CASES OF THE FBI

During the early 1960s, Boston investigators confronted a series of murders that challenged conventional investigative methods. This episode examines the emerging role of behavioral analysis, interagency information sharing, and the difficulties of linking crimes across jurisdictions. We explore how investigators approached the case before modern forensic technologies could help resolve crucial questions.

In 1988, eight-year-old April Tinsley disappeared from Fort Wayne, Indiana, launching a murder investigation that would last three decades. As the killer taunted authorities with disturbing handwritten messages, investigators sought behavioral insights and forensic evidence to identify the suspect. This episode examines the role of FBI assistance, criminal profiling, and interagency cooperation in a case that seemed impossible to solve. Discover how advances in forensic genetic genealogy finally helped investigators identify John D. Miller in 2018.

In 2009, nineteen-year-old Edric Hinton was shot and killed outside a Lansing, Michigan, apartment complex, leaving investigators with few answers and no recovered murder weapon. Years later, information from a confidential informant reportedly led detectives to a shotgun buried underground, creating a potential breakthrough in the investigation. This episode explores how firearms examination, federal tracing resources, and cooperation between investigative agencies can help reconstruct a homicide years after the crime. Discover how physical evidence can transform a long-dormant investigation into a case with identifiable suspects.

On December 11, 1978, armed robbers stole nearly $6 million in cash and jewelry from Lufthansa’s cargo terminal at JFK Airport, launching one of the most notorious organized crime investigations in American history. An abandoned getaway van, insider information, and connections to New York’s criminal underworld helped investigators reconstruct the operation. We examine how federal investigators pursued Jimmy Burke’s criminal network, the importance of Henry Hill’s cooperation, and the evidence that eventually led to convictions in related cases. Why were authorities able to identify major suspects while securing so few convictions for the robbery itself?

In 1960, eight-year-old Gloria Kowalewicz was abducted and murdered in Chicago, beginning a homicide investigation that would remain unresolved for more than six decades. In October 2026, investigators announced that modern forensic evidence had identified former Chicago homicide detective Thomas McInerney as their suspect. How do investigators reconstruct a murder when witnesses have died, evidence has aged, and the suspected killer once worked in law enforcement? This episode examines the investigative methods, forensic breakthroughs, and extraordinary challenges of solving a case in which the suspect was once part of the profession responsible for finding killers.