Cold Case Files: DNA Speaks is a Cold Case Files spinoff that focuses solely on the role of DNA testing in solving murder cases that have gone cold after several years, sometimes decades.
Narrated by Cold Case Files and American Justicehost Bill Kurtis, this true crime show has a similar feel to the original: victims’ loved ones join detectives in telling their stories about the homicides and their investigations, and police interviews fill in the details. But instead of detailing cold cases involving all types of forensics, this show focuses on DNA testing. Many of the cases include the use of genetic genealogy to solve the crimes, a fascinating new field of forensics.
Murder victims help solve their own murders from beyond the grave
About How I Caught My Killer
DNA. Fingerprints. Blood spatter. These are all types of evidence that have become standard in solving homicide cases. But the ubiquity of technology has also impacted murder investigations, providing new evidence for detectives. How I Caught My Killer includes cases with clues left by technology, along with other evidence. In a flip of the usual method of investigation, the focus is on evidence from the victim’s life, instead of evidence left by the killer.
This true crime show features murder cases in which the victims “caught” the killer by helping detectives solve the case through text messages, diary entries, social media posts, fitness apps, or documents that provide clues after their murder.
Each episode has a different narrator to reflect the identity of the victim. Another unique aspect of the true crime show is the music, which uses pop songs with lyrics instead of instrumental background music, making the show seem more trendy and modern.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 2 (2023-)
Where to stream: Hulu
More shows like How I Caught My Killer: Before I Die, If I Should Die
Men who murder and steal from the women in their lives
About Handsome Devils
The title of Handsome Devils is a bit of a misnomer. Not all of the killers in the show are actually handsome, but they’re all devils in some way. These men have romantic relationships with their victims and either murder or embezzle money from them, or both.
In this fairly typical true crime show, surviving victims tell their harrowing stories, along with detectives and other victims’ family and friends. Add re-creations and police interviews, and it makes for the usual format.
The show is only 10 episodes, but many more of these types of cases exist. Find them on shows like Dateline, 20/20, or Casanova Killers.
Grab your favorite Halloween candy, and turn the lights off for these spooky murder cases. Many of the murders occurred on Halloween, at parties, at bars, or when trick-or-treaters ate poisoned candy, and some involve dark nights filled with vampires, paganism, and other elements scary enough to keep you away from Halloween celebrations and trick-or-treaters. From Homicide for the Holidays to Bizarre Murders, these episodes offer something spooky for every true crime junkie.
Homicide for the Holidays: “Halloween Horror” (Season 4, Episode 5)
On Halloween morning 2010, in Oak Harbor, Ohio, Laurie Morse is having trouble getting in contact with Derek Griffin, her nephew, and her sister Sue Liske. When Laurie calls her other nephew, Devon, who is at home, he checks his parents’ bedroom and finds blood. Sue and her husband Bill Liske are dead in the bed. They had been shot multiple times. Upon further investigation of the house, police find Derek dead in his bedroom from blunt force trauma. There is no evidence of forced entry or burglary. Neighbors had heard a banging noise that morning. Police consider whether the murders were part of a cult activity because they occurred on Halloween. When police question Devon, they discover that his stepbrother BJ Liske was at home that morning but was gone by the time Devon returned from church. Further investigation reveals troubling family dynamics and that the killer is close to home.
Homicide for the Holidays: “All Hallow’s Evil” (Season 4, Episode 5)
It’s Halloween 2012 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, and Rebekah Gay doesn’t show up for work. Her manager checks her home, but she’s missing and her purse is there. He then finds her car at a bar near her home, but no one had seen her there, and the driver’s seat had been pushed back. Police talk to John White, Rebekah’s mother’s boyfriend, who went to her home to babysit Rebekah’s son on Halloween morning. He says that he talked to Rebekah from another room until she left for work but never actually saw her. Police find blood in the back of his truck, as well as a necklace. They also discover that he had been convicted of attempted murder and involuntary manslaughter in the past.
