Cold Case — Season 1
All 23 episodes in airing order, with first-run dates and viewer ratings.
- 01
Detective Lilly Rush from Philadelphia Homicide reopens a 1976 murder case involving two wealthy families when the former housekeeper, who is now old and dying of cancer, comes forward claiming to have witnessed the murder of a young teenage girl who was found dead near a party hosted by her two wealthy brothers.
- 02
Lilly investigates a 1983 murder in which a young mother was killed by a homemade bomb packed in a laundry-detergent box shortly before she was to testify in court against a man who exposed himself to her.
- 03
A serial rapist who terrorized the city five years earlier, leaving one woman dead, sends a letter to the detective squad letting them know that he is back and ready to strike again.
- 04
Lilly reopens a 1990 homicide, in which a church organist was found stabbed to death in his van surrounded by pornography and drugs in a seedy part of town, after the man's Alzheimer's-afflicted widow begins to have flashbacks about the night of the crime.
- 05
Lilly reopens a 1973 murder case, in which a 21-year-old rookie cop was shot three times in the chest, after a drug addict brings in an audio tape she found on which the fatal shooting is heard. Also on the tape are the victim's final words "Runner! Runner! Runner!"
- 06
Lilly gets a cocky new partner, Scotty Valens, just as she reopens a 1981 homicide involving a 16-year-old female track star who was fatally shot. The investigation is renewed after a felon, who is trying to get a reduced sentence, tells officers he saw a student washing blood out of a car the night of the murder.
- 07
Lilly reopens a 1964 homicide case in which a college baseball player who was homosexual was beaten to death outside of a gay club. The dead man's now elderly and ill mother, who seeks closure before she dies, is the reason the investigation is renewed. Lilly's probe soon turns up some disturbing evidence that indicates cops routinely raided gay bars in the 1960s and beat the patrons.
- 08
Lilly tries to solve a 2001 case in which a woman and her 6-year-old daughter mysteriously fell from an apartment window. The girl died, and the mother survived but lapsed into a coma. When the woman suddenly wakes up, she remembers little of that night except that someone was out to hurt them.
- 09
Lilly gets an anonymous phone call from a man claiming he killed an elderly woman back in 1989 and buried her body in the basement of a house. When Lilly checks the dwelling, a body is recovered, but the alleged murderer refuses to identify himself.
- 10
Lilly reopens the 1997 murder of a 20-year-old college student who, while hitchhiking home after a big gambling win in Atlantic City, was taken into a wooded area and shot to death. The case is reinvestigated when a similar homicide takes place in Delaware and matches another one in New Jersey, prompting police to believe that a serial killer may be responsible.
- 11
A college professor, who lost his job and family after being suspected of murdering one of his students in 1995, comes forward with new information on the crime that he hopes will clear his name and allow him to regain his teaching position. He believes the student's death is connected to the recent murder of a prostitute who was killed in a similar manner.
- 12
Stillman asks Lilly to reopen a case he originally investigated in 1980 involving an 8-year-old boy who was murdered in an alley while heading home from a five-and-dime store. The probe centers on a priest and a trio of black teens, who may have threatened the boy.
- 13
Lilly reopens the 1939 murder case of a 25-year-old black woman after the woman's granddaughter comes forward with new information about the crime contained in letters the victim wrote stating that she was afraid of a milkman.
- 14
The 1958 death of an unknown 6-year-old boy found in a field inside a cardboard box is reinvestigated after a small suitcase with the child's picture and his old cowboy hat is left in front of a church. The new probe reveals that the rowdy boy lived at a Catholic-run orphanage and was adopted two days before his suspicious demise.
- 15
The body of a champion disco dancer who died in a 1978 club fire, along with 22 others, is found beneath the building's ruins, but with a gunshot wound to the head. The investigation reveals the fire was arson, intended to cover up the murder, and that there are several suspects who had both motive and opportunity.
- 16
The bodies of a white woman and a black man who both went missing in 1969 are discovered wrapped in plastic under a building's foundation at a construction site. The investigation reveals the two were involved with an underground abortion clinic and may have been targets of the FBI.
- 17
The Lost Soul of Herman Lester
The 1987 murder of a high-school basketball phenom is reopened after the victim's son, also a top prospect, receives a phone threat that he'll be killed just like his dad was if he plays in the state-championship game. The caller includes information about the killing that is known only by the police. The investigation focuses on a disgruntled former player who was suspended from the team shortly before the murder.
- 18
Lilly investigates an unsolved hit-and-run accident from New Year's Eve 1999 that left a man dead, after a recovering alcoholic comes forward and claims she is the one who hit him. But the evidence points to the guy being murdered, not accidentally run down.
- 19
The shooting death of a man in his driveway is connected to the unsolved 1992 murder of a Democratic campaign worker whose lifeless body was thrown into a nearby river on election night. The investigation centers on the relationship the dead woman had with a present-day congressman. Apparently, the victim in the current homicide probed into the earlier slaying and discovered damning new evidence. Elsewhere, Lilly spies Kite flirting with a new ADA and gets jealous.
- 20
The 1985 murder of a corrupt stockbroker who swindled thousands of people out of their money is reopened after one of the dead man's protégés comes forward with new information, which he's willing to exchange for a lighter sentence now that he's in trouble with the law. He claims that shortly before the murder, he overheard one of the cheated investors threaten the broker, but the investigation reveals that several people wanted the man dead.
- 21
The 1989 murder of a young mother is reopened when the woman's teenage son, who witnessed the crime when he was 3 years old, is brought in for petty theft and starts talking. The investigation reveals that the boy's slain mom may not have been who she claimed to be.
- 22
The 1999 drowning death of a military academy's swim coach, which was originally ruled as accidental, is reinvestigated after the homicide division receives a note that suggests it was murder. Back at the office, Valens searches for Elisa after she goes missing.
- 23
As the first season ends, Lilly reopens a 1986 case in which a 15-year-old girl was killed at a popular lovers lane: DNA evidence has revealed that an innocent man was convicted of the crime. The new investigation turns the spotlight on several men who were attracted to the teen and may have had motive to kill her.
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