The WORST episodes of Cold Case Files
Every episode of Cold Case Files ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Cold Case Files!
Unsolved crimes locked away in dusty file cabinets. Time is an ineffectual balm. Painful memories are left to a victim's loved ones. What happens when a killer gets away with murder? Thanks to the efforts of a special breed of modern detective, no one escapes the laws of justice - no matter how old the case.
#1 - The Heartland Killer
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/17/2021
In the 1980s, a suspected serial killer preyed on women in small towns located on the banks of the Mississippi River until the murders abruptly ceased and went unsolved. In 2006, 26 years later, a cold case detective and producer on the set of "Cold Case Files" unknowingly began to connect the dots that would crack the case while discussing the murder of Deborah Sheppard, a Southern Illinois University student whose death had remained a mystery since 1982.
#2 - Written In Blood
Season 7 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/18/2022
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.
#3 - One Tough Mother
Season 7 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/11/2022
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.
#4 - Sisters in Death
Season 7 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/4/2022
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.
#5 - The Clock Strikes Murder
Season 7 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/25/2022
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.
#6 - Friday Night Ghosts
Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/18/2022
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.
#7 - Dark Angel
Season 7 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/11/2022
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.
#8 - Eyes of a Killer
Season 7 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/5/2022
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.
#9 - Woman in the Woods
Season 7 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/21/2022
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.
#10 - A Lesson in Homicide
Season 7 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/21/2022
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.
#11 - Suspicious Minds
Season 7 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/14/2022
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.
#12 - Murder by Moonlight
Season 7 - Episode 9 - Aired 1/14/2022
The body of 24-year-old Lisa Ziegert is found stabbed to death in a field in Agawam, Massachusetts on Easter Sunday of 1992. The investigation yields several leads, but there is no prime suspect. After more than two decades, DNA phenotyping puts a face to the killer.
#13 - Ice Cold in Denver
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/7/2022
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.
#14 - Love and Hate
Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 1/7/2022
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.
#15 - The Devil in Disguise
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 9/24/2021
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.
#16 - A Dawn to Remember
Season 10 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/28/2025
When model Dawn Koons, 18, heads to California with dreams of stardom, her family back in Yonkers worry she's made a mistake. Within months, her body is found in her bathtub. Police have a suspect but unmasking her killer will take nearly 40 years.
#17 - The School Teacher
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/10/2021
When 25-year-old schoolteacher Christy Mirack is found brutally murdered in her Lancaster, Pennsylvania, apartment in 1992, there is no shortage of suspects. Frustration and fear mount as each person is ruled out, one by one, and eventually the case goes cold. Twenty-six years later, in 2018, cold case detectives get a break when a relative of the killer uploads DNA to a public genealogy website. This story features a rare interview with the victim's brother and the forensic genealogist who helped crack one of state's first cold cases to be solved by familial DNA technology.
#18 - Missing in Altoona
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/3/2021
When Sherry Leighty goes missing in 1999, her family is left wondering how a dedicated mother of three could vanish without a trace. A decade later, the cold case heats up when Sherry's sister launches a social media campaign to help solve her sister's mysterious disappearance. An online tip unearths the killer truth and a sinister family secret. This episode features an interview with Shelly Leighty, who never gave up on solving her sister's case, along with rare home video of Sherry and her family not long before she disappeared.
#19 - Devil at the Door
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/27/2021
When 36-year-old computer programmer Lisa Valdez fails to show up for work, her apartment manager finds her brutally murdered in her tiny studio. Her body is riddled with stab wounds, the walls are covered in blood. Evidence shows the killer cut off her long, dark hair, taking it as an apparent trophy. Detectives ask, could she be the victim of a brutal serial killer? Or was Lisa murdered by someone she knew? Clues left on an answering machine point to a co-worker who was known to have feelings for Lisa, but two bloody fingerprints left on a toilet seat clear him as a suspect, and the case goes cold for thirteen years. Things heat up when a detective gets a hit during a search of the state's DNA database, leading to an unsuspected person from Lisa's past.
#20 - The Voice in the Lake
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/20/2021
When 31-year-old real estate appraiser Mike Williams mysteriously vanishes while duck hunting in the Florida swamps in December of 2000, authorities suspect he accidentally drowned. For sixteen years Mike's disappearance remains a mystery. The case heats up when police receive a distress call from the victim's wife in 2016. Featuring interviews with detectives and the victim's mother as well as rare footage of the crime scene and recorded audio confessions with the accused, the episode explores how the disappearance unfolded into a sinister plot to cash in on millions of dollars of life insurance.
#21 - A Killer Slips Away
Season 6 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/29/2017
Police learn the key witness in the stabbing death of a beloved aunt was an imposter; a return to the crime scene reveals a clue hidden in plain sight.
#22 - A Family Cursed
Season 6 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/22/2017
Two unsolved murders of loved ones plague a family; detectives uncover a hidden crime scene that may help solve the 13-year-old cold case.
#23 - A Family Secret
Season 6 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/15/2017
A 17-year-old girl from a small Kentucky town goes missing, then is found strangled two weeks later; a police investigation into the crime uncovers a terrible family secret.
#24 - Circle of Friends
Season 6 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/8/2017
When 18-year-old Shannon Siders’ body is found in the woods, everyone in the small town of Newaygo, Michigan, becomes a suspect – but no one is convicted of the crime. It takes 22 years for a special cold case unit – along with the help of the entire town – to solve Shannon’s murder.
#25 - Officer Down
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 6/1/2017
The longest running cold case of a law enforcement officer in the United States was the murder of Sheriff’s Lt. Joe Clark – shot execution style in his own home. Given his tough stance on drug crime, detectives become convinced his death is the beginning of a drug war. It takes 33 years for them to discover the truth.