Dateline NBC: “Under a Halloween Moon” (Season 22, Episode 6)
In this episode, Josh Mankiewicz details the murder of Joel Lovelien, which occurred outside a bar he went to with his fiancée for a Halloween party in 2007 in North Dakota. Lovelien was beaten to death in the parking lot, and police search for the killer among the large group of people in costume. This one has a surprise ending.
Dateline NBC: “The Halloween Party” (Season 26, Episode 5)
Keith Morrison lends his spooky narration to the story of Chelsea Bruck, who attends a Halloween party as Poison Ivy at a rural property in Michigan in 2014. She disappears that night, and police find her body several months later. She had been sexually assaulted and died from blunt force trauma.
Dateline NBC: “The Night Before Halloween” (Season 19, Episode 53)
It’s Halloween morning 1984, and Robin Hoynes is found dead at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Torrance, California, where she worked as assistant manager. Police find evidence of tampering on the restaurant safe and surmise that Robin had been stabbed in an attempted robbery, yet there were no signs of forced entry. They also discover a few drops of blood on the safe and some foam rubber on the floor. They question William Marshall, a former assistant manager who had been recently fired, but his girlfriend provides him an alibi. Police find a boning knife in his backpack and arrest him, but the district attorney says there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute him, and he is released. With no other evidence, the case goes cold until 2003, when detectives re-interview a key witness and link the foam rubber to the killer.
In 1974, 8-year-old Timothy O’Bryan and his sister Elizabeth went trick-or-treating on Halloween with their father Ron in Pasadena, Texas. At home, they examine their spoils. Tim chooses one piece of candy to eat that night: a giant Pixy Stix. Later that night, Tim becomes very sick and is taken to the hospital, where he loses consciousness and dies. Doctors run tests and find cyanide in his blood. Police canvass the neighborhood and take all the candy from the children and parents, finding a total of four Pixy Stix with cyanide. But none of the neighbors had given them out. So who poisoned Timothy? Further investigation reveals a dark plot.
Dead of Night: “Nothing to Hide” (Season 2, Episode 1)
In Bend, Oregon, it’s Halloween night in 2004, and 21-year-old Nicole Hutchings goes to a Halloween party but doesn’t come home. Her parents call the police, who search for Nicole and talk to other people who attended the party, with no answers. After several months, they notice activity on her credit card but find out that it was her mother using the card. Two and a half years later, Nicole’s friend Suzanne comes forward and tells them more about the Halloween party and who killed Nicole.
Killer Kids: “Vampire and the Essay” (Season 4, Episode 8) Handsome Devils: “Blood Lust” (Season 1, Episode 4)
The 16-year-old leader of a vampire cult murders Naomi Ruth Queen and Richard Wendorf in 1996 in Florida, the parents of a 15-year-old girl who ran away from home with his group. Although the ringleader was convicted of murder, she was never charged.
City Confidential: “Monsters on Main Street” (Season 7, Episode 1) Cold Case Files: “Little Girl Lost” (Season 1, Episode 1)
An 11-year-old girl, Shauna Howe, disappears on the way home from a Halloween party in a small town in Pennsylvania in 1992. Police discover her body three days later, but the murder goes unsolved until 2003. The town banned nighttime trick-or-treating for 15 years after the murder.
In 1984, pregnant mother Doreen Erbert is murdered on Halloween in California by a man in a wolf mask wielding a machete. The episode is rare coverage of a male killer on the female-focused series.
It’s Halloween night 2006 in Seattle, Washington, and a detective discovers a dead body behind a dumpster at a church, along with a cryptic message on a poster. Police find more messages around the church alluding to other victims. They identify the body as that of a local drug dealer, who had died of a drug overdose. But police learn that the victim had recently converted to Christianity after becoming sober. So why was he dead from a drug overdose? And what about the messages found with the body? Was it murder or accidental? A bag of drugs at the scene reveals the answer.
In a ritualistic killing, a teen interested in the occult kills an elderly woman, removes her heart, and drinks her blood. The episode is based on the story of the murder of Maybel Leyshon in the UK in 2001.
