48 Hours

Marlene Warren answered the door of her Florida home on May 26, 1990, to find a clown handing her balloons and flowers. In an instant, she was shot dead while her 21-year-old son looked on. Warren's son, Joe Aherns, opens up.

The clown then calmly walked back to their car and drove away. 

On Dec. 14, 1991, 16-year-old honor student Sarah Yarborough was on her way to drill team practice at Federal Way High School outside Seattle, Wash. She never made it. She was found murdered just a hundred yards away from her car on the school's campus. Correspondent Natalie Morales speaks to key people who were involved in bringing Yarborough's killer to justice, including the first television interviews with Sarah's family and friends, and a woman who had been attacked by the same man years earlier.

Years before South Carolina legal scion Alex Murdaugh was convicted for the murders of his wife and son, there was another mystery in Murdaugh country – the death of Stephen Smith, a 19-year-old gay man. After his body was found on a country road on July 8, 2015, the medical examiner ruled it a hit and run. For years, his mother Sandy Smith wanted a second opinion. Now, 48 HOURS reports on a new investigation into the case. 

Early on, rumors that the Murdaughs were somehow involved in Smith's death spread through town. The Murdaugh name comes up dozens of times in the case file. The investigation seemingly went nowhere, and no suspects were named in Smith's death. In late 2016, the case went cold. It was reignited in June 2021 after the murders of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh. During that investigation, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) announced it had uncovered a new lead in Smith's death and would be taking over the case. But it has not said what that evidence is.

At 6:30 in the morning of April 25, 2010, Heidi Firkus called 911 after her husband, Nick Firkus, said an intruder was breaking into their home. She was shot and killed and Nick Firkus told investigators that his gun discharged when he struggled with the intruder.