Forensic Files has everything anyone could want in a true-crime show: little-known cases, murder mysteries, and sometimes even pretty unexpected twists. Below are some of the most memorable episodes that kept us guessing until the very end.
Who was the real murderer? What was their motive? How did they get away with it for so long? What does the pun in the episode title refer to?
Vote up the twists that surprised you the most.
Vote up the twists that surprised you the most.
1
‘Stranger in the Night’ (Season 13, Episode 11)
The Set-Up: In 1991, someone murdered 70-year-old Dorothy Donovan with a screwdriver. Her son, Charles Holden, claimed a hitchhiker he picked up earlier that night stole the weapon from him after they got into an argument. After the hitchhiker threatened to kill Holden if he didn’t drive him further, Holden managed to escape but didn’t feel comfortable driving directly home in case the hitchhiker followed him.
Holden allegedly drove around town, but when he returned, he saw the same hitchhiker entering his house. Holden claimed the hitchhiker must have killed his mother in an act of revenge.
But investigators questioned how the hitchhiker would have known where Holden lived since he claimed he left the hitchhiker about a half mile away. The murder also struck investigators as a crime of passion, so it was unlikely the culprit was a stranger.
Police then learned Holden had a great deal of farming debt, and receiving money from his mother’s life insurance policy could pay it off. When Holden refused to take a polygraph test, police began to wonder: Did the hitchhiker really exist?
The Twist: Charles Holden was telling the truth. He had picked up Gilbert Cannon, and the two of them had gotten into a fight.
But how did Cannon know where Holden lived? Surprisingly, it was all a coincidence: Cannon broke into Dorothy Donovan’s house thinking it was abandoned, then killed her with Holden’s screwdriver. He only later realized she was Holden’s mother.
2
‘Purebread Murder’ (Season 14, Episode 1)
The Set-Up: When Christina Sanoubane became pregnant during her senior year of high school, she dropped out and moved in with the baby’s father, Jacob Hadley. Hadley, however, was physically abusive to her and even shot her in the face with a pellet gun. Sanoubane eventually moved out.
Four days after the move, Todd Hale, Sanoubane’s friend, stopped by her duplex and, after no one answered the door, climbed in through the window to find Sanoubane dead in the bathtub. Her 2-year-old son was alive and may have witnessed his mother’s murder. Hale ran to a neighbor’s house and asked him to call 911.
Sanoubane had seemingly been stabbed, but no knife was found at the scene of the crime. Strangely, hamburger buns were strewn around the bathroom floor.
Hadley claimed he was half an hour away at the time of the murder, but was he telling the truth? And why was there so much bread at the murder scene?
The Twist: As it turned out, Hadley was telling the truth – he didn’t kill Sanoubane. Instead, the true culprit was the neighbor Hale asked to call 911, Carloss Robinson. Robinson had wrapped the murder weapon in a hamburger bun bag so blood wouldn’t drip on his way home.
He didn’t realize he stepped barefoot onto one of the buns, leaving behind a print that was later used to convict him. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
‘Bad Blood’ (Season 6, Episode 18)
The Set-Up: On Halloween night in 1992, Dr. John Schneeberger allegedly drugged and assaulted his 20-year-old patient, Candy. But when Schneeberger volunteered to get his blood drawn to prove his innocence, his DNA did not match what was found on Candy’s clothing or r*pe kit.
Schneeberger insisted one of the side effects of the drug he’d given Candy was “erotic hallucinations” and that her allegations were just “wild dreams.” Still, Candy believed the first test had somehow been tampered with. So, Schneeberger agreed to a second blood test – this time with police watching. Again, the DNA was not a match.
But after Schneeberger’s stepdaughter claimed he sexually assaulted her, too, a third blood test proved Candy’s allegations were true all along. But since police officers had recorded and monitored the previous tests, how did he pull off giving them the wrong DNA?
The Twist: Before each test, Schneeberger had surgically inserted a tube filled with someone else’s blood into his left arm and insisted that was where the nurse inserted her needle. He was convicted and served time in prison.
