Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks

When 14-year-old Nacole Smith is brutally murdered in 1995 on a wooded path in Atlanta, the police and community rally around her mother as she seeks justice. It will take decades and a second brutal assault to finally reveal Nacole’s killer.

When jewelry seller Minerva Cantu, 26, is found bound, gagged and lifeless in her home, police suspect robbery as the motive. But who killed this mother as her infant slept in the next room is a mystery that would haunt one detective for 20 years.

When teens Llianna Adank and Eric Goldstrand are found shot to death at an Oregon park in 1977, every parent’s nightmare comes true. Detectives doggedly pursue leads for 40 years until a single piece of evidence leads them to a suspect 3 states away.

When Mary Scott, 23, is found murdered in her San Diego home in 1969, a case with few leads quickly loses steam. Years later, Mary’s daughters grow determined to find answers about the mother they barely knew, and a crime that’s 50 years cold.

When the blood-smeared car of 27-year-old Stefanie Watson is found in a Maryland parking lot her family hold out hope she’s still alive. But when a jawbone is dumped in a local neighborhood, a missing persons investigation becomes a murder.

When 31-year-old Linda Slaten is brutally strangled in her Lakeland, FL home in 1981, a complex web of suspects emerges. The case takes a dramatic turn when a DNA hit expose the sinister underbelly of a seemingly peaceful community.

When a Texas gas store owner, Subir Chatterjee, 58, is shot inside his check cashing booth in 2002, detectives suspect his killer is someone Subir knew. With the murderer’s DNA in hand, one detective refuses to retire until the case is solved.

When gambler Scott Martinez, 47, is found eviscerated by a sword in his La Mesa, CA home, investigators can't tell who is telling the truth within his inner circle. It will take 13 years and an advance in DNA analysis to find his killer.

When the battered body of Shawna Yandell, 16, is found floating in Washington State’s Yakima River in 1993, detectives first suspect those closest to her. The case grew cold until new DNA technology revealed a callous killer that no one suspected.

When Susan Woods, 30, is found beaten and drowned in her tub in America’s Cowboy Capitol, suspicion falls on her estranged husband. With a suspect’s DNA in hand, detectives go back to the basics to unmask a killer-cowboy living in plain sight.