The murder of a mortician, and the discovery of corpses buried behind a crematorium, leads the detectives to a family man Harry Rowan (Jay O. Sanders) who claims to own a consulting business but is suspected of being a contract killer with a penchant for perfection. Goren proves Rowan's guilt by laying a trap that plays on his "fear of making a mistake".

• Inspired in part by the Tri-State Crematory scandal.

The double murder of a social services worker and a deputy mayor lead the detectives to suspect a couple who may have a grudge against the social worker for taking away their children. However, when they learn of the importance of the social worker's report on a boy, Robbie Bishop (Liam Aiken), being considered for admission to a prestigious school for gifted children, the trail leads to his obsessive father (Tim Guinee).

Goren and Eames sift through the likely suspects in the murder of a university president and his assistant. Eventually they discover that the culprit is a wily adversary Elizabeth Hitchens / Nicole Wallace portrayed by Olivia d'Abo seeking residency in the USA who has made a career of scamming, identity theft and murder.

Assistant District Attorney Peter Bonham (David Marshall Grant), who had been receiving death threats, confronts and kills a hired gunman. Goren and Eames first suspect his wife, a prominent defense attorney Attorney Linda Bonham (Susan Floyd), through a convict whose case was being prosecuted by the A.D.A. and the rumors of her romantic affairs. After he realizes there are cracks in the A.D.A.'s seemingly airtight case, Goren keeps Carver in the dark about theory until he can trick Bonham into revealing his guilt.

After a mother of two is shot to death in Chinatown, Goren and Eames first believe her death may be connected to the Tiananmen Square massacre. However, the investigation leads them to a smuggling ring that deals in Asian antiquities.

The robbery of a drug deliver van that involved two fatalities leads to pharmacist Jim Halliwell (Stephen Tobolowsky) who has been diluting cancer medication. Because Goren and Eames cannot use the exhumated bodies of patients who had been given the diluted medicine they trick him into revealing his guilt through his medical knowledge.

The detectives investigate a triple murder, including the son and daughter of a wealthy businessman, that occurred in his apartment. After investigating the children's stepmother (his second wife), their attention turns to a pair of nannies Sarah Eldon (Tammy Blanchard) and Hannah Price (Merritt Wever), one of whom works for the family. To understand their motives, the detectives reach back to the nannies' history as orphaned sisters and discover their obsession with a family-based television soap opera and its influence on their behaviour.

The detectives are called to investigate the disappearance of the adult daughter of a retired officer. Their search takes them to a case of domestic terrorism involving an illegal shipment of explosives and a pair of intending suicide bombers.

When the wife of a prominant local businessman is strangled in her garage, her husband is initially suspected of hiring the two assailants. However, after Goran and Eames discover he had been having an affair for many years, their attention turns to his mother Ursula Sussman (Linda Lavin) who was afraid that of the scandal that would ensue if her daughter-in-law divorced her son.

An young man, Douglas Morgan (Sean Dugan), confesses to the murder of his father and half-brother and gives their money to a motivational speaker and con-artist Randall Fuller (John Benjamin Hickey). Goren and Eames suspect Fuller exploited the fragile disciple by convincing him to commit murder for profit. Under the pretext of helping to ilicit a detailed confession from Morgan, they trick Fuller into implicating himeself in the scheme.

When an airline baggage supervisor is found murdered in the trunk of her car, the detectives investigate the employees listed in a sexual harassment complaint which leads them to a scam involving credit cards and credit reports with foreign links.

• Inspired by Susan Taraskiewicz case.^[11]

Nan Turner (Judith Roberts (actress)), the wealthy and matronly owner of a magnificent old hotel is found naked and murdered with injections of Botox in the bathtub. Detectives Goren and Eames focus on the victim's unstable adult daughter, Julie Turner (Amy Ryan), who resented her mother's meddling in her love life and murdered her. When Julie realizes that her father (Hal Linden) had maipulated her into killing her mother so he could gain control of the property, she stabs him to death.

When Goren and Eames begin investigatiing the murder of a psychiatrist in a park, they are led to Garcia House, a corrupt charitable home for the homeless and mentally ill, run by Mr. Garcia (Victor Argo). Upon further investigation, the detectves suspect Dr. Thomas Dysart (Christopher Welch) an ophthalmologist who has been conducting experimental surgery on the eyes of schizophrenic residents of the home based on his personal flawed medical hypothesis.

