Episode
Forensic Files: Critical Maneuver
Overview
When a hit-and-run accident claimed the life of a high school athlete, everyone in town mourned his passing. Finding the killer was a long shot at best, but investigators hoped tiny paint chips and pieces of plastic found at the scene would lead them to the person who was behind the wheel.
Details
- Series
- Forensic Files
- Season
- Season 11
- Episode
- Episode 32
- Air date
- 2007-02-21
- Runtime
- 23 min
Episode context
Critical Maneuver is Episode 32 in Season 11 of Forensic Files. It aired on 2007-02-21. The runtime is 23 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 31: Muffled Cries
After inspecting storm damage to a home in Tampa, FL, the insurance assessor simply disappeared. Thirty hours later, her body was found in a nearby river. But the killer had been careless, using a murder weapon so unique and leaving behind clues so blatant that police would have no trouble tracking him down.
Episode 33: Skirting the Evidence
In 1996, Shannon Sanderson goes the casino without her husband Robert and wins $5,000 at the Blackjack tables. Three hours later, she is abducted by a man driving a Chevy Beretta and a month later, she was found dead. The trail turned cold, until police got a call from a woman who suspected her husband, who had a criminal past.
More episodes from this season
Episode 30: A Tight Leash
How did a stalker obtain the security system code for his victim's home? How did he steal her personal photographs? Police needed answers, and they found them in the most unlikely of places: the letters he wrote to frighten the victim and taunt those trying to protect her.
Episode 34: Small Town Terror
In 1991, Grand Junction, Colorado is on edge after a series of deadly bombings which has killed 2 and injured one more and police race to find the culprit before he strikes again. Ultimately, it was the bombs themselves, along with the tools used to make them, which led investigators to the perpetrator.
Episode 29: As the Tide Turns
The woman was dead. The man had been shot four times but he survived. When the man's version of events was at variance with the evidence, investigators turned to forensic science, hoping to determine if this was a botched robbery, or cold-blooded murder.
Episode 35: Fresh Heir
Lives changed in the 20 years following an unsolved murder, and so did forensic science. In time, a high-powered microscope and DNA profiling revealed not only a clue no one had seen before but also the identity of the killer.
Episode 28: If I Were You
In 1994, Paul Gruber's daughter suspected something was wrong when she received birthday cards addressed from Gruber, on which the handwriting wasn't Gruber's. When she then learned virtually everything had been removed from her father's Sandpoint, ID home, she was sure of it. Even though she lived almost a thousand miles away, she took it upon herself to find out what happened and who was responsible.
Episode 36: Ticker Tape
A lifelong resident of the tiny town of Lefroy, Tasmania was murdered outside his own home. Robbery appeared to be the motive, but with no suspects, the investigation came to a halt. Then the victim's autopsy turned the investigation into a landmark forensics case: the device intended to save his life proved to be the only witness to his death.
Episode 27: Killer Impression
In 1987, the death of Crystal Purcell was considered an accident. Then in 2001, Barbara Purcell called police to suggest that her estranged husband Willard had killed Crystal, who was her husband at the time of her death. Before that investigation could begin, Barbara was found dead in much the same manner as Crystal. Was this an unfortunate coincidence or the M.O. of a serial killer?
Episode 37: Step by Step
When a wealthy socialite died after falling down the stairs, the eye witnesses said one thing and the evidence seemed to indicate another. To find out what really happened, investigators turned to forensic science, a physicist and an expert in accident reconstruction.
Episode 26: Ring Him Up
In 1994, 19-year-old college co-ed Shannon Melendi disappeared while at Emory University in Atlanta. For ten years, her disappearance of remained a mystery, until new scientific testing cast a different light on someone who had been a suspect from the beginning.
Episode 38: Blanket of Evidence
In 1997, Kelly Eckart's car was found with her belongings still in it, after working the late shift in Franklin, Indiana. Days later, her body was found in an isolated ravine. Tiny clues told police a great deal about the killer: he would own a car with olive-colored carpeting, a white blanket and distinctive bullets made from wax, not lead.