Series synopsis
Cold Case Files is an American crime mystery documentary television series that premiered on A&E on January 1, 1999. It ended on October 12, 2007. It stars Bill Kurtis and Chima Simone.
Explore compelling cases that have gone cold for years, chronicling the journeys of the detectives who reopened them. The detectives relive the events of the crimes, reveal new twists and startling revelations, relying on breakthroughs in forensic technology and the influence of social media to help crack these cases.
Premise
Explore compelling cases that have gone cold for years, chronicling the journeys of the detectives who reopened them. The detectives relive the events of the crimes, reveal new twists and startling revelations, relying on breakthroughs in forensic technology and the influence of social media to help crack these cases.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Bill Kurtis as Self - Narrator (voice)
- Chima Simone as Self
Guest cast
- Chima Simone as Self
Episodes
This series spans 5 seasons with 128 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 25 | January 1, 1999 | June 11, 1999 |
| Season 2 | 25 | January 1, 2000 | June 18, 2000 |
| Season 3 | 25 | January 1, 2001 | June 18, 2001 |
| Season 4 | 25 | January 1, 2002 | June 18, 2002 |
| Season 5 | 28 | December 15, 2005 | October 12, 2007 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Hour 1 - Cold Case Files In the first case in this episode Felicia Prechtl is found raped and murdered in Dallas, Texas/ The only thing the killer left behind was a fingerprint which was smudged. The fingerprint was left on a piece of duct tape that the killer used to tie up Felicia. It would take many years before Felicia would get justice. It would take the work of a dedicated detective to runs the prints through the system and find not only a match to the print but also finds the killer. And he wants to confess. The second story in this episode is about a little girl, Surrette Clark, who lived in the Arizona desert. She disappeared with nobody to even recognize that she was gone. After Surrette went missing at the age of 3 it would take more then 20 years to solve this mystery. Her parents took off across the Canadian border right after her disappearance. Finally a woman comes forward to tell of the families secret. With this information cold case detectives find out about a story of child abuse and how deadly some people will go to hide them. The third story in this episode is about a known man. One who has passed through our live via television either from watching the show or somebody talking about it. Its Bob Crane. Best known for his role on Hogan's Heroes as Colonel Hogan. Crane was strangled and beaten to death in his own bed in 1978. The story goes that Bob and a friend of his had a fight one night. With the small evidence that the police did have the police suspected his friend of his murder but could not prove it. It would be 12 years before anybody takes a second look at this case. On the second try police do find the evidence they need but will it be enough? In the fourth installment to this episode is about Ronnie Bullock. He was a man who had served 10 years of his sentence for raping an 11 year old girl. Through the entire time of his imprisionment he stayed stedfast to his claim of innocence. It would not be until DNA was founded that someone would listen to him and prove him innocent. |
January 1, 1999 |
| 2 |
The Boy and the Monster/Secret in the Cellar The Boy and the Monster In Wisconsin in the winter of 1991 a young woman's body was found naked, badly beaten and to make it harder to identify her, her fingertips were cut off. After months of trying to figure out who she was they finally came up with a name. Doris McLeod. After finding out who she was the police find out a lot more about her. She had a troubled past. After being on the streets she ended up connected to a pimp. Only one month of being on the streets she is never seen again. It takes a 3 year old boy to finally tell the police about Doris and the Boy and the Monster. Secret in the Cellar The second part of this episode is about a young woman from South Portland, Maine who was in search of her mother. She contacts the police but they get nowhere. They question Bill Bruns, the missing woman's husband who told the police a story about how Pearl drank and ran off with another man. Elaine Woodward, the missing womans daughter, went to the media for help. An investigator takes the case and with the help of science and man power he finds out what happened to Pearl with the Secret in the Cellar. |
January 8, 1999 |
| 3 |