While probing the seemingly random murder of a homeless man, Leo Gergiss (Ken Cheeseman), Goren and Eames uncover a scam involving a crooked insurance agent Jack Bernard (Lance Reddick) and the mysterious of the deaths of several highly insured homeless people. Goren and Eames enlist the aid of Wally Stevens (Mark Linn-Baker), an insurance investigator with asperger syndrome, however he is later revealed to be the brains behind the scheme.

A Narcissistic young man, Mark Dietrich (Adam Storke), is recently paroled after serving 15 years for strangling a young woman to death. A short while later his mother is murdered and Goren and Eames uncover that his mother suspected Mark had raped a woman some years earlier and that the investigating detective, Ted Marston (Mike Starr), had framed four innocent youths for the attack. They eventually charge Dietrich for the rape and Marston for the murder of Mark's mother.

The trophy wife of a former prison inmate Milt Winters (Joel Grey) is murdered soon after his release from prison. Goren plays on Winters' paranoia to uncover that he paid a fellow inmate, Dempsey Powers (Clifton Powell), to kill her and his enemies in exchange for enough money to attempt an escape from prison and flee to Cuba.

When Eloise Kittridge (Maureen Mueller) is murdered, Goren and Eames's investigation leads to a plot by the head of the Durning Foundation, Spencer Durning (Josef Sommer) to ensure his legacy. He aquired Eloise's father Randall Kitridge's recently deceased body from cryogenic storage to retrieve his brain for research because his son Nicholas (Jay Goede) is suffering from early onset Alzheimer's disease which Randall Kitridge had apparently recovered from in mid-life.

When a father and son are found dead with their throats slit, Goren and Eames discover that other boys have disappeared from the same neighborhood. When their parents do not cooperate with the investigation, the police believe local adolescent boys are being used by someone operating a bicycle theft ring. The boys' dedication to Roman stoicism inspired by an influential local sound studio operator, Jojo Rios (Paul Calderon), convinces the detectives that he is the ringleader and has ordered the murders.

Goran and Eames investigate the apparent accidental death of a Kate Finoff (Liz Morton), young woman who had been left only a small item from the estate of an elderly woman she cared. This leads them to a state public administrator Roger Coffman (Dennis Christopher). He has been plundering the estates of people who had died without leaving a will to indulge his passion for vintage muscle cars cuminating in the purchase of valuable a red Ferreari for which he killed the eldery woman. When Roger's ailing and selfish father (Paul Dooley) caught on to his son's activities, he murdered Kate to keep his son out of jail.

Goren and Eames investigate the murder of Penny Chai, a college student who had worked with a group of fellow math students in a poker club scam. They uncover the group had assisted the ringleader Ken Harrris (Ian Kahn), to electronically change bets between the time of horse races being run and the payouts so he can win big for his backers, the Jewish mafia. Harris appears to be a man completely without fear until Goren and Eames revel his wife has lost faith in his invulnerability and greatly increased his insurance polcy. He then pleads guilty to Penny's murder in exchange for protection.

Goren and Eames enter the closed world of a thieving Irish Traveller clan when they investigate the death of a probation officer, Ann Devlin Lawson, who had been run over three times by a car. They uncover that she had been providing Professor Malcolm Bryce (Tom Noonan) with background material on her clan as a way to save her niece from an arranged marriage. This arrangement was to repay a debt of her brother, Kyle Devlin (William Sadler), who killed Ann to keep her quiet.

• NOTE: Lyric Marie Benson guest starred as a waitress in the episode. Benson was subsequently murdered by her ex-fiance, in a high-profile case which attracted widespread tabloid coverage.^[22][23]

An investigation into the murder of a cop in a subway station leads Goren and Eames to believe he was blackmailing a pair of doctors; the voyeuristic Dr. Roger Stern (James Urbaniak) and oversexed exhibitionist Dr. Scott Borman (Todd Stashwick). Further investigation and evidence from a ex-girlfriend, Megan Colby (Carrie Preston), lead to a evidence that Stern has been infecting his former girlfriends with rare diseases. Goran plays on the doctors' obsessions to ilicit their confessions.

Goren and Eames investigate the murder of Connie Matson (Susan Porro) a former nurse and who has been dealing in Anthrax vaccines which leads them to lab director Dr. Daniel Croydon (James McCaffrey) at a testing facility. After Goran pressures him in an interview he apparently suicides causing Goren to feel guilt for the death. Elizabeth Hitchens (Nicole Wallace) (Olivia d'Abo), now an American citizen after marrying an American, approaches Goren causing him to suspect she is behind Croyden's death. He has her arrested for violating US imigration laws but she asserts that she will not be convicted.