Forensic Files II

In 2009, police officers and firefighters in Stow, Ohio report to the scene of a suspicious house fire. All of the home's occupants escaped without harm, but resident Scott Purk alerted police suspicion by bringing up the death of his first wife Margaret, who supposedly committed suicide in 1985. After exhuming Margaret's body, the examination showed that she did not hang herself, but that she was strangled, leaving Scott Purk accused of arson, insurance fraud, and murder. 

In December 1995, 17 year-old Krystal Beslanowitch leaves her motel room for a convenience store and doesn't return. That same day, her naked and bloody body is discovered near the Provo River with her head bashed in with nearby rocks. Blood evidence from the rocks would ultimately lead investigators to Krystal's killer, although it would take nearly 20 years and advances in DNA technologies to identify the murderer.

Just five days before a Yale University doctoral researcher was supposed to get married, she suddenly vanished. Video surveillance cameras show Annie Le entering her workplace on the day of her disappearance, but she never left. After her body is discovered in the laboratory basement, investigators find evidence above a ceiling tile, including the perpetrator's bloody clothes. Once suspects are ruled down, DNA evidence points to lab technician Raymond Clark as her killer.

In 2005, suitcases containing human remains wash ashore near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in Virginia. Police release a composite sketch of the victim, who is later identified as Bill McGuire. Physical evidence from plastic garbage bags, couch fibers, and medical grade towels help to bring the victim's killer - his widow, Melanie McGuire - to justice.

In 2009, young mother Heather Strube is brazenly gunned down in a Target parking lot in Snellville, Georgia. The killer was wearing an obvious disguise, though it succeeded in hiding the killer's true identity. Witnesses say that the victim was confronted by a man before she was killed, but the discovery of forensic evidence and a powerful motive lead investigators to believe that Heather's killer was actually a woman - her ex-mother-in-law, Joanna Hayes.

In 2005, a popular handyman in Derry, New Hampshire is savagely beaten to death in a barn. Initially, authorities had no clue who could have wanted the victim dead, but several forensic clues found at the crime scene lead investigators to discover a complicated conspiracy with an unlikely mastermind and a motive almost too bizarre and too unbelievable to comprehend.

Daniel Lee Corwin, a Texas serial killer, was responsible for the kidnappings, rapes, and murders of several women in 1987. After abducting Wendy Gant, he stabs her several times and slits her throat, but inadvertently leaves her alive. After communicating in writing to a forensic artist, a composite sketch was developed and identified as Corwin. A fingerprint found in Gant's car helps send Corwin to death row, where he is executed in 1998.

Daniel Lee Corwin, a Texas serial killer, was responsible for the kidnappings, rapes, and murders of several women in 1987. After abducting Wendy Gant, he stabs her several times and slits her throat, but inadvertently leaves her alive. After communicating in writing to a forensic artist, a composite sketch was developed and identified as Corwin. A fingerprint found in Gant's car helps send Corwin to death row, where he is executed in 1998.

In 1987, a young Canadian couple is brutally slain while on a road trip from British Columbia to Seattle, Washington. After their bodies are found, the victims' families begin receiving disturbing letters. The case goes unsolved for more than 30 years, until forensic investigators use personal genomics to help solve the case, ultimately making forensic history.

In 2015, a health-conscious chiropractor from Whitesboro, New York mysteriously dies. After Mary Yoder's autopsy shows the cause of death as colchicine poisoning, the investigation into her suspicious death becomes a homicide case. Digital forensics are used to tie Internet searches and an anonymous type-written letter to an unlikely suspect - her office administrator who was her son's ex-girlfriend.

In December 2011, mother of five Chanin Starbuck is brutally murdered in her Deer Park, Washington home, and her body is found in a sexually suggestive position. Investigators believe Chanin's killer was someone she knew, and during their investigation, they find startling clues on her cell phone that help point to the murderer's identity.

In November 2009, a young woman's body is found in Moss Bluff, Louisiana. Tattoos on the victim help to identify her as 19 year-old Sierra Bouzigard, and while the crime initially appears to be sexually motivated, no DNA is recovered from Sierra's rape kit. However, DNA under Sierra's fingernails matches DNA evidence found on a candy wrapper near the scene. After several years with no answers, Blake Russell is identified as a suspect using new DNA technology.

In January 2008, 42-year-old Rhonda Smith was shot as she did temporary work in the office of the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Springfield Township, Pennsylvania. Another congregant of the church quickly becomes a suspect due to her bizarre behavior. The discovery of a .38 caliber revolver on the shore of nearby Lake Nockamixon helps to link Rhonda's killer to the gruesome crime.

In June 2007, insurance agent Bob Eidman is shot execution-style in his St. Charles County, Missouri office. Despite the murder occurring in broad daylight, the killer escaped unseen, leaving no fingerprints behind. Years after the murder, touch DNA evidence found in the victim's back pocket is eventually able to lead investigators to a surprising suspect - one of Bill's insurance clients.

In March 2005, Rosemarie Essa was driving to a local movie theater when she collapsed behind the wheel of her car, bumped into another vehicle, and died. Suspicious investigators discover that her death was not what it appeared, and that she was actually the victim of cyanide poisoning, and the case leads to an international manhunt when a prime suspect flees to Lebanon.

In July 2000, the decomposing body of 22 year-old Misty Morse is found in the Indian River Lagoon. Her ex-boyfriend Brent Huck becomes an initial suspect, but there is little evidence at the scene. However, there are dog hairs found on duct tape on Misty's body, and testing mitochondrial DNA from Brent Huck's dogs' hairs helps to identify him as Misty's murderer.