The 15th best Dateline episode of all time ranked

The following article contains mentions of domestic abuse, sexual assault, child abuse and violence.

With over 32 seasons of DatelineThere are over 2,720 full episodes of the news magazine reality show, but the best Dateline Episodes are those that deal with the most compelling, complex and longstanding cases. The series’ real-life exposés on crimes, criminals and their victims have captivated audiences since the ’90s, and show no sign of slowing down – despite increasing competition from other true-crime formats. From true-crime books to documentaries, and of course, the proliferation of the podcast format of true-crime stories, there is an embarrassing wealth of true-crime available today—which also means that some have forgotten the original true-crime series.

Long before podcasts were even a thought and HBO and Netflix were filled with true-crime documentaries, Keith Morrison, Lester Holt, Josh Mankiewicz and a host of other anchors and correspondents Detailed gruesome and gruesome crimes for the NBC series that premiered in March 1992. In each episode of the long-running show, a sensationalized news story is presented. The best Dateline Episodes of the series generally come from the most fascinating and horrifying news stories that have a mystery or an intriguing character at the center.

Most episodes of Dateline are available to stream on Peacock.

conduct unbecoming

Season 19, Episode 32

The vast majority of Dateline Episodes focus on crimes that take place in the United States. It makes sense considering that is where the news program and its correspondence are based. But, every time, the series tells the audience the twisted story of something that happened in another country.

This is the case in “Conduct Unbecoming” which focuses on the stories of several different women who had intimate items and clothing stolen from their homes in the Canadian province of Ontario. Initially, it seems like the episode tells several disconnected cases, but they are all actually linked by the same person, who is eventually accused of breaking and entering, sexual assault and murder.

Part of the reason this episode is so fascinating to those interested in true crime stories is because it examines how a person’s criminal activity can escalate over the years. Former Royal Canadian Air Force Colonel David Russell Williams is someone whose story initially sounds impossible. He managed to break into more than 80 different homes and steal things from women, wearing the items as trophies, before graduating to more violent crimes.

14

struck

Season 26, Episode 1

Dateline Shows anyone who has an interest in understanding murder cases that sometimes real life is even stranger than fiction. Love triangles are often the subjects of romantic comedies, but in reality, they are not entertaining, and in this case, prove deadly.

The case in this episode centers around single mom Carrie Forbidden who disappears after dating a new man for a few weeks who happens to have a very jealous ex. After her disappearance, the man receives disturbing texts and emails, supposedly from Farver himself. So did Forvers’s mother and the man’s ex – for three years. The twists and turns in this case are funny and, ultimately, heartbreaking.

Like many of the episodes that sparked the interest of the public, this is one Dateline Case that is also available to listen to The date line Podcast series. Netflix also crafted their own documentary about the case called Lover, Stalker, Killer.

13

The pink skirt plot

Season 28, Episode 4

There are quite a few cases explored in Dateline Over the years that do not highlight a straightforward investigation of a few months. Many of these episodes chronicle investigations that can take years. This one takes nearly 15.

The investigation is definitely one of perseverance and patience.

Adam Joel Anhang Uster and his estranged wife Áurea Vázquez-Rijos were leaving the Pink Jacket Club in Puerto Rico when they were attacked in 2005. Uster took the brunt of the attack and died from the altercation while his wife ended up with only minor injuries. Several people were investigated as suspects, and one was even arrested and found guilty in court, only to be released later because an investigation was ongoing to see if his estranged wife was involved in the case.

She fled Puerto Rico and settled in Europe, eventually ending up in Italy. Her globetrotting created a difficult investigative trail to follow and meant she could not be arrested for over a decade. The investigation is definitely one of perseverance and patience.

12

At the bottom of the lake

Season 27, Episode 3

“At the bottom of the lake” is one of the most interesting Dateline Episodes because The criminal investigation that is tracked over more than two decades will leave the audience wondering if this is actually murder or simply a mistake that a young man is trying to run.

The episode focuses on the case of a young woman found in a Cessna plane in a lake in Montana, drowned, and abandoned there by the plane’s pilot in 1982. It took more than 20 years before the person, who has since changed His name and built a new life for himself, was found. The story is that the two were supposed to run away together, up, and when they ended up in the lake, he couldn’t free her from the plane. The authorities, however, believe that this is a lie.

When correspondent Keith Morrison spoke about the episode with Great Falls Tribune Right before it originally came out, he called it, “The most interesting and strange story I have ever done“, at least at the time. He also said there was so much information to go through during the course of the investigation (which Dateline has followed since 2006) that he wasn’t sure it would all fit into their two-hour window to tell the story.

