The BEST episodes of Without a Trace season 1

Every episode of Without a Trace season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Without a Trace season 1!

Without a Trace is a fast-paced procedural drama about the Missing Persons Squad of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The sole responsibility of the special task force is to find missing persons by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques to peel back the layers of the victims' lives and trace their whereabouts in an effort to discover whether they have been abducted, been murdered, committed suicide or simply run away. The team reconstructs a "Day of Disappearance" timeline that details every minute of the 24 hours prior to the disappearance, following one simple rule: learn who the victim is in order to learn where the victim is. Senior agent Jack Malone heads the dedicated team that knows too well that every second counts when someone vanishes.

Last Updated: 11/7/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
Fall Out (2)
star
8.72
113 votes

#1 - Fall Out (2)

Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/15/2003

When the team tries to plot a strategy after they find out that Samantha has been shot and that she might be critically injured in the hostage crisis situation. Jack makes a deal with Barry so that Sam can get help and Jack goes in there and takes Sam's place.

Directors: Paul Holahan
Watch Now:Amazon
Silent Partner
star
8.34
180 votes

#2 - Silent Partner

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/31/2002

The team investigate the disappearance of the VP (Erich Anderson) of an investment-banking firm who vanished at a San Diego airport and left behind her two empty suitcases behind in the airport.

Directors: Randy Zisk
Writer: Greg Walker
Watch Now:Amazon
Little Big Man
star
8.32
178 votes

#3 - Little Big Man

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/2002

Jack and the team search for teenager William Hope, who goes missing in a very bad neighborhood after a confrontation with a local bully. Considered a good kid, William was living in a foster home after 18 months on the street and seemed destined for a better life when he disappeared. The squad discovers that his older brother Aaron, recently released from juvenile hall, visited William, despite the fact that his foster family forbade Aaron from being in their home. Jack and the others then learn that William was seen getting into a car with Aaron immediately prior to disappearing, and they fear that the good kid may have gone bad.

Directors: Paul Holahan
Watch Now:Amazon
Fall Out (1)
star
8.29
172 votes

#4 - Fall Out (1)

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/8/2003

With the aftershocks of Sept. 11 and man named Barry , who lost his wife that day and then his job soon after. The man lashes out at her former boss an employment-agency owner. Blaming her for his wife's death and his own failure to find a job, Barry kidnaps the woman for ransom.Then he demands the money be exchanged at a bookstore, but when the cash is delivers Berry is provoked and takes the store's patrons hostage. Among them is Samantha,and given Jack's affection for her complicates the negotiations.

Directors: Kevin Hooks
Watch Now:Amazon
Hang On to Me
star
8.26
221 votes

#5 - Hang On to Me

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/30/2003

Chet Collins has been searching for his son since the boy was kidnapped four years earlier on a camping trip, and is the one case that Jack has never been able to forget. When Chet disappears, leaving behind only his wedding ring and the mountains of debt he had accumulated in his search, Jack will go to any lengths to find Collins and save him from himself.

Writer: Ed Redlich
Watch Now:Amazon
Victory for Humanity
star
8.23
180 votes

#6 - Victory for Humanity

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/10/2003

They search for a young high-school teacher who disappeared after a night class in the Bronx, turning up contradictory information about the subject.

Watch Now:Amazon
Suspect
star
8.21
204 votes

#7 - Suspect

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/24/2002

A 17-year-old vanishes from his private boarding school campus.In which he is last seen by the charismatic headmaster of the private boarding school that he attends .

Directors: Peter Markle
Watch Now:Amazon
He Saw, She Saw
star
8.15
223 votes

#8 - He Saw, She Saw

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/10/2002

Four different witnesses claim that a woman was abducted from a mall parking lot while her husband was standing just yards away with his back turned to her.

Directors: Rachel Talalay
Writer: Jan Nash
Watch Now:Amazon
There Goes the Bride
star
8.13
182 votes

#9 - There Goes the Bride

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/20/2003

A bride disappears at her own wedding and suspicions of kidnapping. Meanwhile, the team explores the relationship between the newlyweds, who were lived together for a little while.

Directors: Deran Sarafian
Writer: Steven Kane
Watch Now:Amazon
No Mas
star
8.12
173 votes

#10 - No Mas

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/24/2003

The team find themselves up against the ropes as multiple mysteries arise in the case of a boxer. Dante Jones disappears moments before a bout with a $500,000 purse that which could have made him a title contender. Jack suspects it's stunt, but Vivian, a Jones fan, can't believe that the charity-loving, straight-arrow fighter would go doewn that low road. The search goes in a new direction when his younger brother who he is always bailing out of trouble, vanishes. Then it's learned he has made 2 million dollers in the past five years,but he only has $6000 in his bank account.

Directors: Paul Holahan
Writer: Greg Walker
Watch Now:Amazon
Between the Cracks
star
8.10
229 votes

#11 - Between the Cracks

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/17/2002

they investigate the disappearance of a 19-year-old model who left a half-packed suitcase on the bed in her apartment.

