Anyone have a favorite Forensic Files episode they'd care to share?

My most favorite is one of the earlier ones where an extended family was sitting around the kitchen table, most of them drinking lemonade. Soon after those that drank lemonade became violently ill. I believe a small boy and a man suffered some extremely horrific side effects and eventually died. It was found that the woman who lived at the house had an ex-boyfriend who worked at a cancer lab. He had broke into her house and put some cancer causing agent into the lemonade hoping to kill her. The irony is she didn't even drink any lemonade that day. Anyway they plugged a book at the end so I read it and I must say it is one of the best true crime books I've ever read. They go into detail about what the poor victims went through physically but also the psychological torture the survivors went through the rest of their lives worrying if since they had drank the lemonade if they would eventually develop cancer from it. Also mentions what happened to the man who poisoned the lemonade. If anyone is interested in reading it here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440217938/102-6465846-5502567?v=glance&n=283155

the one where the person was killed, and then the cops didnt know what happened or who did it, then they solved it with science

Thanks for the book suggestion, CrystalDawn.

One of my favorite episodes was on today. It's the one where the doctor raped his patient (and later his stepdaughter), yet they couldn't link the dna from the semen collected by police to the doctor's blood. The doctor had inserted a plastic tube in his arm filled with a patient's blood so that the blood draw wouldn't match his semen. It blows my mind that he got away with it for so long and that his ruse actually worked! I also LOVE the victim. He definitely messed with the wrong woman.

I also really like the episode about the teacher who was stalking herself and tried to blame it on another teacher.

Good choices Nowheregirl! I was also fascinated watching that one where this guy faked a blood test when it was actually being videotaped!! I had never heard of that. Of course its one of those where after watching it it probably gave some people ideas. I'm sorry I missed it today.

Also a good one is about the ricin. I believe a man had been poisoned by his wife (she was a doctor, he may have been too) and I believe they found some castor bean packets in her purse. He ended up having to have brain surgery. The most shocking part was that she set fire to her house and deliberately told her son to just stay inside and help would come full well knowing that he would perish in the blaze (along with another child of hers). :mad:

I remember a comment they made about ricin where a man I believe in another country was actually infected when someone brushed up against his leg with the tip of an umbrella. Apparently they had somehow implanted ricin in the tip of the umbrella and used that as an extremely unconventional way to infect this man with ricin. Simply amazing.

CrystalDawn...Ann Rule wrote a book about that ricin case. I've read most of the book (I haven't finished it yet, not because it's not a good book...although I've heard that many people thought it was too one-sided). However, I haven't seen the FF episode on it. I must just keep missing it!

Thanks, I didn't know there was a book about it. Why in your opinion isn't it a very good book? Do you mean one sided in support of the husband or the wife? I can't imagine it would show that witch in a favorable light after what she did to her children. I believe the angle FF took was how they were able to tell that she set the fire by her nightgown and a few other things.

CrystalDawn, I actually do think it's a good book from what I've read....I just haven't had a chance to finish it for other reasons.

Even from what I read, I think it's pretty obvious that she poisoned her husband and set her house on fire. I believe I read on Amazon from a few reviewers who lived in the area where the story happened (Kansas, I believe) that the woman was a more dynamic (and perhaps even sympathetic) character than the absolutely heinous, dumpy, zero-personality, unattractive loser that Ann portrayed in her book. Of course, anyone can post to Amazon, so you can take that with a grain of salt. It sort of reminds me of the Betty Broderick case in a way...except this woman was much more calculating.

Hi - the book is called Bitter Harvest and it was a good book. The woman's name was Debra Green-she was a real goof ball but I felt kinda sorry for her. I really think she suffered from severe depression and didn't get help for herself - not to say depression is an excuse or even a reason for murder -- However, it does seem to be the big crime excuse lately, only now they call it bipolar disease- I saw on Court TV today that the teacher that slept with a 13 or 14 year old said it was because she had bipolar disease and not one person in the press mentioned that!!!! I personally don't buy depression or bipolar disease as an excuse unless it's really severe depression like post-partum psychosis - which is really an entirely different thing - that's why it's called psychosis not depression. Oh well, just my 2 cents...

Mine is the episode where a woman in Anchorage, Alaska walked out of a bar drunk and not long after, ended up dead. I think they caught the suspect by a fingerprint or handprint on the victim's body, one of the two. Maybe someone can shed some light on this episode.

I forgot the name of the episode.

Yes I've taped that one and its "Palm Prints Conviction". They found the woman murdered and were able to use heated super glue to get the killer's palmprint off of her thigh I believe. He was ultimately convicted. Simply amazing!

Yes I've taped that one and its "Palm Prints Conviction". They found the woman murdered and were able to use heated super glue to get the killer's palmprint off of her thigh I believe. He was ultimately convicted. Simply amazing!

Oh yeah, that's right! I forgot about the super glue. I remember it vaguely. You don't have to go through the whole story but could you refresh my memory about how she ended up dead. Was she kidnapped?

Oops, sorry about that.

No problem I got rid of it for you.

Well there were two similar cases about women in bars but I believe the story was she was very drunk and they refused to serve her anymore (maybe even kicked her out of the bar). The killer offered to help her home (police speculate) and she did know him vaguely through her daughter. I believe this was the one where the law in Alaska requires bars to have surveillance cameras. They could tell by the camera that the perpetrator was a long haired man and had some dye in his hair. They were also able to test some head hairs found on a branch near the victim's body and found that it contained the same color dye.

No problem I got rid of it for you.

Well there were two similar cases about women in bars but I believe the story was she was very drunk and they refused to serve her anymore (maybe even kicked her out of the bar). The killer offered to help her home (police speculate) and she did know him vaguely through her daughter. I believe this was the one where the law in Alaska requires bars to have surveillance cameras. They could tell by the camera that the perpetrator was a long haired man and had some dye in his hair. They were also able to test some head hairs found on a branch near the victim's body and found that it contained the same color dye.

Oh yeah, okay. I know his last name is Curtis and he looked kind of Asian. Did he get life?

I have several..

The episode about the boy scout who nearly dies after eating undercooked meat that one also had a book pitch

The canadian doctor who drugged a patient, then raped her, who eludes dna testing by pluggin a fake vein with another patients blood into his arm.

Just about any and all of the forensic computing ones where they find the incriminating evidence in the bad guys cpu

The woodchipper murder one

The guy who kills the lady in the women's store that his mom owned and then shows up for the police interview with make-up on to cover the brutal scratch marks on his face

So many good shows..

My favorite episode features the capture of killer and rapist last name Robert Anthony Buell. He abducted a small child, Krista Lea Harrison and murdered her. Orange trilobal car fibers were found on her body. Later, he captured a women and left for work with her chained and handcuffed to his bed after he raped and tortured her. She escaped by painfully nearly breaking her own wrist to get free! She said she prayed to God to give her a sign of where to go since she was scared and naked and had no idea where she was. As an answer to her prayers, a kind canine barked and she ran to that residence and the family helped her and called police. The details she provided led to the sicko's capture. The fiber evidence led to LE being able to connect Buehl to the little girl's abduction. I am so gald he is off the streets. He was executed in 2002 by the state of Ohio.

Just thought of another one...

The Walter Scott "Look Out for The Cheater" episode...

I like the doctor raping patient one...

"It [the blood after taking a sample] looks...old."

I also like the one where the two parents are accused of murdering their daughter after they found a huge gash in her leg that the parents blamed on the dog, but no one else believed it because the gas was knife-clean. Then, they found out I that...believe it was the the on-scene technician, had taken pictures of the torn-up original wound and then cleaned it up and that the dog had actually done it, so the parents got acquitted.

I also liked the one with the reserve that sprayed a bunch of food places' buffets with some poison that got a lot of people sick, and they eventually all fled and either died or were captured.

The Tylenol being laced was a good one, as was the Coke being laced. I also like the one where they found the lady in the basement under the concrete, that may have also been the one where it was like "However, in an ironic twist in this case, the coroner who performed the autopsy made a startling discovery. (lady) had undiagnosed terminal cancer that would have killed her in 4-6 months."

I like most episodes I see, but I can remember most about these ones.

My favourite episode is Body of Evidence. It was an early episode of the Medical Detectives before it became Forensic Files. It described the murder of Karla Brown in Wood River, Illinois in June 1978. Brown was an all-American college student murdered in the basement of her new home. Her murder was not solved for four years. The Wood River Police Department relied on forensic odontology, psychological profiling and computer enlarged imagery to resolve the case.

I enjoy the episode titled Without A Trace. It was mentioned in the first message. It described Steven Roy Harper's attempt to murder his former girlfriend after their relationship ended. However, her husband and nephew died. Harper committed suicide in prison in 1990.

I used to have a fair few of these on tape, when it was known as Medical Detectives. I can remember some of what's been discussed already. A few others that I can recall are; a couple of people die after eating a hamburger, the Legionare Disease, I remember someone being dumped in a dumpster and being set on fire in 1991, a very thick layer of fog causing a massive car pile-up. There was a story on some guy (possible John List??) murdering his entire family in the early 70's and I can remember something about a ferris wheel and someone hanging off side as it was suspended in mid-air. You'll hafta forgive as I can't recall the titles.

I enjoyed the episode with the title "Grave Evidence." It examined the murder of Martin Dillon, a Pennsylvania lawyer. Dillon was murdered by his friend, Dr Stephen Scher at Gunsmoke, a shooting range owned by the Dillon family in June 1976. Patricia, Dillon's wife decided to end an affair with Scher. It prompted Scher to murder Dillon and he married Dillon's wife in 1978. After an autopsy was conducted in 1995 Scher was found guilty of first degree murder in 1997.

I saw an episode where this guy had killed his wife. I don't remember the exact details but he went through some elaborate scheme to kill her. I think poisoned her slowly for a long period of time. Anyway, he was caught for the crime but come to find out, the woman had terminal cancer and would have died in six months anyway. Talk about irony!

I saw an episode where this guy had killed his wife. I don't remember the exact details but he went through some elaborate scheme to kill her. I think poisoned her slowly for a long period of time. Anyway, he was caught for the crime but come to find out, the woman had terminal cancer and would have died in six months anyway. Talk about irony!

The name of the episode is "Missing Pearl". The missing person/murder victim was Pearl Bruns. She was murdered in 1991, and her body was found buried in her Maine house a year later. But she was actually beaten to death, not poisoned.

I like the one w/ the cop who committed insurance fraud by burning his house down, then killed someone who had a broken leg to cover his ass. He even wrote fake police reports! How nuts is that!

The one w/ Judy Moilanen. She lived up in Octanageon here in Michigan's UP and was shot on the first day of deer hunting season ( A national holiday here in MI). Her husband did it and was caught by a weird letter in a box of sweater and his suspicuous behavior.

Seattle Police officer Mathias Bachmeier committed insurance fraud by burning his home in August 1996. He subsequently murdered James Bradley Wren. Burning Ambition is the title of the episode.

Just thought of another one...

The Walter Scott "Look Out for The Cheater" episode...

Yes, absolutely one of my favorites.


Two more, the case were the marine spent many years in prison for the beating of his wife. As it turns out her family had coached her in her trying to remember the incident when doctors warned them it could lead to false memory recurrences. Years later the real culprit-an ex marine himself confessed to a series of attacks/murders in the same area. In the end he was finally released, with ironically the in laws still questioning his innocence when the real culprit was caught. Shame on them and the police for a true miscarrage of justice.

The other was the case (forgive me for not knowing the exact names) were
the father is suspected for 15 years of killing his daughter, wife left him. years later, the killer was a neighbor living with his brother. The killer turned out to be a petifile suspected in many deaths. He eventually lead the authorities to her body 15 years later, and confessed to numerous other child killings.

One of my favorite episodes is "Dinner and a Movie." That episode is about the murder of Ellen Sherman.

She was murdered in her Connecticut home in 1985. When her body was discovered in her bedroom, the air conditioner was on very high. Ellen's husband, Ed Sherman, was on a boat trip with some friends when Ellen was found dead. It was later determined that the air conditioner was turned on in an attempt to conceal the actual time of death, and make it appear that the murder occurred after Ed left for his boat trip. While at a friend's house, he supposedly called his wife, but his friend's then-nine-year-old daughter happened to pick up the phone, and overheard Ed talking to the sound of a ringing phone. (Needless to say, by pretending to call his wife in front of his friends, he was attempting to strengthen his alibi.)

It eventually came to light that Ed Sherman got the idea of concealing his wife's time of death from watching the movie Blackout (which starred Richard Widmark, Kathleen Quinlan, and Keith Carradine). But unfortunately for Ed, forensic evidence detected the truth.

Six years after Ellen Sherman's murder, Ed was tried and convicted of the crime. He was sent to prison, where he died of a heart attack in 1994.

I think this one is an old one but i will have a go.

There was a girl and the police found her car on the side of the road not far she was found raped and murdered. Her mum was a nurse and the police couldnt figure out the markings on her stomach but the mum knew what they were she had been run down i think by the car i think the tank which hold the water or somethig had burnt an ingravement in her skin...and her mum being a nurse reconized it.

It was something along those lines im sure ive missed a lot of details out but im sure some of you peeps should reconize the episode.

I think this one is an old one but i will have a go.

There was a girl and the police found her car on the side of the road not far she was found raped and murdered. Her mum was a nurse and the police couldnt figure out the markings on her stomach but the mum knew what they were she had been run down i think by the car i think the tank which hold the water or somethig had burnt an ingravement in her skin...and her mum being a nurse reconized it.

It was something along those lines im sure ive missed a lot of details out but im sure some of you peeps should reconize the episode.

Yes I remember that one. The victim's name was Aimee Willard and her case was also on "Unsolved Mysteries". The person responsible for her rape and murder was convicted thankfully.

Ah thanks i knew someone would remember it. Everytime i watch it i just think please dont pull over. :(

I think one of the ones that stays with me is the episode entitled "Voice From Beyond":

It involves the discovery of a mummified body of a pregnant woman in a barrel found in the crawl space of a home that had changed hands 4 times over the period of 30 years. Apparently, the woman was murdered in 1969 and the body had been preserved thanks to the lack of oxygen in the canister/barrel.

Thanks to the forensic work done on an address book found with the body--along with other great police work--the primary suspect became her former boss at a plastic flower manufacturing company, who was the original owner of the house. Upon making this determination, the police question the man (Howard Elkins). He promptly kills himself the next day.

Not long after, more excellent forensic work reveals the unborn baby was indeed his, and he had assumedly murdered this poor girl to cover this up.

The episode really gets to me on so many levels: the fact that 3 families had lived in the house with a dead body; the sad, lonely life this girl had as a poor immigrant looking for honest work--with no friends in this country--and how she was taken advantage of, threatened and subsequently murdered; the fact that her immigrant status made it so hard for them to identify who this poor girl was, etc...

But the most moving part of this episode was the end, where they show how a tireless Newsday reporter--who had been working this case in a very classy way--actually traveled to the homeland of this poor girl (El Salvador) to notify her mother and relatives that her body had been recovered, and that justice--to some limited extend--had finally been done.

The story stays with me to this day.

I enjoyed the episode with the title "Grave Evidence." It examined the murder of Martin Dillon, a Pennsylvania lawyer. Dillon was murdered by his friend, Dr Stephen Scher at Gunsmoke, a shooting range owned by the Dillon family in June 1976. Patricia, Dillon's wife decided to end an affair with Scher. It prompted Scher to murder Dillon and he married Dillon's wife in 1978. After an autopsy was conducted in 1995 Scher was found guilty of first degree murder in 1997.


Scher, Montrose physician and convicted murderer, dies in prison


Link (http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20101020/NEWS01/10200382/Scher++Montrose+physician+and+convicted+murderer++dies+in+prison)

Dr. Stephen Scher, a one-time Susquehanna County physician convicted twice of his friend's 1976 murder, has died in prison at the age of 70.



The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections confirmed Scher's Aug. 9 death at the State Correctional Institute at Laurel Highlands, which houses older inmates.

Scher, who medical office was located in Montrose, Pa., died of natural causes, officials said.

Scher and Martin Dillon, then a 30-year-old attorney in Montrose, Pa., were shooting clay pigeons on June 2, 1976, at Dillon's Silver Lake hunting camp, when Dillon died of a shotgun blast to the chest.

Scher claimed Dillon tripped over his bootlaces while chasing a porcupine with a loaded shotgun that discharged.

Two years after Dillon's death, Scher married his widow Patricia and raised his two children.

