Episode
Forensic Files: Badge of Betrayal
Overview
The body of a young California co-ed was found under an isolated ramp of the Interstate, and San Diego police had no idea who would want this girl dead. But their questions would be answered when they discovered a tiny, unique fiber on the victim's clothing, which led them straight to the most unlikely of killers.
Details
- Series
- Forensic Files
- Season
- Season 9
- Episode
- Episode 18
- Air date
- 2004-09-22
- Runtime
- 23 min
Episode context
Badge of Betrayal is Episode 18 in Season 9 of Forensic Files. It aired on 2004-09-22. The runtime is 23 min.
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Episode 17: Buried Treasure
A man disappears one year to the day after beginning an affair with his friend's wife. 15 years later, with the help of a metal detector, police found evidence which would prove what had happened, and who was responsible.
Episode 19: Deadly Matrimony
A go-go dancer told her family she needed to get away for a while, and then she simply disappeared. Investigators were suspicious, because she took neither her car nor her clothes. The next twenty years passed slowly, and the family began to think they might never know what happened until they received a phone call which changed everything.
More episodes from this season
Episode 16: Cries Unheard
A 19-year-old woman was found dead in her car; the scene had been staged to appear to be suicide. During their investigation, police discovered the victim was involved in a love quadrangle, giving several people motive to kill. The killer's identity would be revealed by a piece of evidence found in a suspect's trash. [also marked as S9:E18]
Episode 20: Muddy Waters
A Colorado hunter who'd been shot three times and killed was the victim of a well planned crime, not an accidental shooting. Investigators found a .243 calibre bullet in his lung and a .308 calibre shell casing near his body, and suspected they were looking for two murder weapons, and two killers. But analysis of the forensic evidence pointed them in a different direction one much closer to home.
Episode 15: Pinned by the Evidence
After a street fight took the life of a national wrestling champion, police had to determine if he was killed in cold blood, or in self-defense. A jury decided it was murder, and sentenced the accused to a minimum of twenty years in prison. Six years later, he was granted another trial; a forensic animator, who testified on his behalf, offered a different explanation for the most damning piece of evidence. [also marked as S9:E17]
Episode 21: Point of Origin
In 1984, California firefighters had battled ten arson fires in three weeks. When cigarettes and a scrap of paper connected the southern California fires to several fires further north, the hunt was on for a dangerous pyromaniac. Investigators finally found a fingerprint, and it pointed to a most unlikely suspect.
Episode 14: Over a Barrel
California police had several suspects in the robbery and brutal murder of an elderly couple. Unfortunately, the forensic evidence was inconclusive, and the crime went unsolved. Ten years later, a determined forensic scientist used material from a dentist's office to uncover ballistic evidence which had been overlooked. He not only solved the crime, he also made scientific history.
Episode 22: Seeds for Doubt
In 2002, a small community in upstate New York was devastated when Patty Wlasiuk died when their truck went into a lake, from which her husband Peter stated he narrowly escaped. Investigators initially thought alcohol was to blame, but blood tests proved the victim was not intoxicated. Burdock seed pods found in her hair and on her clothes would indicate that this was no acciden - it was cold-blooded murder.
Episode 13: A Daughter's Journey
Haunted by the disappearance of her mother some twenty years earlier, a young woman undertook an investigation of her own. Her mother's diary was in the now cold case file; there, in her mother's own handwriting, she discovered a dark family secret, which might have been the reason her mother vanished.
Episode 23: Saving Face
When a woman disappeared without a trace, there were two possible explanations: kidnapping or murder. Concern was heightened when police learned that two other women had vanished under similar circumstances. Careful investigation, the talents of a forensic artist, and DNA profiling enabled police to link the crimes to a single suspect – an immigrant known to prey upon vulnerable women. [also marked as S9:E25]
Episode 12: Financial Downfall
A vibrant young woman falls to her death from a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean In what appears to be a tragic accident; a forensic examination of photographs taken at the scene tell a different story. [also marked as S9:E14]
Episode 24: Northern Exposure
Hikers near Anchorage, Alaska discovered a body wrapped in sheets edged in orange stitching. Authorities hydrated the fingers and obtained a fingerprint, enabling them to identify the victim. Clinging to the sheet, they also discovered a tuft of red carpet fibers – threads of evidence, which led them straight to the killer. [also marked as S9:E30]