Episode
Forensic Files: A Leg to Stand On
Overview
The police investigate when a severed leg is discovered in the garbage. Conventional means of identifying the victim are impossible, leading investigators to rely on DNA, forensic anthropology and toxicology to identify the victim. The victim was identified as Norman Klaas and, through forensic investigation of his home, investigators follow the trail of evidence to his killer.
Details
- Series
- Forensic Files
- Season
- Season 7
- Episode
- Episode 14
- Air date
- 2002-07-10
- Runtime
- 23 min
Episode context
A Leg to Stand On is Episode 14 in Season 7 of Forensic Files. It aired on 2002-07-10. The runtime is 23 min.
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Episode 13: A Touching Recollection
An 18-year-old Ohio woman, who is abducted and then released soon afterwards, uses her knowledge of forensics to lead police to the kidnapper.
Episode 15: Partners in Crime
How Illinois scientists solved a 1992 murder case involving cremation. It takes a long time and a very hot fire to cremate a human body, and thus destroy all evidence of foul play, but the coroner who performed the autopsy on the badly burned body of Charles "Jack" Lynch found telltale clues. Not only had the victim been burned, he’d also been stabbed -- 24 times, with two different knives. Police knew that a person, acting alone, would probably use only one weapon. So investigators were on the lookout for a couple of killers.
More episodes from this season
Episode 12: Scout's Honor
In Pennsylvania 1984, a passer-by finds the torso of a woman in a cardboard box. Investigators rely on insect activity analysis by a forensic entomologist to determine when the murder victim was killed. She remained unknown until a year later, when her sister called to report her missing. Eventually she was identified and a man was convicted of her murder, but would further forensic entomology change the outcome?
Episode 16: Within a Hair
A look back at the case of the River Park Rapist, who sexually assaulted four women in South Bend, IN, during 1996. Law enforcement officers arrested Richard Alexander, who was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to 70 years in prison. In 2001, Michael Murphy confessed to one of the two rapes of which Alexander had been convicted and forensic developments reveal new facts about the case.
Episode 11: A Clutch of Witnesses
In January 2001, in Duluth, MN, two people witness a truck driving over an unconscious man twice, and they flee into a nearby bar. When the police turn up, the truck, the victim and the witnesses are gone. The eyewitnesses may hold the key to the death of motorcycle gang member, Erik Schrieffer.
Episode 17: Chief Evidence
The 1996 Seattle murder of suburban couple Raquel Rivera and Jay Johnson is detailed. Investigators first believe the slayings were the result of a drug deal gone bad. However, no drugs are found in the house and the victims' blood isn't present on the clothing of the suspects. Evidence from the couple's dog Chief, who was also killed, eventually ties one of the murderers to the scene. This is one of the first cases where dog DNA was used to convict.
Episode 10: Without a Prayer
In 1995, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the founder of American Atheists, disappears along with one of her sons, her granddaughter, and $500,000 in gold coins. The discovery of a mutilated body helps police catch the culprit.
Episode 18: A Bitter Pill to Swallow
Firefighter Michelle Baker became pregnant by her lover, Dr. Maynard Muntzing. After this news, she was ill whenever they were together. The coincidences led her to suspect that he was doing her harm, so she set out to prove it.
Episode 9: A Shot in the Dark
A woman is found dead from a gunshot wound and police suspect her husband; however, forensic teams prove what really happened and the truth is stranger than fiction. [also marked as S7:E17]
Episode 19: Sip of Sins
A look back at a trio of unsolved murders that occurred in Wichita Falls, Texas during the 1980s, details how a fourth murder from the same time period provided the police with more than they realized. John Little, an investigator for the DA's office, picked up the cold cases years later and made a connection to the other murders.
Episode 8: Bio-Attack
A look into the 1984 Oregon food poisonings, we're detectives track down the outbreak to a cult which aims to use germ warfare to take down the government. [also marked as S7:E16]
Episode 20: Telltale Tracks
The disappearance of Philadelphia college athlete Aimee Willard is investigated after her car was found, still running on the roadside. When her body is found, the police find unusual marks on her body and DNA evidence that eventually lead to her killer.