The Texas Drifter/The Fingerprint File Texas Drifter Two women in two separate towns in Texas who where raped. The rapist uses a knife to threaten these women then rapes them and leaves his DNA behind. Back when these happened DNA was not profected yet so having the DNA was useless. Many years later when CODIS was developed which is a database for DNA a match to the rapists DNA was found. It was to a known serial rapist. Fingerprint File It was two days before Christmas a woman if found stabbed to death with the only clue left is a fingerprint left on a pop bottle. The forensic people were able to lift the print but had no success in matching it to anybody. Years later a man still working on cold cases finds a match to the fingerpprint which gives the police a lead to a killer. Rose Among Thorns Juliet Rowe was the victim who got shot in the bedroom of her English Countryside home. She was shot execution style then was shot again in the heart. The killer wanted to make sure that Juliet was dead. After thousands of endless attempts her case remained unsolved. 8 years later a stranger comes into a pub and starts talking to Mr Rowe Juliet's husband. The stranger's name was Keith Rose. He was arrested on kidnapping charges 6 weeks later. Because of his arrest he brings attention to himself to the cold case investigators who then look at him in the "Rose Among Thorns" case. |
January 15, 1999 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Operation Jambalaya/Footprints in the Snow A New Orleans police officer goes undercover on a Baton Rouge riverboat to gain a confession from one of the ship's maintenance workers who is suspected of murder. And a Wisconsin man, suspected of committing murder using a nunchukus, a weapon consisting of handles connected by a chain, goes on trial nearly 10 years after the victim's body was found on Christmas Eve 1987. |
January 1, 2000 |
| 2 |
The South Side Rapist A series of brutal rapes in St. Louis goes unsolved for many years until a fluke audit of a license plate number leads police to the culprit. |
January 8, 2000 |
| 3 |
Mark of a Killer/Dead Ends A killer's bite marks and a jailhouse snitch lead to a murder conviction in a case gone cold for eight years, and Bill Kurtis joins a group of super sleuths trying to solve the slaying of 18-year-old Jamie Weiss, found dead in her bathtub in 1996. |
January 15, 2000 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Cop Killer/Evil Twin Included: Los Angeles detectives solve a 46-year-old murder case; and DNA leads to a suspected killer who has a twin brother. Host: Bill Kurtis. |
January 1, 2001 |
| 2 |
The Zodiac Killer With access to the San Francisco Police Department's work, including saliva samples taken from letters the infamous Zodiac Killer sent 30 year ago, we reevaluate the case of the serial killer who began terrorizing California in the late 1960s. |
January 8, 2001 |
| 3 |
The Accidental Killer/Little Sister Lost While hiking with husband Dennis in Montana, Leslee Larson fell into Wolf Creek. Then Dennis is convicted of murdering his wife, while in Main. And 15-year-old papergirl Penny Parker goes missing, then her body is found by a search volunteer. |
January 15, 2001 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Love Triangle/2nd Story Rapist | January 1, 2002 |
| 2 | The Calling Card/Carol's Diary | January 8, 2002 |
| 3 | Beauty Queen Killer/The Fingerprint | January 15, 2002 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Obsession: Dave Reichert and the Green River Killer In this special 100th edition of Cold Case Files, we look at the biggest serial murder case in U.S. history - the 20-year hunt for the Green River Killer. Dave Reichert, the detective who made finding the killer his obsession, walks us through the case. He tells vivid, sometimes harrowing stories about the murders, saying, "You never forget the sight of a 16-year-old body lying on her back on the riverbank with ligature around her neck." Reichert headed up two Green River task forces until forensic DNA technology helped crack the case and brought him face to face with the killer thought to be responsible for 48 deaths. |
December 15, 2005 |
| 2 |
Finding BTK The story of the hunt for one of the most notorious serial killers in recent American history--the BTK killer, who terrorized the Wichita, Kansas, area for years. After committing at least seven brutal murders, BTK (for Bind, Torture, Kill) vanished for over 25 years before sending clues of his crimes to the media in 2004. He continued to avoid capture until a forensic computer expert traced a computer disc that led investigators to a surprising suspect--a church president. |
December 22, 2005 |
| 3 |
Death of a Deacon/A Wife's Mission When an adulterous church deacon is found shot to death in the back seat of his car, it looks like police may have stumbled upon a multi-party murder plot. And, a wife remains a key suspect in her husband's murder case for six years, until she takes the matter into her own hands to prove her innocence. |
January 14, 2006 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | A&E |
|---|---|
| First aired | January 1, 1999 |
| Last aired | October 12, 2007 |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Thursday at 21:00:00 |