Scher wasn't charged with Dillon's murder until 20 years later, when a new autopsy pointed to homicide.

In 1997, Scher changed his story, saying he and Dillon struggled for the gun after a confrontation about Scher's affair with Dillon's wife.

A Pennsylvania appeals court threw out Scher's 1997 murder conviction on a procedural issue. He was convicted again of first-degree murder in 2008 and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The trials were two of the highest profile criminal proceedings in the county's modern era, drawing media attention from across the country.

Definitely my favorite show too. Do you know where it is possible to view episodes from the show, especially some of the earlier episodes like the one you listed?

I actually have some of the Forensic Files DVD two-disc sets and have a number of favorite episodes from those.

- "Internal Affair" - Sherry Durall disappears and her husband Bob is later suspected; a check of Bob's government work computer reveals he had actually run such internet searches as "kill spouse" and "smothering".

- "Ghost in the Machine" - Pastor Will Guthrie claims he found his wife Sharon drowned in their bathtub, but investigation reveals she had overdosed on Tamazepam, a sedative not prescribed for her (but which her husband had a prescription for), just prior to the drowning. There was also evidence on Mr. Guthrie's computer that he'd tried to create a fake suicide note as well.

- "Sunday School Ambush" - Bob Andrews ends up murdered in his garage by shotgun. His wife Brenda is shot with a .22 pistol and claimed two masked men entered their home and committed the crime. As it turns out, Brenda and her known boyfriend (whom she apparently taught Sunday School with, thus the title) staged the murder and had even attempted to do so prior to that incident by cutting Bob's car brake lines. Examination of the rounds, Brenda's injuries, and a forged signature bring the truth to light.

- "Bio Attack" - Describes the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack in Oregon. A group of guru-followers deliberately contaminated restaurants in and around The Dalles, OR with salmonella in an attempt to throw off local election results, as many voters would be too sick to go to the polls.

"Sealed With a Kiss" is by far my favorite, but "Bio Attack" is another great one! Definitely one of those shows you never get tired of re-watching.

"Paintball" was memorable to me. A guy was convicted of a murder, and while in jail filed appeals, did all sorts of stuff from jail, some of whichs just seemed him wanting to be a pain in the ass. He also wouldn't let the police dept get rid of his vehicle, and made them hold onto it for 30 (40?) years or so. I think he had to be retried and some other people in that county or something, and that vehicle he wouldn't let the police dept get rid of for the past few decades, turned out to have evidence to make sure he would never leave prison.

Also, the ones associated with UM I found memorable. Offhand I recall seeing on TV the Mia Zapata episode, and the other about the woman killed in her hair salon, soon after they first aired. There are others but I recall being surprised the first time I saw those on TV and thinking to myself, "Oh, wow! I remember this from UM..."

Some of my favorites:

The Dorothy Donovan case, which was profiled on UM.

Lisa Manderach - She was out shopping with her baby daughter and went into a store and the clerk, Caleb Fairley, decided to rape her because she looked like a woman on his sweatshirt. He was a vampire fanatic and apparently tried to re-enact the scene on his shirt. She fought him so he killed her, her daughter, raped her and dumped their bodies.

Joann Katrinak - She and her baby were kidnapped by Patricia Rorrer, her husband's ex-girlfriend, who wanted him back. Joann was shot and her son died of exposure. This was also profiled on On the Case with Paula Zahn.

Paul Nichols - He was murdered by his wife Barbara because she wanted insurance money and was having affairs. Thanks to detectives and his determined ex-wife, she was caught and convicted.

Then there was the one where the wife was being poisoned by her husband and he was cheating on her with a woman who wore cheerleading outfits for him, because that's what he liked.

The gay love triangle that led to murder, with the killer faking a suicide note.

I also liked "The Cheater" episode.

I saw a pretty unnerving one yesterday. It was called "Cereal Killer" (love those punny episode titles). It was about a man who killed his young son for insurance money. He had always treated the son rougher than the other kids. He was recently fired from his job where he was making great money, he had embezzled $80,000 to fund his expensive lifestyle. One of the re-enactments suggested he came up from behind his son while the boy was eating cereal and strangled him, it showed a glass of milk being knocked over that was pretty disturbing. He stuffed his son in a trash can and dumped him on the road. :( Thankfully the guy hanged himself as he realized he was going to be convicted.

I saw a pretty unnerving one yesterday. It was called "Cereal Killer" (love those punny episode titles). It was about a man who killed his young son for insurance money. He had always treated the son rougher than the other kids. He was recently fired from his job where he was making great money, he had embezzled $80,000 to fund his expensive lifestyle. One of the re-enactments suggested he came up from behind his son while the boy was eating cereal and strangled him, it showed a glass of milk being knocked over that was pretty disturbing. He stuffed his son in a trash can and dumped him on the road. :( Thankfully the guy hanged himself as he realized he was going to be convicted.

I've seen that one before. The whole thing from the way he treated his son before to his literally dumping him was disgusting.


Over the weekend I've been watching my "Medical Mysteries" FF DVD set. I'm writing a paper on E. coli 0157:H7 and the Shiga-like toxin (SLT) it produces for school, and the "Core Evidence" episode covers the 1996 outbreak from Odwalla apple juice. I had to kick myself when the Legionnaire's Disease episode came up, because that would've been a pretty cool one too.

Other episodes I particularly enjoy on that set are "Breaking the Mold" (about S. atra, a black mold that produces mycotoxins that infested a family's million-dollar home and caused them bizarre medical symptoms), "Something's Fishy" (Stella Nichols kills her husband and a woman she didn't even know by tampering with capsule Excedrin, filling some of the capsules with cyanide she crushed up in the same bowl she crushed up algacide for her fish tank, which is what got her caught), and "Ultimate Betrayal" (the case of poor Dr. Michael Farrar, whose certifiable wife, Dr. Debora Green, not only slowly poisoned him with ricin via castor beans but killed two of their three children by literally burning down their house). Dr. Farrar survived the extremely dangerous poisoning, fortunately. Interestingly, Dr. Green completed her internship at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City, MO just two or three years before Tanya Kopric (featured on UM) began her own residency in OB/GYN at the same facility. Ann Rule wrote a book about the case titled Bitter Harvest.

Yes! Those medical related ones are by far the best ones of the series.

Hi CrystalDawn,

I too like Forensic Files, I like the futuristic and creepy intro sound and the deep voice of the narrator. While the narrator is not as creepy as Robert Stack's voice and trenchcoat appeal, his deep voice makes it spookey for me. Also not seeing the narrator for FF is a good thing, makes him and the show that more mysterious.

Did you know that they made 100 new Forensic Files shows?

I did not, until 2 weeks ago. The FF narrator himself said on twitter (or via some other media) that they just completed 100 new shows. I want to see those! because now it is on CNN Headline news every Friday and Saturday night and Sunday afternoon called Mystery Detectives. Yet, they are always re-runs. At least in the past year every weekend would have different re-runs. Now a days cnn has the same FF shows from last week on again the next weekend. I never seen that before. Talk about too much re-runs.

Anyways the narrator for FF said they have 100 new shows, but they need a new network to pick them up. You would think cable tv channels like Lifetime or CNN-HLN or Tru TV would pick them up right away.

Eric

Anyone have a favorite Forensic Files episode they'd care to share?

My most favorite is one of the earlier ones where an extended family was sitting around the kitchen table, most of them drinking lemonade. Soon after those that drank lemonade became violently ill. I believe a small boy and a man suffered some extremely horrific side effects and eventually died. It was found that the woman who lived at the house had an ex-boyfriend who worked at a cancer lab. He had broke into her house and put some cancer causing agent into the lemonade hoping to kill her. The irony is she didn't even drink any lemonade that day. Anyway they plugged a book at the end so I read it and I must say it is one of the best true crime books I've ever read. They go into detail about what the poor victims went through physically but also the psychological torture the survivors went through the rest of their lives worrying if since they had drank the lemonade if they would eventually develop cancer from it. Also mentions what happened to the man who poisoned the lemonade. If anyone is interested in reading it here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440217938/102-6465846-5502567?v=glance&n=283155

My most favorite Forensic File show was maybe not the scariest one. It was about the serial arsonist who sent a letter trying to frame another man for the fire crimes. The killer bought a box of envelops that were made wrong by the manufacturer. One part of the seal was deformed or crooked. They were able to trace the envelops to a nearby local small mom and pop store. They had either a receipt or footage of the man (or description) who bought them.

They were able to put him in prison for the arsons because of the company's error in line work processing.

Eric

Anyone have a favorite Forensic Files episode they'd care to share?

My most favorite is one of the earlier ones where an extended family was sitting around the kitchen table, most of them drinking lemonade. Soon after those that drank lemonade became violently ill. I believe a small boy and a man suffered some extremely horrific side effects and eventually died. It was found that the woman who lived at the house had an ex-boyfriend who worked at a cancer lab. He had broke into her house and put some cancer causing agent into the lemonade hoping to kill her. The irony is she didn't even drink any lemonade that day. Anyway they plugged a book at the end so I read it and I must say it is one of the best true crime books I've ever read. They go into detail about what the poor victims went through physically but also the psychological torture the survivors went through the rest of their lives worrying if since they had drank the lemonade if they would eventually develop cancer from it. Also mentions what happened to the man who poisoned the lemonade. If anyone is interested in reading it here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440217938/102-6465846-5502567?v=glance&n=283155

Yes, I remember this one. I think it took place in Spokane, Washington. That was truly pathetic. You notice that the man that killed the boy also bullied him long before. It's as if the father behaves like a weirdo and ends up doing a very weird thing - murder his own son! There was another case, not sure if on this show, where the step-dad kills his wife, but beforehand abuses her verbally and also verbally abuses his step son for many months. Seems like people who kill do so because they are weird and mean in the first place.

Back to the Cereal Killer segment - The dad was making $100,000 per year from his job, but had several credit cards adding up to $100,000. Thus he was poor and snapped. I do not get it, if you make $100,000 you do not need multiple credit cards. This segment goes to show you that some people with lots of money are in fact poor. They need to show off and brag and believe they are better than their in laws, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

Many times white collar criminals only go to prison for 2 years or 5 years (or 10) for million dollar crimes like pyramid schemes or fake loan business. this dad should have manned up and pled guilty for stealing 80,000. He would probably only get 3 years in prison. That is better than suicide or life in prison.

Such killers always think they will get away with it by staging the scene or altering it. I personally believe most killers, who get caught, are stupid and gullible.

I saw a pretty unnerving one yesterday. It was called "Cereal Killer" (love those punny episode titles). It was about a man who killed his young son for insurance money. He had always treated the son rougher than the other kids. He was recently fired from his job where he was making great money, he had embezzled $80,000 to fund his expensive lifestyle. One of the re-enactments suggested he came up from behind his son while the boy was eating cereal and strangled him, it showed a glass of milk being knocked over that was pretty disturbing. He stuffed his son in a trash can and dumped him on the road. :( Thankfully the guy hanged himself as he realized he was going to be convicted.

Did you know that they made 100 new Forensic Files shows?

I did not, until 2 weeks ago. The FF narrator himself said on twitter (or via some other media) that they just completed 100 new shows. I want to see those! because now it is on CNN Headline news every Friday and Saturday night and Sunday afternoon called Mystery Detectives. Yet, they are always re-runs. At least in the past year every weekend would have different re-runs. Now a days cnn has the same FF shows from last week on again the next weekend. I never seen that before. Talk about too much re-runs.

Anyways the narrator for FF said they have 100 new shows, but they need a new network to pick them up. You would think cable tv channels like Lifetime or CNN-HLN or Tru TV would pick them up right away.

Eric

Any idea where you found this information exactly? As far as I know Peter Thomas doesn't have a twitter account but the executive producer does. I didn't see any mention from him in regards to any new episodes, other than the show going into syndication next June. I did a google news search and there's no mention of it either.

It was from another website or forum. I hope its not a lie! He sounded sincere. I could not remember if he heard it from a twitter account or something else. maybe just google "100 new forensic files" maybe it will show up that way.

Any idea where you found this information exactly? As far as I know Peter Thomas doesn't have a twitter account but the executive producer does. I didn't see any mention from him in regards to any new episodes, other than the show going into syndication next June. I did a google news search and there's no mention of it either.

Search results I got was for various sites offering 100 episodes for viewing.

Everything else turns up info stating the series is cancelled as of 2011 but is being billed as new in 2013 as a program called "Mystery Detectives" on the HLN channel, even though they are just the old Forensic Files episodes and not new.

IMDB.com shows the series ended in 2011. No info there about any new seasons.

Same here. This is kind of big news for the narrator to just post on a random forum or website. I'll wait to hear something official before I get excited.

I acquired a 30 disc set in a trade awhile back, but it's not the entire run. I can't get an exact count on how many episodes there are (the show having several titles complicates that search), but I think there may be several hundred.

I saw a really sad one yesterday. It was called "Four on the Floor" and concerned the murder of Betty Lee, a woman in her 30's. I believe this happened in Texas or New Mexico, somewhere in that region. She had went out to a bar with 2 of her girlfriends. Her friends got picked up by 2 guys that had came into the bar, which left Betty stranded as they were her ride. She went out into the parking lot and used the payphone and called several people she knew in an attempt to get a ride, but nobody offered her one. Not knowing what to do, she stood there and cried. These 2 other guys in a pick up truck spotted her and instead of trying to help her, drove her out to the desert, tried to rape her, and when she resisted, they shot her. :(

But...the crime was solved and it was pretty interesting too. Near her body, investigators found a cell phone, which belonged to a tow truck driver. The tow truck driver said the murderers got stuck in the sand while attempting to flee, and one of them called his father. The father got stuck, so he called a tow truck driver, and IT got stuck. Another tow truck driver was called and he got all 3 of them out. He said while that was going on, his wife, whom he basically described as a nag and shrew, had called his cell phone and started babbling incessantly, and he got mad and threw it out of frustration. Had that not have happened, the crime would probably be unsolved today. They also linked one of the murderers to 3 other homicides.

And yes, I do remember the killer fog one and thought that was really interesting...and sad. I think that was from Tennessee. The whole massive pile-up on the interstate was really sad.

I watched "Private Thoughts", which concerns a creep named Earl Bramblett, who murdered a family of four (including a 3 year old girl) and torched their house. The possible motive that was offered was that he was molesting the 11 year old girl and didn't want anyone to find out about it. The show briefly mentioned he was a suspect in the disapperances of 2 ladies in Roanoake, VA in 1977

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/akers_tammy.html

One interesting part was that detectives were able to find out what was beneath a blackened out part of Earl's timeclock card. It was a punch for 5:06a.m. The house fire had been reported 20 minutes earlier, and it would have taken him 20 minutes to drive from the house to his employer.

And you got to hand it to Peter Thomas, who's always able to pronounce those gadgets with like 23 letters in their name effortlessly.

One digusting part though: Earl has a lot of staunch supporters online that claim he was railroaded. :barf:

I watched "Private Thoughts", which concerns a creep named Earl Bramblett, who murdered a family of four (including a 3 year old girl) and torched their house. The possible motive that was offered was that he was molesting the 11 year old girl and didn't want anyone to find out about it. The show briefly mentioned he was a suspect in the disapperances of 2 ladies in Roanoake, VA in 1977

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/akers_tammy.html

One interesting part was that detectives were able to find out what was beneath a blackened out part of Earl's timeclock card. It was a punch for 5:06a.m. The house fire had been reported 20 minutes earlier, and it would have taken him 20 minutes to drive from the house to his employer.

And you got to hand it to Peter Thomas, who's always able to pronounce those gadgets with like 23 letters in their name effortlessly.

One digusting part though: Earl has a lot of staunch supporters online that claim he was railroaded. :barf:

Was that the one where the guy kept that audio journal? Those tape snippets made my skin crawl. At least they were able to be used to convict him.

Was that the one where the guy kept that audio journal? Those tape snippets made my skin crawl. At least they were able to be used to convict him.

Yes it was indeed that one. He had claimed that the parents were using their 11 year old daughter as "bait" in an attempt to get him to commit a crime so that the husband, who was facing a 6 month sentence for embezzlement, would get a more lenient sentence.

Earl was a very sick individual.

This is hands down the best documentary ever created for me. I started watching it when i was 7 or 8 and I'm still addicted to it at age 23. When it was aired as Medical Detectives (older seasons), it was the best. The old school reconstructions is what told the story so well. The newer episodes are great too but apparently TruTV didn't like the spookiness that the older episodes had so they had to modernise it a bit.

