TV Guide: 48 Hours Mystery

Listing: 48 Hours Mystery

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:00:00 -0400

Sat Oct 25 10:00 PM CBS

Listing: Into Thin Air

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:00:00 -0400

Sat Oct 18 10:00 PM CBS The mystery surrounding the disappearance of a mother more than 30 years ago is investigated.

Video: Kidnapped

iTunes — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:14:42 -0400

On Oct. 6, 2002, 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck wanted to ride his bike to a friend's house - something his parents say he had done many times before. But this bike ride would end very differently than all others: when Shawn turned down a gravel road, he had no idea he was heading straight into the grip of a dangerous kidnapper - Mike Devlin. Shawn was living his days in terror. "I'm not gonna lie, there was times when it seemed like I was better off dead than living through that." Shawn was subjected to unimaginable daily physical and sexual abuse. "From day one, he had the gun, he had the power. I was powerless. There's nothing I could physically do," he explains. FBI agent Lynn Willett and her partner went to check out Mike Devlin in Kirkwood, Mo. over the disappearance of another young boy, Ben Ownby. "When I told Lynn that my name was Shawn Hornbeck, I could see the surprise in her face too and I just - my world was going in circles. I didn't know what was right, what was left, or up and down. It was a w

News: Crime Pays For 48 Hours Mystery

TV Guide — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:41:00 -0400

Most network newsmagazines have had to reinvent themselves to survive in recent years and none have done it as successfully as CBS's 48 Hours Mystery. Entering its fifth year in its true crime format, executive producer Susan Zirinsky has made the program appointment viewing for fans of the genre. The Biz caught up with Zirinsky before the show's Saturday, Sept. 27, season premiere (at 10 pm ET).

Video: The Secret Life Of Paige Birgfeld

iTunes — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:41:51 -0400

By all accounts, 34-year old Paige Birgfeld was a devoted mother to her three young children. So when she suddenly disappeared last June, police in Grand Junction, Colorado suspected foul play. But while police and volunteers searched for the missing mother of three, disturbing evidence of a secret life she led shifted the investigation in a totally new direction. Did that secret life-which Paige kept hidden from her family-play a role in her disappearance? Harold Dow reports for 48 Hours.

Video: Betrayal

iTunes — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:23:53 -0400

California computer whiz Hans Reiser seemed to have it all-a beautiful Russian wife, two children, and a successful career. But the seemingly perfect life hit turbulence when several years into the marriage his wife Nina had an affair with one of his friends. The couple eventually separated and would become embroiled in a nasty custody fight. Fast forward to September 2006, Labor Day weekend, when Nina dropped the children off at their father's house and mysteriously vanished in the hours that followed. Nina's body has never been found. Was her husband-or someone else-somehow involved in her disappearance? Correspondent Maureen Maher reports.

Video: Dark Side of the Mesa

iTunes — Sat, 24 May 2008 02:59:23 -0400

What if you came home and your wife and child were missing - and all you found was a bloody bed and an empty jewelry box? What if the nightmare only got worse? Susan Spencer reports.

Video: Point Blank

iTunes — Sat, 24 May 2008 02:59:22 -0400

On Oct. 15, 2003, police were called to the Brownsville, Texas, home of Scott and Traci Rhode. Inside, in the couple's bed, lay Scott with a gunshot wound to the head. That morning, Traci says she rose early, went for a walk, took a shower, and then heard a moaning sound. It was then, she says, that she discovered her husband was wounded. Scott was still alive, but later died at the hospital. Traci maintains Scott shot himself, but authorities charge she is a cold-blooded killer with a motive for murder. Harold Dow reports for 48 Hours Mystery.

Video: The Preacher's Wife

iTunes — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:24:22 -0400

Since the sudden death of his wife Kari in April 2006, Matt Baker has gone from grieving husband to a murder suspect maintaining his innocence. Kari Baker was a beloved school teacher who shared a seemingly perfect life with her husband Matt, a pastor. But the couple suffered a devastating blow when one of their daughters succumbed to cancer shortly after her first birthday. According to Matt, Kari became withdrawn, leaving him struggling to take care of his family. Then, seven years later, tragedy struck again when Matt discovered Kari s lifeless body in the couple s Waco, Tex. home. Despite being ruled a suicide by authorities, Kari s family was convinced she had been murdered and set out to prove it. Dubbing themselves "Charlie s Angels," Kari s three aunts and cousin launched their own investigation, retracing the couple s relationship and Matt s steps the night Kari died. Their probe unearthed a number of women who accuse Matt Baker of inappropriate sexual behavior, painting a very different portrait

Video: Caught In The Crossfire

iTunes — Fri, 09 May 2008 02:23:25 -0400

On June 12, 2006, the people of Reno, Nev., were glued to their televisions following the brazen shooting of Family Court Judge Chuck Weller. "My thoughts immediately turned towards Charla and her whereabouts," remembers Ann Mudd who, along with Christine Libert, desperately tried to reach her friend Charla Mack. The two women were convinced Charla was in danger; their fears were confirmed when they later heard on the news she had been murdered. What led to the shooting of Judge Weller and Charla's murder? Was there a connection between the two cases? Troy Roberts reports for 48 Hours Mystery.

