Plot Synopsis

48 HOURS began as the documentary 48 HOURS ON CRACK STREET in 1986. It became a series in 1988 with the show built around a team of correspondents covering one subject for 48 consecutive hours. It became 48 HOURS INVESTIGATES in 2002, airing once or twice per week. Starting in May 2003, the program aired twice -- once under a new title, 48 HOURS MYSTERY, and a second time using its existing title, 48 HOURS INVESTIGATES. In September 2004, for the show's 17th season, the series started to air exclusively as 48 HOURS MYSTERY, and continued with the title through the end of the 2011-2012 season. Now simply titled 48 HOURS since the 2012-2013 season, the show is the third longest running primetime series on television.

This program returned for the 2013-2014 season with the Season 26 premiere on Saturday, September 28, 2013 at 10pm ET/PT on CBS. In the season opener, correspondent Troy Roberts investigates the 1980 murders of college sweethearts Sabrina Gonsalves and John Riggins, whose brutal killings went unsolved despite many starts and stops in the investigation. Now, 20 years after finding previously unnoticed semen stains and 10 years of paperwork and court motions following a DNA match, will this case finally be closed?

Season 27 of 48 HOURS premiered on Saturday, September 27, 2014 at 10pm ET/PT on CBS. The season opener, "Paradise Lost," tells the story of a married couple, Ann and John Bender, who moved to the jungle of Central America to live a dream after making a $100 million fortune on Wall Street. They shared a love of nature, but they also shared a common struggle with severe depression. John Bender's search for a safe haven and purpose for his life didn't turn out as expected, despite efforts to improve the area around him. As a couple they became very isolated, in spite of what they did for the community. They were not entirely welcome by the locals.

48 HOURS returned for its 28th season on Saturday, September 26, 2015 from 9-11pm ET/PT on CBS, moving to its regular timeslot at 10pm the following week. In the special two-hour season opener, "Hannah Graham: Deadly Connections," Susan Spencer investigates the tragic disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham and the tireless police work that linked her alleged killer to other cases. This episode tells the story of a bright, young, college student with a promising future who went missing in Charlottesville, Virginia and was ultimately murdered. Graham disappeared after a night out with friends. The search for her was the most exhaustive in Virginia history. After her body was found, the investigation into her death generated national attention, leading the police to other cases of unsolved attacks against young women spanning a decade.

On Saturday, September 24, 2016 at 10pm ET/PT, CBS premiered the 29th season of 48 HOURS. In the season opener, "Killer App," Peter Van Sant investigates the murder of Nicole Lovell and the hidden dangers of connecting online with strangers. Nicole, 13, signed onto the chat app Kik looking for a friend. Instead, she may have found her killer. With a few swipes on her smartphone, Lovell became a victim of the occasionally dangerous world of anonymous online friending, where predators hunt for victims by using fake names and profiles. This episode of 48 HOURS tells the story of two families whose daughters got involved in online relationships that became a matter of life or death. It's a story that will resonate with millennials, teenagers and parents, who, thanks to so-called "parent proof" platforms, often don't know what their kids are doing on their phones, laptops, tablets or computers until something goes terribly wrong. Branden Syrotchen found out firsthand when he caught on that his daughter, 15, was communicating online with a 30-year-old man, and that the two were planning to run away that night. In a heartbeat, what seemed to be the quintessential American family was at risk of being torn apart -- or worse. Syrotchen and his wife, Brandy, took the matter into their own hands with a shocking result. Then, Van Sant talks with a 38-year-old convicted predator, who demonstrates how easy it is to set up a fake profile on the Kik chat app and send out an anonymous message looking for teenage girls. It takes just 44 seconds for the first response to arrive, and he gets another just three minutes later. "In two days max, I could have her sending me nude pictures," the predator says. "Once you make them happy, you've got their heart. Once you've got their heart, everything else follows."

48 HOURS kicks off its 30th season with a Saturday-night double feature on September 30, 2017 from 9-11pm ET/PT on CBS. At 10pm, Erin Moriarty investigates the case against Raynella Leath, a Tennessee woman with two dead husbands -- who both died under strange circumstances -- and the stunning outcome in "The Widow on Solway Road." Immediately beforehand at 10pm, special correspondent James Brown tackles the impact of the O.J. Simpson murder trial and how it reverberates throughout the country today in "O.J. Simpson: Endgame."

