48 Hours

On December 20, 1980, teenage sweethearts Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins were supposed to attend a birthday party but never arrived. 36 hours later their bodies were found by police in a California ravine. The case went unsolved. Then in 2002, using advanced DNA technology, police were able to match samples stored in a FBI database to a convicted rapist. “48 Hours" correspondent Troy Roberts r...

CBS News Correspondent Nikki Batiste and Associate Producer Mike Loftus delve into the case of Morgan Metzer, who was assaulted on New Year’s Day in 2021 by an intruder later identified as her ex-husband, Rod. The team examines Rod’s manipulation tactics, including gaslighting and a fake cancer diagnosis. They also discuss his 9-1-1 call and why investigators thought it was suspicious.

Morgan Metzer is attacked in her home by a masked intruder disguising his voice to sound like Batman. Her ex-husband comes to her aid, but is he a hero? Nikki Battiste reports.

On December 15, 2005, 19-year-old college student and aspiring beauty queen Nona Dirksmeyer was found murdered inside her Russellville, Arkansas apartment. Police believed Nona's boyfriend, Kevin Jones, flew into a murderous rage when he discovered a condom wrapper on her kitchen counter. “48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. This classic "48 Hours" episode last aired on 9/20/2008....

On June 29, 2009, Brian Davis disappeared. According to his wife, Robyn, and her best friend, Carol Saltzman, Brian had left to go boat shopping and never came home. Police soon began to suspect the women when an examination of their cell phone records convinced police that they were lying. The two were both charged with murder when Brian was found shot to death alongside his car on an isolated ro...

In December 1996, Atlanta resident David Coffin returned home from a weekend away with his girlfriend, Megan Lee, to find it had been ransacked and his Porsche was stolen. Two days later, David's house caught on fire and he was found dead inside. Police zeroed in on Scott Davis, Megan's estranged husband, as a suspect when he revealed he knew David died from a gunshot wound and not due to the fire...

On December 2, 2000, Eric Miller died in a Raleigh, NC hospital and blood tests revealed that he had been poisoned with arsenic. Police discovered that Eric’s wife, Ann, was having an affair with her co-worker, Derril Willard. Derril killed himself after being questioned by police, but before he died he had a confidential conversation with his attorney. In the spring of 2004, the North Carolina Su...

On December 3, 1999, a fire ravaged an abandoned warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts and claimed the lives of six firefighters. 37-year-old Tom Levesque and 19-year-old Julie Barnes, an unhoused couple living in the building, were subsequently charged with manslaughter for starting the blaze. “48 Hours" Correspondents Dan Rather and Bill Lagattuta report. This classic "48 Hours" episode last air...

CBS Correspondent Nikki Battiste and 48 Hours Producer Ruth Chenetz discuss the case of Melissa Lamesch who was found dead in her burning home the day before Thanksgiving in 2020. Melissa was also nine months pregnant and had been involved with a firefighter. The team discusses the relationship between the two, the defense’s attempt to cast doubt on the investigation, and the touching story of how...

A young woman is found dead in her burning home. She’d been involved with a firefighter– could he have set a fire to cover her murder? Nikki Battiste reports.

In 1992, 19-year-old Mischelle Lawless' bloodied body was found in an abandoned car on a desolate strip of highway in Benton, Missouri. Four months into the investigation, investigators got a break: 17-year-old Joshua Kezer had been held briefly in the county jail on assault charges, where, according to several inmates, he confessed to killing Lawless. Kezer was convicted and sentenced to 60 years...

Marine wife Erin Corwin was just 19 years old when she disappeared in California’s Joshua Tree National Park. Nearly two months later, her body was found in an abandoned mine in the unforgiving desert, and suspicions quickly fell on a fellow Marine. Here’s the first episode of the new series, “48 Hours: NCIS”, which merges the award-winning journalism of one of the most celebrated true crime news...

A promising young athlete is murdered. Her suspected killer disappears and an international manhunt by U.S. Marshals begins. Jonathan Vigliotti reports. 

In November 2000, bank manager and single mother Michelle Renee was in her Vista, California, home with her seven-year-old daughter Breea, when three masked gunmen broke into the house. The gunmen held them captive overnight, and in the morning strapped dynamite onto their backs. Breea was shoved into a closet, while Michelle was ordered to rob the bank where she worked. She obeyed, and the next m...

When Alyssa Burkett was murdered outside her workplace in Texas, authorities quickly zeroed in on her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Beard. But nearly three years after the murder, the FBI arrested another unlikely suspect. 48 Hours Correspondent Peter Van Sant is joined by Producers Liza Finley and Gabby Demirdjian to break down the evidence against Andrew’s former fiancée, Holly. They discuss the damning...

A toxic couple orchestrates an elaborate plan to kill a mother. Peter Van Sant reports.

A report on the criminal justice system’s 50-year pursuit of serial killer Rodney James Alcala. From his 1968 abduction, rape and attempted murder of 8-year old Tali Shapiro in Los Angeles; to his 2010 conviction -- with the help of advances in DNA technology -- for the kidnapping, rape and murder of five California women; and to the subsequent discovery of other murders attributed to Alcala in Ne...

Correspondent Natalie Morales and Producers Jenna Jackson and Mary Murphy examine the DNA technology that cracked the cold case of Mary Catherine Edwards’ murder. They discuss a detective and genetic genealogist who sifted through nearly 7,500 names on a family tree to identify a single killer, Clayton Foreman, and how police and a Texas Ranger arrested him. They also discuss how the Smith & W...

A schoolteacher is murdered in her own home. Years later investigators discover she was a bridesmaid at the killer's wedding. Natalie Morales reports.

Patrick Bradford, a married police officer in Evansville, Indiana, was convicted and sentenced to 80 years in prison for stabbing Tammy Lohr, his 24-year-old mistress, to death and then setting her body on fire. Determined to win his acquittal, Deborah Nolan, a close friend and staunch supporter of Bradford’s, quit her teaching job and went to law school in order to be able to take on his defense....

48 Hours Correspondent Erin Moriarty and Producer Paul La Rosa go behind the scenes of their report on the shooting of Leslie Reeves and Chris Smith, who were attacked while on their first date by Leslie’s jealous ex-lover, Bobby Tarr. Erin and Paul delve into Chris’s journey as a survivor, Leslie’s courageous attempts to escape her relationship from Tarr, and the heroic story of Chris’s dog, Tiki...

A couple’s first date ends with an ambush. Both are shot. Can the only survivor identify the shooter? Erin Moriarty reports.

When Vicki Wegerle, the mother of two young children, was strangled in Wichita, Kansas, in 1986, her husband Bill was considered by many to be the prime suspect. For the next 18 years, police lacked evidence to charge Bill, or anyone else with Vicki’s murder. Subsequently, a desire for recognition led Dennis Rader, aka the BTK (bind, torture, kill) killer, to fall into a police trap and supply the...

CBS News Correspondent Natalie Morales and 48 Hours Producer Betsy Shuller go behind their report on the murder of Alex Pennig. When Alex was discovered dead in her bathroom her friend, Matthew Ecker, called 9-1-1 and claimed she shot herself, but detectives uncovered a different story. The team discusses the bodycam footage of first responders interviewing Ecker just minutes after Alex's death, t...

A nurse is found dead in her apartment. Surveillance video captures her coming home for the last time. Can investigators piece together what happened next? Natalie Morales reports.