The First 48 Presents: Critical Minutes

In Memphis, Sgt. Connie Justice investigates the homicide of a man found bludgeoned to death in his apartment. With no witnesses to the crime, Justice must rely on the physical evidence from the victim's apartment to track down her suspect.

In Detroit, Sgt. Gary Diaz and Officer Kelly Mullins investigate a triple shooting that left a young mother and her friend dead. The third victim, a critically injured 18-year-old girl, is the only one who can tell them what happened. And in Dallas, a man is intentionally run down and killed by someone in a car.

In Minneapolis, Sergeants Bruce Folkens and Chris Karakostas work against the clock to solve the murder of an unknown homeless man, bludgeoned to death on the edge of the Mississippi Riverbank.

In Cincinnati, Detectives Jenny Luke and Terry McGuffey investigate the murder of a 56-year-old man brutally beaten to death in the stairwell of his apartment building. Luke tracks down two teenage suspects and is surprised to learn what triggered the deadly fight.

In Dallas, a man is found dead in a vacant lot. With no leads, witnesses or motive, lead Det. Rick Duggan and his team must put the pieces of the case together to find their killer. And in Minneapolis, Sgt. Gerhard Wehr and Sgt. Jerry Wallerich are working one of the most brutal crimes of their careers--the violent stabbings of a mother and her 10-year-old son.

As the First 48 ran out on Phoenix detectives, 16-year-old Lonny Bassett stood accused of brutally killing his two friends with a shotgun. Would his claim to self-defense hold water or would the evidence detectives collected in the first 48 be enough to convince jurors of his guilt? In Miami, a minor altercation on the highway ended with a shooting that took the life of an innocent young man.

Detective Rick Duggan arrested two suspects for the murder of Leonel Valle. Now the justice system needed to determine which of them was most responsible - the girlfriend, Marsela Cortez, whose fingerprints were found on his empty safe, or her jealous ex-boyfriend, Gerardo Hernandez?

In Dallas, two teenaged boys are shot outside a nightclub--one is critically wounded, the other is left in a coma. As Det. Eddie Ibarra puts the pieces of the case together, he is temporarily pulled away to assist in the search of woman who has been missing for six days.

When Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson checks out a missing persons apartment and finds it covered in blood, he's launched into one of the strangest cases in his career--a case that he must solve without the victim's body. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect.

In Dallas, Det. Rick Duggan investigates the murder of a young man shot in the backseat of his friend's car. While scouring the crime scene, Duggan finds an interesting lead--mail. He hopes this clue will lead him to the killer. And in Minneapolis, Sergeants Bruce Folkens and Chris Karakostas must find the person who savagely beat a homeless man to death.

In Dallas, Det. Randy Loboda is called in to investigate the murder of two people--gunned down while idling in a car at the entrance gate of an apartment complex. With few leads, a surviving witness may be the only key to solving the case. In Miami, Det. Orlando Silva investigates the brutal stabbing death of an elderly man in his home.

In Cincinnati, Det. Terry McGuffey and his team head to an apartment complex to investigate the shooting death of a 28-year old from Detroit. A witness comes forward to retrieve an item left at the crime scene, but insists she doesn't know anything about the murder. Detectives must determine if she knows more than she is telling.

When Tucson Detectives John Dorer and Kathi Kelley arrive at the murder scene of a young man gunned down behind an apartment complex, their investigation is hampered by hostility from the victim s friends. Detectives think the friends know more than they are telling, but will they be able to get the friends to cooperate in order to find the killer?

In Dallas, Detectives Randy Loboda and Scott Sayers are investigating the murder of a 54-year-old family man, gunned down in his home in front of his wife and children. Detectives must determine whether he was killed during a robbery gone wrong or if he was the target of a mysterious and sinister plot. And in Cincinnati, a gunfight in broad daylight ends the life of a 23-year-old man.

In Tucson, Det. John Dorer and his team investigate the gruesome murder of a 58-year-old woman found naked and dead under a highway overpass--a satanic symbol near the body is written in blood. When detectives learn about a similar case, they believe they may have a serial killer on their hands and quickly enlist the help of the entire Tucson PD to track down the killer before he strikes again.

In Birmingham, a thirty-year-old man is found murdered next to his car in an apparent robbery gone bad. When Detectives Warren Cotton and Cynthia Morrow round up the suspects, they're forced to pit brother against brother to get to the truth. In Louisville, Det. Will Brown and his team investigate the shooting of a thirty-two-year-old family man found dead in a parking lot.

In Minneapolis, a young man is robbed and killed while meeting up with a girl he met earlier on a bus. Sgts. Christopher Gaiters and Robert Dale need to find out if the murder was a random act of violence or if the girl the victim just met, set him up.

In Minneapolis, after a night out with friends, a college student is stabbed to death while getting on his scooter to ride home. During a canvass of the crime scene, lead investigator Sgt. John Holthusen is confronted with the neighborhood's escalating violence when he catches a man being attacked. Holthusen must determine if the assailant is also the killer.

In Louisville, a Sudanese man who fled genocide in Darfur is shot to death while working in his clothing store. When the store's surveillance video fails to identify the suspects, Det. Rick Arnold must hit the streets and pursue every possible lead in order to track down the killer. And in Birmingham, a young man is shot dead in his home.

In Birmingham, Detectives Jerry Williams and Chris Anderson investigate the murder of man found dead in the back of his burning pick-up truck. With most of the physical evidence destroyed, detectives must track down the people who were last seen with the victim. And in Minneapolis, a popular teenager in gunned down in a drive-by shooting while playing football in his front yard.

Miami Sgt. Armando Aguilar and Det. Leo Tapanes are assigned the homicide case of a 20-year-old Rastafarian, shot and robbed on Christmas Day. Surveillance footage and leads from the Rastafarian community help the detectives identify three potential suspects. But when the suspects start pointing fingers at one another, the detectives try an unusual tactic.