There's too many good episodes to choose from; however they could not have created a better pilot for this show. The case of Helle Crafts was a very bizarre episode to start with and anyone who watched that pilot must've become addicted.

The episodes where psychological profiles are used stand out to me. Ever since watching Body of Evidence, where John Douglas predicted John Prante's character down to what car he would drive I've been fascinated.

John Douglas' book Mind Hunter is the best true crime book I've read. I'm currently reading another book of his. I could go on for hours about this show, I have about 80% of the complete series backed up on 3 HDDs maybe more/less and I rewatch them very often. Apparently the show has ended now since it's been over a year since the last episode was released.

I've even managed to contact Dr Mary Case by email to discuss her work (she provided vital evidence on 2 of my favourite episodes, the Karla Brown and Paula Sims case)

Another one that was pretty unnerving was the murder of Sherri Dally. Sherri's husband was a drug addict and cheated on his wife during their marriage. He began an affair with a coworker named Diana Haun. Sherri knew about the affair but wouldn't leave the marriage. So Haun and Sherri's husband concocted a plan which had Haun disguise herself, followed Sherri to a store parking lot where she was able to kidnap her by "arresting" her and then drove her to a secluded area where she and Michael killed her.

ID's Fatal Vows also covered the story but went into some more detail. Apparently Michael asked a previous girlfriend to help him kill Sherri but she refused, and Sherri's friends repeatedly attempted to talk her into leaving Michael but she wouldn't because she was too much in love with him. It's a sad situation. You never want to blame the victim, but I wonder if Sherri did just walk away would she still be alive. Then again, Diana Haun by all accounts was weird and crazy so it probably wouldn't have mattered. :(

Getting into this show big time now.

"Trial By Fire" was a very interesting one and also very rare in that the forensic evidence CLEARED someone in this case, as opposed to the usual of finding someone guilty. It concerned the case of married couple Jean and Jim Long of Jackson, GA. In January 2003, there was a rare freeze in the region, and kerosene heaters were being used by farmers to protect their citrus groves. Jim had died, according to Jean, when they were in the barn and he was filling up a kerosene heater when it exploded.

The autopsy showed he had a cracked skull. Investigators also said they found pour patterns around Jim's body, and had suggested that Jean had struck Jim with a blunt object, poured kerosene on him and lit him on fire. There was some circumstantial evidence that had also suggested Jean had murdered Jim: the gas can she claimed was used was found outside the barn as opposed to inside, and investigators also wondered why she locked the door to their house during the commotion.

But...other evidence suggested Jean was innocent. Fire specialists determined that there were no pour patterns, and the defense had theorized that Jim had mistakenly poured gasoline into the kerosene heater, it blew up, and he smacked his head onto a table or something before collapsing on the floor. There was also videotape of a police interrogation of Jean where she was crying heavily and said "Please God, help me explain it to him." after the police left the room. The defense had said that guilty parties would usually say something incriminating whenever police leave the room during an interrogation, and this was the opposite.

Jean was acquitted at the trial, but the investigators and prosecution are still very adamant she was guilty. Personally, I have no idea what to think on this one. Did anyone see this and have any thoughts? I guess I would lean towards Jean being innocent, but am not completely sold on it.

I am about halfway through Gregg Olsen's book Bitter Almonds about the Stella Nickell Excedrin poisonings case featured on FF. I have to say, for a half-hour episode, Forensic Files was able to tell a very convoluted, very mixed-up case about a very mixed-up lady quite clearly and succinctly. I have to admit, I oscillate between revulsion and compassion for Stella. On the one hand, she is this cold creature devoid of feeling--someone who has no trouble with murdering someone she didn't even know from Eve in order to cover up the murder of her own husband. On the other, she is the person who gives what little she has to give in the way of sympathy and friendship to others. She COULD have been a good person. But that's not what she chose, and you're just angry at her for not trying.

I guess one of the people I feel most sorry for is Bruce, her husband and victim. He decided to make a very positive change in his life--to stop his drinking and get a steady job, both of which he had successfully done--and his wife essentially murders him for it, because he's not "fun" anymore. I wish he could've just gotten away from her.

In any event, if you're very interested in this case, this is an absolute must-read.

And yes, I do remember the killer fog one and thought that was really interesting...and sad. I think that was from Tennessee. The whole massive pile-up on the interstate was really sad.

Yes, that was Tennessee--and indeed it was. I know that section of I-75 quite well--it's just north of Chattanooga. Today, there are lighted signs warning that dense fog often develops in the area, and it still does. I don't know what ever became of the paper mill in Calhoun that contributed to intensifying the fog, but it still does get really quite foggy there--which in turn brings out the deer, so you must be careful.

Did anyone see that one with the creepy guy in devil masks who would rape women in Texas outdoors, like in the park or on the street? Creepy beyond words. :eek:

Did anyone see that one with the creepy guy in devil masks who would rape women in Texas outdoors, like in the park or on the street? Creepy beyond words. :eek:

YES. I particularly remember how angry this guy was, too--he called his victims names, and became furious when one of his victims kept reciting the Lord's Prayer. I'm very thankful he was caught and I'm thankful for the bars that keep him in his cell.

Postal Mortem always comes to mind when I think of the creepiest episodes of this show. The shot early on of Steve Christensen in his office is really shocking, but the most graphic shot I've seen in all of the series is the slow panning shot of Kathy Sheets. In the original broadcast it's way more graphic but they've since edited out almost all of it.

Almost forgot about an episode called either Cement the Case or Foundation of Lies where a woman was buried in a basement and then a cement floor was put over her. They actually show the crime scene video of her body being exhumed. :o It's kinda funny though when people get so worked up over the Jasper Watkins photo when FF shows something like that.

Almost forgot about an episode called either Cement the Case or Foundation of Lies where a woman was buried in a basement and then a cement floor was put over her. They actually show the crime scene video of her body being exhumed. :o It's kinda funny though when people get so worked up over the Jasper Watkins photo when FF shows something like that.

Someone mentioned A Voice from Beyond earlier in this thread. I seem to remember there are photos of the poor woman's remains in that barrel that are shown briefly on that episode.

Also, on Where the Blood Drops (the Susie Mowbray case), there are a couple of black and white photographs of Bill Mowbray from the scene that night. It's pretty clear he is deceased. I remember thinking that if that photo was ever shown on UM with RS's narration over it, I'd have hit the ceiliing.

Can't believe I forgot about this one. It's one of my ALL-time favorites.

Shear Luck recounted the story of USAF Sgt. Joe Snodgrass, stationed at Clark AFB in the Philippines in the early '90s, who conspired to have his wife murdered so that he could be with the family's housekeeper and live off his wife's life insurance. During the investigation, a floppy disk was taken from the Snodgrasses' quarters. When Snodgrass was later brought in for questioning and shown the disk to identify it, he actually pulled out a set of pinking shears and cut the disc into pieces. So the Air Force's OSI spends all this time and energy trying to reassemble the disc, even going to one agency who said any efforts to put the disc together would take at least a year and would cost close to a million dollars. So one of the Air Force investigators just shrugs and wonders if the disc can't be Scotch-taped back together. That was exactly what they did, and they were able to pull incriminating information from that disc.

Sgt. Snodgrass underwent a court-martial and went to jail for life, and the housekeeper and individuals hired to murder his wife were tried and convicted in Philippine court (their sentences, by the way, were a total joke. I think they all served ONE year. A third man has never been identified).

Interestingly enough, I found an article describing how Joe escaped from custody while awaiting trial in August 1991. Apparently, a nearby volcano had recently erupted and covered everything within and outside the base in ash. Joe couldn't figure out his way around with everything being covered, so the Air Force caught up with him shortly and he asked to be taken back to jail! What a derp.

I remember that lemonade-poison-kitchen episode, a true crime, a true classic! you have to admit though that many poisoners are gullible people, yes mean and cruel, but also so stupid. Because they think they can get away with it even when there are multiple victims of poisoning.

I remember the "where's jonathan" poison episode on UM and that lady (not the actress) must have been gullible in thinking she could get away with it.

My favorite FF episode was about the northeast teenager who killed a young red head boy only to leave with the Air Force and move to one of the Dakotas and kill again. He got arrested and sentenced to prison for one death and sentenced to death for the other. He looked clean, as he was a clean cut killer.



Anyone have a favorite Forensic Files episode they'd care to share?

My most favorite is one of the earlier ones where an extended family was sitting around the kitchen table, most of them drinking lemonade. Soon after those that drank lemonade became violently ill. I believe a small boy and a man suffered some extremely horrific side effects and eventually died. It was found that the woman who lived at the house had an ex-boyfriend who worked at a cancer lab. He had broke into her house and put some cancer causing agent into the lemonade hoping to kill her. The irony is she didn't even drink any lemonade that day. Anyway they plugged a book at the end so I read it and I must say it is one of the best true crime books I've ever read. They go into detail about what the poor victims went through physically but also the psychological torture the survivors went through the rest of their lives worrying if since they had drank the lemonade if they would eventually develop cancer from it. Also mentions what happened to the man who poisoned the lemonade. If anyone is interested in reading it here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440217938/102-6465846-5502567?v=glance&n=283155

Did anyone else see the one about those kids in Connecticut that were pushed into a pond (one drowned), and the perpetrators (also kids) were caught because the diatom type and count specific to that particular pond matched what was also found on the boys' wet shoes? That was a really cool analysis, but what I remember it for is primarily how chilled I was by those boys. Not only do they look devoid of feeling for anyone or anything in their booking photos, a woman interviewed for the show told a story about letting one of the boys into her house as he claimed he was diabetic and needed something to normalize his blood sugar. She gave him a glass of juice and then he went on his way. Minutes later, she saw the same kid with a couple of others outside her window with something like bats or boards in their hands, and they looked like they were in the process of planning something. She then realized that kid wasn't diabetic at all, but probably did just case her and her house. She opened the window to tell them to leave and they did. Later that day, the kids committed the crime against the two boys by the pond. LE theorized they were probably just roaming around town literally looking to commit an offense. Gave me the willies.

I saw this too Meg! I remember the kid entering her house to ask for a snack for his so called diabetes. Clever kid lol. Was funny when she saw them later on outside her house and told them to get away. She was lucky they did not come after her!

Those bored boys walking around to kill reminded me of UM's tri-state murder spree of the two teenage boys who were caught trying to break into a car 'to call someone'. And the men in another car passing by said there are no phones in cars because the kids were trying to call someone by breaking in. Obviously the kid fumbled his wording because he was scared to get caught for trespassing and more. Today we have cell phones in cars by the way lol.

They killed a black man when they asked him for help with their car problems in the dark night. Reminds me of your FF episode where the boy asks the woman for help with his diabetes.

True stories like these make me not want to pull over when I see a stranded motorist in the middle of nowhere. I believe Bill Cosby's son was murdered when he tried to help a motorist only to get murdered by that Russian. Also, if a person comes to my house or apartment asking for help I will make sure he stays outside and I will call the cops right away. Meg, what would you do if a stranger asks for your help?

Did anyone else see the one about those kids in Connecticut that were pushed into a pond (one drowned), and the perpetrators (also kids) were caught because the diatom type and count specific to that particular pond matched what was also found on the boys' wet shoes? That was a really cool analysis, but what I remember it for is primarily how chilled I was by those boys. Not only do they look devoid of feeling for anyone or anything in their booking photos, a woman interviewed for the show told a story about letting one of the boys into her house as he claimed he was diabetic and needed something to normalize his blood sugar. She gave him a glass of juice and then he went on his way. Minutes later, she saw the same kid with a couple of others outside her window with something like bats or boards in their hands, and they looked like they were in the process of planning something. She then realized that kid wasn't diabetic at all, but probably did just case her and her house. She opened the window to tell them to leave and they did. Later that day, the kids committed the crime against the two boys by the pond. LE theorized they were probably just roaming around town literally looking to commit an offense. Gave me the willies.

Meg, what would you do if a stranger asks for your help?

Help them, if I can. If I can't, I will attempt to call someone who can. If I feel I might be in danger or am almost certainly being otherwise deluded, I will remove myself from the situation. The very vast majority of people are not out to get you.

The episode where a handyman murders a guy, buries him under a house, and pays his bills for a year to make people believe he is still alive, totally scares me. I eagerly and faithfully watch forensic files, hoping they air this episode again.

The episode where a handyman murders a guy, buries him under a house, and pays his bills for a year to make people believe he is still alive, totally scares me. I eagerly and faithfully watch forensic files, hoping they air this episode again.

I remember that one. The victim's name was Paul Gruber and the FF episode was "If I Were You".

The episode where a handyman murders a guy, buries him under a house, and pays his bills for a year to make people believe he is still alive, totally scares me. I eagerly and faithfully watch forensic files, hoping they air this episode again.

1. I've seen that one too and I keep hoping they'll re-air it again too. The effort taken to cover that up is chilling.

2. I spent a lot of time in Decatur, IL years ago. When I was a kid, my dad used to commute there from Tennessee for periods of time to work (he worked for what was then A.E. Staley at the time), and many years later my ex-husband was employed with Norfolk Southern there. Every once in a while, I get to missing it a lot. I really liked the people there.

It's the one with the son in college two or so hours away from home. His parents were bludgeoned with an ax. The father died while the mother lived, although her face was terribly disfigured. When she was first found, she said their son did it, yet after surgery, she claimed she lost her memory.

He had smashed the home alarm system, but it still gave a time stamp of him arriving. The security cameras saw a car like his. To be sure, they got a close-up, and both cars had the same defects and bumper stickers. He didn't use his EZ-pass. They still nailed him on that by getting his DNA on the ticket. More time-stamps on that.

The timelines matched up perfectly, from when the son left his dorm and drove to his parent's home. The motive of course was....drumroll please........MONEY. One of the weirdest things was that the father actually woke up, went outside, got the morning paper, came back in and died in the front hall foyer.

The mother stood by her son, even after he was convicted. I think she remembered everything. She was standing by her son. A terrible story.

Christopher Porco... yeah that was a crazy one and for his mother to believe that he was innocent.

It's the one with the son in college two or so hours away from home. His parents were bludgeoned with an ax. The father died while the mother lived, although her face was terribly disfigured. When she was first found, she said their son did it, yet after surgery, she claimed she lost her memory.

He had smashed the home alarm system, but it still gave a time stamp of him arriving. The security cameras saw a car like his. To be sure, they got a close-up, and both cars had the same defects and bumper stickers. He didn't use his EZ-pass. They still nailed him on that by getting his DNA on the ticket. More time-stamps on that.

The timelines matched up perfectly, from when the son left his dorm and drove to his parent's home. The motive of course was....drumroll please........MONEY. One of the weirdest things was that the father actually woke up, went outside, got the morning paper, came back in and died in the front hall foyer.

The mother stood by her son, even after he was convicted. I think she remembered everything. She was standing by her son. A terrible story.

I recall that case. The name of the FF episode is "Family Ties". Christopher Porco's mother identified him as the assailant, but after surgery she recanted it. But that wasn't unusual, since she had suffered head injuries from the attack. Christopher Porco did everything he could to cover his tracks, but his DNA on the ticket did him in. The case is proof that sometimes it can take one small thing to break an alibi.

The case inspired episodes of CSI and CSI: NY - "Blood Sport" and "Damned If You Do", respectively. In fact, when I first saw the latter, it reminded me of the Porco case so much that there was no doubt in my mind that they loosely based the episode on that case.

I saw this episode only a few days ago and I can't stop thinking about it.

A 20 year old woman falls off a cliff in California. She was with a couple who I'm not quite sure what her connection was to them. I think she was living with them. It turns out they pushed her off for insurance money and the women had a 20 or 30 year history of insurance scams and people dying around her.

The woman's name was changed for the show. On Forsenic Files she was called Donna Hartman. Her real name was Deanna Hubbard Wilde. (forgot the last name)

There were 2 TV movies on this case and at least 1 book written. In the movies her real name was always changed.

I just realized that I haven't read the earlier pages, so maybe this case has already been talked about.

I'm new to FF.
CNN now shows it regularly and quite a few episode after I see them, I can't get them off my mind.

Another episode I can't get my mind off is Deadly Rebellion. It was about a Florida teenager, Joshan Ashbook, who was murdered by the man who picked her up hitchhiking.