Killer Cases: “Murder Under a Blue Moon” (Season 1, Episode 2) Family Massacre: “The Smith Family” (Season 1, Episode 8) American Justice: “Bad Blood” (Season 15, Episode 13)
This case involves the triple homicide by a man who kills his mother, Voncile Smith, and two half-brothers, Richard Thomas Smith and John William Smith, in Florida in 2015. The murder occurs close to the blue moon, and the positioning of the bodies and the killer’s pagan practices make detectives mistakenly think it is a result of witchcraft.
Technology leads to lies and a slew of terrifying crimes
About Web of Lies
A teen is bullied online to the point of suicide. Adopted children are placed inadvertently with child predators. A man is catfished by a woman for his money, then murdered. These are some of the cases in Web of Lies.
Web of Lies features disturbing stories of crimes connected to online deceit. It’s a different kind of true crime show, describing stories that revolve around the horrible things people do to each other when they can mask their true identity, pose as someone else on the internet or in text messages, or lie to cover up a crime. Not all of the crimes are murder; some of the most shocking episodes are cases related to sextortion, cyberbullying, trafficking, and online predators. They will make you afraid to ever use your computer or phone again.
Web of Lies centers on the mystery, sometimes the mystery of who the perpetrator is, but usually the mystery of what terrible thing befell the victim for going online and meeting someone who lied to them. Often the cases involve teens too naïve to know about the dark side of the internet, who then fall victim to online predators.
In addition to cases in the US, the show includes some Canadian and Australian cases. Recommended.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 7 (2014-2021)
Where to stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Max, Discovery+
More shows like Web of Lies: Deadly Influence: The Social Media Murders, #killerpost, Deadly Dates, Devil in the Web, Murder on the Internet, Web of Death, Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies and the Internet
Murder cases where the killer almost gets away with the crime
About The Perfect Murder
The Perfect Murder advertises itself as a true crime show about homicide cases that are almost perfect. It seems like an interesting premise, but episodes merely describe murders where one piece of evidence helps detectives crack the case. Since many murders are solved this way, the title and premise are a bit of a stretch and serve only to draw viewers to a show that is mediocre at best.
In addition to a flimsy premise, the show also has terrible re-creations with bad acting and even worse dialogue. They include re-created “theories” by fictional detectives who speculate what might have happened to the victim, imagined as they consider various suspects and their motives, and these theories are often laughable.
A few episodes in the show qualify as “almost perfect,” such as a case where a man was wrongly convicted and spent more than a decade in prison until the real killer was caught, or cases that have gone cold for several years. Others are the usual types of cases solved through standard investigation techniques and key evidence, and many have been covered on other shows.
The verdict: Not worth the watch. Skip it.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 5 (2014-2019)
Where to stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+
Portland isn’t all wacky characters, hipsters, and vegans. Some Portlanders are killers, and The Wonderland Murders shares this shadowy side of the city.
The true crime show tells the stories of these killers and their victims, delving into homicide cases in Portland, Oregon, and surrounding areas. It has re-creations that cast the city in a dark gloom to match its rainy weather, and some episodes feature the same detectives talking about the different cases they have solved, often showing their deft interrogations.
The Wonderland Murders illustrates how, like other cities and towns across the US, Portland is not immune to murder either.
The Show Elements
Seasons: 2 (2018-2020)
Where to stream: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Discovery+
More shows like The Wonderland Murders: Atlanta Justice, City Confidential, City of Angels: City of Death, Dark Nights in the City, Homicide City: Charlotte, Homicide Squad: Atlanta, The Lake Erie Murders, Las Vegas Law, Lone Star Justice, Murder in the Wicked West, Murder Nation: Blood on the Bayou, Murder Nation: Jersey Gore, New York Homicide, The Real Murders of Atlanta, The Real Murders of Orange County, Sin City Justice, Valley of the Damned
Think you have frenemies? Not in comparison to the stories in this true crime show. In I Killed My BFF, besties descend into murder, and become besties no more. Instead, they become murder victim and killer.
