Forensic Investigators

Forensic Investigators

Forensic Investigators: Australia's True Crimes is an Australian television show hosted by Lisa McCune which aired on the Seven Network. It aired from 2004 to 2006. Focusing on actual Australian crimes, each episode unfolds the drama minute-by-minute showing viewers the tireless work of detectives, and the scientific procedures required to solve these mysteries. The series includes exclusive footage that has never been seen outside the courtroom, including police videos, crime scene stills and other forensic evidence. Recently the 1st and 2nd seasons have been released on DVD. The third season featured a new time slot – Wednesday at 8:30 pm. It is not known when, or if the fourth season will begin airing.

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Seasons

Paul Denyer

1. Paul Denyer

Air Date: 2004-08-18

When a young girl's body is found in a park in the teeming rain, the police had the odds stacked against them. They would need to call on all their investigative and forensic skills to solve a series of murders that even today sends a chill down the spines of those who lived through it. This episode details the capture of serial killer Paul Denyer and features his cold and calculating confession.

Stephen Dempsey

2. Stephen Dempsey

Air Date: 2004-08-25

A taxi driver is murdered and, a month later, a human torso is washed up on a shore. Both murders are seemingly unrelated, yet DNA and an observant public would lead detective to the "bow and arrow" killer. Richard Leonard's chilling confession is included in this episode.

Milosevic Family

3. Milosevic Family

Air Date: 2004-09-01

Four bodies - two adults and two children - were found shot in a house in an outer suburb of Canberra. Inside the house was evidence that would not only lead investigators to the killer, but would uncover a secret buried for years. Could a car crash, which had taken the lives of two other members of the same family, been no accident at all?

Neddy Smith

4. Neddy Smith

Air Date: 2004-09-29

When a skull is found protruding from a sand embankment of a beach, police have their suspicions that the victim is a criminal who had been missing for some 12 years. This area had always been suspected as a dumping ground for underworld killings, yet detectives would rely on forensics to prove their hunch. How Task Force Snowy nabbed the infamous Arthur "Neddy" Smith.

Matthew De Gruchy

5. Matthew De Gruchy

Air Date: 2004-09-15

A mother and her two children were found in their house brutally bashed to death. Was it a robbery gone wrong, or something far more sinister? A trail of evidence leads detectives to one shocking conclusion. The episode includes the police videotaped interview with the suspect.

Mark Rust

6. Mark Rust

Air Date: 2004-09-22

A note left on a police car and an emergency phone call lead police to find the body of a young woman hidden in bushes out the front of an unused Adelaide police patrol station. Each was a vital clue, yet it would take the disappearance and murder of a Japanese student to capture the killer.

Andrew Astbury

7. Andrew Astbury

Air Date: 2004-09-29

When Andrew Atsbury went missing, police first thought he may have commited suicide. But after discovering a vital piece of evidence which was previously invisible, they knew it was murder. But where was the body? With new age forensics and old fashioned foot work, a man who had been trusted in the past would become their prime suspect. His interview with police is included in this episode.

Valera: Part 1

8. Valera: Part 1

Air Date: 2004-10-12

In 1998, the brutal deaths of shopkeeper David O'Hearn and Lord Mayor Frank Arkell led to the city of Wollongong, New South Wales being gripped in fear. This episode shows how the tireless work of detectives and some scientific procedures helped to solve this bizarre series of murders.

Valera: Part 2

9. Valera: Part 2

Air Date: 2004-10-13

A young man has confessed to the murders of shopkeeper David O'Hearn and Lord Mayor Frank Arkell, but the subsequent police investigation takes a bizarre turn when the man's father is murdered in similar circumstances.

Kathleen Marshall

10. Kathleen Marshall

Air Date: 2004-10-20

Queensland Cat Protection Society president Kathleen Marshall is found brutally stabbed to death. In a case involving rumours, catfights and fortune telling, the detectives would rely on forensics and five tiny spots of blood to separate fact from fiction and point them towards the killer.

Jane Doe

1. Jane Doe

Air Date: 2005-08-17

A young woman's body is found wrapped in plastic; unceremoniously dumped under a railway overpass in a suburb near Sydney's busy international airport. Unidentified for several months, she became known as Jane Doe. The only clue to her identity and that of the killer was a fingerprint found on a newspaper stuffed in her throat - how it got there and how it caught her killer was a one in a million forensic phenomenon.

Granny Killer

2. Granny Killer

Air Date: 2005-08-24

The Granny Killer murdered six elderly women before his year-long reign of terror in Sydney's northern suburbs ended. The episode details the dedicated and yet frustrating investigation that bought serial killer John Wayne Glover to justice.

Darryl Lewis

3. Darryl Lewis

Air Date: 2005-08-31

When a battered body is found dumped outside an ambulance station in Brisbane, police began an investigation that would become one of the largest, most intricate and longest running in Queensland history. As the judge in the case later remarked, "This was a script from a B-grade movie but the characters were real and the ending tragic." Includes the video witness statements from the victim's brother and friend who narrowly escaped death themselves.

Damon Calanca

4. Damon Calanca

Air Date: 2005-09-07

When Gabriel Meyer hadn't returned home after a visit to the local gym in Innisfail in tropical Northern Queensland, his parents were immediately concerned. The last person to see him alive believed he was heading to the river for a lte afternoon swim. When his backpack and watch are located in the river, thoughts turn to crocodiles and accidental death, but the truth uncovered was far more sinister.

