Time matters

1x02 Gleen  Directed by Paris Barclay
 Written by Jan Oxenberg
 First Air Date : Sunday, 5 October 2003
 Flashback year : 1983 (20 years ago)
   

Lorraine, the fiancé of a fireman asks Lilly to help prove that a convicted felon, Albert Miller, about to be paroled on an unrelated crime, is responsible for the murder of the fireman's first wife. The young mother was killed by a homemade bomb packed in a laundry-detergent box shortly before she was to testify in court against a man who exposed himself to her.

Stillman: Why do women always have high hopes for guys who want to kill them?

1x03 Our Boy is Back  Directed by Bryan Spicer
 Written by Stacy Kravetz
 First Air Date : Sunday, 12 October 2003
 Flashback year : 1998 (5 years ago)
   Based on real case : Troy Graves

Lilly Rush reopens a 1998 cold case that drove Vera nuts. They receive a letter from the serial rapist whose last victim, Gail Chimayo, was also killed and who is about to strike again after no activity during the last 5 years.
Once the main suspect, Gail's boyfriend, is finally discarded, the case gets a whole new angle. Lilly's
sensitive and soft approach makes the rape victims more inclined to talk. The pair obtain a composite and then a scenario detailing how the rapist picks his victims, leading them to the killer.

He's bragging, he's telling us he's back

I just wish we could met under different circumstances.

Vera: this case became a health issue for me

1x17 The Lost Soul of Herman Lester  Directed by Tim Matheson
 Written by Sean Whitesell
 First Air Date : Sunday, 14 March 2004
 Flashback year : 1987 (17 years ago)
   

When the son of a murdered high-school basketball star receives a death threat, Rush and Valens reopen the 1987 case of Herman Lester who was stabbed to death only hours after leading his team to win the state championship.

2x23 The Woods  Directed by Nelson McCormick
 Written by Veena Cabreros Sud
 First Air Date : Sunday, 22 May 2005
 Flashback year : 1972 (33 years ago)
   

The discovery of nine human skulls leads Rush (Kathryn Morris) back to George Marks, the serial killer she was unable to incriminate months earlier, and who walked away a free man. As the detectives reinvestigate his mother's murder from 1972, George is forced to emerge from hiding to face Rush again. This time, their very lives are at stake in their final showdown.

It's darkness. It always comes back.

3x06 Saving Patrick Bubley  Directed by Marcos Siega
 Written by Tyler Bensinger Karin Lewicki
 First Air Date : Sunday, 6 November 2005
 Flashback year : 1999 (6 years ago)
 Film tribute : Saving Private Ryan
 

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.

Solve one Bubley murder, solve them all.

3x16 One Night  Directed by Nicole Kassell
 Written by Veena Cabreros Sud
 First Air Date : Sunday, 19 March 2006
 Flashback year : 1980 (26 years ago)
   

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.

The first is denial. Then anger. Then bargaining. Depression and acceptance.

3x20 Death Penalty: Final Appeal   Directed by Alex Zakrzewski
 Written by Sean Whitesell
 First Air Date : Sunday, 16 April 2006
 Flashback year : 1994 (12 years ago)
   

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.

- No, everyone's got their own point, see, their, their own bottom, when there's no place lower you can go but there. And when you hit that, you die. Or you close your eyes and believe.
- Believe what?
- There's something bigger out there than what's eating you alive. Something better.

4x19 Offender  Directed by David Barrett
 Written by Greg Plageman
 First Air Date : Sunday, 25 March 2007
 Flashback year : 1987 (20 years ago)
   

A desperate father turned serial killer coerces the team into taking another look of his son's 1987 murder.

4x22 Cargo  Directed by Andy Garcia
 Written by Tom Pettit
 First Air Date : Sunday, 15 April 2007
 Flashback year : 2005 (2 years ago)
   

The team re-opens the 2005 case of a killed longshoreman who got tangled up with the Russian mob.

5x08 It Takes a Village  Directed by Kevin Bray
 Written by Erica Shelton
 First Air Date : Sunday, 11 November 2007
 Flashback year : 2007 (0 years ago)
   

When the body of a newly missing boy is found in a cargo container along with the remains of three other victims who vanished in 1999-2003, the team realizes they're dealing with a serial killer.