I Killed My BFF uses re-created voiceovers to tell the story of one best friend killing another. Actors playing two best friends tell a scripted story about a murder between them, sometimes involving additional people in their circle.
Episodes begin with the inception of their friendship and reimagine what the friends might be thinking during the course of their friendship, all the way up to the murder. Their friends and families add to the story, along with detectives investigating the case.
You know there’s a homicide coming, but you won’t know who the victim is until close to the end of the episode.
One man, three trials, and a multimillion-dollar murder defense
Suzanne Hamlin
It was 1979, and T. Cullen Davis found himself in a courtroom yet again. He had been there for divorce proceedings, a murder case, a civil trial, and a case related to a murder-for-hire plot involving his ex-wife, the divorce judge, and 13 other people. He hoped that his fortune might save him again. Long before OJ Simpson, Cullen tested the waters. Could money buy an acquittal?
The Shooting at Stonegate Mansion
On August 2, 1976, 35-year-old Priscilla Davis returned from a night out with her 30-year-old boyfriend Stan Farr to a $6 million mansion in the upscale neighborhood of Stonegate in Ft. Worth, Texas. She had built the five-bedroom mansion with her estranged husband, a husband she would soon divorce. Upon entering the house, Priscilla and Stan were confronted by an intruder in black clothes and a long black wig, who shot them both, Stan four times and Priscilla once in the chest. Wounded, Priscilla fled from the house, just as two family friends, Beverly Bass and Gus “Bubba” Gavrel Jr., arrived. The man in black shot at them both and wounded Bubba, who ended up paralyzed.
Stan was pronounced dead, but he wasn’t the only casualty. The police found Priscilla’s 12-year-old daughter, Andrea Wilborn, dead in the basement, shot once in the chest. Priscilla, Beverly, and Bubba had all seen—and recognized—the shooter: Priscilla’s soon-to-be ex-husband, 43-year-old oil magnate T. Cullen Davis.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. “Priscilla Davis arrives with one of her attorneys, Jerry Lofton.” UTA Libraries Digital Gallery. 1978. Accessed August 12, 2023.
Married in 1968, Priscilla and Cullen divorced after six years of marriage and a history of Cullen’s alleged domestic abuse against Priscilla and her daughter Dee. Cullen was worth millions as the co-owner of the energy corporation Kendavis Industries International. Priscilla sued for $50 million in the divorce, and the day of the shooting, the divorce judge had significantly increased her alimony. A motive, perhaps?
Bolstered by the statements of Priscilla and the other witnesses to the shooting, as well as Cullen’s lack of an alibi, prosecutors charged him with the murder of Priscilla’s daughter Andrea, planning to prosecute him for the murder of Stan and the attempted murders of Priscilla, Beverly, and Bubba in subsequent trials. But what seemed like an open-and-shut case evolved into a shocking legal saga.
The First Trial: The Murder of Andrea Wilborn
Cullen hired the best defense attorneys a rich man can buy, led by well-known lawyer Richard “Racehorse” Haynes, and the capital murder trial began in 1977. After the prosecution laid out its argument and the testimony of the three eyewitnesses, Beverly, Bubba, and Priscilla, the defense claimed that Priscilla lied in a ploy to get Cullen’s money, colluding with Beverly and Bubba when identifying him as the shooter. They painted her as a promiscuous junkie who abused prescription drugs, so her testimony could not be reliable. They supported this unnecessary victim-blaming with an argument that the real target of the shooting was Stan. And besides, there was no physical evidence that Cullen was the shooter. Not to mention his alibi, they said. His girlfriend (and later wife) Karen claimed that he had been home asleep the whole time, contradicting what she first told the police, that he hadn’t been home at all.
In a surprising verdict. Cullen was acquitted. One juror reportedly said that rich men don’t kill their wives, but hire someone else to do it. Maybe they do, if they have enough money for an expensive defense.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. “Cullen Davis leaves Civil Court with Karen Master.” UTA Libraries Digital Gallery. 1978. Accessed August 28, 2023
But the story didn’t end there. Cullen was found not liable in Priscilla’s civil trial against him over Andrea Wilborn’s death.