I didn't see this one previously discussed, but when I think of "Forensic Files", I think of one classic old-school episode about a guy (probably late-40's, early-50's), who recorded himself out on a small fishing boat all by himself, supposedly during an entire day of fishing.

(totally "paraphrasing" from memory from here on out...)

The idea being that he could jack around with the time-stamp on the video recorder, and create an alibi that he was out on the water all day. However, through bizarre "shadow recognition" relative to the sun, the investigators were able to tell that the tape was recorded for a short amount of time in the morning, and a short amount of time in the late afternoon.

That left him plenty of time to dock the boat, return to town, and either kill his wife.. or go back and rob a bank and kill the employees.. or something along those lines (I forget what the actual crime was).

If I remember right, they were also able to zoom in on the videotape and see the 'hands' on his wristwatch, and determine that the video-recorder time-stamp was WAY off. I also remember the narrator pointing out that the investigators found it odd that a guy by himself out on the water fishing all day, would keep checking his watch every couple of minutes.

I think the guy ended up getting convicted (or else what was the point of the episode) :lol: , but I can't remember for the life of me what his name was, what the name of the episode was, or what the crime actually was.

I didn't see this one previously discussed, but when I think of "Forensic Files", I think of one classic old-school episode about a guy (probably late-40's, early-50's), who recorded himself out on a small fishing boat all by himself, supposedly during an entire day of fishing. [snip]

Dayyyyuummm! I do not remember this episode but there are 17 I do not have/not seen and I'm thinking the name of this one is "Shadow of a Doubt." That one ran about halfway through the series (episode 148). I'd love to see this one!

Edit: just checked my episode guide, and here's the description for it. Sounds like a match:

A woman was shot to death just one day before she was to testify against a man accused of robbing her. The robber became the prime suspect, but he had a solid alibi: a time-stamped videotape of his outdoor activities on the day of the murder. Police asked a local physics professor to help them authenticate the videotape, and he enabled them to see the killer who was hiding in the shadows.

[snip]

Dayyyyuummm! I do not remember this episode but there are 17 I do not have/not seen and I'm thinking the name of this one is "Shadow of a Doubt." That one ran about halfway through the series (episode 148). I'd love to see this one!



Holy crap - that is absolutely it! Thank you for tracking down the episode name!

Per this link (http://www.tv.com/shows/forensic-files/shadow-of-a-doubt-520342/):

"Just one day before she was scheduled to testify against a man accused of robbing her, a Pennsylvania store owner is murdered in broad daylight. The would-be defendant claims to have an alibi: a videotape of himself fishing. But the videotape is examined to determine whether the alibi is legitimate or not."

I wish they were better at putting the people's real names online, so it would be easy to Google them and read more about the case, but you absolutely nailed the episode. Thanks!

ETA: nevermind - this is the story of the case (albeit told from the perpetrator's point of view)... thanks again!

Kevin Brian Dowling (http://www.victimsofthestate.org/PA/KBD/FF.html)

No problem. Hopefully when this show goes into syndication in a couple of months it'll air again.

Someone mentioned Joann Katrinak earlier. This episode actually brought me to tears and although I have it in my collection, I find it difficult to watch. I can maybe--halfway, and however convolutedly--see someone murdering a woman of whom she's extremely jealous. I CANNOT, for the life of me, understand how someone dumps a tiny baby not yet half a year old like trash and just walks off, fully intending to allow him to die. That is absolutely disgusting and monstrous. I'm getting upset just typing about it.

Switching gears, I have a few other episodes to add to my "Favorites" list:

-Purr-fect Match: Details how the 1994 murder of Shirley Duguay of Sunnyside, Prince Edward Island was solved by comparing the DNA of her estranged husband's pet cat Snowball to cat hairs found in a jacket covered in Duguay's blood near her abandoned car (the jacket was, of course, the ex-husband's, and the hairs were Snowball's). This was the first time in history animal DNA had ever been used in a criminal investigation.

-Web of Seduction: The 1999 murder of Flint, MI junkyard owner Bruce Miller perpetrated by his wife Sharee, who was about 20 years his junior. She engaged in an online affair with a Kansas City, MO man (who had at one point been a police officer and homicide investigator) whom she convinced that she was pregnant with their child, and that her husband Bruce had beaten her and caused her to miscarry (in addition to such wild stories as that he was a drug dealer and involved in organized crime--none of which were true). Sharee and her lover then conspired to have Bruce killed, and the lover actually traveled to Flint to shoot Bruce dead while Sharee kept her husband on the phone at work to keep him in place until the lover arrived. Once the murder was committed, Sharee cut off all contact with her online lover, and he ended up committing suicide--but he left behind a note explaining how Bruce's murder came to be (and that Sharee was definitely involved). Sharee was convicted of second degree murder and conspiracy to commit first degree murder and was sent to prison--despite her insistence throughout the entire investigation and trial that the pages and pages of correspondence (to include nude photographs and even a sex tape) between her and the Missouri man was fabricated. :rolleyes:

-Legionnaires' Disease: Simply named episode detailing the discovery of Legionella and its implication in a huge 1976 outbreak of pneumonia in Philadelphia. Love the physicians and scientists interviewed in the segment; you got a sense that they were all amazingly dedicated. I also enjoyed the Legionnaires themselves who were interviewed. I really can't get enough of those medical mystery episodes, personally.

Meg, take a look at many of the early episodes. I too am a fan of the medical ones and not so much the murder ones they ended up doing later on. Raw Terror, Bitter Potion, Fatal Fungus, Deadly Parasites and Core Evidence would all be worth checking out. A few more favorites of mine:

Bio Attack People were getting sick in an Oregon town; turns out members of The Rajneeshee "movement" tainted the townspeople's food to make them so sick they would be unable to vote in a city election.

Something's Fishy Woman dies shortly after taking an Excedrin; investigators found lethal amounts of cyanide in her system.

I forget the name of the episode, but there was a special they did regarding the abduction and murder of Charles Lindbergh's son. The forensic twist on that episode was really, really interesting.

I haven't seen the "Web Of Seduction" episode yet, but it was also an American Justice episode called "Murder Online", which is in my collection.

Sadly, this case is not the only time something like that has happened.

Meg, take a look at many of the early episodes. I too am a fan of the medical ones and not so much the murder ones they ended up doing later on. Raw Terror, Bitter Potion, Fatal Fungus, Deadly Parasites and Core Evidence would all be worth checking out. A few more favorites of mine:

Bio Attack People were getting sick in an Oregon town; turns out members of The Rajneeshee "movement" tainted the townspeople's food to make them so sick they would be unable to vote in a city election.

I love that one. I became so interested in it that I actually ended up downloading that 1997 JAMA article mentioned on the show.

Something's Fishy Woman dies shortly after taking an Excedrin; investigators found lethal amounts of cyanide in her system.

If you haven't read it yet, I would definitely recommend Gregg Olsen's (who was interviewed on the show) book Bitter Almonds about the case. It has a TON of detail, but is one of those effortless reads.

I haven't seen the "Web Of Seduction" episode yet, but it was also an American Justice episode called "Murder Online", which is in my collection.

Sadly, this case is not the only time something like that has happened.

I was pretty appalled by the sheer level of calculation something like that took. Awful.

Shell Game: Shell divers in TN kill a rival diver and his fiancée in order to steal a haul of shells to sell. I liked how this episode highlighted our freshwater pearl industry in Tennessee (more than likely, if you live in the U.S. and own unfarmed freshwater pearls, they came out of the Tennessee River), as well as how shady it can be (divers usually work freelance and sell hauls to buyers for cash only, and a curiously large number of divers actually have felony convictions, as mentioned in the episode). Being a proud Tennessean, I was glad to see a little-known piece of our culture shown in conjunction with the conviction of three people who deserved jail time.

I remember that one. The victim's name was Paul Gruber and the FF episode was "If I Were You".
Wow, I scroll through netflix and see they have Forensic Files. What is the 1st episode on there? Yes, you guessed it. The Paul Gruber story!

Caught another one of my favorites on the DVR: Frozen Assets.

Mary Ann Clibbery, an employee at Al Zullo Remodeling in Loves Park, IL, was found bludgeoned to death inside the business as employees arrived for work one December morning in 2004. At first a disgruntled employee was suspected, but after a bag of items from the business was found on the ice underneath a bridge near the business--and after it was discovered that Mary Ann's coffee was being spiked with sleep aids and that company records were being forged--her business partner George Hansen became the main suspect.

Caught another one of my favorites on the DVR: Frozen Assets.

Mary Ann Clibbery, an employee at Al Zullo Remodeling in Loves Park, IL, was found bludgeoned to death inside the business as employees arrived for work one December morning in 2004. At first a disgruntled employee was suspected, but after a bag of items from the business was found on the ice underneath a bridge near the business--and after it was discovered that Mary Ann's coffee was being spiked with sleep aids and that company records were being forged--her business partner George Hansen became the main suspect.
That was a good one as well. Recently saw that one on HLN. Greed is a common factor in many of these cases.

With so much garbage on tv nowaday *cough cough* reality tv shows, programming such as Forensic Files is such a breath of fresh air.

brianh333 - while it's not a Forensic Files episode, the story about Kevin Dowling is on an episode of Solved called "Truth in Shadows" on Reelz tomorrow during the day. I'm excited to see it.

The one about Bryan Ruff, who was murdered by a friend/employee of his (Dale Bradley) up in the Kennecott, Utah wildness in 1991 because Bryan was having an affair with Bradley's wife. I feel bad for Bryan, he didn't deserve to die, and left behind a wife and 2 baby girls who never got to know their father.

I also like the one about the King's Cross fire and the Big Bayou Canot train wreck. Some of the ones that were featured on Unsolved Mysteries in the 1990s (Dana Satterfield, Dorothy Donovan, etc.) are some other good ones too.

The one about Bryan Ruff, who was murdered by a friend/employee of his (Dale Bradley) up in the Kennecott, Utah wildness in 1991 because Bryan was having an affair with Bradley's wife. I feel bad for Bryan, he didn't deserve to die, and left behind a wife and 2 baby girls who never got to know their father.

I was JUST thinking about this episode today.

While of course no one deserves to be murdered the way Bryan was, I always felt REALLY terrible for his wife. I think Bryan had actually basically run away from home to Las Vegas for some extended period of time without telling anyone what he was doing just prior to his disappearance (blowing a not insignificant amount of money in the process), and I think that trip was related to the extra-marital affair that he was carrying on right up until the time of said disappearance (and of which his wife eventually became aware). To add the worst insult to injury, he never came home, but was found deceased. I can't imagine being a young wife with very young children having to go through any of that. Bless that woman.

Sad news: Peter Thomas's wife of 68 years died earlier this year.

http://www.naplesnews.com/tablet-showcase/top-features/stella-thomas-wife-famed-voice-over-artist-peter-t

Cause do Death on ID is just the same old Forensic Files with a new name, right? The segments still look dated.

I did notice that ID was airing Forensic Files last night. Apparently they're airing it a few times every Monday night. A heads up though, they call it "Cause of Death".

It's the one with the son in college two or so hours away from home. His parents were bludgeoned with an ax. The father died while the mother lived, although her face was terribly disfigured. When she was first found, she said their son did it, yet after surgery, she claimed she lost her memory.

He had smashed the home alarm system, but it still gave a time stamp of him arriving. The security cameras saw a car like his. To be sure, they got a close-up, and both cars had the same defects and bumper stickers. He didn't use his EZ-pass. They still nailed him on that by getting his DNA on the ticket. More time-stamps on that.

The timelines matched up perfectly, from when the son left his dorm and drove to his parent's home. The motive of course was....drumroll please........MONEY. One of the weirdest things was that the father actually woke up, went outside, got the morning paper, came back in and died in the front hall foyer.

The mother stood by her son, even after he was convicted. I think she remembered everything. She was standing by her son. A terrible story.

There was also a 48 Hours episode on this exact case. After seeing what the episode was about I was able to my mother in a few seconds the exact outcome of the case and why it ended up that way.

Another favorite episode of mine revolves around an exoneration. Can't remember the episode title but the case was of Patricia Stallings in Missouri. In this case she was convicted of poisoning her infant son with ethylene glycol(antifreeze). While awaiting trial though she was found to be pregnant and gave birth to a son who began to exhibit the exact same symptoms as her 1st son did. Even though she was convicted there were doubts among certain people where testing had been done and when testing of the babes blood was done it was determined that it was not antifreeze but something else that is present in people who have the genetic disease MMA. When the prosecution heard of this and after the defense requested a new trial the prosecution agreed to the new trial as this evidence was new and may well have changed the verdict of the trial. In order to get an independent examination of the evidence they sent all of the evidence to a genetic disease expert at Yale who confirmed the defense theory and called ALL of the original testing garbage. As a result of this the state dropped all 1st degree murder charges against Patricia Stallings. The treatment they used to treat the 1st son may have in fact led to his death as they were going off of incorrect reading of test results There was also evidence of antifreeze on the baby bottle she fed her son with during a supervised visit but that was a false positive. Unsolved mysteries also did a story on this and actually helped get the experts at St Louis University to take an interest in this case.

Another favorite episode of mine revolves around an exoneration. Can't remember the episode title but the case was of Patricia Stallings in Missouri. In this case she was convicted of poisoning her infant son with ethylene glycol(antifreeze). While awaiting trial though she was found to be pregnant and gave birth to a son who began to exhibit the exact same symptoms as her 1st son did. Even though she was convicted there were doubts among certain people where testing had been done and when testing of the babes blood was done it was determined that it was not antifreeze but something else that is present in people who have the genetic disease MMA. When the prosecution heard of this and after the defense requested a new trial the prosecution agreed to the new trial as this evidence was new and may well have changed the verdict of the trial. In order to get an independent examination of the evidence they sent all of the evidence to a genetic disease expert at Yale who confirmed the defense theory and called ALL of the original testing garbage. As a result of this the state dropped all 1st degree murder charges against Patricia Stallings. The treatment they used to treat the 1st son may have in fact led to his death as they were going off of incorrect reading of test results There was also evidence of antifreeze on the baby bottle she fed her son with during a supervised visit but that was a false positive. Unsolved mysteries also did a story on this and actually helped get the experts at St Louis University to take an interest in this case.

Yeah, I was just talking about some of this on the UM forum, the case is pretty well-known there. The episode title is "Deadly Formula"

Yeah, I was just talking about some of this on the UM forum, the case is pretty well-known there. The episode title is "Deadly Formula"

There also some cases I was somewhat familiar with as they were in MN. One was the murder of the Northwest flight attendant during Operation Desert Storm. That was big in MN because at the time(before merging with Delta)Northwest was headquartered in MN. The other two were the murder of the russian immigrant who was a stockbroker and had lost another immigrant a sizable chunk of money. You know thats a tough case for a defense lawyer when the lawyer(who is VERY well known in MN as one of the top defense lawyers in the state) says what can you do. It was strong evidence collected without resorting to legal shortcuts, etc. The other case was a case in St Cloud MN(where I went to college but before this case) where the son murdered his father and got help in the crime from fellow students at his HS>

Yeah, I was just talking about some of this on the UM forum, the case is pretty well-known there. The episode title is "Deadly Formula"

There also some cases I was somewhat familiar with as they were in MN. One was the murder of the Northwest flight attendant during Operation Desert Storm. That was big in MN because at the time(before merging with Delta)Northwest was headquartered in MN. The other two were the murder of the russian immigrant who was a stockbroker and had lost another immigrant a sizable chunk of money. You know thats a tough case for a defense lawyer when the lawyer(who is VERY well known in MN as one of the top defense lawyers in the state) says what can you do. It was strong evidence collected without resorting to legal shortcuts, etc. The other case was a case in St Cloud MN(where I went to college but before this case) where the son murdered his father and got help in the crime from fellow students at his HS>

I recall the Russian immigrant one. That was also on City Confidential.

I have watched a ton of Forensic Files episodes this weekend on HLN. The following ones really stood out to me:

The case of a girl who poisons her dad while in she's a high school student. She later confesses her crime to a classmate while reading Hamlet.

The case where the parents are wrongfully convicted of the death of their four-year old daughter. They end up serving close to five years in prison, before new forensic evidence reveals that their dog that committed the attack. Their conviction is later overturned.

The case where a college student is found dead on her bed. I believe she was found by her boyfriend. All the doors and windows of the house were locked. Investigators found a trash bag containing syringes and other personal trash from the victim's home outside. It's eventually discovered that the person who killed her was a friend of hers that worked as a nurse. Per her request, he came to her house under the guise of administering some medicine in order to ease her migraine headache. He instead gives her a lethal dose of a drug (unsure if it was a poison) that ends up killing her in seconds.

