Episode
People Magazine Investigates: Highway of Horrors
Overview
College student Tammy Zywicki vanishes in 1992 after her car breaks down on the highway. Family and friends scramble to find her, but when her body is found 500 miles from where she vanished there are very few clues pointing to her killer. Police struggle with dead-end leads and suspects who don't pan out. New DNA technology promises to finally crack the case decades later. As her family clings to the last of their hope, the fear is that it may be too little too late for justice.
Details
- Series
- People Magazine Investigates
- Season
- Season 5
- Episode
- Episode 1
- Air date
- 2021-03-22
- Runtime
- 42 min
Episode context
Highway of Horrors is Episode 1 in Season 5 of People Magazine Investigates. It aired on 2021-03-22. The runtime is 42 min.
Previous / Next
More episodes from this season
Episode 3: Flight Risk
Kelsey Berreth, a young mother, and pilot was last heard from on the morning of Thanksgiving 2018. Her fiancé is worried she may have harmed herself after a stressful year. But when police discover blood in an unusual place, they begin to unravel a bizarre story of love, jealousy, and a murder that goes far beyond what anyone in law enforcement could have imagined.
Episode 4: The Delphi Killer
A quiet rural town is rocked when two middle-school girls go on a hike and are later found murdered. But when police discover one of the girls may have recorded her killer with her cellphone, the race is on to find the mysterious man.
Episode 5: Blood Ties
On a snowy night in January 1980, college student Helene Pruszynski disappears after reaching her final bus stop. When her body turns up in a snowy field, police launch a long and frustrating investigation that pushes family and detectives to the brink of hopelessness. Their hope is revived when they discover that cutting-edge forensic genealogy may hold the key to finding Helene's murderer.
Episode 6: The Hollywood Ripper
When Ashley Ellerin is found murdered in her Hollywood bungalow, police zero in on the Hollywood heartthrob she was supposed to have a date with the night she was killed. The case takes a shocking turn as detectives realize Ashley is not the only victim, and discover they are on the hunt for a serial killer. The assailant's victim count grows until one woman manages to fight back so fiercely that he leaves behind critical blood evidence. But will they be able to finally catch him?
Episode 7: Little Girl Gone
In the summer of 2003, the Iron Range of northern Minnesota is a peaceful community where parents let their kids play outside on their own without a second thought. But when five-year-old LeeAnna Warner vanishes without a trace, investigators do a deep dive into the quaint community and realize that some of the familiar faces in the neighborhood may be hiding some disturbing secrets that may never fully be uncovered.
Episode 8: The Price of Fame
In the spring of 2001, former child actor and Baretta star Robert Blake just married Bonny Lee Bakely, the mother of his new baby girl. The couple are out to dinner in Los Angeles when Bakely is murdered in the passenger seat of the couple's car, execution style. Blake seems devastated, but as police investigate, they uncover a tale of a troubled marriage of convenience and a fight for custody that may have led to one of Hollywood's most infamous murders.
Episode 9: A Crimson End
When a woman is found dead in her historic house on Horseshoe Lake, police chase her killer to the water where he drowns. But when the body is recovered, people are shocked to realize this story started 25 years earlier when two other family members were found murdered by the same man.
Episode 10: Is Rodney Reed Innocent?
19-year-old Stacey Stites is found raped and murdered in a small Texas town. After a year-long investigation police match DNA from the scene to a man named Rodney Reed. Reed is convicted and sentenced to death, but in the coming years as Reed proclaims his innocence, certain evidence comes to light that might prove he's telling the truth.
Episode 11: Red Christmas
[Quiet Night, Deadly Night] On December 10, 2003, police respond to a mysterious 911 call at a home in the Walnut Estates in Mansfield, Texas. When authorities enter the home they discover the bloodied bodies of homeowners Rick and Suzy Wamsley. The key to finding the killer is within one of the victim's grasp.
Episode 12: Bible Belt Massacre
Two days before the new millennium, the Freeman family trailer is burned to the ground. The couple's remains are found with bullets to the head, but their teenage daughter and her friend are missing.