Cold Case Files

23-year-old teacher Irene Garza was a former beauty queen and devout Catholic who vanished the evening before Easter after giving confession. Residents of her close-knit border town did their best to find her, but after a series of false leads, her body was found floating in a drainage canal clearly the victim of a violent sexual predator. At the time, a key witness hinted that a member of the Catholic clergy may have been responsible, but the clue remained buried for 42 years until a former priest comes forward with a damning confession from another man of the cloth that reveals a sinister coverup.

Near what’s known as the hanging tree, the mutilated body of Timothy Coggins is found in late 1983. The investigation is thwarted and the case freezes for over 30 years, until a newly elected sheriff vows to bring the killers to justice.

On a bitter morning in 1980, radio intern Helene Pruszynski is found brutalized in a snowy field. After 37 years of fruitless leads, investigators tap into a public genealogy website that leads them across the country to the killer they’ve been hunting.

Easter Sunday of 1992, the body of missing woman Lisa Ziegert is found in a field. The investigation yields hundreds of leads but no true suspect. After more than two decades on ice, the case is revived when DNA phenotyping puts a face to the killer.

Just after the last day of school in 1984, 15-year-old Reesa Trexler is found murdered in her grandparents’ home. For decades, a stalled investigation only fuels the town rumor mill, pointing an accusing finger at Reesa’s 13-year-old sister, Jodie.

When a beloved schoolteacher is found murdered in her Neptune, New Jersey apartment in the fall of 2009, suspicion is cast on her soon to be ex-husband. Long after the case goes cold, a detective embarks on a mission to help the man clear his name and track down the real killers.

In August 1972, the body of Jody Loomis is found in the woods. 34 years later, the killer’s DNA is recovered from Jody’s old clothing but it isn’t matched until 2018, when genetic genealogy helps point to one suspect–whose guilt must be proven in court.

On February 2, 2010, two masked gunmen commit a violent robbery and shoot Michael Temple Jr., rendering him a quadriplegic for five years before his death. In this unusual cold case, DNA from a knife is used to create a sketch of the killer.

13 days after Pam Pitts disappears in 1988 her charred body is found at a popular hangout spot in the Arizona desert. When a second victim is discovered in a mineshaft, detectives suspect the killer may have known them both, but the truth is decades away.

In late 1983, the bodies of five people abducted from a local fast food restaurant are found brutally murdered in an oil field. The main suspect is long believed to be a well-connected local man, until new evidence reveals the true killers had been hiding in plain sight for decades.

When 23-year-old Tonya McKinley is found brutally murdered on New Years Day 1985, a little boy is left motherless. A family must wait 35 years for advancements in forensic science to finally catch a killer using familial DNA.

March 1984. Jack Kennedy discovers his daughters brutally murdered. Their mother and niece spend their lives keeping the case alive. DNA leads nowhere. Thirty years later, an informant gives up a name. But the family’s ordeal is far from over.

In July 1997, the brutal murder of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston rocks the small town of Bethany, Oklahoma. DNA points to her killer over a decade later and leads investigators across state lines to Texas–to the buried bodies of two other missing women.

In July of 1970, the brutal murder of single mom Loretta Jones leaves four-year-old Heidi Jones motherless. Nearly 40 years later, Heidi vows to solve her mother’s cold case and calls on an old high school friend to help her find justice for Loretta.

When a deadly house fire claims the life of a family in rural Oklahoma, investigators suspect foul play and it sends a mother on a decades-long crusade to find out what happened to her missing teenage daughter and best friend.

In June 1985, a 20-year-old “Sucker Day” Festival Queen is found brutalized. The small community of Nixa, Missouri, is certain her blood is on the hands of a local wealthy businessman, but after 25 years DNA reveals the true killer.

In December 1985, when human bones are discovered in the woods, it puts an end to the search for missing teen David Reed. David’s disappearance shook a small town, and skull fractures point to murder; but it will be decades before investigators can find his killer.

When firefighter Gary Parks is killed in a fire ruled arson, the investigation into his death shifts to homicide. A serial arsonist is thought to be the culprit; but it will take a dogged cold-case detective following his gut to track down the real killer.

Just two years into their marriage, Chuck and Cheryl Hall are torn apart when Chuck finds Cheryl murdered. Though Cheryl’s family is certain they know her killer, the law isn’t as sure. After several decades, a DNA match erases all doubt.

In 1979 Janie Landers disappears from a home for the impaired–the latest consequence of the facility’s history of neglect. When Janie’s body is found, there are many suspects but it is years before the killer and the atrocities in the facility are revealed.

In Cree culture, a promise is sacred. When Cree woman Shirley Soosay goes missing in 1980, her niece Violet promises her grandmother that she will bring Shirley home. But Violet never dreamed the search for Shirley–and justice–would take a lifetime.

In early 1984, three-year-old Vanessa Bennett becomes the lone survivor of her family’s brutal murder. Initial investigators suspect a serial killer is at large, but decades pass before DNA narrows the suspect pool to one man.