The BEST episodes of Cold Case
Every episode of Cold Case ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Cold Case!
Cold Case stars Kathryn Morris as Lilly Rush, the lone female detective in the Philadelphia homicide squad who finds her calling when she's assigned to "cold cases" -- crimes that have never been solved. Previously, she used her instinctive understanding of the criminal mind on current murders. Now, she's interrogating witnesses whose lives and circumstances have since changed, making use of today's new science and finding fresh clues to solve cases that were previously unsolvable, all of which appeals to this smart, driven detective. She's also prepared for the consequences: that her work will open up old wounds and may lead suspects to commit new crimes.
#1 - Stalker
Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/6/2007
In the fourth season finale, a hostage situation arises when the entire team is held captive while they're investigating the 2006 killings of a family who had just moved into a new house.
#2 - The Letter
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/25/2004
Rush and Valens re-open the case of a 25-year-old black woman, who was murdered in 1939, after the woman's granddaughter comes forward with new information. The woman was assumed to be a prostitute murdered by a client, but letters written by the victim indicate that she was afraid of a milkman.
#3 - It's Raining Men
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/14/2004
An HIV-positive gay man asks Rush and Valens to re-investigate the case of his dead partner who died of strangulation in 1983. Not only was the victim outspoken in his views about AIDS education within the 1980's secretive gay community, he was also the member of a very prominent family, disowned by his father for his sexual orientation.
#4 - Death Penalty: Final Appeal
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/16/2006
The 1994 case of a raped and murdered 16-year-old girl is re-opened when Det. Jeffries gets a call from a prisoner on death-row -- scheduled to be executed in just three days.
#5 - A Dollar, A Dream
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/18/2007
The 1999 murder of a homeless woman, whose body is found at the bottom of a river in a station wagon, is investigated.
#6 - Blank Generation
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/9/2005
The team re-opens the case of Matthew Adams, a teen-aged cult member who apparently committed suicide back in 1978, when his sister comes forth with new evidence about the deprogrammer her family hired to rescue her brother.
#7 - Revolution
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/20/2005
Rush and the team investigate the 1969 murder of a 19-year-old girl whose body was found in her boyfriend's apartment the day he fled to Canada to avoid fighting in Vietnam.
#8 - The Plan
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/2/2004
The 1999 drowning death of a military academy's swim coach, which was originally ruled as accidental, is reinvestigated after the homicide division receives a note that suggests it was murder. Back at the office, Valens searches for Elisa after she goes missing.
#9 - Offender
Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/25/2007
A father pushes a registered sex offender off of a building and threatens to kill a different sex offender each day until the cold-case unit solves his son's 1987 rape and murder.
#10 - The Sleepover
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/7/2004
Lilly reopens a 1990 murder case, in which a prep-school girl was found dead in a local swimming hole, after a present-day victim with similar markings is discovered at the same place. The investigation reveals that the victim of the earlier crime was routinely tormented by a trio of classmates who invited her to a sleepover the night she was killed.
#11 - One Night
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 3/19/2006
Lilly and the cold case team will have to decode the clues given by a twisted killer in order to save the life of a young boy who has been left to die alone. But first they must find the boy and for that they need to dig a little deeper into their own pasts.
#12 - The Woods
Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/22/2005
The discovery of nine human skulls leads Rush back to George Marks, the serial killer she was unable to incriminate months earlier, and who walked away a free man. As the detectives reinvestigate his mother's murder from 1972, George is forced to emerge from hiding to face Rush again. This time, their very lives are at stake in their final showdown.
#13 - Shuffle, Ball Change
Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/11/2007
When a body is found in a dumpster, the team re-opens the 1984 case of a murdered teenage boy who wanted to become a dancer against his father's wishes.
#14 - Frank's Best
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/18/2005
The team re-opens the 2001 case of a robbed and murdered deli owner when the brother of the man convicted of the crime brings forth new evidence, suggesting the man may have been wrongfully accused.
#15 - The Road
Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/6/2008
The team re-investigates the suspected 2007 murder of a bride-to-be who was kidnapped on the day of her engagement party. Lilly and Scotty travel to West Virginia to escort the prime suspect to Philly, and on their way back, they hear his side of the story.
#16 - Who's Your Daddy
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/31/2004
Det. Rush investigates the 1991 double murder of married illegal immigrants from Cambodia who were shot to death in their apartment and found by their 6-year old daughter. The now-teenage girl brings the case to Lilly after she discovers a bracelet once owned by her mother is for sale on the internet. The probe reveals that the parents had dark secrets unknown to their daughter.
#17 - Maternal Instincts
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/25/2004
The 1989 case of a woman murdered in front of her 3-year-old son is re-opened. A psychologist asks Det. Rush to look into the case again when the son, now a 17-year-old teen, suffers from intense nightmares and troubled behavior.
#18 - Mind Hunters
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/28/2004
The headless torso of a woman who disappeared in 1985, on the same day she filed domestic-abuse charges against her husband, is found by hikers in a wildlife preserve. The investigation quickly leads to the grisly discovery of 8 more decapitated bodies, the victims of a serial killer.
#19 - That Woman
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/30/2007
After a piece of clothing belonging to a murder victim is found, the team re-opens the 1998 case of a high school girl who had a reputation for being promiscuous.
#20 - True Calling
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/5/2008
The 1991 death of an inner-city schoolteacher is reinvestigated when new evidence indicates she may have been murdered instead of dying accidentally during a carjacking that got out of control.
#21 - Andy in C Minor
Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 3/30/2008
After traces of blood linked back to a missing teen are found, the team re-investigates the 2006 case of a boy who disappeared from a high school for deaf children.
#22 - The Hen House
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/30/2006
The 1945 case of a murdered newspaper reporter is reopened when new evidence suggests that the woman was thrown in front of a passing train by someone she knew.
#23 - Wunderkind
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/28/2007
The team re-opens the 2002 case of a 14-year-old math whiz whose half-brother exploited his unusual talents: card counting and safe cracking.
#24 - Thrill Kill
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/23/2007
Recovered from the shooting, Lilly wants to convince her boss that she's ready to get back to work. The team re-opens the 1994 case of three 10-year-old kids who were beaten to death when Lilly suspects the teens convicted of the killings may have been wrongfully incarcerated.
#25 - The War at Home
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/1/2006
A 2004 case in which an Iraq War veteran abruptly disappeared is reopened after the missing woman's prosthetic arm is found in the Delaware River.