Cold Case Files

When model Dawn Koons, 18, heads to California with dreams of stardom, her family back in Yonkers worry she's made a mistake; within months, her body is found in her bathtub; police have a suspect but unmasking her killer takes nearly 40 years.

In 1980, radio intern Helene Pruszynski is found brutalized in a snowy field; after 37 years of fruitless leads, investigators tap into a public genealogy website that leads them across the country to the killer they've been hunting.

A college student disappears from his graveyard shift at a gas station; new forensic technology and the discovery of an illegal drug ring in a squeaky-clean town helps police solve the case two decades later.

When firefighter Gary Parks is killed in a fire ruled to be arson, the investigation into his death shifts to homicide; a serial arsonist is thought to be the culprit, but it takes a dogged cold-case detective to track down the real killer.

When a deadly house fire claims the life of a family in rural Oklahoma, investigators suspect foul play and a mother goes on a decadeslong crusade to find out what happened to her missing teenage daughter and best friend.

When 37-year-old Lee Rotatori is found dead in her hotel room in 1982 with a single stab wound to the heart, police suspect the work of a professional; it takes four decades to identify her killer and, in the process, reveal a shocking truth.

A killer of four goes free until a detective finds key evidence on a coffee cup.

In early 1984, 3-year-old Vanessa Bennett becomes the lone survivor of her family's brutal murder; initial investigators suspect a serial killer is at large, but decades pass before DNA narrows the suspect pool to one man.

When Cree woman Shirley Soosay goes missing in 1980, her niece Violet promises her grandmother that she will bring Shirley home; Violet never dreamed the search for Shirley -- and justice -- would take a lifetime.

When Sherry Leighty goes missing in 1999, her family is left wondering how a dedicated mother of three could vanish without a trace; a decade later, the cold case heats up when Sherry's sister launches a social media campaign.

A Minnesota serial killer targets waitresses; a killer boasts of his crime to fellow prisoners; police link a New Hampshire murder to one in Florida.

When the body of 81-year-old Helen Gale is found in her burned-out car, investigators in Southfield, Mich., wonder who would murder this pillar of the community; it will be eight years before a blown alibi brings them face-to face with her killer.

In July 1997, the brutal murder of 19-year-old Tiffany Johnston rocks the small town of Bethany, Okla.; DNA evidence points to her killer over a decade later and leads to the buried bodies of two other missing women in Texas.

Discovery of a human scalp helps convict a murderer; teen kidnaps, tortures and kills younger boys.

In June 1985, a 20-year-old Sucker Day Festival Queen is found brutalized; the small community of Nixa, Mo., is certain her blood is on the hands of a local wealthy businessman, but after 25 years DNA reveals the true killer.

Forensic clay modeling helps investigators identify a murder victim; two boys perform satanic rituals and set fires.

In 1984, Jack Kennedy discovers his daughters brutally murdered; their mother and niece spend their lives keeping the case alive; thirty years later, an informant gives up a name, but the family's ordeal is far from over.

Just after the last day of school in 1984, 15-year-old Reesa Trexler is found murdered in her grandparents' home; for decades, a stalled investigation only fuels the town rumor mill, pointing an accusing finger at Reesa's 13-year-old sister, Jodie.

A tipster's call helps solve the murder of the heir to the U-Haul fortune; new fingerprint technology helps solve a decades-old murder.

When human bones are discovered in the woods in December 1985, it puts an end to the search for missing teen David Reed; skull fractures point to murder, but it will be decades before investigators can find David's killer.

When 23-year-old Tonya McKinley is found brutally murdered on New Year's Day 1985, a boy is left motherless; a family waits 35 years for advancements in forensic science to finally catch a killer using familial DNA.

In 1979, Janie Landers disappears from a home for the impaired; when Janie's body is found, there are many suspects, but it is years before the killer and the atrocities in the facility are revealed.

A woman helps to solve her mother's murder; an officer solves the murder of a newspaper-delivery woman.

When 30-year-old mother Lisa Gaudenzi fails to report for duty in Virginia, the Army lists her as AWOL; her family immediately suspects foul play, so they embark on a 13-year quest for answers before an eyewitness blows the case wide open.

Klansmen set fire to an NAACP president's home, killing him; a white man confesses to forcing a black man to jump from a bridge to his death.

A Minnesota serial-killer, who targets waitresses, remains free for nearly 20 years.

A murder victim's niece starts an advocate group; a car preserves a victim's body.

DNA on a cigarette brings a rapist and murderer to justice; a confession made to a TV star helps police to solve a murder.