A really good one about an elderly man who is almost goes to jail for the death of his wife. No one had seen his wife in the 30 years that they were married. He found her dead one morning beside him in bed and he ended up doing a lot of weird stuff en route to taking her to a hospital. It was later revealed that she suffered from epilepsy, which explained why she could have died in her sleep without him realizing it. The medical examiner also made a serious error in drawing blood from her neck and later thinking that the bruising on her neck (which came from the needle) was indicative of abuse. She marked her death as a homicide. A jury later found the man not guilty.

The drug used in the Florida case was propofol which was the same drug that became famous in the death of Michael Jackson. He and the victim of the Florida case died of the same cause. They overdosed on the drug. Now propofol has legitimate medical uses in a controlled setting these cases went beyond that.

The drug used in the Florida case was propofol which was the same drug that became famous in the death of Michael Jackson. He and the victim of the Florida case died of the same cause. They overdosed on the drug. Now propofol has legitimate medical uses in a controlled setting these cases went beyond that.

Yes you're correct. My wife and I watched that episode on last Friday, along with the one about the elderly man's wife as well as one about a pediatric nurse who administered lethal does of succinylcholine to infants. That lady was really sick. Glad she is behind bars where she belongs.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned "Honor Killing."

Zein and Maria Isa murdered their daughter for disobeying the wishes of obtaining a job, dating, and becoming too "westernized." What made this case so shocking though was that the murder was caught in an audio recording, as the family's house was bugged to gather evidence of unrelated terrorist involvement by Zein.

Zein and Maria can be heard on the audio recording stabbing and telling her to die.

This was the most unbelievable episode I've ever seen.

Also, the one where a couple murdered and dismembered another couples bodies was pretty insane. The female of the murdering couple told investigators that her male partner fired up the hot tub and bathed with the severed heads after they cut up their bodies.

welcome to the forum markymark52!

I don't think that particular episode has aired fairly recently, so that may be why it hasn't been mentioned yet. I would be interested in seeing it, but it sounds pretty horrifying.

I only just started watching Forensic Files and I've seen two that really stuck out as being interesting shows:

"Traffic Violations"-- woman disappears and is later found dead. Forensics match a boot print found on her sweatshirt to a freakin' policeman who is tried, convicted, and later confesses to her murder. Ironic part is that she had called police previously for assistance on her way home, as she worked at a gentleman's club, I think, and was concerned about her safety.

"Sealed with a Kiss"-- I think this one has been discussed before. Teacher is being stalked mercilessly. DNA proves that she was stalking herself as means to work another teacher out of the school system. CRAZY!

"Sealed with a Kiss"-- I think this one has been discussed before. Teacher is being stalked mercilessly. DNA proves that she was stalking herself as means to work another teacher out of the school system. CRAZY!

Yeah! Saw this one on TV around the holidays, and was glued to it. The teachers name was Joanne chambers, and the accused was Paula Nawrocki, I particularly thought it was insane that the one who did it was never really charged with anything and was actually interviewed on the show, the nerve!

Did some online research and found that the accused woman ended up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for forensic detective work which resulted in her being exonerated, so she sued everyone involved and got a lot of money back.

That woman needs to be locked up, so insane

Yeah, I was talking about this the other day on the UM forum. Paula, on the other hand, was charged with over 100 counts despite being innocent. What a load of crap. I hope she was refunded. I know she sued various parties in this.

I'm surprised nobody mentioned "Honor Killing."

Zein and Maria Isa murdered their daughter for disobeying the wishes of obtaining a job, dating, and becoming too "westernized." What made this case so shocking though was that the murder was caught in an audio recording, as the family's house was bugged to gather evidence of unrelated terrorist involvement by Zein.

Zein and Maria can be heard on the audio recording stabbing and telling her to die.

This was the most unbelievable episode I've ever seen.

Also, the one where a couple murdered and dismembered another couples bodies was pretty insane. The female of the murdering couple told investigators that her male partner fired up the hot tub and bathed with the severed heads after they cut up their bodies.

The actual episode title is "Honour Thy Father", although it can be described as an "Honor Killing"

Yeah! Saw this one on TV around the holidays, and was glued to it. The teachers name was Joanne chambers, and the accused was Paula Nawrocki, I particularly thought it was insane that the one who did it was never really charged with anything and was actually interviewed on the show, the nerve!

Did some online research and found that the accused woman ended up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for forensic detective work which resulted in her being exonerated, so she sued everyone involved and got a lot of money back.

That woman needs to be locked up, so insane

She also won a judgment of $600K from the school district and then another $25K from Joanne herself. The thing that gets me, as crazy as Joanne is, is what problem did she have with Paula exactly? The show mentioned that Joanne was an easy-going teacher who seemed very popular whereas Paula was described as "by the book" and strict, but to go after her because of that just isn't making sense to me.

She also won a judgment of $600K from the school district and then another $25K from Joanne herself. The thing that gets me, as crazy as Joanne is, is what problem did she have with Paula exactly? The show mentioned that Joanne was an easy-going teacher who seemed very popular whereas Paula was described as "by the book" and strict, but to go after her because of that just isn't making sense to me.

I read somewhere online that Joann was upset because Paula didn't fawn over her like all the other teachers did. Since they were both first grade teachers, I also have to wonder if Joann viewed Paula as "competition".

She also won a judgment of $600K from the school district and then another $25K from Joanne herself. The thing that gets me, as crazy as Joanne is, is what problem did she have with Paula exactly? The show mentioned that Joanne was an easy-going teacher who seemed very popular whereas Paula was described as "by the book" and strict, but to go after her because of that just isn't making sense to me.

I think the woman is probably just mentally unstable. Like the kind of woman who would try to have sex with her daughter's boyfriend or friends. Some people are just deluded about attention and being liked. If their life is boring and uneventful, they will find a way to make it event filled

I think the woman is probably just mentally unstable. Like the kind of woman who would try to have sex with her daughter's boyfriend or friends. Some people are just deluded about attention and being liked. If their life is boring and uneventful, they will find a way to make it event filled

I think that's it exactly.

Have you guys seen the episode I think it was about a skull found in a lake the woman was identified as Tina Mott her boyfriend tim bradford pled gulity to slitting her throat and useing 19 different knifes and needle pliers to pick apart the body to make sure she was never identified from what I heard he was very remorseful for what he had done he left behind a young son at the time

almost at 27,000 views.

I just saw "Honour Thy Father", and found it to be the most horrifying episode I've seen yet. Hearing the daughter's actual scream on the tape as her father was about to kill her (with her mother assisting) was a shocking and disturbing moment.

almost at 27,000 views.

I just saw "Honour Thy Father", and found it to be the most horrifying episode I've seen yet. Hearing the daughter's actual scream on the tape as her father was about to kill her (with her mother assisting) was a shocking and disturbing moment.

I have no words that can adequately convey exactly what I feel about that young lady's parents and what they did to that child.

Have you guys seen the episode I think it was about a skull found in a lake the woman was identified as Tina Mott her boyfriend tim bradford pled gulity to slitting her throat and useing 19 different knifes and needle pliers to pick apart the body to make sure she was never identified from what I heard he was very remorseful for what he had done he left behind a young son at the time

"Skin of Her Teeth." I just saw that one last night.

Made my skin crawl.

If you believe his story, they had a fight while playing Monopoly and she attacked him while he was picking up his fishing gear. "Somehow," her throat got cut and HE LEFT HER ALONE. When he got back, she was dead in the tub.

I don't buy any of that for a minute. Despite how "remorseful" he seems now, his actions clearly indicated that it was not a crime of passion. To skin her of her flesh, flush her internal organs down the toilet, and maim every one of her bones in an effort to deter identification? It tells me he thought this one out. He wanted her gone. I have no idea why, but you can't tell me he just pulled that out as it happened. No way.

I haven't seen "Honor Thy Father" yet, but this case is by far the most horrifying of anything I've seen anywhere.

I saw one this past weekend that really got under my skin, about Susie Mowbray (her first name was something else, but she went by Susie).

Her husband 'killed himself' in their bed one night. She claimed to have awakened to see his elbow up in the air, heard a grunt, and then a shot. Claimed to have picked up the gun by accident, dropped it into the pool of his blood on the bed. Apparently the first thing she did was call a family friend (not emergency services) and say "he finally did it, he killed himself".

The man had made recent threats of suicide which were corroborated by a banker who he went to request a loan, however they found that he had made recent changes to his insurance policy that would cut Susie out of the settlement in 2 days time, since they were in the process of splitting up.

The investigators and prosecuters argued that the angle the bullet was shot into his head would be impossible for him to shoot on his own, lying on his side in bed as he was. The arm he apparently shot with was under the covers and down by his side. Susie was convicted and served 9 years but then was re-tried and found not guilty since apparently there were conflicting reports of blood splatter on her nightgown or not.

It really seemed like she did it, if the medical experts say the angle shows he didn't kill himself, how do you not find the only other person present guilty of his murder?! Since almost all episodes end with the guilty party in jail for life or decades, this one really got under my skin late at night

I saw one this past weekend that really got under my skin, about Susie Mowbray (her first name was something else, but she went by Susie).

Her husband 'killed himself' in their bed one night. She claimed to have awakened to see his elbow up in the air, heard a grunt, and then a shot. Claimed to have picked up the gun by accident, dropped it into the pool of his blood on the bed. Apparently the first thing she did was call a family friend (not emergency services) and say "he finally did it, he killed himself".

The man had made recent threats of suicide which were corroborated by a banker who he went to request a loan, however they found that he had made recent changes to his insurance policy that would cut Susie out of the settlement in 2 days time, since they were in the process of splitting up.

The investigators and prosecuters argued that the angle the bullet was shot into his head would be impossible for him to shoot on his own, lying on his side in bed as he was. The arm he apparently shot with was under the covers and down by his side. Susie was convicted and served 9 years but then was re-tried and found not guilty since apparently there were conflicting reports of blood splatter on her nightgown or not.

It really seemed like she did it, if the medical experts say the angle shows he didn't kill himself, how do you not find the only other person present guilty of his murder?! Since almost all episodes end with the guilty party in jail for life or decades, this one really got under my skin late at night

I was never really sure what to think of Susie Mowbray when I first saw the FF episode (which is where I first learned of the story). But after seeing an old 'Justice Files' rerun that featured a segment on the case (and that went into much greater detail about Mr. Mowbray's long history of depression and suicidal ideation, Susie's defense, and more extensive interviews with Herb McDonnell, Mrs. Mowbray herself, and the Mowbray's son (who ended up becoming an attorney and defending his mother in court during her appeals, no less), I think she's innocent. I think her husband committed suicide just as she said it happened.

I was never really sure what to think of Susie Mowbray when I first saw the FF episode (which is where I first learned of the story). But after seeing an old 'Justice Files' rerun that featured a segment on the case (and that went into much greater detail about Mr. Mowbray's long history of depression and suicidal ideation, Susie's defense, and more extensive interviews with Herb McDonnell, Mrs. Mowbray herself, and the Mowbray's son (who ended up becoming an attorney and defending his mother in court during her appeals, no less), I think she's innocent. I think her husband committed suicide just as she said it happened.

I definitely believe its possible, but the fact that there didn't seem to be evidence on the deceased man's alleged firing hand along with the strange angle he was shot with to me mean he didn't shoot himself.

Both of them had reason to pull the trigger, neither had evidence they had shot the gun on their hand, but one of them was still alive to be able to clean themselves up... To me there's no way he shoots himself and has no residue or blowback blood on his hand because he is dead right after, there's no way he goes and washes his hands.

I also felt like if a man were to shoot himself, he wouldn't do it in a position that looks like he's still sleeping, if it were me I'd probably put the gun in my mouth or shoot straight across the temples

The case where a college student is found dead on her bed. I believe she was found by her boyfriend. All the doors and windows of the house were locked. Investigators found a trash bag containing syringes and other personal trash from the victim's home outside. It's eventually discovered that the person who killed her was a friend of hers that worked as a nurse. Per her request, he came to her house under the guise of administering some medicine in order to ease her migraine headache. He instead gives her a lethal dose of a drug (unsure if it was a poison) that ends up killing her in seconds.

This aired several weeks ago on Headline News, they air marathons of FF on the weekends. The killer wanted a romantic relationship with the victim. She wanted nothing more to do with him and complained about him to her friends. He got angry and decided to kill her. It was classic "if I can't have you nobody can." Guy needed to cut his losses and move on.

My favorite was mentioned earlier in this thread, the Brenda Andrew "Sunday School" episode. I particularly enjoyed it because both offenders were sentenced to death. That was a pleasing surprise when I saw this episode many years ago when it originally aired. Not many women are given the death penalty. I had no real opinion on the death penalty until I started following true crime cases. Some of these criminals are so diabolical and cruel, and it's obvious they have gotten away with prior offenses, that only the death penalty seems appropriate. Otherwise they shuffle out of court with a smug expression and no real concern, as described of Beverly Noe recently.

The Sunday School episode combined several of my favorite aspects, when plots are unraveled. I don't mind arrogance when it's justified...aligned with special ability. That is fascinating, in fact.

So often the arrogant types are not special at all, just the opposite: Simplistic and moronic. Brenda Andrew and her lover/conspirator qualify beyond any duo I can think of. They were so brazen they took trips together, including photos of the children. Somehow they brainstormed a plot that included a cut brake line and phone calls designed to get Rob to drive the compromised vehicle on a freeway, obviously intended to have him die in a crash. Big percentage there. Rob (the victim, Brenda's husband) was suspicious of the phone call designed to send him speeding toward the hospital. The phony phone call indicated his wife was seriously injured and at that hospital. I liked that segment partially because it reminded me of something my father experienced as a young man. He was involved in a serious traffic incident with the other driver intoxicated and at fault. On the morning of the scheduled court appearance, my dad received a phone call indicating the court date had been postponed and would be rescheduled. Luckily he told his mom (my grandmother). Marie was incredibly sharp. She told my dad that it didn't sound legitimate, that court appointments like that are never changed at the last second, and not over the phone minus proper documentation. My dad and grandmother decided to ignore the phone call and show up in court. Great move. The call was bogus. The hearing went forward. Then when the opposing lawyer began to speak, my dad was stunned. That's the distinctive voice. The opposing lawyer was so unethical he was the one who called my dad, desperate to get his client off the hook via the other party failing to show up for the complaint. No chance: Guilty.

Anyway, Brenda Andrew and her lover were so stupid they butchered every angle of the conspiracy. After the fatal shots in the garage, her lover hid in the neighbor's home, the one which Brenda just happened to hold a key to, since they were on vacation. Nope, nobody in law enforcement will consider that possibility. But just in case, the lover successfully dropped ammunition in that home and left it there for the homeowners to find, along with disturbing the home in general. Well done.

Brenda didn't bother to feign innocence, not after the initial police work. I loved that aspect also. From arrogant plot to wimpy immediate fleeing of the city and country, not even bothering to attend her husband's funeral.

This is the only person from an obscure episode who I've ever been tempted to write a letter to. I wanted to congratulate Brenda for the singular accomplishment of being the most pathetic conspirator I've ever seen on a true crime program.

I am needing some help. I am comprising a list of where each episode occurred. I am working on season 10. There are 5 episodes I cannot find info on. When the Dust Settles, All the World's a Stage, Smoke in Your Eyes, Flower Power and Army of Evidence. Any help is appreciated. thank you.

BTW, so far, I have 40 states, 6 Canadian provinces and 5 other countries with Great Britain having 8 eps.

I have no words that can adequately convey exactly what I feel about that young lady's parents and what they did to that child.

In the Middle East where they came from, "mercy killings" like that when the parents feel the family has been "dishonored", are common whether it is son or daughter.

[QUOTE=wiseguy182]I acquired a 30 disc set in a trade awhile back, but it's not the entire run. I can't get an exact count on how many episodes there are (the show having several titles complicates that search), but I think there may be several hundred.

There are 400 episodes of the show.

There are 400 episodes of the show.

Yeah, I remember mentioning that awhile back, although now it appears it's up to 417 according to the locatetv website.

Yeah, I remember mentioning that awhile back, although now it appears it's up to 417 according to the locatetv website.

Wikipedia has a list of all 400 episodes. I suspect some of the extras are split episodes. i can go to you tube and get split episodes.

