The BEST episodes of 48 Hours

Every episode of 48 Hours ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of 48 Hours!

Television's most popular true-crime series, investigating shocking cases and compelling real-life dramas with journalistic integrity and cutting-edge style.

Last Updated: 3/16/2024Network: CBSStatus: Continuing
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Endgame
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1 votes

#1 - Endgame

Season 20 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/6/2007

Janet March seemed to have it all - two beautiful children, a successful attorney husband, a dream house she designed herself and an aspiring art career. But appearances can be deceiving and on Aug. 29th, 1996, she was reported missing. What would follow was an international investigation that would last almost ten years. As Bill Lagattuta reports, the case ended up with two members of a cold case squad who would try to uncover the mystery of what exactly happened to Janet March and who was involved in her disappearance. After nearly nine years since the disappearance of Janet, her husband Perry March returned to Nashville, Tenn., to face murder charges. As he walked into the courthouse, there was no telling what was going through his mind.

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Drawn to Murder
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#2 - Drawn to Murder

Season 22 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/29/2008

A teen is hunted for murder for over a decade. Now, some of the cops who helped put him away want to set him free. Susan Spencer reports.

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Stephen Smith: A Death in Murdaugh Country
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2 votes

#3 - Stephen Smith: A Death in Murdaugh Country

Season 37 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/25/2023

New evidence discovered after Murdaugh murders reignites a cold case. "48 Hours" obtains findings of independent forensic experts. CBS News national correspondent Nikki Battiste reports.

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Alisa Mathewson's Night Terrors
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3 votes

#4 - Alisa Mathewson's Night Terrors

Season 36 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/22/2023

A woman is attacked in her sleep and kidnapped by her estranged husband. The dramatic story of her captivity and rescue. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.

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Crosley Green's Hard Time
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3 votes

#5 - Crosley Green's Hard Time

Season 36 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/22/2023

He was free for two years and then sent back to prison for a murder he swears he didn't commit. Yet Green still has faith he'll see his loved ones again. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty has the latest on the case.

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The Black Swan Murder?
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#6 - The Black Swan Murder?

Season 34 - Episode 37 - Aired 9/8/2021

A former ballerina shoots her husband. Did she kill to save herself or was it out of spite? "48 Hours" contributor Jim Axelrod reports.

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The Circleville Letters
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1 votes

#7 - The Circleville Letters

Season 34 - Episode 35 - Aired 8/25/2021

An anonymous letter writer threatens to expose a town’s rumored secrets. Is anyone safe? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.

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Hitting Home
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#8 - Hitting Home

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 6/16/1988

48 Hours spends two days investigating domestic violence. It talks to police officers and victims and looks at the role alcohol and drug abuse can take in domestic violence. It also looks at how aspects of the home environment can lead to abuse. It interviews battered men and women and looks at how Minnesota became the first state to treat domestic violence as a crime.

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The Golden State Killer
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#9 - The Golden State Killer

Season 33 - Episode 33 - Aired 8/22/2020

After 40 years, police arrest the man they think committed at least 50 rapes and 12 murders.

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Nelson Mandela: Father of a Nation
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#10 - Nelson Mandela: Father of a Nation

Season 27 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/7/2013

A "48 Hours" special from the journalists of CBS News exploring the social, cultural and political impact of Mandela's life on the world.

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The Mystery of Slide Mountain
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1 votes

#11 - The Mystery of Slide Mountain

Season 15 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/8/2002

Peter and Rinette Riella Bergna were a seemingly normal and happily married couple who lived in upscale Incline Village, Nev., near Lake Tahoe, Calif. He was an antiques dealer and she had just switched careers. Once a highly paid pharmaceutical consultant, she became an international tour guide, a job that paid much less and required weeks of travel at a time. When Rinette was killed in a mysterious crash on Slide Mountain, near Reno, Peter, her husband of 11 years, became the chief suspect in what police said was a murder investigation, Susan Spencer reports for 48 Hours.

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Murder They Wrote: Murder in Spokane
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#12 - Murder They Wrote: Murder in Spokane

Season 14 - Episode 39 - Aired 8/24/2001

Serial killers don't always look like creepy drifters. These monsters can appear to be polite, likable people. Ted Bundy, for example, seemed to be the sort of handsome young man most fathers would encourage their daughters to date. And Jeffery Dahmer once persuaded police to hand over a drugged victim who had escaped from his clutches. based on Mark Fuhrman's account of the hunt for a serial killer who murdered more than 20 prostitutes in three years, doesn't stop when the murderer is caught. It takes up Mr. Fuhrman's charge that inexperienced police officers and sloppy procedures had compromised the investigation and cost at least three women their lives. ''What's going on here?'' he demands. ''We're the richest, freest country in the world and we can't train our detectives to work a homicide case?''

