Favorite Forensic Files episode?

[Kane]

Originally Posted by borglaw00

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.

[borglaw00]

Originally Posted by Kane

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.

[Kane]

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.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by borglaw00

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.

[smittykins]

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.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by smittykins

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.