F2: Forensic Factor - Episode Guide

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.

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 behavior is as specific as a signature. Sophisticated crime fighters map the psychological and physical terrain of multiple murderers.

From the tips of their ears to the soles of their feet - criminals are betrayed by the clues their own bodies leave behind. A killer's ear against a wall, his hand on a door, the path that he walks - even the slightest impressions left at the scene help crime fighters find their man.

Weapons are the hallmark of violent crime, tools designed to harm - or kill. Forensic science has developed a world of techniques for tracking and identifying these devices. Blood spatter, explosive residue, ballistics and trauma wounds tell crime scene investigators their deadly story.

Criminals attempt to cover their trails using fire, water, or by chopping their victims to pieces, but they can't escape modern forensic science.

Can the sound of a suspect's voice reveal his lie? Can the crucial moment of crime, buried deep in damaged video, be revealed? Can computers isolate a guilty face in a crowd? No longer science fiction, these are the high-tech tools of the forensics trade.

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.

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 both heated rage and cold calculation.

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.

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 evidence.

A homicide in Decatur, Illinois in 1996 involves a young woman, her ex-husband and her in-laws.

Karyn Slover is a pretty, small-town dreamer who's finally got her big break. She's been offered work as a model by an agency in Los Angeles. Now she can move away with her three-year old son, Kolten, leaving her friends, ex-husband, and current boyfriend behind. She leaves her desk at the local newspaper at 5 PM and is never heard from again.

Millionaire Frank Black boards a commercial flight and disappears into thin air. The workaholic, business 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!!

Explosive experts sifting through bomb evidence discover a more insidious plan.

Spotlighting the tools that are used by forensic investigators.

After the owner of a private school for Asian students vanishes from his driveway, police scramble to find him. The search grows desperate as time begins to run out on the diabetic man who is desperately in need of his medication. Investigators soon have their answer - he has been kidnapped. Now, can they save him before it is too late?

The murder of a gay couple in rural California has police stymied - who would want to hurt the well-liked pair? As investigators and forensic scientists dig deeper, they suspect that the killings are linked to a series of arsons that have destroyed several synagogues and an abortion clinic. The trail leads them to the sinister world of hate crimes -- and a chilling plan that must be stopped.

The discovery of an abandoned suitcase containing a young Asian woman's body leads North Yorkshire police to London. But instead of answers, the mystery only deepens when they discover that a second woman is missing. The killer's trail leads investigators and forensic scientists halfway around the world - only to discover that the key to unlocking the mystery has been under their noses all along.

Four brutal murders in one bloody weekend devastate the small town of Barrie, Ontario. The prime suspects, three violent, escaped convicts, are on the loose. But while police conduct a massive manhunt, they begin to discover that the evidence isn't adding up. As the frightened city demands answers, detectives and forensic scientists find themselves in a desperate race to find those responsible.

Investigators are drawn into the dark world of high-end prostitution, illegal aliens and Russian organized crime.

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.

For 23 days in October 2002 a sniper terrorizes the Washington DC area, shooting thirteen people and killing ten. The victims are ordinary people doing routine activities. Nothing links them; they are chosen at random. Police mount one of the largest investigations in American history to catch a ruthless and elusive killer. In the end, their most productive clue comes from the sniper himself.

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.

A retired fireman on a morning bike ride notices a burning bundle in a farmer's field...and recognizes the smell of burning human flesh. Investigators at the scene find an unrecognizable body, a distinctive lighter, 2 pairs of latex gloves and the box they came in, paper towels and torn scraps of an office memo.

April 1992. An elderly couple is found dead in the trunk of their car at their home in upscale Toronto. The investigation eventually leads authorities to the couple's vacation home one hour north of the city. Police soon learn of the "House Hermit" - a mysterious intruder breaking into area cottages and camping in them. He becomes the prime suspect in the murders.

The 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia are rocked by a massive pipe bomb explosion. A woman is killed, and hundreds injured. Subsequent bombs at an abortion clinic and a gay bar show a similar M.O. and increasing refinement. Police have no clue who is behind the bombings until they receive a letter signed by 'The Army of God', an anti-abortion, anti-gay, white supremacist group.

A sniper targeting abortion doctors turns murderous and a DNA "needle in a haystack" identifies the gunman.

A serial rapist reign of terror that spans more than eighteen years. He stalks and preys on elderly women living in Colchester, Ontario. Only a revolution in forensic science can catch the elusive attacker.

Top criminal investigators, forensic scientists and behavioral analysts track three serial killers.

Two mutilated bodies are found in The Eclectic head shop in New Mexico. A year later the gruesome murders have continued, while the killer responsible for the bloody rampage is able to hide within a group of goth youths.

A serial killer in Spokane, Wash. murders prostitutes and leaves a bag with a smiley face on the victim's head.

Investigators work to solve a double homicide in the small town of Hudson, Wisconsin.

Officials look to state-of-the-art DNA analysis to help capture a serial killer in the Louisiana State University area of Baton Rouge.

Knowledge of insects by a forensic entomologist leads police to the killer of a wife and mother of two.

Investigating a series of fires in California's Sam Joaquin Valley that killed four, investigators determine a respected arson investigator may be the arsonist.

Police must use forensic science to solve the mystery of a prominent businessman whose burnt body is discovered.

A phantom white supremacist sect takes credits for bombings and bank robberies in Spokane, Washington, but FBI forensic photo analysts clear the picture.

When the prime subject for four factory deaths has a perfect alibi, investigators use video analysis, timeline reconstruction and a 3-year-old fingerprint to solve the crime.

Sixteen years after a college student is found raped and strangled on a buffalo bike path, DNA technology and other clues help catch the killer.

A Texas playboy is murdered, and police uncover X-rated photos, shocking videos and an object hidden inside the victim's body.

Phoenix police face a unique serial killer team that is stalking and killing innocent people.

Police try to track down the killer of two elderly women.

A killer who leaves messages signed "Jack" terrorizes East Point, Ga.

Police in Abbotsford, B.C. hunt a stalker who has left one teen dead and another barely alive.

Police discover a murdered teenage girl was involved in a love triangle.

A coalition of state, federal and the FBI police agencies join forces to to solve a case.