‘Grave Danger’ (Season 11, Episode 16)
The Set-Up: Inside a car engulfed in flames, police found the burnt remains of a body, who they identified as Clay Daniels. Several clues at the crime scene led investigators to believe the car had intentionally been set ablaze and pushed off a cliff.
Daniels had recently been convicted of sexually assaulting a 7-year-old family member. Investigators wondered if the victim’s father had intentionally murdered Daniels as revenge.
But when Daniels’s widow, Molly, received $100,000 from his life insurance policy and started dating a new man, Jake Gregg, less than a month after the crash, investigators began questioning if she may have somehow been involved in his death.
So, who killed Daniels? And why?
The Twist: No one. Daniels was still alive and going by Jake Gregg. Originally, police concluded Daniels was the body found in the car based on shoes and other personal items, but DNA proved the remains were not his.
Wanting to avoid jail time and being a registered sex offender, Daniels had faked his death using a body he dug up from a graveyard. He planned to use the money from his life insurance policy to move his family to Mexico and undergo plastic surgery on his face. In the meantime, he dyed his hair as a disguise.
Searches on Molly’s computer proved she was in on the scheme, too. Both were convicted and sent to prison.
‘All Butt Certain’ (Season 12, Episode 19)
The Set-Up: While staying at her grandmother’s house, 6-year-old Brooke Sutton was knocked unconscious and assaulted by an intruder. The next morning, Brooke found the body of her grandmother, Judy Johnson, who had been beaten to death. Brooke went to a neighbor’s house for help, who made her wait outside before driving her home.
Brooke claimed the intruder was her uncle, Clarence Elkins, who was the Johnson’s son-in-law. Allegedly, Elkins had called Johnson shortly before her death and threatened to kill her. Elkins denied any involvement but was still sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Despite Brooke later recanting her testimony, Elkins was denied a new trial twice. So, Elkins’s wife, Melinda, started an investigation of her own, inspired by watching Forensic Files. She made a list of convicted criminals near her mother’s house and followed them to collect samples of their DNA, but none were a match.
So, was Elkins really the killer? And if not, who was?
The Twist: Earl Mann, who bore a striking resemblance to Elkins, lived next-door to Johnson at the time of her murder. In fact, it was Mann’s house Brooke went to the morning after her assault, which is why she was told to wait outside for 45 minutes before being driven home.
Since Mann was serving time in the same prison as Elkins for an unrelated crime, Elkins took one of Mann’s cigarette butts and gave it to Melinda for DNA testing. Mann’s DNA matched the fluids found on Johnson’s body.
Elkins was released after serving over six years for a crime he didn’t commit.
‘Cement the Case’ (Season 4, Episode 4)
The Set-Up: In 1990, Ed Andronowich left his wife, Shirley, at their favorite bar after they got into a fight. Ed claimed Shirley returned home later that night, but after the two got into another argument, Shirley allegedly went for a walk and didn’t return.
Shirley’s body was found the next morning, and Ed confessed to killing his wife and was charged with murder.
The Twist: Ed was innocent but confessed because he had blacked out and couldn’t remember events from the night before.
A year after the murder, Mark Jarman, who was at the bar at the same time as the couple, was convicted of Shirley’s murder.
‘Bad Medicine’ (Season 9, Episode 8)
The Set-Up: Dr. Anthony Pignataro, inventor of the “snap-on toupee,” which attached to bolts drilled into one’s skull, lost his medical license and was charged with manslaughter after a patient, Sarah Smith, died on his operating table due to negligence.
Once Pignataro was released from prison, finding work was difficult. He also began receiving death threats, and someone spray-painted the word “killer” on his house.
His wife, Deborah, began feeling sick, and her illness lasted for months. She suffered from memory loss and nausea and even had so much trouble walking, she began using a wheelchair. Pignataro believed Deborah needed to have her gallbladder removed, but her doctors disagreed, stating she wouldn’t survive the surgery.
When her doctor examined her bone marrow, he concluded Deborah had an arsenic level higher than any living person had ever endured – 80% more than a usually lethal dose. Deborah’s daughter also had arsenic in her system.
Investigators suspected the poisoning was somehow connected to Sarah Smith’s death. Was a family member exacting revenge against Pignataro?
