Nearly 20 years after they first suspect him, police arrest Gary Ridgway, the most prolific known serial killer in U.S. history.
BTK Dennis Rader terrorizes Wichita, Kan., for decades, leaving at least 10 murder victims in his wake.
A deacon suspected of having an affair is found shot to death in Tijuana, Mexico; a woman claims she was assaulted by the man that killed her husband.
A detective tracks down a man who raped and murdered a 6-year-old girl 10 years earlier; police search for the killer of an 18-year-old hitchhiker.
A cell phone and an ATM card lead to the apprehension of a rapist.
Detectives work to solve the 1995 rape and murder of a 14-year-old.
DNA evidence solves the murder of a female law student; a man confesses to the random killing of a bowhunter.
A wiretapped conversation between a suspected killer and his sister cracks a 9-year-old murder case; a geologist finds human bones, solving the murder of a Virginia woman.
A police detective suspects a killer preys on older women; a protective mother disappears after learning her daughter has been sexually molested.
Young girls are sexually assaulted while waiting for their school buses; in 1991, a 9-year-old girl disappears from her home and is found murdered.
A brother is a suspect in the case of a 12-year-old found dead in her home in 1998; a 69-year-old woman is the victim of rape and murder in 1984.
In 1995, two women are raped in Louisville, Ky.; in 1982, a young man is found murdered in Deadwood, S.D.
Detective Danny Reyes investigates the 1990 murder of a Fort Worth, Texas woman.
In 1947, actress Elizabeth Short's corpse is found nude and bisected in an empty lot.
A banker is beaten to death in his bed; a man with a guilty conscience helps police.
A missing sailor's sister works to prove he was killed; rape and murder.
The 1988 rape and murder of a California woman; a jailhouse snitch.
Fingerprints lifted from two beer bottles help a California detective track down a prostitute's killer; the investigations of a woman's murder and the death of a man killed in a car crash use DNA analysis.
College students take on the cases of jailed murderers who claim they are innocent; the students visit the inmates, track down key witnesses and seek DNA testing to prove their clients' innocence.
A member of the Chicago Police Department launches the Women's DNA Initiative to fund the testing of rape kits; a deputy district attorney in Sacramento County, Calif., uses a DNA grant to find a killer.
A phone-sting operation helps police to nab killers; a district attorney uses a "John Doe"' warrant in the hunt for a rapist.
Business cards found at the scene reveal the killer of a New York teen; a murder suspect confesses after police take DNA samples from him.
Forensic testing helps to solve the murder of a beauty queen; two hairs help to put a double-murderer behind bars.
An ex-girlfriend helps to bring a child-murderer to justice; a mysterious set of bones puts police on the trail of a teen's killer.
A man is convicted in the gruesome murders of four black female prostitutes in Miami; detectives nail the rapist-killer of a 6-year-old girl.
DNA on a scarf helps to convict a homeless man of murder; a victim's phone call and his own writings help to convict a man who imprisoned teens in an underground bunker.
DNA evidence helps to convict the man who raped and killed an elderly woman; shell casings help to convict the killer of a security guard.
Fifteen years after a husband is convicted of murder, police discover that he may have been wrongly accused.
The infant subject of a child-custody dispute is found burned; a body is discovered in a home's crawlspace.
Bite marks help to get a child predator off the streets; after a decade, justice is finally served in the slaying of a 15-year-old girl.
Police hunt for over 15 years for a serial killer who lures women to Kansas for sadomasochistic sexual trysts at hotels; unprecedented access to surveillance photos and video from the investigation provides a glimpse inside the probe.
Detectives suspect that several violent crimes are connected; a maintenance man finds a body in a bathroom.
A 51-year-old man is shot to death near his horse stable; a rapist is sentenced to more than 1,000 years in prison.
The body of a man killed by a bullet is found in his well; detectives try to connect a man to his ex-wife's murder.
Detectives search for a man who rapes and kills women; an ex-girlfriend is the prime suspect when a man goes missing.
DNA evidence leads to the arrest of Houston's notorious "tourniquet killer"; a young woman is found shot and burned in an olive orchard.
James Allen Selby, a serial rapist who eluded police for years.
A detective vows not to shave until he solves the murder of a young woman; investigators track down a killer with the help of DNA found on duct tape used on the victim.
Rapes plague the Linden area of Columbus, Ohio; a hitchhiker's corpse is found in the California redwoods.
An unresolved murder from 1974 leads back to a high school janitor; a man confesses to killing his girlfriend.
A man gives police the information they need to solve a case; a murder baffles Indiana police.
After a woman's disappearance, the Los Angeles police get an anonymous call to investigate a suspect; an eyelash is a clue in the death of a woman stabbed many times.
After 46 years, homicide detectives take a lovers-lane bandit into custody; a suspected killer has an identical twin.
The Zodiac killer provokes the police by sending clues to the media.
An undercover agent solves a 15-year-old crime; a former state trooper becomes the prime suspect in his wife's death.
A wife goes missing; a gas-station attendant is shot.
A suspected killer and identity thief bears a unique tattoo.
Forensic DNA analysts help to break the case of a man who killed 49 women.