Season 31 of 48 HOURS premiered on Saturday, September 29, 2018 from 9-11pm ET/PT on CBS. In the two-hour season opener, "Click for a Killer," 48 HOURS explores the alarming world of murder-for-hire on the mysterious dark web and exposes an international criminal organization in a hunt for a self-described murder mastermind simply named Yura. During the six-month investigation, which covered 30,000 miles, Van Sant and 48 HOURS uncovered solid information that led law enforcement to arrest people in four separate cases, who were allegedly willing to pay to have someone killed. The investigation reveals how anyone with money, a computer and the right software can find websites advertising hit men for hire with the same ease as they can buy a book from Amazon. 48 HOURS learned of Yura, the unknown person behind an alleged hit-man-for-hire organization, while investigating a shooting death in the Midwest. The dark web, Ormsby explains, is a name given to a group of websites that can't be accessed using normal search engines. Once inside, Ormsby says users can find anything from advertisements for weapons, pornography and even killers. 48 HOURS contacts Yura, who refuses to give his location. At one point, he agrees to meet Van Sant in London, though Yura backs out at the last minute. But then in a puzzling turn, Yura begins to share the names of potential hit targets with 48 HOURS, essentially turning on the customers that have paid him thousands of dollars in untraceable bitcoin to have someone killed. Given the specificity of the information and with lives potentially at stake, 48 HOURS immediately shares details with law enforcement. One of the targets Yura identified was Sydney Minor, a 22-year-old single mother in Tennessee. After 48 HOURS contacts authorities, Minor is informed of the plot. She reveals the emotional details in an interview with 48 HOURS. In yet another twist, Monteiro also begins supplying tips about potential hits to 48 HOURS, saying he has backdoor access to Yura's website. Those tips reveal alleged murder plots in Iran, Taiwan and Singapore, among other places. After conducting their own investigations, Monteiro and Ormsby raise questions about whether Yura is running a real murder-for-hire site or just swindling people out of money. Authorities aren't sure either.

The 32nd season of 48 HOURS premiered on Saturday, September 14, 2019 from 9-11pm ET/PT on CBS. In the two-hour season opener, "The Hollywood Ripper," Maureen Maher takes viewers inside the investigation of Michael Gargiulo (aka The Hollywood Ripper), a serial, sexual thrill killer -- it's a case Maher helped crack wide open. Prosecutors say Gargiulo attacked four young women. One of the victims was killed on the same night she was planning to go on a date with actor Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher was a key witness at trial. For more than 10 years, 48 HOURS correspondent Maureen Maher has been tracking the Hollywood Ripper. Maher's coverage began in 2008, 1,800 miles away from Hollywood, with the unsolved murder of Tricia Pacaccio. Pacaccio was brutally stabbed and left to die on the doorstep of her family's Glenview, Ill., home in 1993. At the time Gargiulo was a 17-year-old high school student living around the corner. Police did not suspect him, but Tricia's family later did. Gargiulo headed to Los Angeles with dreams of becoming an actor, and where he went, say prosecutors, attacks followed. In 2001, 22-year-old fashion student Ashley Ellerin was stabbed 47 times. In 2005 Maria Bruno, a mother of four, was also slaughtered, and in 2008 Michelle Murphy was attacked, but she survived. Gargiulo lived near all of his victims. Maher's report on the case aired in 2011. Soon after the 48 HOURS broadcast, two key witnesses came forward and Gargiulo was charged with the murder of Pacaccio almost 18 years after her death. In the two-hour season premiere, Maher and 48 HOURS go inside the investigation that connected police in two states and brought Gargiulo to trial in California. The broadcast takes a deep dive into who Gargiulo is and how he got away with killing for so long. Maher has first interviews with his former friends who knew him well and provide rare insight into what makes him tick. The broadcast features Gargiulo's acting audition tape and a rare conversation with Gargiulo from jail, where he talks about the charges against him. Maher also has an interview with Pacaccio's family.

48 HOURS returned for its 33rd season on Saturday, September 12, 2020 at 10pm ET/PT on CBS. In the one-hour season opener, "Home Renovation Homicide," home renovations can be a nightmare for some. In the case of one Florida couple, authorities suspect an expensive and out-of-control home renovation may have led to the murder of Shanti Cooper. Erin Moriarty investigates the death of Cooper and the case against her husband, David Tronnes. It's a case that that shook the upscale Orlando, FL, neighborhood where Tronnes and Cooper undertook a massive and unconventional remodeling of a home. Behind the home's facade is a story of the couple's relationship, Tronnes' apparent secret life and an expensive home renovation that went terribly wrong.

