Killer Trials: Judgment Day

In August 1997 university students Holly Dunn and Chris Maier are attacked while taking a short cut home along railway tracks. Maier is bludgeoned to death and Holly is savagely beaten and left for dead. But amazingly she survives and vows to bring her attacker to justice. By 1999 8 victims had been attacked and the police investigation leads them to Angel Maturino Reséndiz, an itinerant Mexican.

In October 1989, Tracey Wigginton and her lesbian lover Lisa Ptaschinski together with another couple, lure a drunk, 47 year old Edward Baldock, into their car before driving him to a park on the banks of the Brisbane River. With the promise of showing him 'a good time', Wigginton, aided by Ptaschinski, stabbed Baldock 15 times in an attack so brutal it practically severed off his head.

On June 28th 2005, Joan Porco arrives for the trial of the man accused of murdering her husband and attempting to murder her. But the strange thing about this trial is that the accused man is her son, Christopher Porco, and she is walking into court arm in arm with him. This is the story of one of the most famous murders in New York State.

Ashley Pond disappears on her way to school and 2 months later her best friend Miranda Gaddis also vanishes. A major hunt for the girls is launched by the FBI, and a media circus descends on the small suburb of Portland, Oregon. Then the case takes a bizarre turn when Ward Weaver III neighbour and family friend to Ashley and Miranda, tells a local paper that he is the FBI's prime suspect.

In 1991 Ray and Faye Copeland become, at the ages of 76 and 69, the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the USA. They are convicted of killing five drifters on their farm in Missouri as part of bad cheque scam. To this day their son, Al Copeland professes his mother's innocence in the crimes.

An unassuming family doctor stands trial for murdering 15 of his former elderly patients. Harold Shipman pleads not guilty to all charges and the investigation into his crimes is dramatically played out in court. The story starts when the daughter of Kathleen Grundy, becomes suspicious when her mother dies unexpectedly having suddenly changed her will and leaving all her money to Shipman.

This is a story of a mother who murdered her children. The question is, was she a cold blooded murderess or a deluded victim? In late October 1994 distraught mother, Susan Smith of Union City, South Carolina appears on local TV and Radio, with her husband David Smith to appeal for the safe return of their two missing children, 3 year old Michael and 14 month old Alex.

Graeme Cunningham leaves his home and vanishes. His panicked mother, Shona calls the police. After they fail to shed any light on his disappearance, veteran detective Don Bell is enlisted to work on the case. After several dead ends Don is alerted to a mild mannered bookkeeper, Arthur Bishop. Don discovers Bishop is a thief, a fraudster, and has been molesting Graeme's friend.

Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo were married in a picture perfect wedding by a lake in Niagara, Canada, right near the falls. They rode off in a horse-drawn carriage, the very image of romantic bliss. But despite their Ken and Barbie appearances, this couple had murder on their minds.

In 1993, 10-year-old Zachary Ramsay disappeared without a trace on his way to school. Police suspected notorious local sex offender, Nathaniel Bar-Jonah. But as they dug into the case - and Bar-Jonah's past - they made a series of truly horrific discoveries.