Monday

Water and police chases DO mix!

Over a four month period, the nude bodies of three women were discovered in the remote hills near Sacramento. All of the victims had been strangled, and their clothing had been cut in a random pattern with a knife or scissors. It appeared a serial killer was on the loose, and police needed to find him before he killed again.

A mapmaker was surveying the grounds of a boy scout ranch when something caught his eye. At first, it appeared to be a turtle shell, but it proved to be a human skull. Investigators had to find a way to put a face on the victim, believing that when they knew who she was, they’d be able to determine what had happened to her.

A serial bomber was on the loose, and he appeared to be waging a vendetta against the legal profession: A judge, two attorneys and even a courthouse had been targeted. The bombs were sophisticated and deadly, and investigators hoped they contained enough evidence to lead them to the person who built them.

Robert Sims returned home after working the night shift, and found his wife, Paula, unconscious on the kitchen floor. Their two-year-old son, Randy, was asleep in an upstairs bedroom, but their six-week-old daughter, Heather, was missing. Paula Sims was the only witness to a crime that baffles investigators to this very day.

Stephen Scher and Martin Dillon went skeet shooting in rural Pennsylvania on a beautiful Spring day in 1976. Martin was shot dead that day, and Scher maintained a freak accident had cost his friend his life. It would take more than 20 years for the truth to be revealed, and for the jury to rule on who was responsible for the death of Martin Dillon.

When four-month-old Ryan Stallings died under suspicious circumstances, his mother was arrested, charged, and ultimately convicted of his murder. An explanation for Ryan’s death would come five months later from the most unlikely of sources: his newborn brother.

Early one fall morning, Laura Houghteling left her Bethesda home and walked to the station to take a train to work. She was never seen again. A peculiar strand of hair found in Laura’s hairbrush enabled investigators to unravel the mystery of her disappearance.

On the strength of eyewitness testimony, 34-year-old Edward Honaker was arrested, charged, and convicted of rape, sodomy and aggravated sexual battery; he was sentenced to three life terms in prison. Honaker steadfastly maintained his innocence. After spending years in prison and writing countless letters, he finally found someone who believed him, and was willing to pay for DNA testing which could prove he was telling the truth.

Two days before Christmas, a Connecticut mother is found murdered in her home. Her husband claims a masked intruder did it—but digital footprints tell a different story. A tangled web of secrets, lies, and betrayal unravels, revealing a truth no one saw coming.

Mother of three, Dianne Hood is shot to death by a masked gunman on her way home from a Lupus support meeting. Police initially assume it’s a robbery, but Lt. Joe Kenda uncovers a sordid web of lust and greed, revealing a killer no one ever expected.

In Buffalo, New York, a sniper targeted African-American men. He held a city hostage, and threatened to ignite a racial powder keg. And it looked like others might be following his bloody example.

A serial rapist targeted women. His dark urges raged out of control and led him to murder. He followed a path so random it was impossible to trace, and all that tied him to his crimes were his access to the highways and a bizarre sexual fetish.