The First 48 poster

TV series

The First 48

2004TV-1430 seasons7.9 / 10

The First 48 follows detectives from around the country during these first critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect. Gritty and fast-paced, it takes viewers behind the scenes of real-life investigations with unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing, and interrogations.

Streaming, rental and purchase options

Where to watch in United States

Checked Jul 22, 2026

The First 48 is available to stream on DirecTV On Demand, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Peacock, Peacock Premium, Philo, Prime Video, Hoopla, Pluto TV, Spectrum On Demand, The Roku Channel, and Tubi in United States. You can also rent or buy it from Google Play, Amazon, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Use the direct links below to open the provider.

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Synopsis

The First 48 follows detectives from around the country during these first critical hours as they race against time to find the suspect. Gritty and fast-paced, it takes viewers behind the scenes of real-life investigations with unprecedented access to crime scenes, autopsies, forensic processing, and interrogations.

Season 8 episodes

Choose an episode, then use the watch options above for the show.

← Season 7

Episode 1

Gone

45m

Detectives are called to the scene at an apartment, blood covers the apartment. There is no possible way the victim survived this brutal attack. No body is found at the scene and detectives start the search for the killer...and their victim.

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Episode 2

Return to Sender; Death Camp

45m

A young man lays dead in the backseat of his friend's car. Detectives start looking around the scene and find some mail. Could this be the clue that breaks the case? The streets of Minneapolis are 'home' to the homeless. The brutal beating death of a homeless man sets detectives on a hunt for a killer.

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Episode 3

Obstruction; Flight Risk

45m

Detectives are called to a shooting that has left a man dead. When a woman shows up to retrieve something from the scene detectives wonder if she knows more than she lets on. A man guns down a mother of two, a witness comes forward to tell detectives the man is headed for Mexico. With the help of the SWAT team, they attempt to cut him off before he can flee.

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Episode 4

Crashing the Gate; 6000 Motives

45m

Two people are consumed by gun fire while they sit waiting at the gate of an apartment building. With little to go on detectives rely on the surviving witness to help them solve the case. An elderly man takes a drifter into his home, when the elderly man turns up dead...the drifter is the likely suspect. Detectives will search state to state looking for this suspect.

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Episode 5

Blood Money; Fifteen

45m

A young man lays dead behind an apartment building. Detectives run into problems with the victim's friends. Do they know more than what they are saying? Can the detectives convince them to talk before a killer gets away? A young girl is struck by a stray bullet from an AK-47. This senseless tragedy is made worse by few leads. Detectives will have to track down possible witness after witness to try to find this killer.

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Episode 6

Out of the Past; Fued

45m

A man is gunned down in front of his wife and children. Detectives look for clues to determine if the murder has a deeper meaning or if it was a robbery gone wrong. A young man is killed in the middle of the day in the prime of his life, in a hail of gunfire. In order to track this killer the surviving victim must be located to get details of the shootout and why it happened.

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Episode 7

Devil Inside; Rattlesnake

45m

An elderly woman is brutally murdered and left under a highway underpass. When satanic symbols are found by the body, police investigate and learn about a similar case. With lots of help they set out to catch a possible serial killer. Local teenage is recklessly shot and killed, the community is gripped by fear. The investigators talk to the neighbors hoping to get one of them to speak.

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Episode 8

After the First 48 - Blindsided; Killing Spree

45m

UPDATE: Follow this case through the justice system. We have already seen the bodies discovered and the arrests made. Now we get to see the court process and the verdicts handed down.

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Episode 9

Blame Game; Chasing Shadows

45m

Two brothers are suspects in the murder of 30-year-old man, in what looks like a robbery gone wrong. Detectives try to get the brothers to turn on each other to see who the killer is. A man is found gunned down in a local parking lot. The clues are few and far between. Detectives get the break they need when the run across surveillance footage.

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Episode 10

After the First 48 - Silenced; Downstream Drifter

45m

UPDATE: Follow this case through the justice system. We have already seen the bodies discovered and the arrests made. Now we get to see the court process and the verdicts handed down.

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Episode 11

Live Bait; Drama at the Classic

45m

A young man met a young lady earlier in the day on a bus. They meet up later and he is robbed and murdered, was the victim was set up or killed at random? A man is murdered at an annual football game. Talking to witnesses they determine there was tensions between the dead man and his former girlfriend and her new beau.

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Episode 12

Out of Sight; Missing Piece

45m

After a night out with friends a college students prepares to go home as he is stabbed and killed. Once on scene detectives realize the violence in the area is growing, they come across a man being attacked. Could one of these men be the killer? Three teen boys have an argument, later one of them is shot in a backyard. Detectives set out to find out if these are friends or foe.

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Episode 13

Shattered Dreams; Left to Die

45m

A Sudanese man from Louisville who fled genocide in Darfur is shot to death in his clothing store, police notice surveillance cameras in the store and look to them for clues. To their horror the cameras fail to identify the suspects. A young couple is shot in their home. The man dies at the scene and the female victim clings to life. She gives detectives the names of two possible shooters, it is up the them to find these suspects and determine whether these two suspects are indeed the killers.

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Episode 14

Up in Flames; Drive-By

45m

A truck is found burning with the body of a murdered man in the back. The fire as destroyed almost all of the evidence. The detectives start with the last known people to see the victim alive. A teenager is playing football in his front yard when gun shots ring out during a drive by, killing the teen. Witnesses are afraid to speak out; detectives must convince them to talk to catch their killer.

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Episode 15

One Heart

45mfinale

Detectives are after the killer of a 20-year-old gunned down on Christmas Day. Using surveillance footage detectives identify suspects that point fingers at one another.

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Episode information updated Jul 24, 2026

More about The First 48

Cast

Dion GrahamNarrator

Production details

Status
Returning Series
Series type
Documentary
Episodes
603
Original language
English

Networks & production

  • A&EUnited States
  • ITV EntertainmentUnited States

Themes

murder investigationtrue crime