Ghosts of Mississippi
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#13 - Ghosts of Mississippi

Season 13 - Episode 38 - Aired 6/26/2000

In many ways, Columbus, Miss., with a population of 30,000, is an unremarkable small Southern town. "It's a nice place to live, there are a lot of nice people," resident Jane Harmon has said. "But there are a lot of strange things that happen." Chief among those strange things is the fact that between 1996 and 1998 there were five murders that are still unsolved. Correspondent Harold Dow reports on what may be the work of a serial killer.

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Mr. Wonderful
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#14 - Mr. Wonderful

Season 13 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/1999

By all accounts, Matt Mathews can be a charming, intelligent man. He could be a good listener and a good parent. He was also a master con man. Over the years, he conned many women, stealing their hearts and then their money. 48 Hours tells the story of "Mr. Wonderful," a man who, to many women, seemed as if he could do no wrong. Correspondent Susan Spencer investigates the tangled web of lies that Mathews relied upon to create his persona. Was he a former pro football player or a doctor? A race car driver? Or a wealthy heir? Even as he was being put on trial, Mathews continued to defraud other women. Spencer talks to one of those women to find out how she why she allowed herself to be deceived, and also looks into Mathews' past to see if she can discover what led him to such a life. With the help of dogged detective work, Mathews is arrested once again. Find out what happened when he went on trial last year.

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Invisible Killers
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#15 - Invisible Killers

Season 13 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/2/2000

It was supposed to be the house of their dreams. Now their million-dollar house is worthless. They were forced out when an invisible poison moved in. The whole family got sick - including their young son. 48 Hours tells their story, and shows how bacteria and viruses can infiltrate our lives. Correspondent Erin Moriarty reports on a family whose dream house was transformed into a nightmare by a poisonous mold. The mold spread throughout the house and forced them to leave. Did it cause brain damage? It was a simple visit to the county fair that ended tragically. Peter Van Sant reports on how a small drink of contaminated water scarred a family forever. Last year, Cody Unser, an energetic, athletic 12-year-old, was paralyzed by a puzzling virus. Troy Roberts reports on how Cody, the daughter of auto racing legend Al Unser Jr., is coping with her condition. Peter Van Sant takes a "germ tour" of Tucson, Ariz., with microbiologist Charles Gerba. How contaminated are most everyday places? Find out. Bill Lagattuta reports on Strep B, a bug that can kill newborn infants. See what happened to two families whose children had the disease.

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Black Dahlia Confidential
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#16 - Black Dahlia Confidential

Season 18 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/2004

48 HOURS MYSTERY has new clues in Los Angeles' most famous unsolved murder, the 57-year-old Black Dahlia case. The brutal murder of Elizabeth Short, a young, beautiful, struggling actress whose body was discovered in a vacant lot in January 1947, has baffled the Los Angeles Police Department for decades. Correspondent Erin Moriarty reports.

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Secrets of the Well aka Cold Case Clay
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#17 - Secrets of the Well aka Cold Case Clay

Season 18 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/5/2005

Criminal investigator Clay Bryant, also known as "Cold Case Clay," earned his nickname from the LaGrange, Ga. district attorney's office. When 48 HOURS MYSTERY caught up with Bryant, he was working on two separate and unsolved murders with some strange similarities -- both bodies had been found in wells. Correspondent Susan Spencer reports.

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Blood Feud
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#18 - Blood Feud

Season 18 - Episode 23 - Aired 4/9/2005

Nancy Seaman, a suburban Detroit elementary school teacher, killed her husband, Bob, with a hatchet in May 2004. Nancy says she killed him in self-defense and that she had been abused for more than 30 years. At Nancy's murder trial, the couple's youngest son testified on behalf of his mother, while the other son says his mother was never abused and that she simply snapped. Contributor Maureen Maher reports.

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The Man Who Knew Too Much
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#19 - The Man Who Knew Too Much

Season 18 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/30/2005

American journalist Paul Klebnikov was shot nine times on July 9, 2004 in a contract killing as he left Forbes magazine's Moscow headquarters. Klebnikov, as editor-in-chief, wanted to expose the corruption in Russia's new economy, where the rich and powerful often operate beyond the law. As Klebnikov searched for the truth, did the secrets he uncovered cost him his life? Correspondent Susan Spencer reports.