11

The secret in Black Rock Canyon

Season 32, Episode 28

This Dateline Episode is for those who see horror movies as cautionary tales. It’s very much the kind of real-life event that inspires a slasher movie, but it’s a tragedy in the life of a teenage girl.

Cassie Jo Stoddart house sits for someone, invites her boyfriend to watch a movie with her, and is later murdered. Because her boyfriend is the last known person to see her alive, he is the prime suspect. He told investigators about a couple of friends who also came to see Stoddart while she was sitting at home, and it was the two teenage boys who were finally found guilty thanks to a videotape of them recounting their crimes.

Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik are both horror lovers who wanted to experience what it was like to be the killer in a horror story. They are recorded immediately before and immediately after the murder, giving both the authorities and the public a terrible look at their actions.

10

Play the night before Halloween

Dayline: Secrets Uncovered; Season 10, Episode 65

“The Night Before Halloween” explores an investigation that spans 23 years. Robin Lucille Hoynes of Whittier, California was found dead on the morning of October 31, 1984, at the KFC restaurant where she was an assistant manager. The body was found with stab wounds in the back and her throat cut, and no one knew who exactly committed the terrible crime.

William Charles Marshall had been fired just a few days before the murder and was an immediate suspect. However, the investigation did not yield any evidence, and he was released. Then, 19 years later, the case was reopened. In an exciting and surprising turn of events, An old saying, a piece of foam, was tied back to Marshall’s boot.

This, combined with a witness recanting their original testimony, eventually led to Marshall being found guilty by a jury. It’s a long and sad story for Hoynes’ friends and family, but the fact that justice was eventually served is a small silver lining.

9

Dead man talking

Season 31, Episode 29

Nicholas Alahverdian is one of the strangest and most terrifying characters to appear on Dateline. His tale includes sexual assault, a fake death and the COVID-19 pandemic, making it one of those Dateline Episodes that feel stranger than fiction. In 2018, when Utah began processing backlogged sexual assault kits, one was a positive match for Alahverdian, in a 2008 case.

Around the same time, Alahverdian was being investigated for credit card fraud and domestic abuse. Then on 29 February 2020, it was announced that Alahverdian had died due to complications with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and COVID-19, only for him to be discovered hiding in Glasgow, Scotland.

“Dead Man Talking” may not be the most heard Dayline story, but Alahverdian is one of the most captivating villains.

It’s a twisting, unbelievable story and Alahverdian comes off as both monstrous and brazenly unjust, lying about the smallest facts of his life. “Dead Man Talking” may not be the most heard Dateline story, but Alahverdian is one of the most captivating villains.

8

Haunting

Season 25, Episode 24

In “Haunting”, there are two double murder cases, both equally brutal and shocking. In the first, a doctor, William Hunter, came back to his house in Omaha, Nebraska to discover his son Thomas and his 57-year-old housekeeper, Shirley Sherman, dead. Both were stabbed with knives found in the kitchen.

When investigators assigned to the case visited another murder scene, that of Roger and Mary Brumback, they found the bodies killed similar to Hunter and Sherman. Thanks to several witness accounts, Anthony Garcia was investigated, and it was discovered that Garcia had recently been fired from Creighton Pathology, where Hunter and Brumback both worked.

He targeted the doctors, considering them the reason behind his firing. The truth of who Garcia is and the relationship between the victims (and a possible third one) Makes the episode a tense and shocking watch all the way through.

7

Sarah came

Season 31, Episode 30

Sarah Jean Hartsfield is the star of Along Came Sarah, a 2023 story about the titular woman who left a long string of deaths in her wake. Hartsfield was married five times, engaged once more, and Two of her partners ended up dead. The last death occurred in February 2023. Joseph Hartfield was admitted to the hospital with a suspected illness and died quickly.

Although Sarah looked distraught, the ER nurse thought that the chemical levels in Joseph’s body implied that something had already been done to him, prompting her to call the police. Sarah was then arrested and charged with murder, which led to the reopening of another investigation involving Sarah’s previous husband, David Bragg.

Sarah shot and killed her husband in May 2018, but she was cleared of any wrongdoing after the killing was determined to have been done in self-defense. It’s a fascinating look at Sarah and, despite her facade, the Dateline Episode paints her as calculating, cold, and almost a puppet master in her dealings with her previous husbands.

6

The secret keepers

Season 27, Episode 44

“The Secret Keepers” kicks off with a phone call, like many greats Dateline Episodes do. in this, A woman, Kelly Baker, calls the police to say that she came home to find her husband dead. At first presumed to be dead by natural causes, the coroner finds two small bullet holes in Randy Baker’s body.

Now assuming the case is a murder, investigators uncover one of the more surprising conspiracies on the show. Each time more lengths of the spider web are unspooled, the tension is ratcheted up.

