The 10 Best Cold Case Episodes
For lovers of true crime, finding new cases to delve into is an eternal struggle. The Cold Case Files podcast — an audio-only version of the hit A&E show, hosted by Brooke Gittings and featuring the voice of original Cold Case Files host Bill Kurtis — is full of hard-to-solve murder cases that left investigators stumped. For the best episodes, check out this list, compiled with the help of Podyssey’s community of podcast lovers, and learn all about the breakthroughs that allowed the killers to finally be caught.
Last Updated: Jul 29th, 2021
1) A Family Secret
Highschooler Jessica Dishon didn’t show up for work one day and the police insisted that she likely just ran away. Her family didn’t believe the police, because in Jessica’s car, they found one of her shoes and her phone with 911 partially dialed. Her body was shortly discovered, but it took 14 years and multiple suspects before this cold case was finally solved through a horrifying family secret.
altaika recommended:
What a shoking story for true crime fans. I liked how it's narrated.
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.2) A Family Cursed
Zilpha was Jeremiah’s young aunt and they were best friends. One day, Jeremiah vanished, but authorities were convinced that he was likely on a beach in Mexico enjoying sunshine. His aunt, however, knew viscerally that something was wrong. She had a freaky nightmare about his favorite nephews murder to confirm her spidey sense. Less than a year later, she perishes like Jeremiah. From the telepathic dreams to the strange coincidences, the mystery of this duo family murder makes it a best Cold Case episode.
3) Sweethearts, Silenced
Tim Hack and Kelly Drew were high school sweethearts destined to get married. That is, until they failed to show up at a friend’s wedding reception and seemingly vanished into thin air. Some believed the young lovers eloped, but their families doubted that explanation and launched their own investigation and search parties. A torn pair of pants and some Milwaukee squirrel hunters will confront the families with their worst fears that lasted a decade long before they found closure.
4) Most Notorious: The Shopping Cart Killer
A teenage Latina girl was buzzed into her building, but she never turned up at her family’s apartment. Her dead body was found along the footpath near the FDR Drive in Manhattan. She suffered a stab wound, but there was mysteriously no blood, just a single foreign pubic hair. Who was the killer? A neighbor? The obsessive owner of a local grocer mart? Or someone else? Six years later, a body was set ablaze on an East Harlem rooftop, which slowly revealed the damning deeds of a serial killer connecting two of these cold cases.
5) She Never Came Home
The quiet town of Pleasanton, California was just that — pleasant. It’s a community where people can leave their windows open and doors unlocked until a brutal murder of a fourteen year old girl shocked the town. Tina Faelz was found stabbed 44 times and left dead in an underpass that was on her route home. That day, the teenager opted out of a school bus ride that day to avoid the mean girls that wanted to kill her. This was an unusual cold case, because so many people were suspects making it difficult for authorities to figure out who the actual killer was. Perhaps the purse on the tree at the crime scene will reveal some clues.
AUDIO REMOVED: The podcast creator has removed the audio for this episode.6) Brooke's Top 10: The Night Shift
In 1984, two college students went to grab gas and cigarettes at a local gas station after a long night of studying. They were met with an unusual gas attendant with scary eyes who handed them bloodied dollar bills for change. Little did they know, police would find a dead teenager with horrific injuries in the back of the gas station a few hours later. Even with two eye witnesses, it took over two decades and new forensic technology before this cold case was solved. Listen to this vicious murder case and how investigators finally figured out the murderer’s identity.
7) Brooke's Top 10: The Weepy-Voiced Killer
A weepy voice mysteriously called the police every time he murdered a woman in Minneapolis. In a high pitched voice, the murderer would desperately cry that he “couldn’t help” killing the women. Countless victims lay in his wake with cracked skulls and dozens of fatal stab wounds. A police appeal to the public to identify this anonymous voice reveals more suspects than they could handle. Who is the weepy voiced serial killer who kept admitting to his crimes? Find out in this best episode of Code Case Files.
8) Brooke's Top 10: A Map to Murder
Little Toby Travis grew up in a public housing project in a small town near the Mississippi River. Few would know that he would become the serial killer Maury Travis who targeted vulnerable women. He violently raped, murdered, and tortured 12 women who could not be identified by police. The case takes a surprising turn when a mysterious map provides clues that led to the eventual arrest of Travis. Hear this heartbreaking case and complicated case of serial murder.
9) Most Notorious: Crimes of the Klan
Civil rights activist, NAACP chapter President, and successful Mississippi business owner Vernon Dahmer was an exemplary community leader admired by many. In 1966, he declared that he would pay the poll tax (a tax for Black to vote) for any Black person that wanted to vote but couldn’t afford it. Not everyone was a fan of his kindness, especially the local KKK. That night, Klansmen firebombed Dahmer’s home and left him for dead. This historical true crime is an important story about a man that wanted to help all people, but died trying.
10) Brooke's Top 10: Mommy's Rules
A couple was on their way to Lake Tahoe when they found the body of a woman smoldering in a large bonfire. The victim's face and fingerprints were gruesomely obscured leaving her unidentifiable. Another couple went for an early fishing expedition at Lake Tahoe and fished out a box that they described as “smell[ing] like tragedy”. In it, they found the body of another unidentifiable woman’s body that was crawling with maggots. Years later, a third woman calls the police and says she knows who the two dead women were and their possible killer.