Wikipedia has a list of all 400 episodes. I suspect some of the extras are split episodes. i can go to you tube and get split episodes.

what are split episodes?

what are split episodes?

On you tube, you can view parts of episodes that are only 10:00 long instead of the entire 22:00.

This is an example .... www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4dZdMGIl70

I have no words that can adequately convey exactly what I feel about that young lady's parents and what they did to that child.

Speaking about chilling audio tapes, I can't put into words how creepy the Byron Smith audio was. This wasn't on FF but was on Dateline, a fairly recent episode as well. The episode title was "12 Minutes on Elm Street", where a man named Byron Smith records his shooting of 2 unarmed teenagers, a 17 year old boy and an 18 year old girl. I was going back and forth on that one for a while (the boy was a bully of sorts in his high school, and they had burglarized his house several times before and another house in the neighborhood). But once I realized that Byron entrapped them in his house, the sheer overkill of both victims (shooting the girl in the eye), that both were unarmed, that he knew the male victim and had even hired him at one point to do some lawn work, and the girl posed no threat and was only in the house to find out what happened to the boy (Nick), and that Byron clearly enjoyed killing them and taunted them (even after death), calling the girl "bitch" and stuff, after realizing all that, I knew he was guilty and was thankful the 12 jurors put him behind bars.

Byron has his defenders, including one male neighbor and his wife. The male looked like a zombie.

Dateline played the edited version of the audiotape (minus the shootings, of course), so of course my curious mind sauntered off to you know wher to listen to the full recording. Sort of wishing I hadn't.

Yikes. One of the most chilling things I have ever heard was a 911 call where one of the murders was recorded. I'm kinda surprised national media hasn't picked up this story-- it's got all the elements you look for in a Dateline, 48 Hours type of show.

Essentially, the defendant shoots her husband and then calls 911, claiming that he had been shot by someone else. You can hear the voice of the husband say, "No, YOU shot me." (He later died at the hospital.) While the call is going on, you HEAR this woman chasing someone through the house and eventually shooting. I'll never forget the voice of the victim saying, "Get away from me, you bitch," followed by gunshot and then the same voice saying, "Ow."

Because of the confusion the defendant created at the scene over who the shooter was, this poor woman bled to death. Part of the prosecution focused on her deliberate efforts to fool law enforcement while the 2nd victim was downstairs bleeding to death.

There was no screaming or anything on the audio. It was just horrible to listen to, knowing that both of these people are dying as the call is in progress.

In the Middle East where they came from, "mercy killings" like that when the parents feel the family has been "dishonored", are common whether it is son or daughter.

As someone who's been around the world a bit, I can tell you they are in fact statistically uncommon.

My favorite was mentioned earlier in this thread, the Brenda Andrew "Sunday School" episode. I particularly enjoyed it because both offenders were sentenced to death. That was a pleasing surprise when I saw this episode many years ago when it originally aired. Not many women are given the death penalty. I had no real opinion on the death penalty until I started following true crime cases. Some of these criminals are so diabolical and cruel, and it's obvious they have gotten away with prior offenses, that only the death penalty seems appropriate. Otherwise they shuffle out of court with a smug expression and no real concern, as described of Beverly Noe recently.

The Sunday School episode combined several of my favorite aspects, when plots are unraveled. I don't mind arrogance when it's justified...aligned with special ability. That is fascinating, in fact.

So often the arrogant types are not special at all, just the opposite: Simplistic and moronic. Brenda Andrew and her lover/conspirator qualify beyond any duo I can think of. They were so brazen they took trips together, including photos of the children. Somehow they brainstormed a plot that included a cut brake line and phone calls designed to get Rob to drive the compromised vehicle on a freeway, obviously intended to have him die in a crash. Big percentage there. Rob (the victim, Brenda's husband) was suspicious of the phone call designed to send him speeding toward the hospital. The phony phone call indicated his wife was seriously injured and at that hospital. I liked that segment partially because it reminded me of something my father experienced as a young man. He was involved in a serious traffic incident with the other driver intoxicated and at fault. On the morning of the scheduled court appearance, my dad received a phone call indicating the court date had been postponed and would be rescheduled. Luckily he told his mom (my grandmother). Marie was incredibly sharp. She told my dad that it didn't sound legitimate, that court appointments like that are never changed at the last second, and not over the phone minus proper documentation. My dad and grandmother decided to ignore the phone call and show up in court. Great move. The call was bogus. The hearing went forward. Then when the opposing lawyer began to speak, my dad was stunned. That's the distinctive voice. The opposing lawyer was so unethical he was the one who called my dad, desperate to get his client off the hook via the other party failing to show up for the complaint. No chance: Guilty.

Anyway, Brenda Andrew and her lover were so stupid they butchered every angle of the conspiracy. After the fatal shots in the garage, her lover hid in the neighbor's home, the one which Brenda just happened to hold a key to, since they were on vacation. Nope, nobody in law enforcement will consider that possibility. But just in case, the lover successfully dropped ammunition in that home and left it there for the homeowners to find, along with disturbing the home in general. Well done.

Brenda didn't bother to feign innocence, not after the initial police work. I loved that aspect also. From arrogant plot to wimpy immediate fleeing of the city and country, not even bothering to attend her husband's funeral.

This is the only person from an obscure episode who I've ever been tempted to write a letter to. I wanted to congratulate Brenda for the singular accomplishment of being the most pathetic conspirator I've ever seen on a true crime program.

That was an interesting episode. Bob Andrew, the victim, always seemed to me like he was a very good man. His wife did not deserve him.

It definitely ranks as one of the lamest calls to 911 by a perpetrator I've ever heard. "Uhhh they had on black masks, I dunno." :rolleyes: Then James Pavatt stepping on that shoe rack and ejecting a shot shell in the neighbors' house. Good freakin' night.

I highly doubt Brenda Andrew will ever have her sentence carried out.

Got to watch "Honor Thy Father." That WAS terrible. That poor girl.

Speaking about chilling audio tapes, I can't put into words how creepy the Byron Smith audio was. This wasn't on FF but was on Dateline, a fairly recent episode as well. The episode title was "12 Minutes on Elm Street", where a man named Byron Smith records his shooting of 2 unarmed teenagers, a 17 year old boy and an 18 year old girl. I was going back and forth on that one for a while (the boy was a bully of sorts in his high school, and they had burglarized his house several times before and another house in the neighborhood). But once I realized that Byron entrapped them in his house, the sheer overkill of both victims (shooting the girl in the eye), that both were unarmed, that he knew the male victim and had even hired him at one point to do some lawn work, and the girl posed no threat and was only in the house to find out what happened to the boy (Nick), and that Byron clearly enjoyed killing them and taunted them (even after death), calling the girl "bitch" and stuff, after realizing all that, I knew he was guilty and was thankful the 12 jurors put him behind bars.

Byron has his defenders, including one male neighbor and his wife. The male looked like a zombie.

Dateline played the edited version of the audiotape (minus the shootings, of course), so of course my curious mind sauntered off to you know wher to listen to the full recording. Sort of wishing I hadn't.

I saw that and just when you think it's a story about a man fed up with teenage burglars, you hear that tape and realize this was something he probably was planning to do for a while. It is extremely disturbing. I know you have a right to defend your property, but this was not a split-second decision to protect life and home, it was premeditated murder.

I saw that and just when you think it's a story about a man fed up with teenage burglars, you hear that tape and realize this was something he probably was planning to do for a while. It is extremely disturbing. I know you have a right to defend your property, but this was not a split-second decision to protect life and home, it was premeditated murder.

Yeah, the entire tape is haunting. He didn't give them a warning shot, or even at attempt to get out of his house, he just up and shot them repeatedly.

Have you guys seen the one about the bellahmy brothers??? the three guys in like north or south carolina who terrorized the community in the 1990s with bank robberies they got identified by the clothes they wore and how they stood also I think one of the men was a former policeman

Have you guys seen the one about the bellahmy brothers??? the three guys in like north or south carolina who terrorized the community in the 1990s with bank robberies they got identified by the clothes they wore and how they stood also I think one of the men was a former policeman

No, but I really like some of their music. :)

Have you guys seen the one about the bellahmy brothers??? the three guys in like north or south carolina who terrorized the community in the 1990s with bank robberies they got identified by the clothes they wore and how they stood also I think one of the men was a former policeman

Oh yeah. I am very familiar with the area of North and South Carolina where they committed the robberies because that's the exact area my family used to vacation when I was a kid, so it immediately got my attention.

I've been lucky to have seen almost all of the episodes, but it's cool to see ones I haven't watched in ages. Case in point: HLN is airing "Root of All Evil" this weekend. I forgot how bizarre this one was.

Fred and Charlotte Grabbe owned a farm in Illinois. They argued and Fred was especially violent to his kids. At one point he had taken his son and beat his head on a car fender. Charlotte wanted a divorce but Fred wouldn't have any part of it, despite him cheating on her with younger women. Charlotte went missing one day, and Fred said she simply got into her car and took off, but there was a witness who saw a different woman driving her car.

The case eventually went cold until 3 years later when a private investigator tracked down Fred's former girlfriend, Vickie McAllister. She told him she went to the machine shed on Fred's farm to get a steel drum and Charlotte walked in. Vickie hid, and Fred then killed Charlotte, did something unmentionable to her, and then did another unmentionable thing to her. Both Fred and Vickie put her body in (probably) the same drum Vickie was going to borrow, and then each drove in a separate car to dispose of the body. This would explain the witness seeing someone else driving Charlotte's car. They proceeded to burn her body and throw the drum and her skull into a lake.

That alone would have made an interesting episode of say Cold Case Files, but the story doesn't end there. Vickie took investigators to a tree where her body was incinerated, and the fossil fuels in the fire were absorbed into the tree's roots. Scientists were able to count the tree rings back to 1981 when the murder happened and noted that the rings were much smaller that particular year than in previous years and also with gas chromatography find the fossil fuels in the wood. Fred Grabbe was convicted of first degree murder.

It still doesn't end there. Fred's new girlfriend attempted to break him out of jail which failed, Fred and Charlotte's house as well as the house next to it which was owned by his son were destroyed by fire, and then his son was murdered in California. Fred was put on trial for his murder and found guilty for it as well and received 75 years.

I also find Vickie's mugshot particularly interesting:

http://i.imgur.com/MJHXGIZ.jpg

Speaking about chilling audio tapes, I can't put into words how creepy the Byron Smith audio was. This wasn't on FF but was on Dateline, a fairly recent episode as well. The episode title was "12 Minutes on Elm Street", where a man named Byron Smith records his shooting of 2 unarmed teenagers, a 17 year old boy and an 18 year old girl. I was going back and forth on that one for a while (the boy was a bully of sorts in his high school, and they had burglarized his house several times before and another house in the neighborhood). But once I realized that Byron entrapped them in his house, the sheer overkill of both victims (shooting the girl in the eye), that both were unarmed, that he knew the male victim and had even hired him at one point to do some lawn work, and the girl posed no threat and was only in the house to find out what happened to the boy (Nick), and that Byron clearly enjoyed killing them and taunted them (even after death), calling the girl "bitch" and stuff, after realizing all that, I knew he was guilty and was thankful the 12 jurors put him behind bars.

Byron has his defenders, including one male neighbor and his wife. The male looked like a zombie.

Dateline played the edited version of the audiotape (minus the shootings, of course), so of course my curious mind sauntered off to you know wher to listen to the full recording. Sort of wishing I hadn't.

This case had a HUGE following in the state of Minnesota where it occurred. Practically every TV station in the Twin Cities TV market had people at the trial(the trial and the crime itself occurred in the Minneapolis/St Paul DMA) and once the tapes were heard in court practically everyone said that the was the coup de grade for the prosecution. Right now the conviction is on appeal and under Minnesota law a 1st degree murder conviction is automatically appealed to the state supreme court. This means the case bypasses the intermediate Court of Appeals and as a result the final results of this case will come out quicker than if there was the appeal to the intermediate court.

Speaking about chilling audio tapes, I can't put into words how creepy the Byron Smith audio was. This wasn't on FF but was on Dateline, a fairly recent episode as well. The episode title was "12 Minutes on Elm Street", where a man named Byron Smith records his shooting of 2 unarmed teenagers, a 17 year old boy and an 18 year old girl. I was going back and forth on that one for a while (the boy was a bully of sorts in his high school, and they had burglarized his house several times before and another house in the neighborhood). But once I realized that Byron entrapped them in his house, the sheer overkill of both victims (shooting the girl in the eye), that both were unarmed, that he knew the male victim and had even hired him at one point to do some lawn work, and the girl posed no threat and was only in the house to find out what happened to the boy (Nick), and that Byron clearly enjoyed killing them and taunted them (even after death), calling the girl "bitch" and stuff, after realizing all that, I knew he was guilty and was thankful the 12 jurors put him behind bars.

Byron has his defenders, including one male neighbor and his wife. The male looked like a zombie.

Dateline played the edited version of the audiotape (minus the shootings, of course), so of course my curious mind sauntered off to you know wher to listen to the full recording. Sort of wishing I hadn't.

This case had a HUGE following in the state of Minnesota where it occurred. Practically every TV station in the Twin Cities TV market had people at the trial(the trial and the crime itself occurred in the Minneapolis/St Paul DMA) and once the tapes were heard in court practically everyone said that the was the coup de grade for the prosecution. Right now the conviction is on appeal and under Minnesota law a 1st degree murder conviction is automatically appealed to the state supreme court. This means the case bypasses the intermediate Court of Appeals and as a result the final results of this case will come out quicker than if there was the appeal to the intermediate court.

I've seen pretty much all the episodes but there are 2 which I have not seen since the late 90s when I was a kid. The episodes are The Talking Skull and The List Murders. Anyone remember these? The former involves a skull being found and they mould a face from it for recognition, the latter is about John List who murdered his family and went on the run.

I also remember another episode from my childhood which stands out..all I remember is they refer to an event that happened in England where a man poisoned someone with ricin I think via the tip of his umbrella.

I've got the episode where the Dr tries to murder her husband with ricin but it doesn't include that scene so I'm not sure where it's from!

I've seen pretty much all the episodes but there are 2 which I have not seen since the late 90s when I was a kid. The episodes are The Talking Skull and The List Murders. Anyone remember these? The former involves a skull being found and they mould a face from it for recognition, the latter is about John List who murdered his family and went on the run.

I also remember another episode from my childhood which stands out..all I remember is they refer to an event that happened in England where a man poisoned someone with ricin I think via the tip of his umbrella.

I've got the episode where the Dr tries to murder her husband with ricin but it doesn't include that scene so I'm not sure where it's from!

The List Murders have been on HLN not long ago so you might check and see if they will reair it soon. Forensic Files is also on the ID channel now and is called "Cause of Death".

I also remember another episode from my childhood which stands out..all I remember is they refer to an event that happened in England where a man poisoned someone with ricin I think via the tip of his umbrella.

You might be thinking of Georgi Markov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov). Forensic Files never did an episode on that story, but that would have been a good one.

I've seen pretty much all the episodes but there are 2 which I have not seen since the late 90s when I was a kid. The episodes are The Talking Skull and The List Murders. Anyone remember these? The former involves a skull being found and they mould a face from it for recognition, the latter is about John List who murdered his family and went on the run.

I have both of those episodes. There's been some talk on here of John List, as his case was also profiled on America's Most Wanted and American Justice.

You might be thinking of Georgi Markov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov). Forensic Files never did an episode on that story, but that would have been a good one.

I can see how he'd make that mistake since a lot of the earliest episodes of Forensic Files had to do with poisonings and things of that nature.

I just found this site and think I'll really enjoy it! I'm amazed no one has mentioned the episode of "Forensic Files" that really haunts me. It's called "Last Will". This creep named Larry Gene Bell kidnapped a pretty 17-year-old girl named Shari Smith. He actually made this sweet girl write her "Last Will and Testament" before he killed her and dumped her body. One thing I found so heart-wrenching is that this young lady was a devout Christian and despite what she knew was coming to her, her "will" was so upbeat. She wrote, "some good will come out of this" and sent loving messages to her family. What a remarkable young lady. In the meantime, this CREEP made taunting phone calls to Shari's family, apparently after he had already killed her, and even called to taunt them after her funeral! They caught him because a pad of paper he wrote on was found, that the investigator was able to scribble on the indents on the top sheet and someone who knew him was able to identify his handwriting. Turned out he had also killed a 10-year-old girl named Deborah Helmick. They did execute this creep, and though I am a Christian and believe in forgiveness, part of me still feels there should be a special place reserved in hell for this person...