The Twist: Pignataro had actually been poisoning his wife himself. A manuscript he’d written, entitled MD: Mass Destruction, provided investigators with a possible clue explaining why (even if his logic is difficult to follow).
Police suspect Pignataro may have been trying to convince doctors to remove Deborah’s gallbladder because she wouldn’t survive the surgery, which he allegedly felt would prove that people sometimes die on the operating table, and therefore, he should not have been punished for Smith’s death. Investigators believe Pignataro spray-painted “killer” on his own house to make it look like his wife’s death would be revenge for Sarah Smith.
Pignataro was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
‘If I Were You’ (Season 11, Episode 28)
The Set-Up: In 1993, retired teacher Paul Gruber sent his grandson a birthday card, but Gruber’s daughter, Shellie, found the card a bit strange. She tried contacting her father, but he didn’t return her calls. When officers conducted a wellness check, they realized almost everything inside Paul’s house was gone.
Shellie then left her father a voicemail reminding him of her husband’s upcoming birthday. A few days later, she received a card for her husband with a check inside. But it wasn’t really her husband’s birthday, and her father would have known that. Shellie knew something was wrong.
A professional analysis concluded the cards were written in Paul’s handwriting. A look at his financial records showed Paul was also paying his utility bills.
A handyman named Darryl Kuehl was seen picking up Paul’s mail from the post office. When questioned, Kuehl said Paul asked him to do so while Paul took a trip to Canada. When shown a picture of Paul, however, Kuehl claimed that wasn’t the Paul he knew.
So, who had hired Kuehl? And where was the real Paul?
The Twist: Kuehl was lying and had actually killed Paul himself. Kuehl kept paying Paul’s bills in order to make it seem like he was still alive while he stole his money.
Kuehl was found guilty of murder.
‘Sealed With a Kiss’ (Season 2, Episode 10)
The Set-Up: In 1993, elementary school teacher Joanne Chambers received anonymous letters that included death threats and accused her of sexual assault. A picture of her face was pasted on a nude photo and hung around the school. She also sat down at her classroom desk, only to realize her chair had been covered in feces. But who was harassing her?
After a letter mentioned poisoning Chambers’s coffee, video footage showed another teacher, Paula Nawrocki, entering Chambers’s classroom and taking her mug. Chambers and Nawrocki then both received polygraph tests. Nawrocki failed hers.
After Chambers claimed Nawrocki tried driving her car off the side of the road, Nawrocki was arrested, and the letters seemed to stop. Police suspected Nawrocki was jealous of Chambers’s popularity with her students.
But was Nawrocki at fault? And if not, who was?
The Twist: When tested, DNA from the envelopes and stamps didn’t match Nawrocki’s – it matched Chambers’s. The investigation also revealed that at a different school years prior, Chambers had reported receiving similar threatening letters; she also claimed finding feces on her chair there, too.
Chambers maintains her innocence and claimed the reason her DNA was found on the stamp was because she licked it when she was alone with the evidence during the investigation. Nawrocki was ultimately found not guilty.
‘Invisible Intruder’ (Season 4, Episode 1)
The Set-Up: Around 2:30 am one morning, an intruder broke into the Routier family’s suburban home. While Darin Routier and the family’s infant son slept upstairs, the intruder attacked Darlie Routier and her sons in the living room with a knife. The two boys died from their wounds, one while on the way to the hospital.
Darlie, who had been stabbed in the arm and neck, described the intruder as a white male in a baseball cap. Outside, not far from the crime scene, investigators found a bloody sock. The murder weapon was still in the house.
Allegedly, when detectives questioned Darin, he made sexual comments about Darlie’s appearance and implied that was a reasonable motivation for someone to break into their home. Detectives thought this behavior was odd, considering two of Darin’s sons had just been killed.
Could Darin have somehow been involved?
The Twist: As the episode title implied, there was no intruder. Analysis of the blood splatter patterns and Darlie’s 911 call made it clear to investigators that Darlie had murdered her own children, then cut her arm and neck with the same knife. Darlie was found guilty and sentenced to death.