Episode
Forensic Files: Quite a Spectacle
Overview
It was one of the most unusual cases in forensic history. Investigators had to find a way to solve a murder case with evidence which consisted of a squashed tomato found at the crime scene, and tiny, pinpoint reflections of light in a photograph. Would it be enough to catch a killer?
Details
- Series
- Forensic Files
- Season
- Season 12
- Episode
- Episode 5
- Air date
- 2007-10-31
- Runtime
- 23 min
Episode context
Quite a Spectacle is Episode 5 in Season 12 of Forensic Files. It aired on 2007-10-31. The runtime is 23 min.
Previous / Next
Episode 4: Wheel of Misfortune
Security cameras in a casino tracked a young woman's movements until shortly before she disappeared. She was never seen again, but through the evidence she left behind, she was able to tell investigators what happened to her and who was responsible.
Episode 6: Transaction Failed
When a dedicated, well-respected teacher disappeared, police had to determine if she'd gone on vacation without telling anyone, or if she was the victim of foul play. Investigators turned to forensic science, hoping to find the answers they needed.
More episodes from this season
Episode 3: Cold Hearted
When a young fireman died from what appeared to be serious but undiagnosed heart disease, his family and friends were devastated but they had no proof of foul play. Then they learned that, six years earlier in a nearby town, a young police officer died in the same way. The men had one thing in common: at the time of their deaths, they were married to the same woman.
Episode 7: The Day the Music Died
Seattle police had no suspects in the violent murder of post-grunge singer, Mia Zapata. More than a decade would pass before the evidence collected by an extraordinarily prescient medical examiner could be used by forensic scientists to identify the killer.
Episode 2: Insulated Evidence
It's usually easy to determine how a criminal entered the crime scene. But in this case, it was far from clear. It looked like the killer vanished into thin air...and perhaps he had.
Episode 8: Sole Survivor
A Michigan State University grad student disappeared and was presumed dead. With the help of a professor of geological sciences, police hoped to get the "dirt" on her killer.
Episode 1: Sharper Image
When a young girl was found dead, police quickly arrested the most likely suspect. But cutting-edge technology from NASA enabled a forensic odontologist to prove the wrong man was behind bars. With the killer still on the loose, the investigation was far from over.
Episode 9: Insignificant Others
How unlucky could one man be? His wife had taken her own life, and his college sweetheart had killed herself in much the same fashion fourteen years earlier. Investigators had to determine if this was a bizarre coincidence, or an attempt to get away with murder... twice.
Episode 10: Catch 22
In 1996, 54-year-old Gayle Isleib was ambushed in her Manchester, Connecticut driveway and shot to death. During their investigation, police learned that her 25-year-old co-worker Tyrone Montgomery was in love with her and that she had spurned his advances. They now had to determine if love had turned into obsession... and a motive for murder.
Episode 11: A Cinderella Story
The victim had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death on the beach, just ten yards from the hotel where she was staying. A pair of men's tennis shoes was discovered near her body. Police were sure that if they found the man who fit the shoes, they would also find the man who committed the crime.
Episode 12: Screen Pass
A 13-year-old girl went missing from her Colorado home, and the only evidence the kidnapper left behind was three fingerprints on a window screen. Two years later, a latent print examiner, new to the county and the crime lab, changed the course of the investigation by sharing a little-known fact with his colleagues.
Episode 13: Pressed for Crime
A brutal murder, lots of suspects, and conflicting evidence but the forensics were clear on one thing - the killer knew his victim and that alone gave investigators a head start.