It turns out that Randy’s wife Kelly Baker, his sister Carol Baker, and his nephew Kelly Raisley planned to kill Randy for the insurance payment. Kelly pulled the trigger, but all three plotted the murder. It is shocking and completely unexpected, even for those well-versed in the twists of Dateline Episodes.

5

The man who knew too much

Season 25, Episode 7

“The Man Who Knew Too Much” is actually a follow-up to another Dateline Episode, “The Girl with the Blue Mustang”, from season 18. In this episode, the worst-case scenario of what can happen when you talk to the police without a lawyer present.

When Michelle O’Keefe, an 18-year-old college student, was found shot to death, a local security guard, Raymond Lee Jennings, tried his best to help police find the perpetrator. however, His efforts to assist made police suspicious and Jennings was arrested for the crime and sentenced to life in prison.

A self-proclaimed “autodidactic polymath”, Clint Erlich, saw these Dateline Episode and realized that the evidence is not adding up. He and his father went to work trying to free Jennings and eventually succeeded after the innocent man served eleven years in prison. It is a heartbreaking story about a man wrongfully targeted. The race to free him from the unfair circumstances becomes more compelling than the murder case that kicks off the story.

4

The real thing about Pam

Season 30, Episode 22

This Dateline Episode features some of the series’ most complex and weaving twists that aren’t fully unraveled until the end of the episode. “The real thing about Pam” is Datelines third episode about Pam Hupp, a trilogy that covers a notorious murder case and the terrifying woman at the center.

The story is so popular that The thing about Pam It even became a dramatic miniseries. This episode concerns the murder of Betsy Faria of Troy, Missouri.

Faria, who had cancer, was found dead in her home in December 2011. After driving her friend home from chemotherapy, Hope stabbed the weakened woman, then left the scene to make it appear that Faria had been killed in a Domestic dispute with her husband. Featuring a 911 call from Hupp and chilling interviews from relatives, it’s one of the more disturbing Dateline Episodes.

3

Deep in the forest

Season 26, Episode 17

The 26th season episode, “Deep in the Woods”, deals with the disappearance of Private First Class Kelli Bordeaux, a young Army medic stationed at Fort Bragg. At first, the main suspect was Kelly’s partner, Mike Bordeaux, who had recently been seen with Kelly. However, a private investigator and bounty hunter, David Marshburn, was intrigued by the case and set out to find out what really happened.

Marshburn discovered that Bordeaux had actually spent the previous night with Nicholas Michael Holbert, a man she had met at a local bar. After their date turned sour, Holbert killed Bordeaux and buried her body in the woods. Marshburn’s investigation led him to Halbert, and he agreed to free the man.

Somehow, Marshburn got Halbert to confess to the murder, and people even brought him to the site of Barda’s grave. The episode’s unexpected twists are nearly as shocking as Holbert’s confession to Marshburn, whose intuition and cleverness drew him to the case in the first place.

2

The Doomsday Files

Season 30, Episode 9

When suburban mom Lori Wallow became interested in fringe beliefs and conspiracies, her investigations led her to Chad Daybell, an author who wrote a Christian-themed apocalyptic fictional series and held similar views to Wallow. The former beauty queen and grave digger married and their cult-like union, consisting of strange, fringe practices, is covered in detail by Dateline With “The Doomsday Files” as the culmination of the investigative piece.

The Idaho couple ends up murdering Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallow, Lori’s childrenConsidering it mandated by God, in line with their cult-like religious beliefs that also made the couple consider themselves deities in their own kind of Mormon religion.

It is a deep and complex tale with even more murders resulting from the devil’s growing confidence in their mandate from heaven.

It is a deep and complex tale with even more murders resulting from the devil’s growing confidence in their mandate from heaven. A cruel tale of manipulation and narcissism, this is the kind of story Dateline is best known for.

1

The phone call

Season 29, Episode 42

A tragic tale of unjust incarceration, “The Phone Call” depicts Pete Koones’ imprisonment for the murder of his father, exoneration, and then sadly his death shortly after release. Coones’ father became dependent on his housekeeper, Kathleen Scholl, late in his life and even ended up making her an insurance beneficiary for when he died.

When Kathleen and her husband Carl were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide, a phone call made moments before her death led prosecutors to believe Pete killed them. Despite little evidence and Pete’s physical limitations that make it impossible for him to have killed Kathleen and Carl, he was sentenced, only to be released 13 years later after new forensic evidence and witnesses cleared him.

Tragically, he developed cancer in prison and died months after his release. The real impact of wrongful convictions and the way courts can develop tunnel vision when prosecuting are highlighted in the episode. Dateline Doesn’t pull any punches in this episode, describing the true devastation to Pete Coones’ life.