The crime scene was just probably the worst one I've seen, just with the amount of blood and the nature of her injuries.

She drowned, basically, in her own blood. I'm Scott Weinberger,

investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff.

I'm Anasiga Nikolazi,

former New York City homicide prosecutor

and host of investigation discoveries true conviction.

And this is Anatomy of Merle.

According to data provided by the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, there are currently over 300,000 unsolved

homicides in the United States.

And with a national clearance rate of just over 50%.

That number is increasing by almost 8,000 every year.

So just think about that.

8,000 victims whose murders have never been solved,

whose families have never had closure, and whose killers have never been solved, whose families have never had closure and whose

killers have never faced justice. Over the last five years, that clearance rate has been

steadily increasing, thanks in large part to huge advances in DNA testing technology and to a

growing number of very dedicated investigators and prosecutors that refuse to give up hope.

And one of those prosecutors is someone we've had on the show before.

Dominic Leo is the chief trial attorney for the 18th Circuit in Seminole County, Florida,

just outside of Orlando.

And in 2018, he took on a cold case that had stumped detectives for over three decades.

This was way, way, way back. I might have been in elementary school, I think, when this case happened.

...