The BEST episodes of The First 48
Every episode of The First 48 ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of The First 48!
Follows detectives during the hours immediately following a homicide.
#5 - Down and Out / Room for the Night
Season 17 - Episode 29 - Aired 8/4/2016
Detective Rob Barrere investigates when three men meet in a motel room in New Orleans east, and one of them ends up dead; while in Tulsa, Detective Ronnie Leatherman catches the case of a man stabbed 21 times when a night of drinking ignites a murderous rage.
Watch Now:Amazon#6 - Deadly Gamble/Inside Job
Season 9 - Episode 18 - Aired 7/15/2010
Harris County/Miami - Dep. Mario Quintanilla investigates the murder of a woman shot during a robbery of her illegal game room. Acting on a tip that his suspects are from Central America, Quintanilla races to find them before they can flee the country. And in Miami, Det. Fabio Sanchez heads to Little Haiti to investigate the homicide of two young men shot in their living room. Sanchez must track down a friend of the victims, who was with them before they were shot, to find out what he knows.
Watch Now:Amazon#7 - Lester Street
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 7/17/2008
Four adults and two children lay dead in was is being called the worst mass murder in 15 years. Detectives scramble for clues and learn the deaths may be gang related. Can detectives locate these killers for before they take anyone else out?
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#8 - Hit List/Hand in Hand
Season 11 - Episode 11 - Aired 8/25/2011
In Miami, lead detective TC Cepero investigates the murder of a 20-year-old male, gunned down in the middle of the street in broad daylight. With surveillance video of the suspect and possible witnesses they learn the victim may have been on the killers hit list. Then, in DeKalb County, a 20-year-old man is shot dead while walking his girlfriend home at night. Sergeant Matthew Ferreira and team must work quickly to solve this senseless murder that also left two others injured.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
#9 - Desert Bones / Party's Over
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 8/19/2004
Detectives Dillian and Jewell join forensic anthropologist Laura Fulginiti to determine the identity of a female skeleton found in the desert. And the shooting of a teenager at a high-school party puts Detectives Rodriguez and Kulesa on the trail of a shooter wearing a ski mask.
Watch Now:Amazon#12 - Best Laid Plans/Burned Alive
Season 13 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/30/2013
In Cleveland, when a teenager is shot down in the street, detectives discover his best friends may have something to do with the murder. In Harris County, a young woman set on fire clings to life as deputies race to find who left her for dead.
Watch Now:Apple TV#14 - Into the Graveyard
Season 13 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/25/2013
In Miami, a family is shattered when two teenage brothers are gunned down in their own backyard. Two surviving friends point Detective TC Cepero and his team in the direction of two desperate and dangerous gunmen on the run. But Cepero will need the community's help to get the brazen killers off the street.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#16 - Fatal Pickup/Bad Neighbor
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/18/2007
A sixty-one year old man becomes an unlikely suspect when a double shooting takes place. Investigators try to wrap their brains around the tragic murders and the unlikely suspect. A murder victim is found dumped in a park their body full of bullets. As detectives dig deeper into the life of the victim they start to unravel man secrets.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV#19 - Brother's Keeper/Fighting Words
Season 14 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/17/2013
In Cleveland, an innocent man is gunned down in a gang war and Detectives race to find his killers before any more blood is shed. Then, in Dallas, a father is murdered close to home and detectives need his neighbors to give them a lead.
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
#22 - Brothers Down
Season 21 - Episode 44 - Aired 3/5/2020
In Tulsa, Okla., two brothers are shot down after checking on their night cleaning crew; detectives struggle to find a motive before the killer strikes again.
#25 - Beatdown/Pistol Whipped
Season 10 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/24/2011
In a bloody convenience store shooting, Birmingham Detective Chris Anderson needs an old surveillance system and cooperation from the victim's mother to help solve the case. When a Miami shooting follows a brutal public attack, Det. TC Cepero and his team try to piece together the turn of events to determine if the murder was justified.
Watch Now:Amazon