A triple homicide case goes sour in court when the prime suspect procures a viable alibi and Rush must re-open the case to find the true killer. The victims, a couple who run local diner, and their son, were friends of Jeffries, making the case more personal.
A sixty-year reunion of female factory workers from World War II stirs up new information in the death of a young woman in 1943. The woman's death, originally ruled as an accidental fall, appears to have more secrets behind it as Lilly re-opens the case.
Rush and Valens discover a home movie starring a teenage runaway from 1979 and re-open the case in order to find out if the material on the video is real.
The night of Johnny Cash's 1968 Folsom Prison Concert sets the backdrop for a murder in a prison outside Philidelphia. With the present-day prison now closed, human bones are found, launching an investigation into the past.
Lilly and the team re-open a 13-year-old case involving two mudered Cambodian immigrants murdered in their home during what was believed to be a robbery. Lilly discovers that the deceased immigrants were under false names, in order to avoid deportation, and must search for their true identities.
When a young woman is found strangled to death, similar to the unsolved murder of a 12-year-old girl in 1989, Rush and Valens re-open the older case to find the killer.
An AIDS survivor comes to the Cold Case crew to reinvestigate the murder of his boyfriend in 1983 who was very politically active and even may have burned down a bathhouse as a form of activism and spread rumors that a man was spreading the disease willingly. The investigation leads to a jealous brother who wanted to hide his own homosexuality.
Rush re-opens the 1953 case of a murdered school teacher who was killed the same day that the Rosenbergs were executed and was set to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities; Rush's estranged sister shows up.
Rush and Valens investigate when the decapitated skeletal remains of a woman reported missing in 1985 are dug up in a remote wooded area. Upon further search of the area, the team finds eight more bodies. Soon they obtain clues that lead them to believe the murderer is posing as a cop.
Rush investigates the unsolved murder of a prominant Puerto Rican assistant district attorney after new evidence links the deceased to a scandal.
A cult member's 1978 suicide is re-investigated after a new death occurs.
The deathbed confession of a boxing referee prompts Rush and the team to reopen a case from 1976 where an underdog boxer died in the ring.
A gun is turned in to the police department that matched the shell casing from a 1980s drive-by murder. An investigation into the murder reveals that the mother of the victim was having an affair with the man who sold the gun, and that the victim's brother was the shooter.
Lily looks into the 1969 murder of a woman after they arrest long-missing boyfriend who fled to Canada to avoid being drafted.
Drawings recreating the accidental death of a mentally disabled teen in 1993 are discovered, causing the detectives to reopen the case.
The unsolved 1998 death of a 9-year-old boy is re-opened after Stillman's priest reveals that a patron confessed to his involvement in the boy's kidnapping.
A ring found on the hand of a dead junkie prompts the reopening of a case where a doctor was presumed to have murdered his wife in 1984.
The sister of a woman whose death was ruled accidental causes the case to be reopened when she accuses some fraternity members of murder.
The investigation of a black teenager killed in 1963 holds personal significance for Jeffries, who had discovered the body when he was a 12-year-old boy.
The plot follows an evening at The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1977 as the team try to connect a murder to a serial killer about to be released from prison on a technicality.
The team's latest case is re-opened when a truck containing human bones is fished out of the river.
The discovery of nine human skulls lead Valens and Rush back to serial killer George, who they were unable to incriminate in the past.