Video: The Last Take

iTunes — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:14:55 -0400

In 1977, aspiring actress Christa Helm, who appeared in television shows such as "Wonder Woman" and "Starsky & Hutch," was found stabbed and bludgeoned to death in front of her agent's house. Now, 31 years after the case went cold, Helm's daughter and investigators sort through a twisted web of sex, celebrity and possible blackmail in the hopes of finally finding her killer. Helm was the classic small-town girl with big Hollywood dreams. Armed with her model-looks, the seductive blond left Milwaukee, Wis., and her daughter, eventually making her way to Hollywood. A fixture in the L.A. party scene, Helm was rubbing elbows with the rich and famous. Never at a loss for male attention, she kept company with a who's who of A-list actors and musicians including Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Mick Jagger and even the Shah of Iran. In what many suspect was groundwork for blackmail, Helm kept a diary and even tape recordings of her star-studded sexcapades, both of which mysteriously disappeared after her murder. B

Video: Deadline For Justice

iTunes — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:27:00 -0400

Jennifer Servo was a recent graduate from the University of Montana's school of journalism with dreams of becoming the next great news anchor. But in September 2002, just weeks after moving to Abilene, Texas to take a job as a reporter at KRBC-TV, the 22-year-old became news when she was found murdered in her apartment. Servo died from strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head and, with no signs of forced entry to her apartment, police suspected that she knew her killer. With a contaminated crime scene producing little evidence, investigators focused their investigation on Jennifer's newly ex-boyfriend, Ralph Sepulveda, and a co-worker, weatherman Brian Travers, with whom she had begun a romantic relationship. Both men deny any involvement in the murder. While a cold case squad has been working the investigation since 2002, Jennifer's own family has been independently pursuing leads, and both are hopeful that their relentless efforts will soon lead them to Jennifer's killer. Like Jennifer Servo, Pa

Video: The Letter

iTunes — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:13:29 -0400

In December 1998, police in Pleasant Prairie, Wis., were called to the Lake Shore Drive home of Mark and Julie Jensen. Inside, Mark had found his wife's body lying in her bed. Initially, investigators thought suicide was a strong possibility. But a letter written by Julie before her death pointed police in a different direction. Was the husband somehow involved in his wife's death, as the letter hints? Or did Julie poison herself and pen the letter to implicate Mark in a twisted plot gone wrong, as his parents allege? Erin Moriarty reports for 48 Hours Mystery.

Video: A Long Way From Home

iTunes — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:37:36 -0400

Although she has not officially been charged, 20-year-old Amanda Knox sits in a maximum security Italian prison, a suspect at the center of an Italian murder and sex mystery. Knox was enrolled for a year of study at the University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy, a picturesque town north of Rome. Now, the University of Washington honor student, along with her Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 24, and former student Rudy Guede, is being held for the slaying of her English roommate, Meredith Kercher. But a 48 Hours Mystery investigation raises serious doubts about Knox s involvement. "This is a railroad job from hell. There s not a shred of evidence putting this girl at the murder scene," says Chicago private investigator Paul Ciolino, who 48 Hours Mystery took to Italy. On November 2, 2007 Kercher was found in her bedroom, semi-naked with her throat slashed. Knox initially told police that she arrived home that morning to find the front door open, blood on the floor and no answer from Kercher s lock

Video: A Mind for Murder

iTunes — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:37:24 -0400

When they talk about Carmin, the oldest of their four daughters, Danny and Judy Ross are never at a loss for words. "She's bubbly, she's fun to be around. She makes the room warm. She's the sunshine," recalls Judy Ross, who even put together a list of words that come to her mind when she thinks of Carmin. "Brilliant, empathetic, thoughtful, spiritual, patient, political, loving, peaceful, delightful, silly, playful, courageous," reads Judy. "Full of life -- daughter of our youth." Looking back, Danny and Judy say their daughter's 1985 wedding to her sweetheart, Tom Murray, was one of the best days they ever had. "Both of them wrote their wedding vows," recalls Danny. "I stood there and cried through the whole thing." Carmin met Murray at Ohio State University, but it wasn't a typical college romance. Carmin was a junior, and Murray was her English professor.