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Two Wigs, a Gun and a Murder
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#20 - Two Wigs, a Gun and a Murder

Season 18 - Episode 29 - Aired 5/21/2005

When Fred Jablin, a beloved Richmond University professor and devoted father, goes out to retrieve the morning newspaper on Oct. 30, 2004 and is gunned down in his driveway, his ex-wife, Piper Rountree, is the prime suspect. But, before investigators in Richmond, Va. can make their case, they must deal with a trail of confusing clues and an unusual relationship between Rountree and her sister, Tina Rountree. Correspondent Harold Dow reports.

Krystal's Courage
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#21 - Krystal's Courage

Season 14 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/1/2001

In the early morning hours of December 31, 1999, 10-year-old Krystal Surles and her friend Kaylene Harris, 13, were brutally attacked by a knife-wielding intruder, who slashed their throats. Kaylene died, but Krystal walked to a neighbor's house for help, and survived. Despite her injuries, she helped police identify the killer. Two days after the crime, police arrested a 35-year-old drifter named Tommy Lynn Sells. During questioning, Sells told police that he had committed dozens of murders over the past 20 years. An eighth-grade dropout who often made money as a carnie, he said he had committed his first murder in Hollywood, Calif., in a street fight. Sells said that he had killed people all over the country, from California to West Virginia. Harold Dow reports on a man who for 20 years got away with murder in a big way and the child whose courage put an end to the killings.

Uproar in Wenatchee
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#22 - Uproar in Wenatchee

Season 11 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/28/1998

In most ways, Wenatchee is an unremarkable place, a quiet town of 30,000 nestled in central Washington state. But three years ago, Wenatchee was rocked by allegations that scores of adults there had been part of a conspiracy to sexually abuse children. The case resulted in numerous convictions. Now, many observers are arguing that prosecutors and investigators badly overstepped their bounds, coercing children into making accusations and railroading people into prison. Many of the convictions have been overturned, and the city is being sued. CBS News 48 Hours takes a look at one of the most compelling chapters in the Wenatchee chronicle, the story of Sam Doggett's battle to clear her parents' name. In conjunction with the program, CBS.com examines some of the questions surrounding the issue of child sexual abuse.

Murder for Hire?
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#23 - Murder for Hire?

Season 12 - Episode 32 - Aired 5/13/1999

On Nov. 7, 1997, Sheila Bellush, a mother of six, was brutally murdered in her Sarasota, Fla., home. Police found a multitude of clues at the scene, including fingerprints. Within weeks, three men had been arrested. But the crime was not a robbery, and the three men had never met Bellush before. Why would they want to kill her? Was it a murder for hire? Her ex-husband, wealthy San Antonio businessman Allen Blackthorne, frequently golfed with one of the men arrested in the crime. Witnesses say he was very angry at his ex-wife. Weeks before the murder, he hired a private investigator to locate Bellush. While the three men languished in jail, Blackthorne, who says he is innocent, continued to play golf. CBS News 48 Hours examines a case of murder, guilt and the intricacies of the criminal justice system. A Brutal Murder: Why would anyone want to murder Sheila Bellush? She was a wonderful woman and a devoted mother, her family says. Peter Van Sant reports from Sarasota, Fla.

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Kidnapped: A Year Later
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#24 - Kidnapped: A Year Later

Season 12 - Episode 36 - Aired 7/1/1999

A year after Cheryl Lamare's latest rescue attempt, 48 Hours Correspondent Susan Spencer finds out what happened to some of those involved. Still in Crete with his daughter Jamie, Stan Voulgarelis insists that he has never sexually abused her. During a visit, he urged Spencer to talk with Jamie alone to ask if she had been sexually abused. She insisted that she liked living with her father, and that he had never touched her inappropriately. Jamie has a message for her mother: "She shouldn't try to come back and get me because I'll go only when I want to go." But shortly after our program aired a year ago, a young woman named Lisa contacted 48 Hours. She said she was a stepdaughter from Stan's previous marriage, and she had a shocking claim.

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The Other Woman
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#25 - The Other Woman

Season 17 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/7/2004

A prominent Mississippi heart surgeon dies under mysterious circumstances. In the sleepy Bible Belt town of Hattiesburg, what happened to Dr. David Stephens turned out to be the stuff that scandals are made of. His wife said he probably killed himself, but she was arrested for murder. 48 Hours' investigation with Correspondent Harold Dow takes us inside the operating rooms, courtrooms - and the bedrooms - of a town where "everybody knows your name." It's a classic tale of infidelity, gossip, tragedy - and possibly even murder.

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