The First 48

On an early morning in 2007, in Detroit, Donald Udics and his wife, Barbara, were shot in their home by a man trying to rob them. Barbara died instantly. Don managed to call 911 and was rushed to the hospital. Officers Lance Sullivan and Charles Zwicker arrived at the crime scene and realized the killer had left in one of the Udics cars. The car had GPS and On Star, making it easy to locate. When police saw the vehicle, the driver attempted to avert arrest by speeding away. He ended up crashing into a telephone pole and then tried to make a run for it on foot. The suspect was apprehended and identified. A gun was found inside the vehicle, and ballistics testing confirmed that the gun was the same gun used to kill the victim and seriously wound her husband. The suspect was convicted of First-Degree Murder and sentenced to life in prison.

On March 26th, 2006, homicide detectives were called to the site of a burning car. Inside were the charred remains of 22-year-old Xenia Wilson, the mother of a four-year-old daughter. Detectives Rick Duggan and Randy Laboda closed the case by arresting three suspects: Jose "J.J" & Verduzco, Chito Rojas and Ismael "Boogeyman" Moreno. Verduzco and Rojas pled guilty and agreed to testify against Moreno. The trial would take turns that surprised both defendant and prosecutor. And the case itself would have a tragic postcript.

Harris County/Harris County - Dep. Jason Brown is called out on Easter Sunday to investigate the brutal shooting of a woman who was a school bus driver and mother of two. Meanwhile, Sgt. Sidney Miller takes on the murder of a young father, shot dead in a courtyard.

In Dallas, detectives investigated the shooting death of 26-year-old Daniel Barron, who was killed in the doorway of his home. Detectives soon discovered that the victim's residence doubled as a drug den and that he was robbed. A tipster called-in and eventually six suspects were arrested and charged with capital murder. All six individuals admit involvement in the crime and point to 19-year-old Callie Marshall, mother of two, as the group's ringleader. A year and a half later, Callie finally faces a jury of her peers. Will they see a confused girl who organized the robbery in order to bail her boyfriend out of jail in time for Christmas, or a coldblooded killer?

In Harris County, Deputy Russell Gonzales races the clock to track down the killer of an unidentified man found dead in a desolate field on the side of the road. It's an uphill battle for the team until a couple appears on scene and breaks the case wide open. In Miami, Detective Rolando Garcia and his team investigates the murder of an innocent bystander caught in a hail of gunfire. As detectives delve deeper, they discover that the killer's motives may not be what they think.

In Harris County, Dep. Abraham Alanis and his team investigate the murder of a man, married with four young children, who was found robbed and shot to death outside an abandoned house. With no other leads to go on, investigators discover that their victim held a secret that could lead to his killer.

In Detroit, Sergeant Matthew Gnatek and Officer Nancy Foster are investigating the murder of a soon-to-be father, found shot to death in a deserted field during a snowstorm. With no witnesses and potential evidence disappearing under the blanketing snow, the Crime Scene Unit works quickly with metal detectors, to uncover an item that will put Gnatek and Foster on the trail to meet three young women who each hold a piece of the homicide puzzle.

For homicide detectives, the clock starts ticking the moment they are called. Their chance of solving a case is cut in half if they don't get a lead in "The First 48". Each passing hour gives suspects more time to flee, witnesses more time to forget what they saw, and crucial evidence more time to be lost forever. Follow detectives from around the country during these critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect.

In Miami, Detective Anthony Reyes and the homicide team are investigating the murder of a man found brutally beaten to death below a major interstate. Reyes must navigate through false leads and dead ends, until an eyewitness comes forward and ignites the case. When detectives discover that their eyewitness is leaving out one major detail in his story, the case is turned on its head.

In Miami, Det. Frank Sanchez responds to the murder of a retired Miami Police captain, shot in broad daylight at a marina on the Miami River. When initial leads run dry, Miami PD launches a massive investigation, tracking the alleged killer all the way to New Jersey.

In Birmingham, lead Detective Mike Allison is working the murder of a man found shot in the basement stairwell of a house. Allison and his team quickly find an eyewitness and then the suspect. The case seems closed, when suddenly it unravels after the eyewitness disappears and Allison is forced to set his suspect free. A year passes, when out of the blue, the case takes a surprising turn. And in Charlotte, Lead Detective Bo McSwain and his team are trying to find the killers of a man shot behind his girlfriend's house. On scene, McSwain gets a break when four men come forward, claiming their innocence. The team believes these men are their suspects, but when they all refuse to talk, the case hits a wall. With nothing to hold them, the suspects start to leave homicide, but then McSwain makes a discovery at the crime scene, stopping one suspect in his tracks.

When a man arrested for a domestic dispute claims his boyfriend killed someone seven months earlier and buried the body in the basement, Louisville Detectives Jon Lesher and Collin King are launched into one of the strangest cases of their career. Detectives are initially skeptical of the man's claim, but after hours of digging in a hot, humid basement, they discover the truth: buried five feet below the dirt floor is a large plastic storage box containing human remains. Detectives must now determine if the man accused of the murder is a cold-blooded killer, or if a vindictive lover is out to frame him. And in Charlotte, a 55-year-old father of three is stabbed to death and left for dead in the middle of a residential street. Det. Susan Sarvis and the homicide team initiate a citywide hunt for the last man seen with the victim to find out if he is a witness or if he's responsible for the homicide.