Directors: Steve Gormer
Writer: Ed Redlich
Watch Now:Amazon
Kam Li
star
8.07
178 votes

#12 - Kam Li

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/13/2003

They search for a retired U.S. Army officer who has disappeared right after a dinner that was given in his honor by former members of his Vietnam platoon

Directors: Randy Zisk
Watch Now:Amazon
The Source
star
8.06
210 votes

#13 - The Source

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/3/2003

Delia , a television reporter, disappears in the middle of the investigation of a nightclub owner who is a suspected drug dealer. They also discovers that Delia was working on the case of a murderer on death row who she thought was innocent, and who might be linked to an assistant district attorney working with Jack on the case.

Directors: Peter Markle
Watch Now:Amazon
In Extremis
star
8.05
230 votes

#14 - In Extremis

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/21/2002

Dr. Anwar Samir, a third year resident at a New York hospital suddenly goes missing following a disagreement with his superior and the rejection of a proposal by his girlfriend. Given his Saudi Arabian background, almost inevitably suspicions arise of terrorist links. Witnesses and colleagues begin to question past "suspicious" behaviour, and disagreement manifests within the team itself as to the presumption of guilt as the Joint Terrorism Task Force also becomes increasingly involved.

Directors: Peter Markle
Watch Now:Amazon
Snatch Back
star
8.02
217 votes

#15 - Snatch Back

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/7/2002

prominents assistant district attorney whose child vanishes from a park filled with suspects and twists.The 2-year-old daughter of an old friend of Jack's, ADA Angela Buckman , disappears while being cared for . Usually the team sets up a timeline and tracks the victim's whereabouts as evidence comes in, filling in pieces of the mystery as they go. But here, Jack and his agents have no clue what happened to the child beyond her swift disappearance.

Directors: Leslie Libman
Watch Now:Amazon
Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?
star
8.01
164 votes

#16 - Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/1/2003

Jack's methods for investigation of child molester could result in the case being kicked out of court. Then on top of that, the Office of Professional Responsibility decides to investigate the team, but their real target is Jack

Directors: Peter Markle
Watch Now:Amazon
Underground Railroad
star
7.99
232 votes

#17 - Underground Railroad

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/16/2003

Jack and the team search for a pregnant woman, Kathy Dobson, who disappeared from a hospital before being told that she has serious complications. As the detectives race against time to find Kathy, their investigation gradually reveals that Kathy's seemingly happy life actually hasn't been going very well. She is eight-and-a-half months pregnant and, under the tight control of her husband Paul, has withdrawn from her family and friends. Paul's brother Ritchie, who has been following Kathy and providing Paul with addresses she visits, lists a woman who may be affiliated with an "underground railroad" that helps battered women. When the team members find the woman, they learn that she has been assaulted by Paul -- but she still refuses to lead them to Kathy.

Directors: Tom McLoughlin
Watch Now:Amazon
Maple Street
star
7.89
196 votes

#18 - Maple Street

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/9/2003

Annie Miller disappears on her way to school. The group looks into her disappearance, with their suspects ranging from the local mayor, to Annie's godfather, all the way to a young man working for the father of her best friend. Twenty-four hours after Annie's disappearance, her best friend Siobhan Arintero also vanishes, leaving only a collection of videos to help find the two girls.

Directors: John McNaughton
Watch Now:Amazon
Midnight Sun
star
7.82
201 votes

#19 - Midnight Sun

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/12/2002

When a man leaves his home in the morning with his daughter to take her to school and then to open his dry-cleaning store, but they both of they never make it there .

Watch Now:Amazon
Birthday Boy
star
7.78
255 votes

#20 - Birthday Boy

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/3/2002

For his eleventh birthday, Gabe Freedman is going to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium with his father. When the two get separated at the subway station, Bob is convinced he will meet up with his son at the next station, or at the park itself. After being unsuccessful in locating his son, Bob calls in the team who is convinced that the boy was abducted until evidence leads them to believe that Gabe may have run off on purpose.

Directors: David Nutter
Watch Now:Amazon
The Friendly Skies
star
7.74
222 votes

#21 - The Friendly Skies

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/6/2003

The team investigate a disappearance of a flight attendant who may have been having a relationship with one of the pilot's.

Directors: Paul Holahan
Watch Now:Amazon
Pilot
star
7.66
333 votes

#22 - Pilot

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/26/2002

Missing Persons Squad have to solve the case of a 28-year-old female marketing executive who appears to have simply walked away from every thing in her life, having left everything of hers behind. She was last seen by her doorman on the night that she vanished, her apartment appears to be intact with even her purse and cell phone left behind in her apartment. Her parents and co-workers reveal that she is a hard worker, and that she is a loner and had just been dumped by a married co-worker with whom she had an affair. A security tape from her apartment building shows her walking away into the night. Jack fears that she is lost forever until a ransom note appears on her mother's email list demanding a million dollars for her safe return.

Directors: David Nutter
Watch Now:Amazon
Clare de Lune
star
7.28
209 votes

#23 - Clare de Lune

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/27/2003

A girl vanishes from a psychiatric hospital, and it appears she may have escaped with a staff member.Then the team learns of a troubling incident from her past that may hold the key to her disappearance.

Directors: Mel Damski