The other episode that haunts me, which also was not mentioned unless I overlooked it, was called "Water Logged". Another CREEP, a guy named Oba Chandler (who was probably mad at the world for being given the name Oba), invited a vacationing mom and her two teenage daughters out on his boat and ended up attaching weights to them and dropping them in the ocean to drown, one at a time, while the others watched. They caught him the same way as in the case above; a sample of his writing was found and someone identified it. As far as I know, this monster is still rotting in prison.

Like others here have mentioned, I too tend to go to sleep listening to "Forensic Files", though I have seen the episodes many times, and love Peter Thomas' narrating. Can't believe he is almost 91!! Bless him. Teri

I just found this site and think I'll really enjoy it! I'm amazed no one has mentioned the episode of "Forensic Files" that really haunts me. It's called "Last Will". This creep named Larry Gene Bell kidnapped a pretty 17-year-old girl named Shari Smith. He actually made this sweet girl write her "Last Will and Testament" before he killed her and dumped her body. One thing I found so heart-wrenching is that this young lady was a devout Christian and despite what she knew was coming to her, her "will" was so upbeat. She wrote, "some good will come out of this" and sent loving messages to her family. What a remarkable young lady. In the meantime, this CREEP made taunting phone calls to Shari's family, apparently after he had already killed her, and even called to taunt them after her funeral! They caught him because a pad of paper he wrote on was found, that the investigator was able to scribble on the indents on the top sheet and someone who knew him was able to identify his handwriting. Turned out he had also killed a 10-year-old girl named Deborah Helmick. They did execute this creep, and though I am a Christian and believe in forgiveness, part of me still feels there should be a special place reserved in hell for this person...


Welcome...:wave:

Yes I agree such a sad case and how unbelievably kind of Shari to use her last words to encourage her family members. She must have been a very special person. I wanted to let you know there is a movie about this case called "Nightmare in Columbia County". I believe you can watch it online.

Yes Oba Chandler is the worst of the worst. To sexually assault the three and throw them in the water alive. :mad:

If ever 2 people deserved the death penalty its them and they have both since been executed.

Hi! Oh, that's good that Chandler is gone now too. Except, I wish they could have done it the same way he did to that mom and her daughters -- tie weights to him and throw him in the ocean.

I just watched an episode that's called Black Friday online, but my dvd set has it listed as something else.

It is the case of Corey Parker, a 25 year old Jacksonville, FL resident, who was killed (stabbed more than 100 times. :( )There were several good suspects that didn't pan out, until authorities realized that 17 year old Robert Denney was responsible. He clearly had mental disorders and could frequently be seen crying after the murder. Mental illness also runs in his family: his brother was also convicted at a very young age for a similar crime. Sad case all the way around.

I remember the Corey Parker case. I recently saw it on Body of Evidence. I discovered another crime network on our cable system, the Justice Network. They show reruns of old true crime shows that are no longer in production, such as Body of Evidence and The Investigators.

I remember the Corey Parker case. I recently saw it on Body of Evidence. I discovered another crime network on our cable system, the Justice Network. They show reruns of old true crime shows that are no longer in production, such as Body of Evidence and The Investigators.

I wished I got that network for so long. I have somebody recording Crime Stories for me right now, although they've been airing under the title The Investigators, which is an entirely different show. The Investigators is another solid program.

One remarkable thing about the Corey Parker case, was that Robert Denney acted very strangely by not disposing of his cigarette butts (instead collecting them) only to spit on the ground outside. The authorities had been watching him for some time and his spit formed on a rain puddle, so it was easy for them to collect it. He maintains his innocence, even though he is clearly guilty.

I just found this site and think I'll really enjoy it! I'm amazed no one has mentioned the episode of "Forensic Files" that really haunts me. It's called "Last Will". This creep named Larry Gene Bell kidnapped a pretty 17-year-old girl named Shari Smith. He actually made this sweet girl write her "Last Will and Testament" before he killed her and dumped her body. One thing I found so heart-wrenching is that this young lady was a devout Christian and despite what she knew was coming to her, her "will" was so upbeat. She wrote, "some good will come out of this" and sent loving messages to her family. What a remarkable young lady. In the meantime, this CREEP made taunting phone calls to Shari's family, apparently after he had already killed her, and even called to taunt them after her funeral! They caught him because a pad of paper he wrote on was found, that the investigator was able to scribble on the indents on the top sheet and someone who knew him was able to identify his handwriting. Turned out he had also killed a 10-year-old girl named Deborah Helmick. They did execute this creep, and though I am a Christian and believe in forgiveness, part of me still feels there should be a special place reserved in hell for this person...

That episode was always very memorable for me, too--and it's funny I should read this post today, because I literally have been working for the past week in the exact area of South Carolina where these crimes took place. Remember the subtitles Forensic Files provided for the phone calls Bell made to the Smith family? In one of them, Bell describes the route to get to Debra May Helmick's body. FF made a mistake in the transcription--it's not "Two Notts Road", it's Two Notch Road, and it's an extremely busy road in Columbia. I'm not sure how "built up" it was in the mid '80s, but today, there is ALL manner of restaurants, gas stations, stores, and traffic along Two Notch. I suppose FF gave the impression it was this little rinky dink two-lane deal, when in fact it's rather the center of town.

Shari's father Bob sold the family's old home (of which there were many pictures in the episode) and according to this (2005) article, it has been turned into a prayer house:

http://lexingtonchronicle.com/homecoming-p4349.htm

I plan on checking it out a few months from now when I'm back in the vicinity.

There's a book on the case, Murder in the Midlands: Larry Gene Bell and the 28 Days of Terror that Shook South Carolina, written by a former South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) lieutenant by the name of Rita Shuler. It was a quick read and provided a lot more information on Bell than what was presented in the FF episode. It's difficult to tell whether or not Bell was as unbalanced as he appeared, or if it was all an act to gain a lighter sentence at trial. I think you'd find it interesting. The most curious part of the entire case to me (and this wasn't covered on FF), is that no one is actually quite certain how Shari passed away. Shari had diabetes insipidus, a disease in which her body didn't make or didn't respond appropriately to a hormone responsible for retaining water and concentrating urine. Without medication, she would be compelled to drink and expel large amounts of water, putting her at risk for fluid and electrolyte imbalances. It is unknown if Bell actively murdered her, or if she died as a result of her uncontrolled disease. In the state of South Carolina, however, if one commits the crime of kidnapping and the victim dies while detained, the perpetrator is automatically charged with murder.

There is also a music scholarship available to Lexington High School seniors in Shari's name:

http://villagesquaretheatre.com/Shari.html

She seemed like a really lovely person.

I just watched "Screen Pass" about the murder of 13 year-old Heather Church from Colorado Springs, Colorado. :( Pretty wild to see Lou Smit in a case that's NOT JonBenet. They talked a bit about how the murderer, Robert Charles Browne, was also a suspect in the murder of Rocio Sperry from the same city, and it's certainly an interesting read on the Charley Project

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/sperry_rocio.html

He may be one of the most prolific serial killers in the U.S., as he's confessed to 48 murders in the U.S. (including numerous ones in Colorado and Louisiana and at least one other state) and one in South Korea. I'm surprised I've never head more of this guy until now.

Wow! I never heard if him either till I read your post. Now I'm going to read up on him.

I am irritated ID stopped showing this program, especially since they had been showing some rare episodes, and were scheduled to air more rare episodes, such as "Purrr-fect Match", but yanked the show before those could air.

I am irritated ID stopped showing this program, especially since they had been showing some rare episodes, and were scheduled to air more rare episodes, such as "Purrr-fect Match", but yanked the show before those could air.

I feel like HLN has been rotating the same 30 episodes for about six months now. I'd love to see "Purr-fect Match" on TV again.

I feel like HLN has been rotating the same 30 episodes for about six months now.
They tend to do that. Don't know why because there are a lot I've yet to see.

[snip]

Dayyyyuummm! I do not remember this episode but there are 17 I do not have/not seen and I'm thinking the name of this one is "Shadow of a Doubt." That one ran about halfway through the series (episode 148). I'd love to see this one!

Edit: just checked my episode guide, and here's the description for it. Sounds like a match:

A woman was shot to death just one day before she was to testify against a man accused of robbing her. The robber became the prime suspect, but he had a solid alibi: a time-stamped videotape of his outdoor activities on the day of the murder. Police asked a local physics professor to help them authenticate the videotape, and he enabled them to see the killer who was hiding in the shadows.

This one is now airing regularly on HLN.

My favorite episode is where the elderly lady who would always ride her bike through the neighborhood but was terrified of being robbed the suspect murdered her in her home and stole her bike I cant remember the guys name I think he was african American and didnt like old people

The victim's name was Enid Whittlesey; the killer's name is Karl Stewart. The case was featured in the episode "Sleight of Hand."

My favorite is the Helle Crafts "woodchipper" episode. Her husband was sick, but it is remarkable that part of what led to his capture was a bill in her name found in the lake (I wont go into detail). Its an episode
From the first year of Forensic Files when it was broadcast as another name I believe and the soundtrack is eerie.

My favorite is the Helle Crafts "woodchipper" episode. Her husband was sick, but it is remarkable that part of what led to his capture was a bill in her name found in the lake (I wont go into detail). Its an episode
From the first year of Forensic Files when it was broadcast as another name I believe and the soundtrack is eerie.

That was a freaky episode. The nature of the crime, the music as you said, and the re-enactments all made it pretty unnerving to watch.

The one airing right now is one I don't actually need to watch as I remember the case VERY well. It was the kidnapping of a convince store clerk from Moose Lake MN which is north of Minneapolis off of Interstate 35. The episode is entitled Tooth or Consequences and it got the title because all investigators were able to find of the victim was a tooth BUT it was enough to result in a conviction of the accused. At the time in Minnesota it was an EXTREMELY high profile case and to this day it remains that way.

Hello - I am trying to track down a Forensic Files episode. In it a man discovered his wife's body in their home (I think it was husband and wife but could have been boyfriend and girlfriend). He had been at a bar drinking so had an alibi. However police became suspicious when they noticed he had hung up his coat in their bedroom, when he discovered her body (an odd thing to do) - and also when they timed his travel to and from the bar, he could have done it when he pretended to leave to make a phone call. Does this ring any bells?

Hello - I am trying to track down a Forensic Files episode. In it a man discovered his wife's body in their home (I think it was husband and wife but could have been boyfriend and girlfriend). He had been at a bar drinking so had an alibi. However police became suspicious when they noticed he had hung up his coat in their bedroom, when he discovered her body (an odd thing to do) - and also when they timed his travel to and from the bar, he could have done it when he pretended to leave to make a phone call. Does this ring any bells?

It does sound vaguely familiar. Could it be "Army of Evidence"?

My favourite episode I only managed to catch once. It was about an elderly, eccentric couple, that lived out in the country. The wife had epilepsy and quit taking her meds. She passed away and her husband was accused of murdering her.

The other favourite is about the young girl that was hit by a car at the newspaper office where her mother worked. She ended up badly disabled. It was discovered many years later who had run over her, by a leading tire expert.

'Kill'-igraphy' and 'Treading Not So Lightly.' Both great episodes.

'Kill'-igraphy' and 'Treading Not So Lightly.' Both great episodes.

Hey, thanks. Now that I know the title, will have to be on the lookout for Kill-igraphy. Only got to see it once, and missed a few minutes. It seems certain ones are shown over and over, and certain ones are missed.:(

Yes I think that's it!! Thank you so much!!

(sorry this is a reply for Crystal Dawn in regards to her Army of Evidence suggestion)

Can't really say I have a "favorite" episode because it's not the type of show that's intended to be entertaining. However, one episode that's interesting is the one that takes place at Al Zullo's Remodeling. Business co-owner Mary Ann Clibbery was murdered by her business partner George Hansen. "Frozen Assets" is the title of the episode. A once successful and thriving business was ruined because of one corrupt individual. :(

Thanks for that interesting info! I saw this episode again recently, and I was curious as to what became of Shari's sister Dawn, so I Googled her. I was happy to learn she is a Christian singer, speaker and author. She was Miss South Carolina and 2nd runner-up to Miss America. She has a web site at dawnsmithjordan.com. I expect Shari would have had a similarly inspiring life if her life was not cut short.

Thanks for that interesting info! I saw this episode again recently, and I was curious as to what became of Shari's sister Dawn, so I Googled her. I was happy to learn she is a Christian singer, speaker and author. She was Miss South Carolina and 2nd runner-up to Miss America. She has a web site at dawnsmithjordan.com. I expect Shari would have had a similarly inspiring life if her life was not cut short.

There is also a movie on this case that I thought was pretty good called "Nightmare in Columbia County".

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102537/

It's interesting that the early episodes focused on unknown diseases, like "Fatal Fungus" and "Legionaire's Disease" and such, before the shift to the more common cases.

It's interesting that the early episodes focused on unknown diseases, like "Fatal Fungus" and "Legionaire's Disease" and such, before the shift to the more common cases.

I wondered if those were the 'Medical Detectives'-era stories that just started airing under FF in syndication. Some of those are my favorite episodes.

I wondered if those were the 'Medical Detectives'-era stories that just started airing under FF in syndication. Some of those are my favorite episodes.

They are. "Legionnaire's Disease" and "Fatal Fungus" originally aired on TLC in 1996 an 1997, respectively.

Speaking of syndication, the New Hampshire TV station WBIN airs five episodes of FF on Saturdays. Four in the daytime and one late at night. I think it is cool that FF is airing on both cable and non-cable channels. :)

The episode airing right now shoot to thrill about a teen who murdered his father in St Cloud MN has someone who has recently been ion the news in a completely different but VERY high profile case. The prosecuting attorney featured Jenelle Kendall is the county attorney for Stearns County MN and was involved (along with the US attorneys office) in the Jacob Wetterling case and how to handle it. She was the one who moved the original child porn charges to federal court(due to the federal sentences being much tougher) and weas involved in gut wrenching negotiations on the plea deal for Jacob wetterling's killer.

The episode "Screen Pass" about the murder of Heather Dawn Church murder outside Colorado Springs. I worked as a dispatcher for El Paso County Sheriffs dept and have read the case report, as well as talked with many of the deputies and dispatchers involved in this case. Lou Smit ( who many know from the JonBenet investigation) was one of the nicest people I've ever met.

The episode "Screen Pass" about the murder of Heather Dawn Church murder outside Colorado Springs. I worked as a dispatcher for El Paso County Sheriffs dept and have read the case report, as well as talked with many of the deputies and dispatchers involved in this case. Lou Smit ( who many know from the JonBenet investigation) was one of the nicest people I've ever met.

That's really interesting! Not to hijack the thread, but what was his take on JonBenet? Another hotly contested case on the boards...

That it was an outside person and the parents weren't involved. He was very adamant about that. Smit was one of the best detectives ever. He helped with the Columbine/ Jefferson County investigation as the outside agency too. I was very lucky to meet Joe Kenda as well after he retired ( I was in a ride along with my now ex fiancé who was a deputy,,and we had a call to his house)

Another excellent case to look up is the Jacine Gielinski murder. Horrible what happened to the poor girl, and my ex ( the deputy) had to stop George Woldt from trying to drown himself in his jail toilet ( unfortunately). Death by swirlie?

You might be thinking of Georgi Markov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov). Forensic Files never did an episode on that story, but that would have been a good one.
The entire episode wasn't based on the poisoning iirc, they just referred to it in the episode but I've never found out what episode it was. I must have 99% of every episode that aired and in particular the older ones when it was still 'Medical Detectives'.

Back when the forensic files website added random episodes monthly I used to rip them off the site and managed to get many rare episodes in great quality.

I've researched a lot of my favourite episodes and it's really interesting to see what the people in the episodes are up to now. I even managed to contact Dr Mary Case who was on quite a few of my favourite episodes (Similar circumstances, Broken Bond and Body of Evidence).