5. Amanda Carter

Air Date: 2005-09-14

When Amanda Carter went out to celebrate her 22nd birthday in July 1980 at a pub in Hobart, she failed to come home. A determined group of detectives and forensic scientists believed they knew who had most probably killed Amanda that night, but they needed to find her body. That happened six weeks later, but it would take another 13 years and a revolution in forensic science to prove their gut instinct. Includes the videotaped interview of the police suspect when they finally catch up with him.

6. Russell Street

Air Date: 2005-09-21

The killing of policewoman Angela Taylor was a tragic loss of one of Victoria's most promising officers. The young woman died when a car exploded outside the Russell Street Police Complex. Forensic experts spent days and nights collecting all of the debris to piece together what had been used to make the bomb. It was hoped something in the bomb or the car would point them towards the killer or killers... and it did.

7. Samantha Bodsworth

Air Date: 2005-09-28

Samantha Bodsworth's body was found in a Noosa car park, an hours drive from her home town of Gympie. The killer thought he'd committed the perfect murder but a little known area of forensic science would be his undoing. This episode includes the police videotaped interview with the suspect.

8. Naismith

Air Date: 2005-10-05

Two Newcastle men disappear without a trace; leaving their families distraught and desperate for information. When their abandoned cars are discovered in the same car park, the two cases are immediately connected. In their hunt for clues police uncover a tangled web of lies in a case involving drugs, revenge and cold blooded murder. Included in this episode are the actual police taped interviews with witnesses and suspects.

9. Janet Phillips

Air Date: 2005-10-12

Fifteen-year-old schoolgirl Janet Phillips went to a party in her small town of Wynnum, on Brisbane's south side, in July 1978 and never came home. As her parents reported her missing, the body of a girl was found a couple of kilometers away. It was Janet. Police had a strong suspect but they were unable to prove he'd killed the teenager. It would take 10 years, two further knife attacks on young women, and a tenacious detective with a long and unforgiving memory, to prove Lloyd Clark Fletcher was the killer.

10. Violet Town

Air Date: 2005-10-19

An Easter family holiday ends in tragedy when a truck collides with a car towing a caravan, killing a 12-year-old boy. The truck driver fails to stop. With no license plate number and little to go on, the collision team painstakingly examined all the debris and damage to help them track down the driver of the hit and run truck. Forensics and a miracle from above took them from 160,000 trucks to just one. The episode includes the interview with the suspect.

11. Peter Astill

Air Date: 2005-10-26

A handless decapitated body discovered inside a wheelie bin, leads investigators to a town kilometers away from where it had washed up on shore. Peter Astill, who had disappeared three months before, was a well liked bloke; so who would want to murder him and why? In a true forensic jigsaw puzzle, the missing clue fitted perfectly. The episode includes an astounding interview with the police suspect.

12. Black Widow

Air Date: 2005-11-02

After a caravan park manager goes missing, rumours persist that Angelo Agostinelli had run off with another woman. But as the investigation proceeds, police uncover an incredible tale of infidelity, drugs and conspiracy to murder. Includes the police audio with witnesses and suspects.

13. Danny Wasley and Mark Banks

Air Date: 2005-10-26

15. Season 2, Episode 15

Air Date: 2005-11-09

16. Angelo Agostinelli

Air Date: 2005-11-16

1. The Valentine's Day Murders

Air Date: 2006-08-09

2. Till Death Us Do Part

Air Date: 2006-08-16

3. The Flemington Robbery

Air Date: 2006-08-16

On the 25th January 2002, two armed robbers steal $150,000 from two security guards loading an ATM in the inner Melbourne suburb of Flemington. How does some orange rope and a green floral print found at the crime scene help police to find the robbers?

4. Turkish Consulate Bombing

Air Date: 2006-08-30

In 1986, terrorism rocked Melbourne when a bomb exploded in the car park below the Turkish consulate in South Yarra. Human remains at the crime scene suggested that the bomber had been killed in the blast, but who was he and did he act alone?

5. My Partner, My Killer

Air Date: 2006-09-06

In April 1993, a man survives a gun-shot wound to the head while he and his long-time girlfriend are on a boat on Moreton Bay. She claimed the man was attacked by pirates who had boarded their boat, but is she telling the truth?

6. Who Killed Paul Snabel

Air Date: 2006-09-13

In November 1989, Paul Snabel disappears from his flat in Moe, Victoria after a party. When his flat-mate reports him missing, police suspect foul play, and have their suspicions confirmed when parts of his bike are found in local dams and tips. When the detectives investigate Paul's final movements, they uncover a tangled web of deceit and lies.

7. Truong Kidnap and Murder

Air Date: 2006-09-20

On the 29th April 1996, Le Anh Truan is kidnapped from his home in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley by three men. While an undercover operative is driving the victim's mother to pay the $400,000 ransom demanded by the kidnappers, things go horribly wrong. The subsequent homicide investigations are one of the most complex and largest to be undertaken by police in Victoria.

8. Operation Sorbet

Air Date: 2006-10-04

In April 2003, an attempt to smuggle heroin with a street value of A$160 million into Australian waters is thwarted by the Australian Federal Police.

9. Catch Me If You Can

Air Date: 2006-10-11

10. Park Family Murders

Air Date: 2006-10-18

11. The Sex Worker Murders

Air Date: 2006-10-25

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Rating

0.0/10

Release Date

2004-08-18

Episodes

36 (3 seasons)

Status

Ended

Cast