while working alone in a park office. The case went unsolved for six years until May 2007 when, in a routine check of DNA samples of prison inmates in South Dakota, police found a match with DNA samples gathered from the crime scene. The samples linked Randy Leeroyal Swaney, 35, to the murder. In August 2008, Randy Swaney was sentenced to life in prison.

S13 E462010-05-14

Waste Mis-ManagementFoul play is suspected when Fort Worth factory worker Glenda Furch disappears in September 2007 after completing her shift.

S13 E472010-05-28

Dirty Little SeacretPolice get a clue about a couple who disappeared on Memorial Day weekend during an in-progress robbery. The evidence found solves a brutal crime. Episode documents the 2002 murders of Joshua Ford and Martha Crutchley by killers Erika and Benjamin Sifrit.

S13 E482010-06-11

Lights OutThe decade-old murder of a young Texas housewife is investigated.

S13 E492010-06-25

Pet RockIn 1995, Palm Beach waitress Denise O'Neill is abducted and murdered. Her neighbour Luis Caballero arouses suspicions by his odd behaviour towards tv crews covering the crime. In the end police can prove Caballero and two other men committed the murder.

S13 E502010-07-09

Best Foot ForwardIn 2007, Shamaia Smith disappeared from the strip club she worked at in East Hartford, CT. Police look at various customers of the strip club, but focus on local businessman Kenneth Otto when there were inconsistencies with his story about the last time he had seen her. Upon search of Otto's rural property, cadaver dogs find something in a firepit, at which time he revokes their access. Upon revisit to the property, investigators find a variety of trace evidence, including part of a human foot.

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