Subjects: Physical Science

Carole Sund, her daughter Juli and friend Silvina Pelosso go missing while vacationing in Yosemite National Park. The theory is that they had a car accident. What begins as a search and rescue operation becomes a chilling case of murder when the bodies of two of the women are discovered in the trunk of their burned out rental car. An anonymous letter to the FBI leads authorities to the body of the third victim – sexually assaulted and murdered by a lake. Confusing and contradictory evidence keeps police off the trail of a sadistic killer until after he strikes again. When they finally catch Cary Stayner, the handyman at the motel where the women were murdered, he confesses that he used forensic science to mislead and manipulate investigators.

Between January 1994 and April 1996, in central Florida, the bodies of four men are found in a wooded area known as The Hog Trails. All are severely decomposed, all are naked, and all have been genitally mutilated. Police realize they are chasing a serial killer, but the investigation is hampered by the fact that they are unable to identify any of the victims. Finally a fifth body yields a name, and soon puts authorities on the trail of nurse Daniel Conahan. Police are able to prove that Conahan –a sexual sadist with a taste for bondage– lured transients to the woods with promises of easy money posing for nude photographs. In the privacy of the wilderness, he tied them to trees and brutally murdered them.

Caretaker Larry Mallory notices something unusual while on his way to work. Lying in the middle of the highway is a leg from a department store dummy. When he gets closer, Mallory sees two crows feeding on it. The leg is not plastic, it is flesh, and it has been severed from a female human body with surgical precision. The discovery of four more body parts in the area touch off a murder manhunt that involves seven police forces in four countries.

The cry for help comes from Oklahoma City’s most exclusive neighborhood. My wife’s bleeding all over the place, Dr. John Baxter Hamilton tells the 911 operator. I don’t know, she looks like somebody hurt her. It’s Valentine’s morning and socialite Susan Hamilton lies nude, smashed in a pool of blood. The science suggests a crime of heated rage and cold calculation, a killer with the intelligence to cover his trail and the composure to mask his guilt.

Millionaire Frank Black boards a commercial flight and disappears into thin air. The workaholic, busing magnate is never seen or heard from again. Authorities believe Alan Mackerley, Blacks’ former business associate is the man behind the murder. But Black’s body and the murder weapon are never recovered. At trial the defense raises doubts that Black is even dead at all!! With no body and no murder weapon they argue the case is highly circumstantial.

A six-year old girl, Andrea Atkinson, is found dead in the boiler room of her Toronto tenement. Forensic investigators quickly determine she has been raped and smothered. There are no witnesses. Quick-thinking cops experiment with the sound in the boiler room by yelling with the door closed. Outside, total silence. Whoever killed Andrea knew no one would hear him.

In three days of savagery the picturesque town Gainesville Florida is sent reeling with shock. Five university students are brutally attacked and killed. As ident officers meticulously investigate the death scenes, they realize this is no average murderer. This killer knows how to cover his tracks. Each scene has been literally scrubbed clean and the bodies washed to eliminate hairs or body fluids. There are no fingerprints anywhere. The murder weapon is nowhere to be found.

In one violent evening, a series of bombs rocks the sleepy California city of Fremont. The targets include both the Chief and Ex-Chief of police. But as America’s leading explosive experts sift through the evidence, they discover a plan far more insidious than anyone could have imagined. Can police and forensic scientists stop the Fremont Bomber before he strikes again?

Serial killers are often twisted geniuses; so cunning that catching them seems almost impossible. But from Jack The Ripper to those who terrify us today, their bizarre behaviour is as specific as a signature. Sophisticated crime fighters map the psychological and physical terrain of multiple murderers. Forensic Expert: Detective Sergeant Brad Moore Geographic Profiler at th Ontario Provincial Police.

How do bugs, pigs and even the weather help investigators solve crimes? From tropical Hawaii to the frigid waters of Lake Ontario, forensic experts reveal, in gory detail, the clues nature leaves behind on a human corpse. Forensic Expert: Dr. Lee Goff Entomologist at Chaminade University.