As the divorce proceedings between Priscilla and Cullen continued, the FBI learned—just nine months later—of a murder-for-hire plot by Cullen to kill 15 others, including Priscilla, Beverly, Bubba, and the divorce judge.
In a sting operation, the FBI faked the judge’s death and took photos to show Cullen proof of the deed when he met with his friend and employee David McCrory, who he had convinced to help him, or so he thought. They wired McCrory up for audio as he met Cullen in a car to discuss who should be killed next, and the entire conversation was caught on tape. “You want Beverly Bass killed next—quick, right?” McCrory asked. Cullen answered, “All right.” Cullen gave McCrory $25,000 to continue the murderous plot.
Prosecutors charged Cullen with solicitation to commit murder, and with the audio evidence, the verdict seemed obvious.
The Second and Third Trials: The Murder-for-Hire Plot
Backed by the same defense team, Cullen stood trial for the murder-for-hire plot in 1979. But the trial resulted in a deadlocked jury, and the judge declared a mistrial.
Determined to win a guilty verdict, the prosecution retried the case. In the second trial, the defense brought in a linguist, Dr. Roger Chye, who analyzed the audio recording and made a creative claim that Cullen was talking about sunglasses, not murder, when he replied, “Good,” to McCrory telling him that he killed the divorce judge. In fact, they contended, Cullen’s reply was actually about finding his sunglasses, not murder.
FBI recording of the murder-for-hire plot
The defense added that Priscilla conspired with McCrory to set Cullen up. They said that Cullen only met with McCrory after an FBI agent called to tell him to play along. It was supposedly an extortion conspiracy against Cullen by McCrory and Priscilla to frame him. But, the prosecution asked, where was this FBI agent? And why didn’t Cullen notify the police or even tell them of the plot when he was arrested? Testifying in his own defense, Cullen claimed he eventually realized that the informant wasn’t associated with the FBI.
But those details didn’t matter. The jury acquitted him. Chief prosecutor Jack Strickland said, “I don’t know if it is possible to convict Cullen Davis. It makes me wonder whether there is a dual standard.” It was the only explanation in an unexplainable set of events. How could someone evade justice that many times?
For Cullen, the price for getting away with murder is estimated between $10 and $13 million. He gave up on murder, finally, perhaps because he no longer wanted to buy his acquittals, and he became a born-again Christian. It’s not surprising that he found God after eluding the law three times. Priscilla received a divorce settlement of $3.3 million, and Cullen filed for bankruptcy in 1987 amidst a poor economy, and his company closed. He became a salesman.
Watch the T. Cullen Davis Case
The case is covered in American Justice (Season 16, Episode 8), Behind Mansion Walls (Season 1, Episode 5),48 Hours (Season 29, Episode 41), and Dominick Dunne: Power, Privilege & Justice (Season 3, Episode 3). Priscilla and Cullen both appear in American Justice, and Cullen protests his innocence, of course.
Take a narrator with a generic Southern accent, add a few Southern turns of phrases, mix in some homicide cases, and you get Southern Fried Homicide.
This charming little true crime show features cases that all took place in the South, and it isn’t as intense as some other shows, even though some of the cases are quite shocking. It includes some serial killers and a lot of cases covered on other series.
The Southern-tinged narration is accompanied by re-creations, commentary by detectives and victims’ loved ones, and some police interviews. From poisonings, to murder-for-hire, to jealousy and greed-based cases, episodes will have you vigorously fanning your face and saying, “Oh my!”
The Show Elements
Seasons: 3 (2013-2016)
Where to stream: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Amazon Prime Video, Max, Discovery+
More shows like Southern Fried Homicide:Sins of the South, Homicide City: Charlotte, Homicide Squad: Atlanta, Murder Nation: Blood on the Bayou, The Real Murders of Atlanta, Serial Killer Capital: Baton Rouge, Southern Gothic
True Crime Docket 