Advances in DNA technology help to convict a teen's murderer nearly 30 years after his crime; hair evidence helps to put a child's killer in prison.
Tracking down a serial killer; a woman's body is found under a hotel bed.
Testimony about the growth of larvae in dead bodies helps to convict a family's killer; the 2001 murder of a young girl remains unsolved.
A cold case is solved when the killer's attempt to murder another woman goes awry; an intrepid reporter helps to crack a case previously thought to be an accident.
A murderer's ex-wife phones in a tip; a mother keeps the skeletal remains of the child she killed in a footlocker.
A sex worker helps police track down a serial killer; an elaborate sting.
A mysterious woman calls police to say that her boyfriend is a killer; 1988 murder of actress Myra Davis; discovery of a human scalp helps convict a murderer; teen kidnaps, tortures and kills younger boys.
Testimony about the growth of larvae in dead bodies helps to convict a family's killer; the 2001 murder of a young girl; a New Orleans police officer goes under cover on a riverboat; a man goes on trial for a murder 10 years earlier.
A killer's attempt to murder another woman goes awry; a reporter cracks a case previously thought to be an accident; a cigarette helps to solve a murder.
A scheme to bribe a music magazine to manipulate the charts leads to murder; a man who buried evidence of murder tells the police.
A mysterious note left on a grave may prove vital in solving a 12-year-old murder; exhaustive questioning of a bereaved mother leads investigators to discover the fate of her three dead children.
The testimony of three inmates helps to convict a murderer.
DNA technology solves two stabbing cases; an anonymous call leads to a child's killer; a 3-year-old boy provides police with evidence in a murder case; a murdered housewife is buried in her own cellar.
A New Orleans police officer goes under cover on a riverboat; a Wisconsin man goes on trial for a murder 10 years earlier.
A forensic anthropologist becomes an expert on the human body's rate of decay.
A woman helps to solve her mother's murder; an officer solves the murder of a newspaper-delivery woman.
A 23-year-old teacher vanished the evening before Easter after giving confession. Her body was later found floating in a drainage canal. At the time, a key witness hinted that a member of the Catholic clergy may have been responsible.
A woman's fall from a cliff leads police to uncover a series of grisly murders; investigators find crucial DNA evidence on a killer's cigarette butts.
A re-enactment of a toddler's death is responsible for solving the crime; divers manage to locate a body.
After receiving a crucial clue, police solve a woman's murder more than 20 years after the fact.
Klansmen set fire to an NAACP president's home, killing him; a white man confesses to forcing a black man to jump from a bridge to his death.
A boy's toy car provides an important clue for detectives as they struggle to make a case against a serial killer.
A murder victim's niece starts an advocate group; a car preserves a victim's body.
DNA on a cigarette brings a rapist and murderer to justice; a confession made to a TV star helps police to solve a murder.
A respected Florida man's wife dies suddenly; the horrifying discovery of the remains of two newborn babies.
A fire investigator helps crack the case of an arsonist and killer; a prison inmate gives information about a murder that took place 15 years earlier.
A tool mark solves a murder; a disgruntled wife tells police that her husband is a killer.
The national DNA databank helps police hunt down a rapist; the re-enactment of a shooting death proves it was not an accident.
Investigators receive help from the internet when looking for a serial killer; a drug trafficker jumps bail.
A teenager leads police to the killer of three girls; a woman disappears from her sister's home.
Police suspect a former officer; a blow to the head of a garbage collector leaves strange markings; DNA may help to track down a stabber.
Police link four murders to a single DNA profile.
DNA connects two Michigan murders a decade apart; a single foreign hair helps police to find a killer.
A woman is suspected of murdering two of her daughters when a third convinces police to reopen the cases.
Saliva seals a killer's doom; DNA from the victim's son solves a murder; an arson investigator is accused of setting fires; a neighbor rapes, robs and murders an older woman.
Law enforcers stick with cases for many years, using fresh evidence to win convictions or to free prisoners who were wrongfully jailed.
A 3-year-old boy provides police with evidence in a murder case; a murdered housewife is buried in her own cellar.
Englishwoman shot; fingerprint matches prisoner; DNA databank helps catch stalker.
A Missouri woman is convicted of killing her stepdaughter; a skeleton leads police to a serial killer.
Alligators help to solve a murder investigation; Phoenix police solve a 20-year-old homicide.
A Florida man vanishes; crash victim is found to have been shot.
An arson investigator is suspected of setting a series of fires; a man sexually assaults, kills, and robs his neighbor.
A determined cop solves the murder of a prostitute; investigators solve the murder of a socialite.
Forensic clay modeling helps investigators identify a murder victim; two boys perform satanic rituals and set fires.
Woman's body hidden in a refrigerator; murder of a deputy sheriff.
Divers find a skeleton in a car at the bottom of a river; a dead dog's DNA helps to crack open a case.
Discovery of a human scalp helps convict a murderer; teen kidnaps, tortures and kills younger boys.
A serial killer keeps law enforcement working on his cases for over 20 years.
A forensic anthropologist painstakingly pieces 97 bone fragments back together to solve a woman's murder.
Police thaw a frozen body with a hair dryer and solve the case; when a child's body is found in a Chicago garden, authorities track down a strange family.