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.

Last Updated: 2/5/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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Stalker
star
8.46
420 votes

#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.

Directors: Alex Zakrzewski
Watch Now:Amazon
Death Penalty: Final Appeal
star
8.19
410 votes

#2 - 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.

Directors: Alex Zakrzewski
Watch Now:Amazon
The Letter
star
8.11
500 votes

#3 - 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.

Directors: Tim Hunter
Watch Now:Amazon
A Dollar, A Dream
star
8.09
421 votes

#4 - 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.

Directors: Chris Fisher
Watch Now:Amazon
The Woods
star
8.06
493 votes

#5 - 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.

Directors: Nelson McCormick
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Plan
star
8.02
430 votes

#6 - 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.

Watch Now:Amazon
Blank Generation
star
7.97
497 votes

#7 - 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.

Directors: David Barrett
Writer: Chris Mundy
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
It's Raining Men
star
7.97
485 votes

#8 - 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.

Directors: Paul Holahan
Writer: Jan Oxenberg
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Offender
star
7.96
537 votes

#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.

Directors: David Barrett
Watch Now:Amazon
The Road
star
7.96
418 votes

#10 - 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.

Directors: Holly Dale
Watch Now:Amazon
The Sleepover
star
7.96
557 votes

#11 - 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.

Directors: Emilio Estevez
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Shuffle, Ball Change
star
7.95
449 votes

#12 - 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.

Directors: Mark Pellington
Watch Now:Amazon
Revolution
star
7.95
450 votes

#13 - 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.

Directors: Alex Zakrzewski
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Fireflies
star
7.94
513 votes

#14 - Fireflies

Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/12/2006

The 1975 disappearance of an 8-year-old girl who was never found is reinvestigated after a note written by the girl shortly before she vanished turns up. Their friendship rattled many in the predominantly white neighborhood and the girls quickly became targets of hatred.

Directors: Marcos Siega
Watch Now:Amazon
The Hen House
star
7.92
330 votes

#15 - 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.

Directors: David Von Ancken
Writer: Craig Turk
Watch Now:Amazon
Who's Your Daddy
star
7.92
519 votes

#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.

Directors: Greg Yaitanes
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Mind Hunters
star
7.91
501 votes

#17 - 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.

Directors: Kevin Bray
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Fly Away
star
7.89
606 votes

#18 - Fly Away

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/30/2003

When a young woman, Rosie, wakes up from a coma, Lilly re-opens the fall in which her 6-year-old daughter Toya died. Things get complicated when the mother remembers very little of that night, and Lilly feels especially motivated to find the killer, as Rosie was poor and living on welfare, reminding Lilly of her own past, and giving her an emotional bond to Rosie.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Long Blue Line (1)
star
7.89
452 votes

#19 - The Long Blue Line (1)

Season 6 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/3/2009

The team re-opens the case of the first ever female cadet in a local military school who was murdered in 2005.

Directors: Roxann Dawson
Watch Now:Amazon
Maternal Instincts
star
7.89
488 votes

#20 - 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.

Directors: Kevin Hooks
Writer: Laurie Arent
Watch Now:Amazon
Andy in C Minor
star
7.89
410 votes

#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.

Directors: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Gavin Harris
Watch Now:Amazon
True Calling
star
7.89
525 votes

#22 - 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.

Directors: Paris Barclay
Watch Now:Amazon
A Time to Hate
star
7.88
646 votes

#23 - A Time to Hate

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/16/2003

Lilly investigates the case of Daniel Holtz, a college baseball player who was found beaten to death in an alley behind a gay bar in 1964. Daniel's mother comes to Lilly in the hopes that his killer can be brought to justice before she dies. Lilly discovers the maltreatment gay victims received in the 60's, when her investigation discloses that it may have been a policeman's nightstick that made the lethal blows.

Directors: Deran Sarafian
Writer: Jan Oxenberg
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Wunderkind
star
7.87
503 votes

#24 - 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.

Directors: Kevin Bray
Watch Now:Amazon
Thrill Kill
star
7.87
530 votes

#25 - 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.

Directors: Alex Zakrzewski
Watch Now:Amazon