Video: Love And Death In The Wild

iTunes — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:23:16 -0400

Mechele Linehan, a suburban Washington state wife and mother with a master's degree, found herself charged in a decade-old Alaska murder case. In the mid-1990s, Mechele was making ends meet as an exotic dancer at "The Great Alaskan Bush Company," where she not only made lots of money, but also attracted the attention of several men who wanted to marry her. Prosecutors charge a million dollar life insurance policy was motive for Mechele to have one of those men killed. Was Mechele a manipulating schemer who got men to do her bidding as prosecutors charge or is she innocent and a victim of circumstance? Correspondent Susan Spencer reports.

Video: The Long Road

iTunes — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:01:03 -0400

(CBS) The 1986 wedding pictures of Dyke and Karen Rhoads show a predictably joyous young couple, ready for a wonderful life together in the small town of Paris, Ill. Karen was 24 when they married, and had a job as an office assistant at a factory; Dyke worked in landscaping. There was no hint that just months after their wedding their lives would come to a violent end. As correspondent Susan Spencer reports, in the early morning hours of July 6, 1986, a fire engulfed their home.

Video: The Right To Kill?

iTunes — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:00:28 -0400

Cherry Hammock says she had no choice but to shoot her husband, Jay.

Video: Fight for the Truth

iTunes — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:06:17 -0400

Twenty years ago Seymour and Arlene Tankleff were murdered. Seventeen years ago their teenage son, Marty Tankleff, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. Five years ago, 48 Hours began reporting on this fascinating story and now, that story is about to change. The crime took place in the Tankleffs' Long Island home. With no sign of forced entry, cops immediately brought in a then-17-year-old Marty for questioning during which he confessed to stabbing and beating his parents, after being told that his father had temporarily awakened from his coma and fingered him. Although he never signed this confession and immediately recanted, detectives arrested and charged Tankleff with murder. His friends and family have been fighting for his freedom ever since. Throughout the years, legal experts have speculated that Tankleff's confession was coerced and that he was the victim of a cop who rushed to judgment and refused to reconsider his conclusions and pursue other leads, even after

Video: The Puppet Master

iTunes — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:05:55 -0400

A woman is targeted for execution. Who pulled the strings?

Video: Stolen Dreams

iTunes — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:00:16 -0400

When Stephen Trantel didn't return home from a fishing trip, his wife Jeanne began to fear the worst. But when she received the dreaded call from authorities, what she found out was nothing she could ve expected. Her husband was not dead, he was a bank robber. The Trantels lived a picturesque life in a New York City suburb. Stephen was a commodities trader and Jeanne was a stay-at-home mother. But while Jeanne was at home with the kids, Stephen was not going to work. Dressed in his suit, Stephen would leave the house every morning, but instead of going to his Wall Street job, he would scope out banks and eventually rob them. Stephen was so good at his new "job," that even authorities were in the dark - until one day and one mistake that would unravel Stephen s entire secret. What drove this man to his secret life? How did he manage to evade police so well? And what does his family do now?

Video: Trigger Point

iTunes — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:01:16 -0400

In 2004, a woman named Jenny Eisenman shot her estranged husband Drew in her apartment. The soft-spoken elementary school teacher claimed she had suffered abuse at the hands of her husband for years, and that the shooting was in self-defense. But prosecutors say Jenny was a woman scorned and shot her husband out of anger. Was Jenny - described by many as gentle and caring - a victim or, as prosecutors asserted, a woman capable of cold-blooded murder? Correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.

Video: Addicted To Love

iTunes — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:36:27 -0400

For many, July 4 weekend invokes images of picnics and fireworks. However, for Lesa Buchanan and her boyfriend Christ Koulis, it was a weekend of sex and drugs that eventually resulted in Buchanan s death. Buchanan was struggling to make it as an actress and model when she had a chance meeting with Koulis, a handsome, ambitious plastic surgeon. She became his patient and his girlfriend. Although the couple maintained a five and-a-half-year relationship, according to Buchanan s family it was marred by Koulis manipulative and controlling behavior. They say that as a doctor, Koulis would convince Buchanan she was ill so he could make her better. Koulis admits he introduced her to illegal drug use, which authorities say the couple engaged in to enhance their sexual encounters. According to a police investigator, the only time Buchanan experienced those drugs was when Koulis gave them to her. On the weekend of July 4, 2005, paramedics were called to Buchanan s Franklin, Tenn., apartment because she had stop