Anyone interested in the case of William Bradford Bishop case, Family Annihilator FBI Top 10 Most Wanted? On the run for 41 years. I have a long thread only about this case on my FB page. https://www.facebook.com/ed.zap.9

Someone upthread mentioned the murder of Joan Rogers and her daughters while on vacation (by Oba Chandler). I first saw that case on Unsolved Mysteries when I was in college. I'd not heard of it before because in the pre-internet days, the murder of a family in Florida (who was from Ohio) just didn't make national news - especially if they thought the killer was local). I was in college in Ohio, and my roommate was from Ohio, so she wanted to watch it because she remembered it. It grabbed me because I'm from a rural area like the Rogers women, and they looked like a family I knew that lived nearby an went to our church. It was spooky, except for the family I knew had a boy and girl, not two girls, but the father owned his own business and I could see him think he was too busy to leave it like Hal Rogers did, and I could see them being too trusting - thinking a friendly stranger wouldn't harm them. Christe was a year or two younger than me, and Michele was a year or two older than me. Joan was close to my mom's age. It stuck with me and I often wondered what happened to them.

Then I saw the Forensics Files ep, and I was glad to see it had been solved. Then it popped up on several other shows over the years. I found a really good article online that had been written for the newspaper down there that won a Pulitzer. It shed a lot more light on the story:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100301115220/http://www2.sptimes.com:80/Angels_Demons/default.html

It touched on why they were on vacation in the first place (truly sad), how screwed up small-town family dynamics are (I know families just like Hal's parents and his brother), on Oba's dark history, on how they believe the Rogers women encountered him in the first place - it's very well written.

But it wasn't until I read the book about the case called "Death Cruise" that one thing that never sat quite right with me finally made sense. The women encountered Chandler fairly early in the day. They checked in to their hotel and then went back out. They were seen later in the day/early evening having dinner at the hotel, then they left again - for good. There was no record of them going anywhere in the afternoon where they could be traced (credit card charges, eyewitnesses, etc). Those who worked the case are 99.9% sure that Chandler took them out on the boat during the day to gain their trust - after all, they went out with him once before, and everything was fine, so why couldn't they trust him again? I know a few people who would be trusting enough to go with a friendly stranger (and this was the late 80's as well), but her being a mother with two teens, one of whom had recently gone through something horrible, I would have thought Joan would have been even a bit leery, but then it makes more sense. Chandler did that with the Canadian Tourist that he assaulted about a year before killing the Rogers women. He invited her out during the day, then took her back out at night. But for reasons only he knows, he let her go.

Lastly, while working back through the CODIS system and cold cases, they found out (after he was executed) that Oba Chandler was linked to at least one other murder - a woman murdered after leaving a Florida shopping center. It was less than 5 miles from where he lived at the time. Sadly, they're confident they'll find him linked to more as they go.

A few years ago, I saw an article about Hal Rogers and how he is now. The first few years, he refused to sleep in the bedroom he shared with Joan. At first, he wouldn't sleep in the house at all (crashing with friends), but eventually, he'd just sleep on the floor on newspaper. Ultimately, he had the house torn down because he just couldn't take it anymore, and had a new one put up. After a good long while, he began dating, and eventually remarried. He seems happy, and I am happy for him. I always felt so badly for him - he felt responsible for what happened because he didn't trust leaving the family business to someone else, that he lost his wife and daughters in one fell swoop, and I always felt horrible that people thought he could actually do it.

Wow that was a really informative post and I'll be sure to check out that news article on it. That was a very emotional episode and was also unique since the way he was caught was quite fortunate. I'm not sure his name would've come up had it not been for his unique handwriting and that lady's sharp eye. If i recall correctly he was arrested numerous years after the murders so I don't think the investigation was leading anywhere.

The cause of death was particularly cruel - throwing them into the sea to drown whilst weighed down was inhumane. You're right about him possibly being linked to more crimes. It was very premeditated so it's likely he had many prior victims; where he used his boat to his advantage.

Wow that was a really informative post and I'll be sure to check out that news article on it. That was a very emotional episode and was also unique since the way he was caught was quite fortunate. I'm not sure his name would've come up had it not been for his unique handwriting and that lady's sharp eye. If i recall correctly he was arrested numerous years after the murders so I don't think the investigation was leading anywhere.

The cause of death was particularly cruel - throwing them into the sea to drown whilst weighed down was inhumane. You're right about him possibly being linked to more crimes. It was very premeditated so it's likely he had many prior victims; where he used his boat to his advantage.

The whole thing was extremely convoluted, and it took some time to solve. JoAnn Steffey's tip sat on officer's desks for some time before she called back, and demanded they look in to it when she noticed that Chandler moved away very abruptly (he knew it was his handwriting on the billboards). Chandler himself was an informant for the DEA (he had an arrest record a mile long) and I think that partially helped him move around undetected. They believe that he flattened the tires on the car of the woman that he murdered that they discovered after he was executed, and he showed up offering to help her, and that's how he got her. He also had a habit of using ship-to-shore radio, so there would be a record of him calling so he could use it as an alibi if needed. He thought this out well in advance. That may be one reason he let the Canadian tourist go after assaulting her - she said he was very agitated that she didn't bring her friend along. A theory is that he wanted to kill more than one person at once. I hope that wherever he is, it's very hot. And that he's being kicked overboard repeatedly with his hands bound.

The Rogers' camera was never found. They know they killed off a roll of film before leaving for the evening cruise. It's believed he kept it as a souvenir. He took the camera of the Canadian tourist, after he encouraged her to take a photo of him, and then took photos of her.

I.distinctly remember the Jesse Valencia case because it was shocking to hear that a married cop was taking advantage of a young YOUNG college student. Like it horrified me.

Some of my favorites:

The Dorothy Donovan case, which was profiled on UM.

Lisa Manderach - She was out shopping with her baby daughter and went into a store and the clerk, Caleb Fairley, decided to rape her because she looked like a woman on his sweatshirt. He was a vampire fanatic and apparently tried to re-enact the scene on his shirt. She fought him so he killed her, her daughter, raped her and dumped their bodies.

Joann Katrinak - She and her baby were kidnapped by Patricia Rorrer, her husband's ex-girlfriend, who wanted him back. Joann was shot and her son died of exposure. This was also profiled on On the Case with Paula Zahn.

Paul Nichols - He was murdered by his wife Barbara because she wanted insurance money and was having affairs. Thanks to detectives and his determined ex-wife, she was caught and convicted.

Then there was the one where the wife was being poisoned by her husband and he was cheating on her with a woman who wore cheerleading outfits for him, because that's what he liked.

The gay love triangle that led to murder, with the killer faking a suicide note.

I also liked "The Cheater" episode.

What's interesting about the love triangle case is that the murderer, Joseph Marino, served only 2 and 1/2 years of a 7 year manslaughter conviction.

He later somehow KEPT working as a nurse until 2010!! He was found out and lost his degrees/license. Scary stuff!

Joann Katrinak (killed by husband's ex girlfriend) and Bobby Curley (poisoned by his wife) were both from not too far away from me. (Katrinak about 2 hours and Curley about an hour). I remember both vividly. Joann Curley just got out of jail and has disappeared to parts unknown. Patricia Rorrer is still in jail.

I can't remember if Forensic Files did the case of Lori Aucker (several shows did). She was from almost my backyard - just a few miles from where I grew up. I remember when she disappeared. She worked at our mall in the pet store and she had waited on me - she was a really nice person. The case made national news when they figured out they could use the ATM that used to be on the outside of the mall to scan the parking lot, and turned the footage over to NASA for help. They determined her ex, and father of their child, either called her at the mall or had someone call her and tell her there was an emergency with her child, and she left in a hurry. They could see her getting in to his car on the footage. They managed to track the car down (it had been sold) and were able to make the case. His family was involved - it was just horrible all the way around. She was fighting him for custody...and winning, and they wanted the child all to themselves. Disgusting. As for the link, there's one error - she disappeared from Snyder County, but otherwise a good synopsis.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lori-ann-auker-disappears-from-a-parking-lot

I can't remember if Forensic Files did the case of Lori Aucker (several shows did). She was from almost my backyard - just a few miles from where I grew up. I remember when she disappeared. She worked at our mall in the pet store and she had waited on me - she was a really nice person. The case made national news when they figured out they could use the ATM that used to be on the outside of the mall to scan the parking lot, and turned the footage over to NASA for help. They determined her ex, and father of their child, either called her at the mall or had someone call her and tell her there was an emergency with her child, and she left in a hurry. They could see her getting in to his car on the footage. They managed to track the car down (it had been sold) and were able to make the case. His family was involved - it was just horrible all the way around. She was fighting him for custody...and winning, and they wanted the child all to themselves. Disgusting. As for the link, there's one error - she disappeared from Snyder County, but otherwise a good synopsis.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lori-ann-auker-disappears-from-a-parking-lot

The Lori Auker case was documented on Forensic Files. The name of the episode is "Cats, Flies and Snapshots."

The Lori Auker case was documented on Forensic Files. The name of the episode is "Cats, Flies and Snapshots."

I couldn't remember anymore - a number of shows profiled her case.

We seem to have a lot of weirdos in my general vicinity, lol. I had forgotten about Paula Nawrocki and Joanne Chambers until I saw the rerun a few days ago. Yeesh.

I don't know the exact number, but Forensic Files profiled cases from Pennsylvania more than any other state. It might have something to do with their production headquarters in Allentown.

The Rajneeshee bio-terror attack covered on Season 7 is the subject of an absolutely outstanding new documentary on Netflix:

https://www.netflix.com/title/80145240

It's in six parts and Ma Anand Sheela is interviewed at length. Les Zaitz also makes an appearance, as well as some of the law enforcement agents on the FF episode.

I was stoked to watch "Wild Wild Country" as "Bio-Attack" is easily in the top 10 Forensic Files episodes for me. I heard it mentioned in another discussion thread, and it's a really good perspective on the documentary, but it's a great example of the unreliable narrator. You have Sheila (who I can't believe they were able to track down) detailing her role in the cult, as well as the lawyer who came across as very intelligent but still believed the Bhagwan was the greatest man alive, both giving the cult high praise, yet a few townspeople believed they were some anti-Christian sex hippie cult.

But what perhaps bothered me the most about the documentary was how the poisonings were just kind of glossed over. I kept waiting for that part to come up in the documentary, and when it did, it seemed to barely have gotten a mention. Like, there was a plot to make the townfolk so sick that they couldn't vote in the election, and the Rajneesh would vote 100% for their candidate to win. Ultimately the plot failed, but I think that might have garnered more attention than it did.

I still really enjoyed it though. Crazy about the blended beavers story if it's true. lol

I was stoked to watch "Wild Wild Country" as "Bio-Attack" is easily in the top 10 Forensic Files episodes for me. I heard it mentioned in another discussion thread, and it's a really good perspective on the documentary, but it's a great example of the unreliable narrator. You have Sheila (who I can't believe they were able to track down) detailing her role in the cult, as well as the lawyer who came across as very intelligent but still believed the Bhagwan was the greatest man alive, both giving the cult high praise, yet a few townspeople believed they were some anti-Christian sex hippie cult.

But what perhaps bothered me the most about the documentary was how the poisonings were just kind of glossed over. I kept waiting for that part to come up in the documentary, and when it did, it seemed to barely have gotten a mention. Like, there was a plot to make the townfolk so sick that they couldn't vote in the election, and the Rajneesh would vote 100% for their candidate to win. Ultimately the plot failed, but I think that might have garnered more attention than it did.

I still really enjoyed it though. Crazy about the blended beavers story if it's true. lol

I agree with you all around!

I too was a little surprised the poisonings were given as little attention, relatively, as they were--I mean, it's still the largest bioterror attack in U.S. history. I did appreciate the attention given to the other crimes perpetuated by the group, though--like the marriage fraud scheme and the wiretapping. They really made quite a name for themselves in such enterprises.

My mouth dropped over the blended beavers. :lol: It dropped and stayed open concerning the plot to murder the Bhagwan's physician. :eek:

My favorite FF episodes are the Routier case, the Brenda Andrew case and one where the guy claims a hitchhiker, to whom he refused to give a ride, killed his mother. If I were a cop, I'd think he was lying too!! lol... man, glad the truth came out.

Help me ID this episode please, I don't know much. A police officer murders a woman, I believe he shoots her while she's in her car, after a traffic stop, just to take her money. i believe she may have been old / almost elderly and a businessperson. The cops only defense was, "Why would I do that?" And I remember the prosecuting attorney calling the cop a 'bully.'

Help me ID this episode please, I don't know much. A police officer murders a woman, I believe he shoots her while she's in her car, after a traffic stop, just to take her money. i believe she may have been old / almost elderly and a businessperson. The cops only defense was, "Why would I do that?" And I remember the prosecuting attorney calling the cop a 'bully.'

Possibly (some of it fits your description):

**SCRATCH MY SUGGESTION - not the right ep. I'll keep looking.

Thanks! You're right, that's not it. Thanks for looking.

Help me ID this episode please, I don't know much. A police officer murders a woman, I believe he shoots her while she's in her car, after a traffic stop, just to take her money. i believe she may have been old / almost elderly and a businessperson. The cops only defense was, "Why would I do that?" And I remember the prosecuting attorney calling the cop a 'bully.'

I recall a case in Georgia where a woman was fatally shot in her car in 1993. A police officer was convicted of her murder. The victim's name was Emogene Thompson. The officer convicted of her murder was Michael Chapel. That case was never documented on FF, but it was documented on the "Will To Murder" episode of Unusual Suspects in 2010.

I recall a case in Georgia where a woman was fatally shot in her car in 1993. A police officer was convicted of her murder. The victim's name was Emogene Thompson. The officer convicted of her murder was Michael Chapel. That case was never documented on FF, but it was documented on the "Will To Murder" episode of Unusual Suspects in 2010.


That's it! Thanks. I thought it was a FF episode. Guess not.

With so many episodes produced over the course of 15 years (396 or 400+ episodes, depending on which sources you read), Forensic Files doesn't have a shortage of significant episodes. "The Disappearance of Helle Crafts" is significant for being the first episode of the series; it originally aired on TLC in 1996, when FF was shown under its original name Medical Detectives. "Expert Witness," which documented the 1993 murder of Tammy Tatum, is significant because it was the last episode of the series. That episode originally aired on TruTV in June 2011.

It's hard to believe that it has been almost eight years since FF stopped production. By that time, it was the only true crime series left in production on TruTV. A change in management led to Court TV being rebranded TruTV in 2008 and the new owners wanted to go in a different direction. So they phased out the true crime lineup. From what I read, the show's producers and the network mutually agreed that it was time to let the series end. And with the death of Peter Thomas in 2016, it is safe to say that FF will be in reruns forever. In fact, in an article about Peter Thomas's death, Executive producer Paul Dowling admitted that he had been encouraged to make new episodes, but he made it clear that he won't do it, since he considers Peter Thomas irreplaceable and doesn't want to ruin the show.

That's it! Thanks. I thought it was a FF episode. Guess not.

I forgot that the Emogene Thompson case was also featured in the New Detectives episode "Remnant of Blame." It's possible that you saw the case on that show, and if you did it would explain why you mistakenly thought it was on Forensic Files.

One episode I haven’t seen mentioned is “Freeze Framed”(Stacey Castor). To murder both your husbands, attempt to kill your daughter, and try to pin both murders on her via fake “suicide note” takes a special kind of evil.

For several years, I worked with Michael Wallace’s sister Rosemary; I happened to see her on one of the umpteen ID shows about the case. She told me that authorities ultimately decided not to prosecute Stacey for Michael’s murder(although I believe she was indicted)in order to spare Ashley from another trial.

One episode I haven’t seen mentioned is “Freeze Framed”(Stacey Castor). To murder both your husbands, attempt to kill your daughter, and try to pin both murders on her via fake “suicide note” takes a special kind of evil.

For several years, I worked with Michael WallaceÂ’s sister Rosemary; I happened to see her on one of the umpteen ID shows about the case. She told me that authorities ultimately decided not to prosecute Stacey for MichaelÂ’s murder(although I believe she was indicted)in order to spare Ashley from another trial.

I knew that Stacy Castor was never prosecuted for killing Michael Wallace. Although she could have been charged in the case, any debate on the matter was rendered pointless when she died of a heart attack in 2016 while serving her time for killing David Castor.

On another FF-related topic, it may be hard to believe that it has been eight years since they stopped making new episodes. The last original episode aired on June 17, 2011. The name of the final episode is "Expert Witness." It documents the 1993 murder of Tammy Tatum. Her husband was suspected of killing her, but there was too little evidence to charge him in the case. But thanks to advancements in DNA technology, he was cleared of any involvement in the murder. The real killer turned out to be a friend of the couple (although, according to those close to the couple, the friend in question made Tammy feel uncomfortable). The friend, who was eventually convicted of an unrelated rape, pled guilty to Tammy's murder and is in prison to this day.