The 34th season of 48 HOURS premiered on Saturday, September 18, 2021 at 10pm ET/PT on CBS. In the season opener, "The Online Life & Death of Bianca Devins," correspondent Jericka Duncan takes viewers inside the disturbing true-crime case and report on why what happened in the aftermath of Bianca Devins' murder has behavioral scientists and the intelligence community concerned. Bianca, 17, was a popular social media figure who was murdered by a friend in Utica, N.Y. The killer posted images of her lifeless body online, which went viral. Making matters worse, the images were sent to Devins' family. In her first national television interview, Kim Devins opens up about the loss of her daughter and the attacks on her family. An image of Bianca Devins' body first appeared on the social media platform Discord on July 14, 2019. At first, friends thought it was a fake because it was not unusual for people on the platform to post disturbing images to get a rise out of others. That thinking changed when Brandon Clark, who had been out with Bianca Devins the night she died, called 911. Before hanging up, Clark told the dispatcher where they could find him on a dead-end road. Responding officers placed Clark under arrest and found Bianca's body under a tarp. By the time police could get to Kim Devins, someone had already texted her family the horrible photo. While the family grieved the loss of their daughter, the images of her body spread across multiple social media platforms.

Season 35 of 48 HOURS premiered on Saturday, September 17, 2022 at 10pm ET/PT on CBS. In the season opener, "The Shooting of Lauren Kanarek," Michael Barisone, a former Olympic equestrian and trainer, speaks out in his first television interview since the end of his trial for the attempted murder of a former student and her boyfriend. 48 HOURS and contributor Nikki Battiste go inside the case against Barisone. The case made national headlines when Barisone was charged with attempting to kill Kanarek and Robert Goodwin at Barisone's Long Valley, NJ, training center. Battiste talked with both Barisone and Kanarek, whose paths crossed in 2018 when Kanarek was being trained and housed by Barisone and his staff at his New Jersey farm. Neither could have imagined then where their mutual love of horses would take them. Their relationship soured, they say, over the level of training Barisone provided to Kanarek. She then began posting messages on Facebook branding him a bully, racist and antisemiticc -- allegations Barisone denies. Barisone's supporters say her postings were unfairly damaging his reputation, and he worried it would ruin his business. The Facebook posts seemed to rattle and unnerve Barisone to the point where he called 911 four times, telling police he "feared" for his life. Then, on August 7, 2019, he allegedly confronted Kanarek. Kanarek testified that Barisone "pulled out a gun and shot me once, twice, directly in the chest." Kanarek managed to call 911 and, after emergency surgery, survived. Barisone tells Battiste he recalls the messages Kanarek posted on social media about him, but says he has no memory of the shooting.

48 HOURS returned for its 36th season with back-to-back new episodes on Saturday, September 16, 2023 from 9-11pm ET/PT on CBS. Erin Moriarty, Peter Van Sant, and Natalie Morales return as correspondents, and they're joined by contributing correspondents Jim Axelrod, David Begnaud, Jericka Duncan, Michelle Miller, Tracy Smith, and Jonathan Vigliotti. In the season opener, "The Gilgo Beach Serial Killings" (9pm), correspondent Erin Moriarty uncovers chilling new details about alleged killer Rex Heuermann. Moriarty, who has been covering the Gilgo Beach case since 2010, has an exclusive interview with Muriel Henriquez who worked with Heuermann at his company, RH Consultants & Associates. In the night's second episode, "The Night of the Idaho Student Murders" (10pm), Peter Van Sant and 48 HOURS reveal new information about the case against Bryan Kohberger for the Nov. 13, 2022, deaths of four University of Idaho students. Kohberger is charged with killing Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in a case that stunned the country.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 37th season of 48 HOURS debuted on Saturday, September 21, 2024 on CBS with back-to-back new episodes from 9-11pm ET/PT:

"The Life and Death of Blaze Bernstein" (9pm): Correspondent Tracy Smith and 48 HOURS report on the murder of Blaze Bernstein, an Ivy League student allegedly murdered because he was gay and Jewish, and the trial of former high school classmate Sam Woodward.

"The Unending Search for Sara Anne Wood" (10pm): Correspondent Erin Moriarty and 48 HOURS take viewers inside law enforcement's 30-year game of cat and mouse with a convicted child serial killer to get him to reveal where he left the body of a girl he murdered. Sara Anne Wood was 12 when she disappeared on her way home from church in Sauquoit, NY, on Aug. 18, 1993. Her convicted killer, handyman and former movie theater janitor Lewis Lent, is in prison, but, to this day, refuses to tell investigators where he put her body. When Wood disappeared, 48 HOURS was given unprecedented access to the massive search. It's a story only on 48 HOURS and one the team has covered since she vanished. In 1994, Moriarty interviewed 12-year-old Becky Savarese, who escaped being kidnapped by Lent and helped investigators crack the Wood case -- and others. After Lent confessed to killing Wood, he drew a map to where he said he buried her in a remote location in the Adirondack Mountains, leading police on an extensive search. She was never found. Was he toying with investigators? New York State Police detectives refuse to give up. They continue to visit Lent in prison hoping that he will tell them where he buried Wood's body and possibly disclose the murders of other victims. In November 2023, they searched in a rural area near Pownal, VT, and in June 2024, they searched a property in Lanesborough, MA, connected to Lent, with no luck.