Ep 1. Man in the Shadows/The Hitchhiker

In the first episode of season 5 of Cold Case Files Classic, titled "Man in the Shadows/The Hitchhiker," viewers are taken on a journey through two separate, yet equally chilling, cold cases.

The first case, "Man in the Shadows," involves the murder of a young woman named Janet Chandler in 1979. Janet was a college student working part-time at a hotel in Michigan when she was abducted in the middle of the night. Her brutalized body was found the next day, and her murder remained unsolved for over two decades. In this episode, viewers are shown the efforts of law enforcement to finally bring justice for Janet and her family. Through forensic evidence and witness interviews, the detectives slowly piece together the events of that fateful night and identify the men responsible for Janet's death.

The second case, "The Hitchhiker," is just as haunting. In this case, a man named John Zera disappears after hitchhiking from Chicago to Wisconsin in 1976. Despite a massive search effort, no trace of John is ever found. Over a decade later, in 1988, a woman named Carol Gable goes missing under strikingly similar circumstances. She, too, had been hitchhiking to Wisconsin and simply vanished without a trace. However, this time law enforcement was able to identify a potential suspect- a man named Edward Wayne Edwards. In this episode, viewers go on a journey with the investigators as they uncover Edwards' dark past and his potential involvement in both John and Carol's disappearances.

Overall, "Man in the Shadows/The Hitchhiker" is a riveting episode that showcases the importance of perseverance and innovation in cold case investigations. With intriguing twists and turns, viewers will be on the edge of their seats as they watch these intricate and disturbing cases unfold.