Season 3 poster
23 episodes

Cold Case - Season 3

First aired Sep 25, 2005Season 3

Browse all 23 episodes in this season, including available images, air dates, runtimes, ratings and episode summaries from TMDB.

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Reviews

Community reviews for Cold Case, shown here with its season details.

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drystyx

8.0

This was easily the most creative and freshest of the detective series of the modern time frame from 1980 to 2020. The show revolves around the regular cast, who pretty much stay in the background to the actions of guest stars. That's pretty much how most good TV action shows work. For instance, shows like The Big Valley and The Virginian would have the regular players be the "passing crowd of the public" for whatever guest stars came around with their drama. In other words, the "drama kings and queens" come and go. In this show, there was always some ironic twist to a "cold case" of murder. It might not even be "murder" when it's figured out. There are lots of "flashbacks", and of course these don't involve the regular players. The show had a fresh approach that one doesn't generally see from the usual hacks of the writer's guild.

Episodes

Family still

Episode 1

Family

7.6
Sep 25, 200545 min5 votes

When a young girl is contacted by a man claiming to be her father, Det. Rush and her team reopen a 1988 case of a teenaged boy, killed on the same night the girl was born.

The Promise still

Episode 2

The Promise

7.8
Oct 2, 200543 min5 votes

Lilly re-opens the case of young girl, an overweight college freshman named Laurie, who died in a fraternity house fire in 2004. The fire was deemed accidental at the time, but a cell phone photo e-mailed from the girl's phone just moments before her death prompts a closer examination.

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Episode 3

Bad Night

7.8
Oct 9, 200542 min5 votes

The 1978 murder of a young man is re-opened after the victim's mother finds a letter suggesting that his death wasn't random.

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Episode 4

Colors

7.8
Oct 16, 200541 min5 votes

Det. Rush re-opens the 1945 case of a baseball player, bludgeoned to death with his own bat.

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Episode 5

Commited

8.0
Oct 23, 200544 min7 votes

In 1954, 9-year-old Otis Petrowski last saw his mother in a mental institution. Now over 50 years later, after the death of an elderly woman who had been using Otis' mother's identity, Det. Rush sets out to discover what happened to the boy's real mother.

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Episode 6

Saving Patrick Bubley

7.2
Nov 6, 200542 min5 votes

When a mother of five loses her fourth son to gang violence, Lilly sets out the save the youngest, reopening one of her first cases on the homicide squad.

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Episode 7

Start-Up

7.6
Nov 13, 200543 min5 votes

Lilly re-opens the 1999 case of a young, healthy woman who nevertheless died of a heart attack. In the late 1990's, she was briefly an Internet millionaire, but due to bad business decisions, her dot.com company eventually went bust.

Honor still

Episode 8

Honor

7.3
Nov 20, 200545 min6 votes

When a box filled with POW support bracelets is found in an abandoned drug den, Det. Rush re-investigates the 1972 shooting of Carl, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

A Perfect Day still

Episode 9

A Perfect Day

7.8
Nov 27, 200545 min5 votes

When a fisherman finds evidence of a young girl's death washed up on a shore in New Jersey, Lilly re-opens the 1965 case of 4-year-old child who had a seemingly abusive mother.

Frank's Best still

Episode 10

Frank's Best

7.3
Dec 18, 200543 min3 votes

The team re-opens the 2001 case of a robbed and murdered deli owner when the brother of the man convicted of the crime brings forth new evidence, suggesting the man may have been wrongfully accused.

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Episode 11

8 Years

7.6
Jan 8, 200645 min5 votes

Four close high school friends each went their separate ways in 1980. Eight years later, in 1988, one of them was murdered. The homicide team receives a tip about the murder, prompting a re-investigation of the case and an examination of the friends' lives, hopes and dreams after high school.

Detention still

Episode 12

Detention

7.8
Jan 15, 200642 min6 votes

When a note connected to a supposed suicide is found, the team re-opens the 1994 case of a high-school kid who fell from the roof of the school building after having served detention. In 1994 the death was deemed a suicide, but the newly-found note indicates that the victim might have been fearing for his life.

Debut still

Episode 13

Debut

7.6
Jan 29, 200641 min5 votes

Lilly re-opens the 1968 case of an 18-year-old girl who died -- apparently accidentally -- at the night of her debutante ball. Now her mother comes forth with new evidence when a local art dealer is accused of murdering his wife in the same manner the girl died.

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Episode 14

Dog Day Afternoons

7.7
Feb 26, 200645 min3 votes

The case of a female bank teller shot to death in her work in 2000 is reopened when the same bank is robbed again by perpetrators wearing identical masks and equipped with identical weapons as six years earlier.

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Episode 15

Sanctuary

7.6
Mar 12, 200641 min5 votes

The 1998 case of a female drug smuggler is re-opened. The woman was involved with Scotty at the time he was working undercover on a high-profile drug case, and he has been keeping it a secret from the team for all these years.

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Episode 16

One Night

7.3
Mar 19, 200645 min6 votes

Lilly and the cold case team will have to decode the clues given by a twisted killer in order to save the life of a young boy who has been left to die alone. But first they must find the boy and for that they need to dig a little deeper into their own pasts.

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Episode 17

Superstar

8.0
Mar 26, 200644 min5 votes

When a poison-soaked towel turns up at the station, Lilly re-opens the 1973 case of a murdered female college tennis star.

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Episode 18

Willkommen

7.6
Apr 2, 200645 min5 votes

The team re-opens the 2002 case of a murdered amateur actor when the owner of a local community theater finds a gun hidden inside prop furniture.

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Episode 19

Beautiful Little Fool

7.8
Apr 9, 200645 min5 votes

Lilly re-opens the 1929 case of a woman found dead in a ravine on Christmas Day when the victim's great-granddaughter comes in asking for help. Meanwhile, Lilly's estranged mother shows up, hoping to re-connect with her daughter.

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Episode 20

Death Penalty: Final Appeal

7.8
Apr 16, 200645 min5 votes

The 1994 case of a raped and murdered 16-year-old girl is re-opened when Det. Jeffries gets a call from a prisoner on death-row -- scheduled to be executed in just three days.

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Episode 21

The Hen House

8.0
Apr 30, 200642 min5 votes

The 1945 case of a murdered newspaper reporter is reopened when new evidence suggests that the woman was thrown in front of a passing train by someone she knew.

The River still

Episode 22

The River

7.6
May 7, 200645 min5 votes

When a new witness steps forward, Lilly and the team are prompted to re-open the 1984 shooting of a respected and beloved ER doctor who had a secret he had been hiding from his family.

Joseph still

Episode 23

Joseph

7.8
May 21, 200645 min6 votes

When the victim's credit card is suddenly used a year after his death, Lilly re-opens the 2005 case of a counselor at a teens' rehab center who was shot to death just two weeks before he was scheduled to testify in a murder case. During the probe, Lilly feels a strange connection to the victim, and her personal attachment may end up jeopardizing the case.