When fire fighters in Detroit respond to a house fire and discover a 63-year-old woman stabbed and bound, Sergeant Kenny Gardner and Investigator Barbara Simon must investigate the brutal murder. With no witnesses, they have to rely on the local community to help them find her killer. In Charlotte, Detective Phil Rainwater and the homicide team are called out to a restaurant parking lot littered with shell casings, where a 20-year-old father was shot dead. Surveillance video shows their potential suspects fleeing the scene in a white SUV. If they can track down the car, they may find the shooters.

For homicide detectives, the clock starts ticking the moment they are called. Their chance of solving a case is cut in half if they don’t get a lead in “The First 48″. Each passing hour gives suspects more time to flee, witnesses more time to forget what they saw, and crucial evidence more time to be lost forever. Follow detectives from around the country during these critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect.

On a Sunday night in June 2007, Christian Marton and his girlfriend Monica Stafford drove two hours from Axtell, Texas to Dallas where Christian had arranged to buy a car. By the end of the evening, Christian was dead--shot in a robbery attempt. Lead Detective John Palmer and his partner, Armando Perez used both surveillance footage from a fast food restaurant and cell phone records to build a case against the man who planned the robbery. For the man who actually pulled the trigger, Palmer relied on both his fingerprint found at the scene of the crime and an id by Monica. Both men were charged with capital murder. The case went to trial in February of 2009.

A Louisville celebrity is murdered; and a deadly shootout is investigated in Miami.

In Charlotte, rookie Detective Norma McKee gets her first double-murder: a young couple shot in their car by a backseat passenger. Inside the vehicle, detectives find what may be a vital clue, a baseball hat that might contain the suspect’s DNA. Meanwhile, seasoned Miami detective, Emiliano Tamayo has two cases in two days. First he responds to a call reporting a foul smell, only to find a family of three found dead in their home; later that night he is called to the scene of a young man killed over a fifty-dollar bet. With four deaths in forty-eight hours, Tamayo calls on his years of experience to solve the cases.

Miami detectives investigate the murder of a man found floating in Biscayne Bay, and a second homicide that may be connected to the first case.

Detroit detectives investigate a double homicide; an elderly woman is murdered while taking groceries out of her car in Harris County, Texas.

In Charlotte, when a store clerk and father of three young children is shot in a robbery by a masked man, lead Detective David Osorio and his team interview witnesses and find that no one knows the shooter. With little to go on, Osorio must find a way to identify his suspect before he can hope to track him down. And in Miami, lead Detective Kevin Ruggiero and his team head to Overtown to investigate the murder of a young father shot in the street. When Ruggiero learns that the victim’s friends are out to retaliate, he must race to find the shooter before there’s another killing.

Now that some of our strongest cases have been adjudicated and many cases have some compelling new developments, we take viewers inside the powerful and dramatic events that unfolded after the arrest, up to and including the trial and conviction.

In Charlotte, rookie homicide Det. Brian Whitworth is assigned his first case when a woman is discovered on her bedroom floor, stabbed to death. Hampered by false leads and a lack of eyewitnesses, Whitworth must rely on the physical evidence to bring the killer to justice. Meanwhile, in Louisville, Det. Jon Lesher investigates the homicide of a 43-year-old father, gunned down in front of his house for telling a rowdy group of men next door to quiet down. The case comes to a standstill when an eyewitness steadfastly upholds the street's code of silence. Lesher must use his veteran-interview techniques to break the code and get the witness to talk.

In Louisville, Det. Kristen Downs is at a dead end in her search for the killer of a wheelchair bound man, until she discovers the victim’s sons might be the key to the case. And in Charlotte, Det. Todd Burkard and his team find a man stabbed to death in his car. The case kicks into high gear when the team gets a tip that a white car was spotted fleeing the crime scene, driven by a man covered in blood.

After a year with the gang unit, Detective Kevin Ruggiero returns to Miami Homicide, investigating a drive-by shooting that left two men dead. He has little to work with until he learns that one of the victims was a founder of a local gang. Then in Louisville, Detective Kristen Downs responds to the shooting of a 17-year-old boy. When she learns that his friends witnessed the shooting, she has to convince them to overcome their fear of retaliation in order to bring him justice

Two men are shot in a motel in Charlotte; and Miami detectives investigate an apparent suicide that they suspect is a murder.

When Louisville Detectives Mickey Cohn and Jon Lesher discover that their two murder victims have matching tattoos, they suspect the murders might be related. When they learn the victim's missing friend might be a third victim, they race against the clock to solve the case. Meanwhile, Detective Eric Torrence responds to a scene where a man is gunned down in an apartment doorway. When the suspects come forward, they claim it was self-defense. Torrence and his team work to prove that their victim was shot in cold blood.

In a bloody convenience store shooting, Birmingham Detective Chris Anderson needs an old surveillance system and cooperation from the victim's mother to help solve the case. When a Miami shooting follows a brutal public attack, Det. TC Cepero and his team try to piece together the turn of events to determine if the murder was justified.

In Las Vegas, NV, Detective Jimmy Vaccaro and his team are called out at midnight to an empty desert highway, where a man's been shot dead in the middle of the road. From the victim's cellphone, they quickly get a lead: just minutes before he was killed, he received a call from a friend with whom he worked at a local strip club. But when they track down the co-worker and bring him to the station, the case takes an outrageous turn that exposes the ruthless underside of business in Vegas.

A bystander is murdered with a brawl turns into a gunfight; a shooting victim's 911 calls may hold the answer to his killer's identity.