Solved: Extreme Forensics

In a cramped New Jersey motel room, eight shots ring out and two construction workers lay dead. There are no witnesses and no apparent motive, but police do uncover one key piece of evidence which puts police on the trail of a heartless killer.

A 15-year-old girl escaping for her life is savagely beaten and killed in an Ohio cemetery. The case goes cold for nearly two decades, years that bring major advances in DNA technology. To catch this killer, forensic experts must do the impossible: come up with a DNA sample when none seemingly exists. The original vaginal swab had been consumed by earlier testing, but the vial where it had been stored does retain enough to convict a notorious rapist who had once killed a frightened teen. In another story, two young men are found with several gunshot wounds on a Virginia riverbank in 2002-one survives, but is unable to talk. When the survivor is able to speak, he describes the vehicle of the shooter; the cell phones found at the scene are traced to the victim's drug supplier and her boyfriend. Bullets and blood won't solve this case for Shenandoah County Sheriff's detectives.

Extreme Forensics examines the case of cheerleader Jodi Sanderholm who disappeared on a Friday afternoon from Arkansas City, Kansas. Her body is later found raped and murdered. Using forensic analysis, police pin the crime on Justin Thurber, a man who was known to watch and stalk members of Jodi's cheerleading squad.

Extreme Forensic examines the murder of Texan Casey Elliott whose dismembered torso was discovered in the scrub brush in Palo Pinto County. Investigators link the murder to his girlfriend Helen Moore using cow manure found at the crime scene. It also looks at how a discarded piece of chewing gum was able to solve the murder of Cosimo Dibrizzi in Newburgh, New York.

Extreme Forensics examines the case of Kimberly McDaniel who was struck my by a hit-and-run driver while she was out jogging. Police eventually use tips from witnesses and a broken car side mirror to identify the driver. It also looks at the case of skeletal remains discovered near I-275 in Florida. Forensics analysts are able to use a photograph of a thumb to connect a man to the murder.

Extreme Forensics examines the disappearance of Civil War memorabilia collector Gregory May. Forensic technicians must use a reverse paternity test to identify blood stains, handwriting analysis, forensic facial reconstruction, and forensic dental analysis to build their case against one of Greg's former roommates.

Extreme Forensics investigates the 1959 rape and strangulation of young student Lynne Harper in Ontario, Canada. Her schoolmate Steven Truscott is eventually arrested and sentenced for the murder. An early forensic scientist, however, gathers insect evidence that will be used forty years later to call that trial result into question.

Extreme Forensics investigates the murders of three carpenters in Lakeville, Indiana who were killed execution style in an unfinished building. Using forensic evidence tied to a footprint in dog waste, police eventually arrest Phillip Stroud and his three fellow gang members. It also looks at the disappearance of Curtis Huntzinger who was molested and murdered by family acquaintance Stephen Hash. A non-profit group uses ground penetrating radar to locate the body.

Extreme Forensics examines the case of Leann Fletcher who died in her bedroom of a gunshot wound to her head. Her husband Michael Fletcher claims it was suicide, but forensic analysis reveals that it was murder and that he is most likely responsible. It also looks at the murder of Dawn Fehring in Kirkland, Washington and how computer software was used to lift a palm-print off of a bed sheet to convict her murderer.

Because of a pattern of 25 arsons in Maryland and Washington, DC, a task force includes ATF agents. One question is whether the fire that killed a well-loved grandmother is part of the series. After identifying the homemade incendiary device (a fruit jug, gasoline, a cloth wick, all in a plastic bag), investigators are stymied. A suspect is seen but a sketch produces no results. In spite of DNA evidence from three different fires, the arsons continue without arrest. By the time the arsonist is caught, 44 fires have been set; he is convicted of two deaths as well. No motive emerges until Thomas Sweatt does an interview from prison, confessing a sexual satisfaction, as well as admitting guilt in another case where two people were killed.

The first case involves 31 year-old pacemaker salesman Joel Marino, who is found brutally murdered in an alleyway next to his house in Madison, Wisconsin, one of the safest cities in America with 9 homicides a year. The weapon? A simple paring knife. Witnesses saw a man fleeing the scene wearing a knit cap and a backpack. Both items were discarded and found; DNA on them and the knife led to the killer. In the second segment, a serial killer of four college coeds in southern Illinois is not proved for 32 years. Although convicted twice for violent attempts to subdue coeds and finally for one of the murders, no link is available to the others. Exhuming the suspect's body to get DNA and new developments in analysis were necessary to finally close these cold cases.

Extreme Forensics examines the death of teenage Danny Pence whose body was discovered in an abandoned ruin in North Carolina. Police discover that he was killed by a young couple who wanted to steal his car. It also looks at the death of short order cook Dominick Pendino who vanished in front of his home leaving only a long blood trail.

Extreme Forensics investigates the abduction and murder of 19-year old Katie Poirier in Moose Lake, Minnesota.